My Work and Philosophy
I became interested in swords
when I started playing fantasy role-playing games as a teenager in the
mid 1970s. I started researching medieval weapons because the
games mentioned these items- but never explained what they were.
I became fascinated with swords when I actuaslly got to handle a 10th
c. sword in a private collection in Germany in 1981; it was like nothng
that I had imagined. Far from the heavy, akward and crudely made
item that I was expecting it was light, well-balanced and surprisingly
agile! Swords were not at all what fiction, cheap reproductions
and movies had led me to expect.
Resources were limited in those pre-internet days but I studied
whatever I could get my hands on in the way of swords, daggers, books
etc. I got involved with the SCA as a heavy-fighter and we tried
to do some interpretive work with a reprint of a German fencing
manual. Towards the end of the 1980s I started rehilting daggers
with more period-correct handles and this led me to begin making my
own- filing the blades out by hand! In 1992 I began working
full-time as a knife maker working for a sword-retailer in the SCA, and
when he was getting ready to move out of the Seattle area the following
year I set up on my own as a full-time knife and sword maker.
With guidance from other makers, notably Chuck sweet (Steelwolf Swords)
and Ike Roe I began working to discover the engineering principles that
govern sword design.
It was a very different time- the internet was in it's infancy and the
only manufacturers of 'functional' European style swords were Del Tin,
Museum Replicas and CAS Iberia. There were makers of hand-made
swords also, but makers that genuinely understood the engineering rules
for swords were few and difficult to find. At that
time merely making swords of the correct weight and balance with good
'harmonics' and other needed qualities was so rare that people were
willing to put up with brass furniture, exotic hardwood handles and
other anachronisms of detail. I got involved with Sword Forums
International at the end of the eighties which gave my work world-wide
exposure. In 1999 and 2000 I embarked in a joint-venture with
Angus Trim to attempt to create custom-quality swords on a production
basis. This was a dismal failure as a business but did serve to
get Angus Trim into making his own swords- which I recommend highly!
The Internet has led to many changes in my work over the years as the
market became increasingly knowledgeable about swords. Today the
main thrust of my work is create swords, knives and daggers in the
style of the Viking Era and European Middle Ages. My swords are
not copies of specific pieces but rather are representative of 'period'
pieces of their style. Naturally my swords and knives reflect my
preferences so they do not represent the entire spectrum of what was
'period-correct' for a given type and style- however they always fall
within the spectrum of characteristics for their given type. I
will do correct period construction if a customer requests it or the
style of the piece demands it, but normally my swords use a modern,
take-down hilt construction. What I strive for is to make swords
that, excepting their take-down construction, would be unremarkable in
weight, balance and form if they were somehow magically transported to
their intended period. According to scholars of swords that have
handled a great many antique swords and my work by-and-large I succeed
in this goal.
I also make Scottish Dirks and Sgian Duhbs, modern knives and 'fantasy'
swords. My 'fantasy' swords are fully functional, correctly
engineered 'real' swords. I won't make a sword that doesn't work
as it should (and make sense!) whether it is in the style of an
historic piece or a 'fantasy' piece. I won't make a sword that I
don't like- not only do I feel entitled to be choosy but in the past I
have found that if I don't like the sword it won't come out as well as
I would like- or as well as the customer deserves.
Over the years I have made a huge variety of swords including
complex-hilt rapiers and basket-hilt swords, Japanese-style blades
etc. These days I have mostly stopped making pieces of these
styles; either I couldn't make them well enough to satisfy me (though
customers mostly seemed happy with them) or I simply lost interest in
making them. You might see them occasionally on the Items For
sale page but I am not likely to be receptive to custom orders for
these types pieces.
I have long been interested not just in swords, but in how they were
used. Since my days as an SCA Heavy fighter and our early
attempts at interpreting period manuals I have studied Rapier Fencing
and the use of the longsword and sword and buckler. I have
also studied stage-fighting and choreography. This led to myself
and a friend to begin staging demonstrations of medieval fighting
techniques and now to teaching these techniques (you can find more
information about this at AEMDA.com)
One martial arts instructor years ago expressed the opinion that
sword-makers could not become swordsmen as they would lack the time to
pursure both interests; contrary to this opinion I believe that a
sword-maker must study the
use of swords to achive a full understanding of swords and the needs of
students of swordsmanship.