01/10/2026
New sword day, because every old warrior needs his very own personal sword!
After 25 years of HEMA I own more than twenty, but this is a sword how I really want it to be, at last.
I designed it in the fashion of around 1500, The magnificent swordsmith Gaël Fabre did the work for which he is so well known and brought my vision into reality. He did an excelent job and I'm very happy about the outcome.
The blade is a welding damast of two modern steels, but don't search for the visible pattern here because it's hidden under the polish, just like in the original swords of that period. Cross and pommel are from old industrial iron and the cherry on the cake is the rivet block, which is made of retired portal fittings of the Cathedral of Aaachen. This tiny peace of material may be very well over 800 years old and who knows... maybe some spirits of ye olde craftsmen may be trapped now into that new sword. ;)
The leaf ornaments are inspired by original swords held in the doge palace in venice. The blade with the massive ridge and the broad fullers are very "italien", too but you can also see such blades in renaissance german paintings.
The engravings of the blade are my initials on one side and the other side says "BEDENK DICH RECHT", which translates roughly into "Contemplate yourself carefully" and was the heraldic motto of the famous german late medieval fencing Master Hans Talhoffer. To guarantee the integrity of the blade, poor Gaël had to engrave the blade AFTER hardening it and I'm sure, he now has a dart disc with my picture on it hanging in his workshop. ;)
The blade may be the soul a sword, but the hilt is it's face.
The leather work I did myself because why not? Cross-cap and handle-coat are made of vegetable tanned cowhide, tooled by hand and ornamented with some dye and galvanized steel nails.
The sword is semi sharp and maybe I'm going to sharpen it for cutting practice next year.
Despite the broad blade with the big fullers this sword is very stiff. It was toroughly balanced during the smithing process, optimized for good rotation points and handles exeptionally well.
Overall lenght: 130 cm, blade lenght: 95 cm, weight: 1670 g
Don't forget to visit Gaël Fabre's website:
https://www.gaelfabre.com/accueil/home/
