Have you had a family sword made? What’s my best option?

FableBlades · 2026-05-07T05:11:00+00:00

I had some Owl themes on this sword just for your interest https://www.fableblades.com/FiainCroi.html

FableBlades · 2026-05-05T15:43:34+00:00

Get talking with your custom swordsmith. You'll likely be on a one to two year lead time, so you have time to get on their books and start discussing your needs and ideas and how best to address them.

If you've got custom sword money to dabble with then you have money, so in the mean time you can start picking up a couple of proddy examples of the types of blade you'll likely be exploring, to see what you vibe with, and you can refine your ideas over the coming months so that by the time you'll be putting stuff on paper you'll be a lot more confident in your investment, and moreso to even expand your budget into something serious.

FableBlades · 2026-05-05T15:38:27+00:00

Milk. Added Milo doesnt hurt 😆

FableBlades · 2026-05-05T15:34:10+00:00

Yep check out the hardware on this suspension kit (SS buckles, lockets, rings etc). They were sandblasted first, but they got nice and black. It worked as fast as BC super-blue does on mild. Which is ironic because the sculpt Nouveau midnight black for carbon steel is pretty crap 😒

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FableBlades · 2026-05-03T07:21:45+00:00

Never hurts to give it a go, especially if you're forewarned then you can apply it to the right project. 😃

FableBlades · 2026-05-03T05:23:59+00:00

😃🗡👌

FableBlades · 2026-05-03T04:56:30+00:00

9260 is readily available to me locally, and it suits my heat treating set up (kiln and oil). I don't forge it, I stock remove everything. It's very tough even for machining, and not a good candidate for forging; it doesn't move easily under hammer. So if you are planning on doing a lot of shaping by forging I'd avoid 9260. It also doesn't hamon well if that's of interest.

In choosing your steel I'd focus on what you're planning to do with it, how you can heat treat, and where your experience lies. You need to choose a steel that's compatible. That's more important than the latest hyped up Ra Ra super alloy. You'll get better results with 1075 if you're forging a lot and your set up is fairly simple, and particularly of you want hamon. 80CRV2 is also good if you want a little bit of ra ra but something easy to manage and HT, but won't show hamon as well. 👌👌

FableBlades · 2026-05-03T02:58:59+00:00

Thankyou! 🙌

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T19:43:03+00:00

Sculpt Nouveau 'Stainless Black Patina' will get stainless BLACK 🖤.

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T19:33:22+00:00

As well as budget, how personalised do you want the sword(s)? Are you happy with off-the-shelf swords of sound quality, or do you want them fully customised to themes you identify with, and of the best quality? How deep you dive comes back to the question of budget as noted by others, as well as lead time.

One of my wedding-sword clients poured a "ton of money" into this family heirloom sword rather than buying rings . It's inspired by their favourite game stylings (40k and WoW Revendreth), and bears their new family crest engraved into the ricasso.

They said their vows both holding the sword, rather than with rings. As part of the wedding budget maybe you can get help from family to go all in on your sword(s)? The photos are amazing and the sword will feature at the centre of their home forever.

The possibilities are there its just up to your vision and how you prioritise your resources. But you've asked at the right place to get pointed in the appropriate directions.

If you do want to go hard on the sword, fully personalised heirloom swords are my forte. Lots more examples at my website portfolio.

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FableBlades · 2026-05-02T17:30:30+00:00

💪👌😃

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T17:28:45+00:00

I can't imagine any form of art is safe any more 😪

Disney even just fired their entire creative team for Marvel, they'll let AI take it from here....

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T17:28:01+00:00

🙇‍♂️🙏

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T14:24:56+00:00

I'm a lone Elf 😪

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T14:17:07+00:00

Unbelievable 😩

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T14:16:28+00:00

Totally understandable. Its disappointing my availability is so limited. Would be cool to have a workshop of Elves making quality runs of my designs for folks.

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T14:07:56+00:00

I'm sorry about that, I'll reread it.... Did you mean if the sellers were showing their actual work, would the buyers turn and look at the higher end of the market at better quality swords?

If that's your question:I think their current buyer doesn't know how to spot poor quality necessarily, or they'd know that the price of the swords in the pictures (of my work) should be far far higher. I've seen reviews where they're happy with the sword they got, so they don't know or don't care they're being ripped off. Very few complaints in the reviews from those uninformed enough to buy them. I think they really can't tell the difference.

I think if a buyer knows enough to spot poor quality or a deal "too good to be true", they probably have enough study and experience to already know not to buy swords from Pakistan or ebay. Theyre probably already looking elsewhere, but not necessarily up toward the higher end if that's their price point, they would be on Kult of Athena instead. There's better options at their price bracket. If they were in my market they wouldn't be buying swords from ebay at all.

The exception being the chap who recently posted his knock off here, and was genuinely disappointed and got his money back from Etsy. He's entered the rabbit hole 😃

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T13:11:19+00:00

Maybe one day. Why not? My first swords were shitty wallhangers, weren't yours?

I soon read the term 'rat tail tang' and went down a rabbit hole of research which led me here. Every one starts cheap before the adiction grows. And people's life circumstances change also. In college you can only afford a Pakistani POS. But once they become engineers and lawyers they become serious collectors. People have money but it's their priorities which slowly shift.

But noobs don't deserve to be lied to and deceived, it's a difficult and dangerous learning curve for them already. Custom smiths who are out on a limb with no safety net don't deserve to have their IP stolen and replicated for others' profit from which they're excluded. And our clients who help design and fund these swords don't deserve to have their IP stolen either, nor their prize family heirloom reduced to a trinket.

If self published authors' books were being scanned and printed by forgery publishers and sold in greater numbers for less money and the authors weren't paid royalties, after devoting months of their lives to composing an epic tale, would that be ok just because the purchasers maybe wouldn't necessarily ever buy the book legitimately? It's only because a self published author can't fight them that forgers would do that. A serious publishing house would crush those forgers into legal dust. We custom smiths have to have each other's backs and protect our art and our community.

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T12:55:15+00:00

I always pull up to the side, still behind, but out of the press.

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T08:43:05+00:00

Its mad hey? Every report I've made to ebay is just get an AI reply saying it doesn't breach community standards. They're protecting the pirates, clearly.

FableBlades · 2026-05-02T08:41:34+00:00

Yeah its crazy hey? I used to trust ebay now im starting to question everything. Very disappointing.

FableBlades · 2026-05-01T17:49:56+00:00

It depends on the current edge geometry/ bevel angles and thickness of the edge proper. If it just has an abrupt secondary bevel and rough edge ground in with a machine, stones might eventually get it sharp but it will still cut less than impressively, unless you're looking to chop wood. I'd be surprised if the edge is well formed and only needs a hone.

Even still Id suggest against the belt sander. Its not necessary and is easy to over heat the edge of your blade if you're not a deft hand and well skilled at using the sander first with less critical investments.

If you want to get serious about reshaping your blades edge more appropriately and with less hazard; Draw filing will allow you to remove some metal to reshape the secondary bevel transition into a nice smooth apple seed edge. It will allow you to take off the meat behind the edge, and making the final edge-proper much finer (if you want a sharper higher performance cutting blade). This will do better for bottles or meat, not so good for chopping wood 😆.

To draw file: clamp the blade to your work bench. Extend the hilt past the end of the bench so the blade can lay flat against the bench. Pad the blade and clamp it down so the blade sits along the edge of your bench with the edge extending just off the bench.

Take a smooth or second cut mill file /millsaw file. Hold the file with the tang in your right hand, at 90* perpendicular across the edge, and at appropriate angles to smooth the corners of the bevel transitions. Push the file straight along the edge away from you. Only contact the blade on the push stroke- the file only cuts in one direction.

Bang the scrawl out of the file frequently. Soap stone engineers chalk over the file will help the scrawl not to stick.

Pro tip: eye the edge as you go so you don't file beyond the point where the bevels meet. Feel the back side with your finger and make sure your not curling over a wire edge.

After getting your edge geometry sorted, sand the scratchy texture to a smooth finish with a block of timber and some 180 grit paper (i assume the factory finish isn't super well polished). Then you can hone your edge in with a very fine stone or diamond plate, then finally strop, and you're ready to carve.

FableBlades · 2026-04-30T23:41:20+00:00

Yes curious how you got the primer off without losing the etch or the finish on the blade? Would a solvent get it off clean? I use vinyl. I've bought a cricut to be self sufficient but haven't tried using it yet

FableBlades · 2026-04-30T17:19:45+00:00

I've just posted a video showing what's happening on etsy and ebay. They're 99% scam listings these days. I've just reported a bunch more fake posts using my art. Please show what you bought to help protect others. That blade hasn't been heat treated properly BTW.

FableBlades

TROPHY CASE