We may or may not have mentioned that recently Niki treated us to a day at the Renaissance Faire. This was our birthday gift and also something we planned WAY in advance seeing as how Geoff and I have insane schedules and the Faire falls after the beginning of the school year and Niki is a middle school teacher.
While there we took a lot of pictures which we’ll post at another time. (Hobbit Holes, Kilts, Knights, whee!) We may also have spent an inordinate amount of time drooling over the dealers in Sharp and Pointy Weapons and Other Things. Geoff and I had done our best to save our pennies so that we might be able to get something small while at the Faire and, at least for me, something Pointy and Potentially Dangerous in the Best Possible Way was absolutely on my list.
While there were several dealers in potentially mortal weapons, when we happened upon the crazily busy booth for Sabersmith, I knew I was home.
Not only was their stuff amazingly beautiful, it is hand forged in the USA, impeccably designed, and their staff was top notch. I took some photos of some of the things that I thought were really very cool, but I encourage you to check out their website. Their stuff is just fantastic.
Geoff has been wanting a “bastard” sword for a long time. For those who don’t know, a bastard sword has a hand-and-a-half grip, it’s neither a single handed grip or a two handed grip. He found one on this wall he really liked.
You can get an ideal from the stuff on the table of the variety of items they make. You can get an idea from the people in the background of how busy they were.
This is a closeup of the short sword among the collection that had the bastard sword Geoff liked. I like short swords. I think I was an archer in a past life.
What I really wanted was a dagger. This one has a 6 inch blade. I wanted more of a boot dagger but this one was SO pretty. I may have played with it and walked around with it for a good 20 minutes or so.
We were able to get a small item. These lovely people also gave us a veteran’s discount as Geoff is a veteran. In the process we were accidentally charged the non veteran price. (Like I said, it was mayhem in there, I think they were the most popular vendor in the whole Faire.) I realized the error on the way home and emailed them about it. Within a few days I had not only an email back but a FULL refund of the purchase price and a phone call to make sure that, since the refund would take 3-7 business days to process, it would be OK to run the correct charge through and it wouldn’t kill our bank account as we used our debit card.
Wow.
That, folks, is customer service. So, clickie, and go shopping. These craftspeople deserve it. And if anybody wants to buy us that dragon axe, you know where to send it.
~Kelly
The Books are Taking Over... 