Seax Review.

[R.D.Metcalf]

Maker: Eric Cartrette

Blade length: 5"

Cutting edge: 4 1/4"

Grip: 4 1/2"

Material: Walnut scales held by brass pins

OAL: 9 1/2"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When first handling this seax which I will heceforth refer to as Wolf Claw, one of the things that struck me is the balance and ergonomic proportions of this seax. Transitions from forward to "ice pick" grip are lightning fast and the gently curving grip enables a a great chopping cut when the peice is held in a saber grip with the heel of the hand resting on the butt of the grip. This thing would be devastating in a close in fight, a very nimble knife yet deceptively powerful and frankly one of the better knives in terms of ergonomics I've ever handled. Its not large but in a close in scenario thats a distinct advantage.

The blade design which I call a wolfs claw was never one of my favorites but it is now, I owned a similar design made by Cold Steel,
but this knife is a polar opposite, the walnut grip is warm well fitted and gives the impression the seax actually *wants* to be used, no black paint and plastic grips here

In the big picture the fit and finish were awesome, the ergonomics were spectacular and it was sharp as a razor. I am extremely proud
to own this seax. It is everything a belt knife should be in my opinion.

Eric, I can only speak for myself but I think crafted an excellent tool/weapon here. It suits me to the ground and I'm a very satisfied customer

~RD~

[Willrett]

sounds like a knife I would love to have. We could use some pics as always . Great sounding knife and great review.

[R.D.Metcalf]

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/577/082409225100.jpg


Here she is, gentlemen, meet Wolfs Claw!

Aint she seaxy?

[R.D.Metcalf]

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/3426 ... 213000.jpg


Heres little Wolf claw with some of her siblings.

[dwayne davis]

Now that is a very nice looking family, nice seax though.

[Willrett]

Looking at the family pic I would bet the seax was made just to go with your stuff. Great looking seax.

[Eric C]

Man! After reading the review, I had to check the pic to see if it was the knife I sent you. I'm glad you like her and I hope you get many good years of service out of her.
Thanks for the review.

[hesinraca]

that is a very lovely blade Eric, extremely well done, I like it a lot and kind of want one now:-P. I'd be interested to see a cut test on rope or leather to see the edge quality.

Not raining on your parade, just a side note, I don't think this blade counts as a Saex. The blade is very close, but I think the step on the ricasso negates the "saex class" qualifier, and most any artifact we have found has a saex of that size with a broken back. Also, the handle is not a saex type. Not saying that it isn't a good blade or that it isn't "saex-like", but there are some pretty strict historical specifications for something to be called a saex.

Here are some my-armoury links about Saex blade shape history, in case anyone wants to read up on it.

Class type and use, discussion of function
http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_seax.html

Decent coverage in a discussion of what makes a knife a saex
http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=17288

[Eric C]

Haven't checked your references yet. I will when I get home from work. But as I mentioned in the thread where I originally posted this knife along with a broke back style that now belongs to my wife, these are "seaxish" knives. I don't claim any historical evidence for them. They are more inspired by knives that I have seen made by other finer makers than myself. Not that I don't care about historical evidence, because I certainly do. I just wanted to try my hand at a couple of knives of this style and will most likely do many more like them.

Thanks for the input though. I look forward to checking out the links when I get time this afternoon.

[hesinraca]

Yeah, RD posted it with Saex so I thought I'd bring that up, I figured you'd have known that. The links I found are actually a good read and gave me some good ideas for a knife later on, so at the very least its good fodder for the think tank;)

[R.D.Metcalf]

"Yeah, RD posted it with Saex so I thought I'd bring that up, I figured you'd have known that"

Cedric, you seem to be gunnin' for me, this makes, what? 3 threads you've hi-jacked? Which is laughable pathetic on your part. Its sad that you dont seem to realize this blade style was in use from the 7th-8th and has nothing to do with any of the broken back seax links you posted. No one said this was a historical peice.

Further, I dont nor does Eric, owe you any type of edge tests, the *SEAX* does its job and I love it. Considering I bought it for me and not for you, your satisfaction with its performance is irrelevent



By the way in the old tongue: Seax = Knife. I actually laughed out loud when you talked about distinguishing a seax from a knife. Considering the bewildering array of shapes and sizes in which they were made. And in one case the handle was pinned WOW! imagine that. Wait a tick!
The Krageul (SP) bog?, i think this is it, find reveals some more swords/long seax with odd holes in the handles But those couldnt have been for grip scales...thats preposterous


I'm going to ask you nicely not to speak to me or of me in a condescending tone. I know a small bit about Migration/Viking
era weapons, when/if I need your input having exhausted my rather large library on the subject I'll PM you. Until then remember a wise saying before you condescend to me or about me again: "Having a sharp tongue can cut your own throat"

Oh and before you curtly post something for my benefit, direct it at *me*, not about me. I only ask for a bit of respect, treat me like I've treated you.

[Gareth]

...

[hesinraca]

You want the goldne rule applied to you, so here it goes. You must have some sort of mental deficiency to have construed all of that from a simple "hey, actually, check this out". I'm not going to argue with you because by your logic I can call my english long sword a "katana". You've finally proven how much of a dillusional asshole you are, so I'm not interested. And don't even presume to threaten me with your underhanded quotes and loud mouth bs, you're wasting my time.

Eric, I meant no offense, I was just doing some research and thought it was interesting and here you made a blade where I was researching. I am very impressed with your work and only mentioned a cut test because I was curious as a fellow bladesmith. If a craftsman doesn't test his product, how does he know his quality? My appologies if I offended you in particular.

Since the people on this forum that were sane don't talk much and the quality of the forum is dropping (here's a direct address to you, rd, so you don't feel like I talked about you and not to you), I've got better things to do then try to hold conversations that turn into arguements and battles. Sad it comes to this, but nothing lasts I suppose. Take care.

[Eric C]

All right guys. I would take action on this if it were my forum, but it's not. Jack has been contacted and will be involved very soon. Until then, don't dig any more holes for yourselves. Let's let it drop.

[Willrett]

new rules from now on all swords,knives,seaxes,axes, and other sharp object is now only to referred to as a "pointy shiney sharp thingamabob that could hurt someone" just so there are no more issues.

guys remember we are all here because it our hobby, or passion, or even lifestyle and there are not many of us who come here to talk about it, lets try to remember that and not attack anyone. I have never found anyway to see peoples feelings in there typed words so keep that in mind when reading and typing.


This has by far been the greatest forum I have even been to, with the best people I have talked to lets keep it that way.