Art of Swordmaking (M. Kopciuch) 12th Century Norman Sword
Aug 16, 2023 23:10:04 GMT
Post by madirish on Aug 16, 2023 23:10:04 GMT
Introduction
I had been watching Maciej Kopciuch's (www.artofswordmaking.com) work on Facebook and really liking what I saw and read about his work. Maciej is focused on accurate, historical reproductions and is known to have some character reflective of the hand forged nature of his product present in his works. I guess my interpretation was, if you want perfection of machining, look at Albion since Maciej's aesthetic is a bit more homespun. I was considering a commission when he put up a few swords that he'd been working on that were available and said that he'd be closing his books to catch up on backlog for a while. A few of them appealed to me, particularly this type X with a wide guard. I've wanted a Type X and had been hankering for an Albion Reeve or Gaddhjalt. This one kind of fit in between those two. I wanted a bigger brazil nut pommel, but the pommel on this example was already applied. The blade looked great, the guard was wide and striking, and I decided to go for it. The price was just shy of 1k Euro. I was asked to put up a 50% deposit on order and paid the rest upon completion.
I put a deposit down on another sword from him at the same time and, because of that, chose not to have him make a scabbard for this piece as slush fund was only so deep (and it was 12-14 months to get the scabbard based on his queue). Ordering process was smooth. Maciej was very active in responding to questions and we talked quite a bit on scabbard design before I decided not to go with one for this sword. Took longer than originally expected to be completed and shipped. This was a piece that was already made and had the pommel and guard attached. Took a about a month longer than the ~6-8 weeks we'd talked about originally, but I pretty much expected that.
Historical overview
Maciej was inspired by other swords of the era and considers this an example of an early 12th Century Norman sword with its Type X blade, with it's broad, rounded tip and long, pronounced fuller ending close to the tip. Featuring a less common Type B Brazil nut pommel and a wide Style 3 pommel, it is a transitional blade bridging the gap between Viking era blades and those cruciform knightly swords that followed. The sword can be seen on his site, here:Norman Sword
As a side note, I took delivery of this along with two medieval axes also built by Maciej, I mention them because they are in the picture. One is a Hjorstberga Axe, a medieval Viikng/Slavic axe inspired by original finds and historical sources (Hjortsberga, Novogrod) Hjorstberga Axe The other is a Polish Bearded axe, a 10th-12th Century design based on original finds in Poland. It can be seen here: Polish Bearded Axe The axes were listed at 290 Euro each.
Full Disclosure
In full disclosure, I am a sword newb and not a HEMA practitioner or experienced cutter (or inexperienced, for that matter). I had about 2 weeks of epee training about 35 yrs ago, lol. A couple years back, I became aware of the existence of artists and artisans crafting modern, functional, and beautiful replicas of medieval and renaissance swords, people practicing HEMA, etc, and began to get immersed in the subject. I began my collecting this winter and it has quickly swelled to 6 replicas and one antique Prussian artillery saber. I've got the bug, lol.
Initial Impressions
The sword and axes were sandwiched in several inch thick upholstery foam, cable tied into place, and individually wrapped in plastic film. The boxes were securely taped and overwrapped in brown parcel paper. A pretty solid packing method and actually tough to disassemble. The swords and axes are then strapped in place using nylon cable ties through the thick foam padding. My only criticism is that the sword appeared to be shipped dry and unoiled, a bit of a concern for me in mid summer heat and humidity in Europe and the US. Upon close inspection, there does look to be a little bit of rust staining developing on the guard of the sword. I thought it might be some dye from the grip as one of the spots resembled a bit of a fingerprint, but cleaning with 90% Isopropyl and then oiling it down did not remove it. I will not take anything further to it for a bit, but I did clean it thoroughly and oil it with Rem Oil for the time being. More on this below.
Upon handling the sword, I was surprised by how light and lively it was.
I was also surprised and disappointed to find it essentially dull. Maciej is known not to be an advocate of razor sharp sword, but I was taken aback. It is a thin enough edge that it would cleave targets like fruit, but would bounce of a tatami mat. I've reached out to Maciej and we are talking about it, but I definitely expressed to him that, though I understood his aesthetic and did not expect a razor sharp edge, I did expect a functionally sharp edge that someone might choose to refine if I ever sold it on. He never made objection to this in our discussions up to putting deposits down on the sword. More on this below
Statistics
Weight: 2.32 LB Mass: 1050g
OAL: 36-7/8" (93.5cm)
Blade Length: 31" (78.7cm)
Grip Length: 3-5/8" (9.8cm)
POB: 5" (12.7cm)
COP: 22.5" (57.2cm)
Components
Pommel
As stated, it is a Type B Brazil nut with a shorter, fatter, rounder profile than your typical Type A Brazil Nut pommel. Finished smoothly and evenly with a rectangular peen that stands proud of the face of the pommel and is a little rustic looking, as is Maciej's style.
Pommel is about 5.8cm wide by 3.4cm thick by 3.6cm high (2-5/16" x 1-5/16" x 1-7/6")
Grip
The grip features a reddish brown dye and has three risers, one at each end and one in the middle. The leather is well applied and dyed. The seam in the leather could be better, but the leather meets the pommel and guard nicely
The grip tapers in profile from guard to pommel, but stays pretty much the same thickness.
Grip Length: 3-5/8" (9.8cm)
Grip Height at Guard" 1-17/32" (3.9cm)
Grip Thickness at Guard: 13/16" (3.1cm)
Grip Height at Central Riser: 1-7/16" (3.6cm)
Grip Thickness at Central Riser: 1" (2.54cm)
Grip Height at Pommel" 1-5/32" (2.9cm)
Grip Thickness at Pommel: 7/8" (2.2cm)
Guard
Wide, on the same sort of scale as the Albion Gaddhjalt wide. Straight and flat in profile, it is thicker in the center around the blade and tapers a bit as it reaches the ends of guard. The profile at the tips is rectangular. Smoothly and evenly polished.
Gap in the guard is oval in shape and it is tight to the apex of the fullers so it gaps a bit, at toward the edges of the blade. The shoulders of the blade are firmly seated in the guard.
I spoke with him about the rust staining. He said he does ship it oiled...but it must have been a very, very light coating. I suggested that, since he ships it wrapped in plastic film, he might consider more or heavier oiling. He said he would think on it, but when he used to do so in the past he got lots of complaints from customer complaining about everything getting greasy when unwrapping......I think there is likely a happy medium. He did offer to recompense me for any supplies I bought to get rid of the rust...a considerate offer, but I'm ok dropping a couple bucks on a sanding pad if I need to.
Guard Width: 10-1/8" (25.72cm)
Guard height: 3/8" (1cm)
Guard thickness at center line: 1.2cm
Guard thickness at ends: 9/16" (0.7cm)
The Blade
Broad at the base, lightly tapering towards the rounded tip. The fullers is about 7/8" wide at the base, extending about 27.5" on one side of the 31" blade and just a hair shorter on the other side, before tapering down to about 3/8" wide and then to a point. The blade finish is even, with few odd scratches here and there and is on the brighter side of satin. The sword rings like a bell when struck, more clear resonant than either of the Albions I own. The blade is thin at its root and doesn't taper greatly, Straight, true, and impressively ripple free for a hand forged piece, the blade looks great. I guess I just expected something a bit more thick and heavy, but the blade is fairly flexible up to about its mid point. The edge is thin (1mm or less), but not sharp enough to slice and hand squeezing the blade and running along it.
Regarding the dullness of the blades, apparently there are several factors that affect the delivered sharpness of the swords. First, there is a difference between those that are fully commissioned from scratch and those that he has already as works in progress that he sells. The ones that are just bought from his "available" inventory are apparently generally sold as collector sharp....a pretty thin edge, but not sharp. Those that are commissioned from scratch are sharper. Second, if I understood him correctly, if a sword is sold with a scabbard it will generally be sharper than one that is sold bare. This is for two reasons....making sure the sword stays secure in shipment (he basically uses some foam wrap and cable ties to hold the sword to the thick upholstery padding the blade is sandwiched in and is worried that they could cut through them in transit) and also to protect anyone who might open and inspect the packages in Customs or if something catastrophic happens to the box and the sword is exposed. Regardless, I expressed my expectation of sharpness right when I committed to making a deposit and it was never flagged as an issue.
His final response on the issue this evening left me flat: "Yes, you wrote me a description in such a way that after checking the blades I had no doubts that the degree and sharpness is appropriate for your purposes. I'm sorry that's not the case, but there isn't really any specific measurement/grading of sharpness that we can determine other than a general description. Sorry, as I see it turned out to be a misunderstanding, but I really understood it to be there, and I sent you the blades in this sharpness range. It is sometimes difficult to determine the level of sharpness because at a certain stage of sharpening there are already nuances and really small differences.
I think it would be good to develop some kind of system for specifying the degree of severity in the future, so that the ordering party could specify it."
OK, maybe I am to blame and, understanding the language issue, I should have used clearer, concise language.
I had asked: "As far as sharpness, I am more interested in your swords from the collection point of view...I don't intend to do test cutting competitions with this sword, so I am not looking for a razor or knife edge, but I would like it sharpened to a reasonably keen edge for a sword of this type, not a blunted sword. I have seen your discussions on the topic and understand your position. Basically, I would like a functional edge that, should I ever pass the sword on, could be refined if someone felt the need to." OK, wordy....might have been better to say "I am not looking for a razor, but I may do a little cutting with it here and there so want it sharp enough to be used that way....sharp enough to cut paper roughly".
So....if you are going to buy and you want it sharp.....you had better make it very, very clear up front and make dang sure he understands.
Blade width at base: | 2-1/2 | 5.7cm |
Blade Thickness at base: | 9/64" | 3.5mm |
Blade width: 6" | 2-1/32" | 5.15cm |
Blade Thickness 6": | 0.125" | 3mm |
Blade width 12": | 1-15/16" | 4.85cm |
Blade Thickness 12": | 7/64" | 2.8mm |
Blade width 18": | 1.75" | 4.4cm |
Blade Thickness 18": | 2.5mm | |
Blade width 24": | 1-9/16" | 4cm |
Blade Thickness 24": | 3-32" | 2.4mm |
Blade width 30": | 1" | 2.54cm |
Blade Thickness 30": | 2mm | |
Tip Thickness: | 1mm |
Handling Characteristics
Again, I am no practitioner and to make matters worse, I've been dealing with frozen shoulder for the past year and don't have full range of motion (without screaming and having my arm go numb) so I can only say that in my light dry handling, it feels light and balanced in the hand and agile. The corners of the guard might be an issue with an ungloved hand.
Test Cutting
Not done.
Conclusions
Honestly, based on what I have read and seen of Maciej's work, I was blown away by just how well finished the sword was. The only sort of rustic touch was the peen. Otherwise, it exceeded my expectations and rivalled or even surpassed the finish of the Albion Merc and Crecy I have in some respects (Albion's leather work is better). I'm looking forward to the arrival of the second sword I ordered from him.
Pros
- Great packaging...but could have been better oiled
- Tight, solid construction
- Excellent blade quality for a hand forged product
Cons
- Delivered very lightly oiled, a really light touch of rust stain developed in transit on guard
- Not sharp, the axes were sharper than the sword
- Grip seam could be better
The Bottom Line
The sword is gorgeous and well crafted. I would recommend his work. Just know that if your goal is test cutting, you may need to wrestle with him to get an edge you want or will need to have it sharpened stateside.