A Paul Macdonald Smallsword / Cleddyf Annwyn

You may remember my smallsword from Macdonald Armoury [External Link] had some damage.

Well, it now has a new hilt wrap courtesy of Joel MASON of Jacob’s Armory [External Link]:

You may notice this is the Cleddyf Annwyn pattern ([External Link]) which means it’s now a matching set with the Jacob’s Armory Spadroon I bought at the Smallsword … Continue reading

Sunday 14th October, 2012

An additional post and two writing announcements to make this week.

In case you missed me mentioning it earlier in the week, I have unveiled my latest toy: A Jacob’s Armory Spadroon / Cleddyf Annwn. My Macdonald sword grip is currently with Jacob’s Armory / Joel MASON being re-wrapped to match (having lost the original wrap to enthusiastic dismantling), so I shall soon have Cleddyfau Annwn. For those who want to continue the welsh lesson, using cleddyf(au) is cleddyfa. Now I just need to find out the word for “historical”…

As for writing, you may remember I had a story accepted for the Outlaw Bodies anthology from The Future Fire [External Link]. The antho will be out in November and the publicity drive has started.

  • Announcement 1
    There is now a round robin interview post on the editor’s blog here: [External Link].
  • Announcement 2
    My story related guest post will be up on the same blog on Thursday (18th). I will of course be mentioning it next weekend but you can get all the Outlaw Body related posts on the editor’s blog by clicking here: [External Link]

(I will – when I get around to writing it – be writing a little more about the ideas behind my story in the anthology, which I intend to get on here at roughly the same time the actual book is released. So, expect more and more about Outlaw Bodies over the next few weeks.)

Monday 8th October, 2012

Not much has changed this week. I had another long weekend because swords. I’ve definitely spent my sword budget this year. I’ve bought a second hand federschwert of a friend – admittedly about a month ago – and this weekend I also purchased a smallsword / spadroon from Joel MASON of Jacob’s Armory [External Link]. As Joel actually does the grips, he’s also rewrapping the Macdonald smallsword to match, so that’ll need an update when the grip comes back in the post. I need to make sure I have the details correct for the swords and take some photos before the posts can go up.

A Paul Macdonald Smallsword: Update

You may remember my smallsword from Macdonald Armoury [External Link]. Well, here’s a more recent photo of the hilt. Spot the difference.

No, it hasn’t been through any wars – just some drills and a few free-play bouts. The cause was a change of blade because my opponents were finding the shortened blade I had bought it with too stiff. I’d better add that I specifically asked for … Continue reading

A Paul Macdonald Smallsword

I ordered a smallsword from Maestro Macdonald [External Link] and, as you can see, it’s arrived.

The hilt is bronze with a wire wrap of brass and copper. It has a few marks but that’s because the original, which was used to make the cast the bronze parts, has them. The blade is a double-wide épée – a modern sports fencing blade that’s double the width of a normal one – and is … Continue reading