1stMate Matt

I got a sneak viewing of the movie last night. It was good. better then 2 and 3. It drug on a little long and they butchered Blackbeard...Ian McShane did fine but they should have stayed away from the historical pirate...Even the flag was wrong. All in all the movie was fun. Go see it. Have a blast. IMHO the first 20 mins in London were the best. I for one am already looking for a Mermaid to call my own!

I made this upgraded basket this weel. It is based off of our standard basket #1 pattern. The blade is similar to most of our backsword blades but with a slightly curved 33.5" blade. This is a big sword that moves quite swiftly and would be a dream to drill with. Blade length : 33.5" Blade type: double fullered backsword with false edge POB: 3.5" from hilt Blade width at shoudlers: 1.5" Blade width just before point: .75" Tang width: 1" at shoulder Edge: Blunt for stage combat or sparring use This sword is currently for sale at Legacy Forge. For more pics of this and other baskets, please visit our site here : http://www.baltimoreknife.com/baskethilts.htm I have a ton more basket pictures to get uploaded on the site and a few special ones so check back often. Questions and comments welcome.

Here are some "clean" pirate pics of me at PIP by Poppa.

This is a hunting falchion that I recently made. I was inspired by a few different historical hunt swords and falchions and this is my interpretation of a logical merge. Purpleheart handle, steel hilt and double false edged blade with fileworked spine. Blade is based off a 3/16" blank and is quite rigid. More pictures and details here: http://baltimoreknife.com/huntingfalchion.htm Your comments and feedback is always welcome and needed!

My I ask who made the hilt?

That and i get at least a few cutlass orders across the pond and I always have to send them to someone over here. This way I send them to you! Haha! My master plan unfolds! Didnt know what you were getting yourself into did ya? Pirate!?

Yea and you are super doomed because then you will have a pattern for my standard cutlass blades. :)

Here is another good shot of it to show scale.

Hey nice job on all of them. The last few brown ones caught my eye big time. I need a brown hat.

Hey Randsom, The dealer on the west coast for us is Age of Chivalry. They are one of the only vendors who doesnt make scabbards for our blades. Our main dealer Legacy Forge makes them for every blade as he would rather see us focus on making swords which they cant do, but leather is easy enough to do on the road. Try contacting Paul Dubro of Legacy Forge on Facebook. He can hook you up as he stocks leather for most of my blades.

BTW, I havn't forgotten the lizard. I will be engraving it on the blade today.

Thanks for the comments folks. I think this was a case of all the pieces just coming together. Im so happy with it and I will be doing more "Upgrades" this year. I will soon be highlighting "upgrades" on our website to give people a better idea of what can be done from a base piece.

Some of you know that POD does most of my leatherwork that I sport at festivals and events. This is a trade item that I traded him for a hot sword/pistola belt for miss Applebooteh. Anyway, this is quite a bit upgraded then what he picked out for her but I wanted to make it something special for him since he did the same for me. This is based off of our production 28" cutlass blade. I hand ground a fuller in it and gave it a false edge and pulled the standard edge back a bit then gave the spine a bit of filework. The hilt is based off of our standard Bootstrap. I upgraded that a bit aswell. Added some file work and some hammer finishing. The handle is upgraded to a hickory wood handle. I then spiraled it in both directions creating a pineapple effect. The pommel was custom ground from a bar on the sander to get that pineapple shape. Her she is: more info and pictures here: http://baltimoreknife.com/pineapplebootstrap.htm Thanks for looking! -1stM

Thats great man! It has great lines. Nice piecing of parts. Well done!

There will 100% be an offical Order of leviathon meeting at Fells but the Order needs to decide on some things ahead of time. A)Are you electing anyone new? B)If so how many? C)Do the new people get rings? D)If so do the pay for them or does the Order want to try and fund it some how? E)The Order working with Pirates Magazine needs to decide a Pirate of the year. (DOES NOT have to be in the Order) F)Any other awards you want to give out to members or none members of the order G)M.C. of the event or would you members of the Order like to do it as a Council type of thing. I am sure there are more Q's to answer but get chatting about these.

I think I need to clear some things up. -The Devils Dozen was a one time thing. Those brought on board the first go around are the only Devils Dozen. They can pass their rings down if they choose to step down but those first few are the Devils Dozen. -The Order of Leviathon is the Order the Dozen were elected too. They decide if there will be new members to the order -The first group was verry diverse. Different ages/sex/cultures. -Pirates Magazine set up the first meeting and put out all the money for it. They did not profit from the event in fact money was lost overall. -Pirates Magazine will always help the Order in whatever tasks they choose to do, but do not control the Order at all. -The Order can vote in whomever it chooses. Overseas is fine. It is often hard for them to travel to be inducted. -which brings me to induction...we do not choose who is inducted or when. If a person is inducted during the year or voted in they still must attend a cerimony at some point to be inducted. Example. If the Order votes on 2 new members to be let in now then those 2 must attend the Fells Point meeting to make it official. -we are game for putting on some funraisers but its up to the Order. if none are done then there will be a cost for tickets at the events as there will be some sort of food and drink provided. We are lucky enough to have some great supporters and sponcers for the event to help costs down a little but some cost will still accure. We will try to keep costs at a minimum. New members can be decided by the Order as a whole anytime but once a year seems to be the best format and as long as the Order is willing to travel to our home town of Baltimore then we will certainly aide in hosting an event. If it chooses to meet elsewhere then we will do the we can to help where we can. I myself am not even in the Order. I do feel that I am a part of it and I am currently acting as the "HOST" for the Order. So My words are not final. I currently can't even speak for the magazine as I am just a columnist with a inside view of things. Shortly this will change as plans are to bring me on the staff officialy. :)

Still in the planning stages. There will be a gathering at fells point. I can confirm that. To what end...I can not.

Aye, he would be a fine addition to the order. I am not sure how many will be added this year. Not up to me.

Cant wait to see it in metal and wood!

Well then. I couldnt think of a better reason to call it or make it the way you did. Someone paid you to do so. I have certainly done that more times then I would like to admit in my lifetime. Its a neat lil short sword. Didnt mean to reflect otherwise. Just didnt read cinq to me.

Hey Ben. I am curious as to why you feel this is a cinquedea. Other then the over size of the piece I dont see much to lead me that way. To me at minimum the blade would need much more taper. Wider at the shoulders and more narrow at the point. I also always thought that "5 fingers" meant 5 fullers wide at the base. I have later found that it just means fives fingers wide at the shoulder and that not all models had 5 fullers. However, almost all examples are fullered. Some with 5 then 4 then 3 then 2 then one down the blade. Some start with 3 at the base and some are single fullers. I have even soon some historical examples of raised ridges instead of fullers. The guard is also one that I have never seen on a cinq. Some have the basic droop shape like yours but most see the classic "V" guard in their head when they hear cinquedea. I would also make the handle to blade ratio different. if you look at historical examples the handles always look too small for the blades. Also maybe a wheel pommel would help. I am in no way trying to pick on you. I am a fan of your work. I just dont see Cinquedea at all when I look at this piece. I would normally never post anything like this but I am kind of a cinquedea fan and have researched them alot over the years. I look forward to hearing your inspiration for naming it this.

This is an early American saber made by Nathan Starr of Connecticut. He and his son Nathan Jr were the leading sword makers in America until 1830 when they stopped making swords and gave up the US military contract to Ames. They made roughly 2000 swords of this and later styles. This is one of the more early swords by them. They started making swords in 1798. The later swords have more pronounced curves in the blades. One reference says that they were the first production sword company in America. Making this and other swords by them a true part of US history and well worth sharing with you all. The sword has seen some improper 'cleaning' but is still quite sturdy. Not sure how long it will be in our hands but we wanted to share. Blade length is 33.75" POB is 8.25" from hilt Small fuller up the spine that ends 6.75" from the tip fuller width is about .25" blade width at shoulder 1.5" blade width just before point 1.25" distal taper is from 1/4" - 1/8" It has a slight false edge and the point is rounded about the same as a quarter The hilt looks to me to be iron as it looks much like old wrought. The handle is wood and spiral fluted with leather over. There is 2 small pieces of brass wire at the top of the hilt making it obvious that the flutes once had brass wire inlayed. Here you can see the top of th end cap is brazed on with brass.