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Jean Henri Chandler
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 Posted: Fri 22 Dec, 2006 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Jean Henri Chandler wrote: | I've been looking for a Seax myself for a buddy for x-mas, and haven't been too impressed with what is out there. It seems like there are quite a few crappy cheap ones, or you can get very expensive hand forged ones, (I remember seeing a particularly breathtaking hand forged piece here on myArmoury about two years ago) but there seems to be a gap in the market for these in the mid-range, something just solid, simple, decent quality materials and well put together, with a recognizable historical shape and appearance. Heres my $.02 on what I have found available so far on the cheaper end.
| Shelby Hatfield wrote: | | Thanks for the heads-up Andy. Which of the Paul Chen seaxes are you refering to, the double edged one? I also like the look of the crusader sax from Windlass, and I hear that their quality has improved lately. Would this be a good seax to start out with? |
yeah I notice at least two windlass and two paul chen / hanwei, plus some other versions by windlass, deepka and others.
Here are the two paul chen designs
Both retail for about $60-$70. To me the first one looks like an oversized butter knife, the second one looks MUCH better but who knows what the quality is. Probably ok.
Windlass has this one standby
which to me looks a little strange with the knobs on the grip and whatever kind of decoration that is on the blade. My friend has one and wasn't too thrilled with it. I think it's overpriced at $75
..and they have this newer 'crusader' seax for $80which I like the look of much better
The deepka one
looks to me like it doesn't know whether to be a bowie knife or a gurkha knife. I know they made saxes with all different kinds of blade shapes but I'm most drawn to that classic long strait cutting edge and curved spine look. I'm glad some of these outfits seem to be finally moving in that direction.
I found this page which has a bunch of Viking Stuff, including all of the above, in one place.
http://www.kultofathena.com/viking.htm
Finally ,there is this one from Highland Arms which is showing up on Ebay for about $40. They claim it's carbon steel and a full tang, and it looks pretty good compared to some of the other cheaper ones so I'm going to get one and see for myself.
Jean |
Update
I got the Deepka sax and the Highland Arms sax, both from Ebay for about half the normal price, both are intended as Christmas presents. The Deepka sax is a [i]monster/i]. It's around two feet long, very heavy. If you put an edge on it it would probably be a scary chopper. It's roughly made but everything seems tight. It and had some burn marks or soot marks near the forte of the blade and a few specks of black rust or patination on the blade which I scoured off. It comes with a formidable thick leather scabbard wich like the knife, is somewhat crude but tight and functional.
The whole thing seems a bit overscale though, the handle especially seems like it's designed for somebody 8' tall and 400 lbs. Like a knife made for bigfoot. I'm reasonably pleased with it, the tang is very thick and so long as the heat treat was ok I reckon this is a very tough knife.
The Highland Arms Sax is much smaller, more what I was expecting. It's quite simple, there is nothing spectacular about it, just steel and black painted wood. It has no edge but a bevel for one. I like it though. It's quite attractive in a humble way, and it has that classic broke back shape I like. The only reservation I have is that the steel is very shiny, I'm betting it's got some chrome in it. They claim it's 1050 steel or something, I'm not familiar with the type of steel but I wonder if it's really carbon steel or stainless, I hope not. I'll know soon enough because unless it is indeed stainless, in the climate of New Orleans it will have rust appearing very soon the first time I forget to keep it oiled for even a few hours.
I'll try to post some photos when I figure out a new place to host my web page. We'll also be sharpening the big one and trying it out on some hard and soft cutting targets so I'll report on that too.
JH
Books and games on Medieval Europe Codex Integrum
Codex Guide to the Medieval Baltic Now available in print
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Mike Arledge
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| Posted: Fri 22 Dec, 2006 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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I would be at least cautious of using a Deepeka piece to cut. While they may resemble higher end construction, I have seen even the enver gladii destruct under cutting conditions. But hey, try it out safely, and let us know how it goes.
Mike J Arledge
The Dude Abides
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Nick Trueman
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| Posted: Sat 23 Dec, 2006 3:29 am Post subject: |
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Hi
Some seaxes are huge! Take this one for example. From memory it the blade is 28'
N
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Dave Womble
Location: Laconia, NH USA Joined: 03 Feb 2006
Posts: 36
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| Posted: Sat 23 Dec, 2006 12:38 pm Post subject: |
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I'm getting into this a bit late, and I havnt visited the site in a LONG time, but I wanted to share a pic of the seax I had custom made by Penguin Arms...formerly in Alaska, now in Arizona I believe. Sheath was made by a friend, David Teague, a primarily Scottish/Anglo-Saxon re-enactor in Alaska:
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"Violence might not be the answer, but it sure cuts down on the number of questions."
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Jeroen Zuiderwijk
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Sat 23 Dec, 2006 2:05 pm Post subject: |
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IMO the best reproduction sax I've seen is the one made by the late Jaap Ypey:
http://1500bc.com/sfi/Sax_scabbard_North_Neth...18-219.jpg
http://1500bc.com/sfi/Sax_scabbard_North_Neth...20-221.jpg
It's the only one that's fully based on original finds, including the scabbard (original scabbard is next to it). Of course it helped that he was also the specialist in early medieval weapons, having access to all the originals  So far all other reproductions I've seen all deviate from the original finds, by including elements that contradict the originals. Most are just completely different knives alltogether, making them no more saxes then modern hobby knives. So I'm going to try making some reproductions myself. I've already made a start on an 7-8th century Frankish langsax. But I'll have to wait until the next season until I can start working on it again.
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Jeroen Zuiderwijk
Industry Professional
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| Posted: Sat 23 Dec, 2006 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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Speaking of non-historical seaxes, the one below has to be my favourite. It's made by Reinhard Rubenkamp (blade made by someone else), a Netherlands based viking period silversmith. It may not be historical (although the scabbard is), it's really gorgeous! It doesn't show on the photo very well, but the blade has a very unique pattern welding as well.
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Hugh Fuller
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| Posted: Tue 26 Dec, 2006 9:12 am Post subject: |
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I bought the Paul Chen Seax with the Celtic interlace motif on the pommel some years back and I did a good bit of checking and research prior to buying it. It is based rather closely upon an example in New York's Metropolitan Museum or Art and is what many call a "Frankish style" of seax. It is quite durable and is only sharpened on one edge. It will hold a reasonable edge. My only complaint is that the scabbard is too loose and that the belt loops hold it at too shallow an angle so that the seax is always falling out of the scabbard. Of course, it does this at the most inopportune moments. I did a field modification and laced the flaps a bit tighter and that solved it.
Hugh
Still trying to walk in the Light
Please see 1 John 1:5
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Clyde Hollis
Industry Professional
Location: Tennessee Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Posts: 72
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| Posted: Tue 26 Dec, 2006 10:01 am Post subject: |
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What do you think of the Lombard Saxe knife below?
The description says it is tempered 5160 and does come sharpened. Single edged.
Clyde Hollis
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Patrick Kelly
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| Posted: Tue 26 Dec, 2006 10:56 am Post subject: |
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| Clyde Hollis wrote: | What do you think of the Lombard Saxe knife below?
The description says it is tempered 5160 and does come sharpened. Single edged.
Clyde Hollis |
Since the knife appears to be one of your products (same background and lighting as the photos in your Searles Bowie thread) can you give us your hands-on impression of it?
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Hugh Fuller
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| Posted: Tue 26 Dec, 2006 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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Clyde, I cannot tell which edge is sharpened from the pictures. Please tell us that. But I also would suggest that it bears little resemblence to any of the historical examples that I have seen or whose pictures I have seen. But seaxes were used over a very ong period of time and by a pretty wide variety of peoples, so I would be hard put to say that it is not historical although that is my impression.
Hugh
Still trying to walk in the Light
Please see 1 John 1:5
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Clyde Hollis
Industry Professional
Location: Tennessee Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Posts: 72
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| Posted: Wed 27 Dec, 2006 7:07 am Post subject: |
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| Patrick Kelly wrote: | | Clyde Hollis wrote: | What do you think of the Lombard Saxe knife below?
The description says it is tempered 5160 and does come sharpened. Single edged.
Clyde Hollis |
Since the knife appears to be one of your products (same background and lighting as the photos in your Searles Bowie thread) can you give us your hands-on impression of it? |
This version is based off a 6th century version.
The Blade is 5160 tempered carbon steel with a darkwood handle.
The tang is peened over top the metal end cap of the handle.
A hand stitched Leather scabbard is included.
Blade length: 12 1/2"
Overall length: 19 1/8"
Balance Point: 1 1/2" Below steel band.
Weight: 1 lbs. 4 oz.
It is single edged and the side that is sharpened is by looking at the straight on picture it would be on the right.
It is the side that has slightly more curve.
The scabbard we did not have a very good example to use, so yes I did just have it full leather and figured from the time period, it would be best to hand stitch it.
To make the scabbard look better we did leave the extra leather and tied it for esthetics.
Clyde
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