M. Jancarik wrote:I know of at least one Eastern European swordsmith that still forges his swords by hand. Check out his site at
www.sword.cz .I had the pleasure of visiting his workshop and having a good discusion with him. He's very amicable and talented.
I handled a sword made by Mr Cervenka, a longsword of the XVIIIa type which was owned by my friend Marek in the Czech Republic. It was an excellent piece, light and amazingly well balanced. Though technically a blunt designed for live combat, it had a very narrow edge. Nevertheless despite years of use including bashing against plate armor it had barly any nicks in the edge. The steel and heat treatment must have been extraordinary. I was extremely impressed with the blade.
The sad thing for me was that up until a month before my visit Mr Cervenka was selling his swords for very low prices around $300 uS, but he was discovered in a review on Myarmoury website and now has a 2 year waiting list (or did last time I checked.)
JR
