Results and comments from the Aug/Sep 2003 survey.

	Ýves’ big SCA rapier survey #1 ~ Comments about specific merchants
	Updated: May 24, 2005

You are here: Home » SCA » Rapier » Survey 1

Policy blurb

By default, authors of comments sent in response to this survey are named only by their permission. Usually, other people mentioned in a comment are named only with their permission as well. Each comment represents only what the author typed in for the survey at the time.

» This survey was conducted during August-September 2003. Things change over time. «

Some comments were edited for content. Certain harsh words have been changed for your amusement. Opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of the surveyor.

To get YOUR name listed with YOUR comments, just give me permission. See the e-mail button and information at the bottom of the page. Let me know your SCA name and kingdom (as of Aug/Sep 2003), and I'll add the attribution to your entries.

# of Responses
by Kingdom
 
AEth.  = 34/235
Anst.  = 36/240
An Tir = 56/347
Art.   = 12/124
Aten.  = 27/460
Atl.   = 60/425
Caid   = 49/400
Drach. = 21/76
Eald.  = 12/77
East   = 46/480
Loch.  = 22/120
Mer.   = 27/140
Mid.   = 52/640
Nor.   = 25/164
Out.   = 26/214
Tri.   = 46/237
West   = 14/70
Unk.   = 2

The gist

The comments below were sent in response to Questions 13 and 14.

This page features feedback on quite a few specific merchants.

The comments

Note: Any remarks in the comments below from Yves look like this.

Jump down to a particular letter...

At the bottom of this page are links to the comment pages for those merchants
(AFS, Darkwood, James the Just, Scottie, and TCA) for whom there were MANY comments.

13Swords

Located in Trimaris. [www.13swords.bigstep.com]

Φ Drach. ~ A fellow SCAdian who takes care of others. Fast friendly service, easy to talk to.

Alchem, Inc.

Located in the Midrealm.

FAVORABLE

Φ AEth. ~ I'm happy with my AlChem dagger.  ``Miguel
Φ AEth. ~ Alchem - I love their main gauche dagger.  ``Charles
Φ AEth. ~ Alchem--low price, nice common pieces, durable.  ``Corwin

Φ An Tir ~ Alchem for bucklers and nice parrying daggers.  ``Samuale

Φ Anst. ~ Alchem. Good Products, Price, and Service. The only premature failure, other than normal ware, was a "Safety Flex" dagger from Alchem. They sent another blade, and I am pleased with them and there product.  ``Jacques

Φ Atl. ~ Alchame : nice and cheap.
Φ Atl. ~ Alchem - love the safety flex daggers.  ``Gunther

Φ Atl. ~ Alchem, Inc - great staff and very willing to work with you on special orders.  ``Marcus

Φ Atl. ~ Alcheminc.com..I only use their dagger blades, I think they are the safest on the market.

Φ Atl. ~ I would buy direct from Alchem however. I wish they would offer some of the older styles so I could match a dagger to my light schlager blade.  ``Nikolai

Φ Eald. ~ Alchem has some nice blades, and his hilts are built to last, no welds, laser cut (anachronistic but works great) and rivited together. Good service.  ``Albrecht

Φ Mid. ~ Alchem Inc. - cool daggers.
Φ Mid. ~ I like Alchem, Inc. for dagger blades.

Φ Mid. ~ The Alchem rig I have ... is beautiful and handles well.  ``Toshikage

Φ Out. ~ Alchem, they are the first to produce a curved schlager blade.  ``Jalid

Φ Tri. ~ Safeflex for those awesome main gauche blades.
Φ Tri. ~ I also have a safeflex dagger blade that I *love*.  ``Francis
Φ Tri. ~ Alkem. Durability and style of riviting the furniture.

Φ Tri. ~ Alchem has, with little exception, come through with fast service and good quality produce.

Φ West ~ alchem practical but ugly blades great daggers.

Plus generic favorable mentions from: Ansteorra 1, Atlantia 3, Midrealm 1, Trimaris 1, West 1.
 

NEUTRAL/MIXED

Φ AEth. ~ I enjoy alchem gear-but they do not have epees.

Φ Caid ~ Alchem Incorporated Fencing - from the manufactuer only and only the daggers. The schlager I bought never seemed to work well, the grip has always been loose. I do not know if it was the supplier I got it from or the company itself. I later bought a dagger directly from the manufaturer and I absolutely love it.

Φ Mid. ~ Alchem has some nice rigs for prices that I can more easily afford than a Darkwood rig, even if they don't have quite the demanding attention to historical accuracy.  ``Toshikage

UNFAVORABLE

Φ An Tir ~ AlChem - they were difficult to deal with after they had the money.

Φ Eald. ~ Alchemy - overpriced and overbearing.

Allstar (International)

HQ in Germany, branches all over the world.

Φ Drach. ~ All Stars UK, Affordable and friendly staff, also close to where I live.

Φ Drach. ~ Allstar (Germany): They sell good quality and are very experienced (they sell to the european national fencing teams).

Angus Trim blades

Located in An Tir.

Φ Aten. ~ Angus Trim - nice blades :-)  ``John Patrick

Φ An Tir ~ Angus Trim - Very nice rapiers, plus he's local.
Φ An Tir ~ Currently using a Angus Trim rapier blade and loving it.

Φ An Tir ~ Angus Trim for the best damn swords I have ever seen.  ``Samuale
Φ An Tir ~ Angis Trim, He's local and I can talk him into making stuff.

Φ An Tir ~ Angus Trim - Bladesmith - Really like the feel of the dagger & sword. He's also local.

“B&D Emporium”

Φ An Tir ~ B&D emporium - chances are the the woman behind the counter isn't a woman but the boots were good.  ``Cormac

Black Rose Creations / Syke’s Sutlering

Was located the East Kingdom. Now sold through Syke's Sutlering in AEthelmearc.

Φ AEth. ~ Syke's Sutlering - historically accurate hilts, lots of other great books and other items.  ``Jean

Φ Atl. ~ Sykes Sutlering - Cool clothing accessories.  ``Gunther

Φ Atl. ~ Black Rose (through Syke's Sutlery) does some very pretty work for schlager, and I love my Del Tin from them. Wish they carried some of their daggers...  ``Nikolai

Φ Caid ~ Sykes Sutler- great historical outfits, reliable service. Nothing real special on the equipment, but quick turnaround.  ``David

Φ Eald. ~ Sykes Sutlery –> for an assembled schlager sword I believe they are excellent supplier and their service is great (friendly, pleasent people).  ``Wilhelm

Φ East ~ Black Rose Armory...nice stuff when available...  ``Alain

Φ East ~ Black Rose/Don Terence the Arcane, because I have and like his hiltwork, and he's always willing to explain and work with people.  ``Ian

Φ East ~ Sykes Sutlery: Good quality work. Stands behind his merchandise. Understands fencing and the necessities of making a good, BALANCED rapier.  ``Jane

Φ East ~ I buy all my schlagers from Blackrose (Terry) He was one of the first to make period rapiers out there in the SCA and to this day I think he makes the most accurate ones out there.  ``Griffith

Φ Nor. ~ I own a black rose rig and still like it even though the pommell wore out.  ``Faelan

Φ Out. ~ Sykes Sutlering - like Terrence's work and designs a lot.  ``Charles

Φ Out. ~ Blackrose creations (Terrence Marr) - good work, and great customer service.  ``Ildiko

Φ Out. ~ Black Rose - got my first schlager from them 10 years ago, and it's still my favorite.  ``Carrick

Φ [Withheld] ~ I got my schlaggers from Terence when it was just Blackrose. Dealing with his wife (who owns Sykes Suttlery) isn't very pleasant.

Plus generic favorable mentions from: Atenveldt 1, Atlantia 1, Caid 1, Midrealm 1.

Blade Fencing

Located in the East Kingdom.

Φ East ~ Blade fencing in NYC: although they replaced the faulty equipment with no problem, they were snooty about the SCA.  ``Fei-Hong

Φ Tri. ~ Blade Fencing Co. - I began as an Olympic style fencer. I got my gear from Blade years ago, and it still holds up.

Φ Tri. ~ Blade fencing - received inferior blades from them and when paid for express shipping they sent it ground and kept the extra money.  ``Silvain

Blue Gauntlet

Located in the East Kingdom.

FAVORABLE 

Φ An Tir ~ Blue Gauntlet - cheapest legal fencing masks I've ever found.  ``Vincent

Φ Art. ~ Blue Gauntlet for masks.  ``Spanish Dan

Φ Tri. ~ Blue Gauntlet, Good cheap epee blades.

Φ Tri. ~ Blue Gautlet. When I place an order I get what I want, and it is timely.

Φ Tri. ~ Blue Gauntlet has, with little exception, come through with fast service and good quality produce.

Plus generic favorable mentions from: An Tir 1 and Meridies 1.
 

UNFAVORABLE

Φ Caid ~ Blue Guantlet - jackets that don't meet minimum standards and no response to inquiries.  ``Curteis

Φ East ~ Blue Gauntlet- I might go back if I know EXACTLY what I want and don't have to talk with any of the staff. They don't understand English very well.  ``Maire

Φ Tri. ~ Blue Gauntlet, too much out of stock.  ``Cathal

Φ Tri. ~ Blue Gauntlet- We picked up a few standard sport blades from them at a great price, and all of them failed in less that 6 weeks of use.  ``Cillian

Φ West ~ I do not know if they're out of business, but I won't use Blue Guantlet again. The only things of the starter set (Mask, gloves, jacket, epee, fencing bag) that lasted one year were the mask and jacket. The jacket died the following year. The mask is still good though. I would recommend the masks.  ``Staffan

CAS Iberia

Located in Meridies. "Wholesale distributor of swords and historic replica weaponry." Resellers sell the products to us at varying degrees of mark-up.

Φ Nor. ~ Cas Iberia for rigs (cheap & pretty).  ``Rodrigo

Φ Anst. ~ The worst experiance was with CAS Iberia. Just slow and often out of items in stock.

Del Tin Armi Antiche

Located in Drachenwald.

Φ Aten. ~ Del Tin blades ... are the best currently available.
Φ Aten. ~ Any of the newer Del Tin stuff (don't care who sells it).  ``Wallace

Φ Caid ~ Deltin: outstanding blades.  ``Tora

Φ Drach. ~ Del Tin excellent stuff! Cheaper to order from Europe.  ``Cernac

Φ East ~ DT - good blades and furniture.  ``Armand

Φ East ~ DelTin (which in the USA means you have to deal with Darkwood Armories).  ``Brokk

Plus generic favorable mentions from: An Tir 1 and Trimaris 1.

Excalibur Leather

Φ Mid. ~ Excalibur Leather has VERY nice gloves and if you don't feel like making a hanger you can get them there reasonable I think.

Fantasy Cutlery

Φ East ~ Fantasy Cutlery, rust erasers.  ``Richild

France Lames

Φ An Tir ~ France Lames, when they were good.  ``Samuale

Φ Atl. ~ Oops, never mind, they are not only out of business, but also in prison.  ``Rufus

GAA Armouries

Located in Meridies.

Φ Atl. ~ GAA Armories - great staff and very willing to work with you on special orders.  ``Marcus

Φ Drach. ~ ... because hes the onlz merchant that supplys Light Helms.  ``Gottfried

Φ Tri. ~ GAA Armouries for their gorgetts.  ``Lillian

Φ Tri. ~ master Geoffrey..... great looking and functional armor.  ``Coinneach

Gipsy Peddler

Located in Atlantia.

Φ AEth. ~ Gypsy Peddler -- they make great clothes.  ``Illadore

Φ AEth. ~ Gypsy Peddler - good looking armor for those, like myself, ready to graduate from the Triplette starter jacket but doesn't have the sewing skill to make his/her own.  ``Charles

Φ Atl. ~ Gypsy Peddler - Great garb and perfectly fitted gloves.  ``Ihsan
Φ Atl. ~ Gypsie Peddler - Good place to get durable fencing wear.  ``Gunther

Φ Atl. ~ The Gypsy Peddler is my favorite manufacturer of Fencing armor because of the quality and style.  ``Royce

Φ Atl. ~ I have bought wonderful armor from the Gypsy Peddler. I believe she is now carrying more gear.  ``Cristobal

Φ East ~ Gypsy Pedler - cool stuff.
Φ East ~ Gypsy Peddler - amazing fencing garb.  ``Lilia

Φ East ~ Gypsy Peddler: excellent equipment and reasonable prices.

Φ Mer. ~ Good, period merchandies, Saviya stands behind her gear.

Φ Mid. ~ Gypsy Peddler for their fencing armor.  ``Robert
Φ Mid. ~ Gypsy Peddler - nice shirts and garb for the non-sewer.

Φ Mid. ~ GipsyPeddler for rapier armor/garb, hands down, if buying. Unbeatable workmanship (experienced seamstress speaking), and looks great.  ``Kriemhilt

Plus generic favorable mentions from: Atlantia 1 and Meridies 1.

Harley Davidson

Φ Atl. ~ Harley Davison makes some incredible leather gauntlets.  ``Dante P

Kendal Band Guns

Was located in An Tir. The owner, Gerhard Kendal of Westmoreland (Baron, KSCA, OL, etc. and Ruling Baron of Lions Gate from 1976-2002), passed away in Dec. 2003. RIP.

Φ An Tir ~ (heck, I am Kendal Band Guns!) — Gerhard

Φ Drach. ~ Because ruberbandguns rule.  ``Gottfried

Leon Paul

Located in Drachenwald.

Φ AEth. ~ Leon Paul- durability of the blades.
Φ AEth. ~ Leon Paul--great blades, fantastic durability.  ``Corwin

Φ An Tir ~ Leon Paul for the best damn masks EVAR made.  ``Samuale

Φ Drach. ~ Leon Paul (London) - masks available via internet.  ``Acarin

Φ East ~ Leon Paul for epees.  ``Brokk

Φ East ~ Leon Paul for Epees...durable, light, quick, nice play and they don't hit hard, but can be made to deiver a good blow.  ``Alain

Plus generic favorable mentions from: An Tir 1 and the East 1.

Also see the comments about Leon Paul blades.

Lundegaard Armory

Located in the East Kingdom. [lundegaard.com]

Φ AEth. ~ Lundegaard Armory -beautiful & dependable weapons -custom built.  ``Po

Φ Atl. ~ Lundegaard Armory - Beatiful overpriced hilts. Wish he charged less, love them anyway.

Φ Nor. ~ Although a bit high priced, Lundegaard Armory makes some cool rigs.

Marco Borromei

Located in the Midrealm.

Φ Mid. ~ I like Marco Borromei for hilts.

Φ Mid. ~ Marco Borromei is a gentle in the Midrealm who makes custom hilts and while he will create artistic hilts, generally pays a good amount of attention to detail and historical accuracy.  ``Toshikage

Museum Replicas

Located in Meridies.

Φ An Tir ~ Musume Replica's for some odd bits and ends.  ``Samuale

Φ Mid. ~ I get some of my stuff from Museum Replicas although they aren't specif. SCA- They have some nice looking peroid stuff, although it needs to be modified for SCA. Pitty we can't use their blades.

Physical Chess

Located in the East Kingdom. 

Φ Caid ~ Don't know if Physical Chess is still around or not, but we got a bad batch of epees from them several years ago.

Φ Caid ~ For helms, Physical Chess, because they're cheap, decent, and students can try ours on before they order (We have all sizes except Large), guaranteeing a good fit.  ``Todde

Popinjay’s

Located in the East Kingdom.

Æthelmearc

Φ Popnjay- nice work.
Φ Popinjay's -dependable hilts.  ``Po
Φ Popinjay's - AWESOME swords.  ``Sasha

Φ Poppinjay -- very pretty weapons.
Φ popinjay ... his stuff is great but high priced.  ``Parion
Φ Popinjay -- I love his work, even though he takes forever to get your sword to you.  ``Illadore

Artemisia

Φ Popinjay I like because his work is GORGEOUS!  ``Justin

Atlantia

Φ Poppinjay- pretty toys :-)  ``Cam
Φ Popinjay - I love the style of his hilts.  ``Ihsan
Φ Popinjay also has some pretty stuff, but I don't have any yet.  ``Nikolai

Drachenwald

Φ Popinjay makes the finest blades I have ever handled.  ``Raphael

Ealdormere

Φ Popin Jay does nice work too.

Φ My first rapier (schlager) was a Popijay and it has lasted for a long time. Makes beautiful hilts and does good custom work. I've not ordered online from him so I don't know what his service is like. I've heard good things about him on various rapier mailing lists.  ``Albrecht

East

Φ Popinjay (georgous things).
Φ Popinjay - makes great hilts.
Φ Popinjay - good blades and furniture.  ``Armand
Φ Popinjay - gorgeous blades, esp. their custom work.  ``Lilia

Φ PoppinJays. He lives in the East and does fantastic custom work.  ``Brokk

Outlands

Φ Popinjay's - beautiful (but expensive) guards.  ``Guillaume

Plus generic favorable mentions from: AEthelmearc 2, Atlantia 2, East 1, and the Midrealm 1.
 

NEUTRAL/MIXED

Φ Mid. ~ Really good stuff, most of my gear is from him but it mau take him two years to deliver.

UNFAVORABLE

Φ East ~ Pop N Jay: Talked me into buying a dagger I couldn't afford. Then when I told him I couldn't afford it, before he shipped it, he had a hissy fit because it was done but wasn't shipped and I didn't want it.  ``Jane

Ren Boots

Based in Ansteorra. (renboots.com)

Φ An Tir ~ Really really nice guys, good quality, and fair pricing.  ``Gabrielle

Renaissance Fence

Located in Lochac.

From the merchant (as part of the survey): "why? cheapest supplies all hand tested and approved by the merchant plus specials each year supplied at cost to the community to support rapier".

Φ Loch. ~ Luan from Polit has nice hanwei blades at reasonable costs. [Barony of Politarchopolis]

Φ Loch. ~ Renaissance Fence - due to his close location and good service.

Santelli

Was located in the East Kingdom.

FAVORABLE

Φ AEth. ~ santelli...alternate to afs.  ``Parion

Φ Atl. ~ Santellie, reasonably prices nice looking epees.  ``Geoffrey

Φ Atl. ~ Santelli-quality products one of the few who carry xl mens masks, but pricey.

Φ Caid ~ Santelli, lowest cost.  ``Njall

Φ East ~ Santelli - local.
Φ East ~ Santelli... sheet metal eppe supplier.
Φ East ~ Santelli--- ease of getting equipment.

Φ East ~ Santelli - decent prices, nice to the SCA.  ``Lilia
Φ East ~ Santelli-it was local to where I used to live.  ``Maire
Φ East ~ Santelli, because I have an in with someone with a discount.  ``Ian

Φ East ~ Santelli, good quality modern fencing equipment and protetive gear.  ``Pascual

Φ Out. ~ Santelli - they were there at the beginning, and supply good equipment reliably.  ``Guillaume

Φ Tri. ~ Santelli, love the weapons set-ups, good looking and well balanced.

Plus generic favorable mentions from: Atlantia 1, Caid 1, East 2, Middle 1, and Trimaris 3.
 

NEUTRAL/MIXED

Φ AEth. ~ I think Santelli may have better quality [than TCA], but is more expensive.

Φ East ~ Santelli- friend works near there and gets a discount, also they sell sheet metal epees [but for] mail order they aren't always the best.  ``Astridr

UNFAVORABLE

Φ Anst. ~ Santelli foils and epees. QC sucks. Blades are weak and s-curve if you look hard at them.  ``Henri

Φ Drach. ~ I've never had a particularly bad experience, but Santelli tends to be a little clueless. My [spouse] ordered a pair of gloves and they sent two different colors, even though they were ordered at the same time in the same size.  ``Muirghein

Φ East ~ Santelli for the pure and simple reason of no customer service!!  ``Santiago

Solingen

See WKC below.

Syke’s Sutlering

See Black Rose Creations above.

The Fencing Post

Located in Caid.

Φ Atl. ~ thefencingpost.com..they have good blades for a great price, and the one time they were out of what I wanted, they called me the day they got new stock in to see if I was still in need of the blades.

Plus another generic favorable comment from Atlantia.

Valentine

Located in An Tir(?).

Φ An Tir ~ Valentine. Bought my first and only gorget there.
 

UNFAVORABLE

Φ An Tir ~ Valentine. 'Nuff said.

Φ An Tir ~ Valentine Armouries- welded the hilt to the sword!!!  ``Cormac

Φ An Tir ~ Valantine Armories, tang broke on blade they would not GTD or replace their product.  ``Duncan

WKC Solingen

WKC stands for "Weyersberg, Kirschbaum, and Cie."
Based in Drachenwald. They work through dealers/resellers.

Φ An Tir ~ WKC, quality.

Φ Loch. ~ Solingen in Germany .. very hard to deal with, poor customer care, poor products.

These other merchants were also mentioned in the survey responses:
 

The few links in the list above go to my merchant/supplier directory on this site so you can see their prices before visiting their site (from the last time I checked).
 

Links to comments on specific merchants

American Fencers Supply . Darkwood Armory . James the Just / Amazonia

Scottie Armory . Triplette/TCA

Your feedback is most welcome!

My nifty email form stopped working ... but you can still send me email if you would like to.

Original page posted: October 18, 2004. Links tested: May 24, 2008. Last tweaked: July 1, 2006.

The address for this page is [ www.therotunda.net/rapier/survey-1/q14-the-rest.shtml ]
 
Nothing on my Web site is the official publication of anyone else. Unauthorized use for profit is not permitted.