It’s nice to be able to get custom gear, especially when standard sizes don’t fit you. For me, that important, because I’m one of those people who doesn’t fit standard sizes too well. I never did. So, I’ve gotten my gear made custom, and there are a lot of customers who do. what can be customizes? Well, through Sword Gear, it’s jackets, pants, and the Gabriel and Michael gloves. While no-one has, yet, order custom Michaels, several pairs of Gabriel gloves have been ordered custom.

Another happy customer with his customized jacket.

All jackets and pants that are custom sized and custom colours are customized with no extra charge. There are additional prints available on custom jackets and pants, which do cost a little extra, however. Want a brocade print? That can be done!

Customizing gloves does cost more (~$100 CDN). Yet, it can be so worth it for the comfort, fit, and knowing that you’re really protected!

Oh, and Wukusi swords have interchangeable parts, so there is a modicum of customization available with those (see picture, below).

And, of course, the Burgundian gorgets are all customized, as these are made to order! With these, you pick your leather and rivets colours and your size, then it’s made just for you. And it takes only a couple of weeks to get completely and ready for shipping!

Happy customer showing off his custom Gabriel gloves and custom style Wukusi longsword.

There are several ways to measure flex on a sword. The SCA uses a method where they dangle a weight from the tip of a sword and measure how far down the sword flexes. This means that whomever does this must possess the exact weight needed and have a set up where they can clamp the sword and easily measure the change in distance that the sword moves.

There is an easier method that is becoming standard in Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA).

Most people have a weigh scale. If not, it’s often easy to borrow one. some schools even keep one on site at their practice hall. Thus, using this as a method of testing flex is easy and reliable, as long as the scale is reasonably accurate. This is the method that Sword Gear uses. Simply press the sword into the scale until it reaches its maximum flex, and record that number.

Current standards for flex are a maximum of twenty kilograms for longswords.  This should be less for shortswords, of course, but I haven’t read any conclusive standards on this. Whenever flex is shown on sword on Sword Gear’s site, this is the way it is measured.

For a comprehensive analysis of sword flex, read Sean Franklin’s article Standards For HEMA Testing – Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Blade Flex.

It’s not always easy to figure out who to buy from in the HEMA market. There are a lot of factors that we want to take into account, from how quickly we can get the item(s), whether the particular gear or sword will meet our expectations, what kind of return policy or warranty might be available, etc. One of the things that is difficult to assess is price.

When we’re looking at price, we most often just look at the straight price that we see on a vendor’s website or shop. This rarely tells the whole story, especially when comparing domestic vendors to international suppliers. If you’re ordering from out of country, you will have higher shipping costs. If the seller or from overseas, quite often the shipping can be as much as the original item(s) you want to buy. Ouch!

Then there are the taxes and duties for these. If you’re in the USA, buying from Canada can have duties, but for most items it won’t. You would have to look into each item separately. In Canada, everything you buy from outside the country will have, at minimum, GST applied to it at the border. If you are fortunate enough for that not to occur, never fret, it’s likely to happen next time. If it wasn’t applied, it’s only because someone missed it. This is most common with Canada Post, but can happen with other shippers, as well.

Then there are domestic vendors who show prices exclusive of GST/HST. This will add fees at the backend, again.

Fortunately, Sword Gear’s prices include all taxes! Yes, the price you see is the price you get. Everything, that is, except shipping. This has to be applied separately for each order, and is done on a cost-recovery basis, so you know you’re getting the best price possible. Below is an example, using an actual gear price, from one of our competitors. And then you can see how Sword Gear’s all taxes in helps save ou money.

The above example uses the Ontario HST rate. Note that you save even before shipping is applied!

Well, we finally got our first batch of sabers made, thanks to smith Samuel Fedoruk. First batch is already sold! So, packing will have to happen as quickly as we can manage. It may take a week to get everything out, though. These sabers were obviously a hit! Woo hoo! We’re ready to take backorders for the next batch, if anyone is interested. Our current wait time is about nine weeks, which is pretty good for HEMA swords. So, you can get a saber for a holiday gift if you put one on backorder. 

Total length is 100 cm.
Blade is ~86.5 cm
There are two guard types, standard and three-bars.
With the standard guard, mass is ~940 grams.
With the 3-bars guard, mass is ~985 grams.

Some History and Sources on Sabers

While sabers were originally a cavalry weapon, which in part explains their design, they did later become used on foot, with many modern practitioners of HEMA drawing their skills from treatises such as “Cold Steel” by Alfred Hutton (1889).

There are, of course, other manuscripts available.

A French treatise by M.J. de St. Martin (1804) called “The Art of Fencing Reduced to True Principles” is available in a translation to English. This covers smallsword as well as saber.

Henry Angelo’s “Infantry Sword Exercise” is, perhaps, the most influential in the English speaking world for his work, next to his student Hutton.

“Lessons in Sabre, Singlestick, Sabre and Bayonet, and Sword Feats” (1880) by John Musgrave Waite includes some experiments done on cutting and is applicable to more than saber.

Other sources include those who have studied these treatises today. Check your local HEMA club to see if they teach saber or would be able to bring in someone who does.