Paul’s Collection (not the Admin' Paul)

not yet but should be any day now. Last contact was about 4 weeks ago, there was/is a holdup at the foundry for the spear head, but the axe was almost finished at that point.

lol Jeff, I ended up buying my own mini belt sander from Stan the other week, great little unit.

Hi Guys,
Got a delivery from A&A this week, their limited edition Type L Viking Axe, Norseman Spear head and a Greek Javelin that Craig gave me free, due to an order mixup the other year when I got the standard Javelin by mistake, mindyou I didn’t remind Craig about this, he remembered and included it in the package. Ill be mounting these on shafts later in the week.

The Norseman Spear is fantastic and a lot longer than I expected. It has a needle sharp point that is too sharp for real use and would need to be reshaped after use to more of a normal sharp point but I love it when things come this super sharp/pointy! Fit and finish are excellent and close to being perfectly symmetrical (the shoulder points are a tad off), I’m not sure of the steel used, the blade has a nice satin finish whereas the shaft has a “flat” finish almost looks like a really fine silver spray paint, but it’s not of course.

The axe was a pleasant surprise handling wise. Having never handled a “fighting” axe before I wasn’t sure what to expect but this axe is superfast, agile and so well balanced. It can be used with 1 or 2 hands but I feel its intended use is 1 handed. With your hand at the end of the shaft it will deliver a mighty blow but if you move your hand up about 8” if becomes a superfast & agile cutting & cleaving weapon. The cutting feel of this axe was a real surprise. The cutting edge is what I would describe as fighting sharp, not quite paper cutting sharp but still very sharp. The finish on the steel is pretty good, its not a satin or brushed finish more of a worked flat finish that is quite pleasing. The axe appears to be friction fit, there are no pins or a wedge in the timber but it seems to be rock solid. My ONLY complaint and disappointment about the axe, and I’m not sure if this is to be expected or not, is the way the shaft fits into the eye of the axe head. There is a visible gap that I wasn’t expecting and as it is it would be near impossible to carve a shaft to fit perfectly, I might fill the gap with epoxy and also hammer a wedge into the timber.

Nice! Thanks Paul you know I've eagerly been awaiting this! Haha think you may do a mini review on th Type L? There are currently no reviews out there.

Hi Guys, just a few pics of a new addition that rearrived today, an Albion Svante. I picked this up 2nd hand on SFI and its now had a trip to Albion for a refinish AND now also a regrip as the guard was a bit loose. I really like it so far but ill post a mini review down the track once I get to know it better

Awesome! Looking forward to the review. I'm very interested in seeing the results of Albion's refurbishing.

Another addition arrived today, a Zombie Tools d’Capitan in a satin finish. The ordering experience with ZTs was great, a few emails were exchanged, fast responses, very reasonable postage to Australia at $53 and true to their word it was shipped pretty much bang on 6 weeks.

Overall I think the d’Capitan is very cool and I really quite like it, but in a different way to how I like my other swords. The fit and finish are very well done with no flaws to speak of. The edge is very sharp, paper cutting sharp in fact but it’s not a traditional medieval sword edge in my mind, it’s what I would term as a “V” edge but regardless its sharp and I assume very effective. The handling is a bit odd though, it doesn’t handle like any other sword I have picked up. It’s very forward balanced and it’s quite weighty in the swing, it feels more like a big knife rather than a sword. The closest to handling would be swinging around a katana one handed. Again overall I really like the d’Capitan it’s a very cool sword and its one that I plan to do a lot of cutting with

I like the ZT without the blade etchings. Congrats!

I was expecting to pay a fee for the satin but there was no change in the price, I wonder if this is the standard finish before the treatment so it may even save them a bit, in anycase I'm really happy with the result, really should be a standard order option.

I was a bit worried at the oz customs reaction to the closed guard but for the price I was happy to risk it. I'm not sure if it was even looked at or if the small gap was enough to be considered not fully enclosed. And also the guys at ZT said they have shipped heaps of swords including the d'Capitan to Oz without issue, either it's fine or have just been very lucky.

From my impression of the d'Capitan I think the ZT katana would be a great prospect, their blades seem to be thick and stiff, perfect for a working katana and with a bit more of a robust edge. I may get one myself after my next order I'm waiting on in a satin finish of course.