Reviews Archives

Review: Mora Bushcraft Survival Knife

Posted by Roger Norling | Sep 5, 2016 | Knives, Reviews |

Being Swedish, the town Mora more or less equates to knives and I would even go so far as to claim...

Review: Fällkniven A1, S1 & F1

Posted by Roger Norling | Oct 28, 2015 | Knives, Reviews |

Today we will review three knives by a Swedish brand that oddly enough is little known to the...

Review: ESEE-4, ESEE-5 & ESEE-6 knives

Posted by Roger Norling | Feb 16, 2015 | Knives, Reviews |

ESEE Knives, formerly R.A.T Cutlery is one of the most well-regarded cutlers in the USA, a cutler...

Review: The Böker Plus Schanz Dagger

Posted by Roger Norling | Dec 12, 2014 | Knives, Reviews |

Before we look at the knife in question for this review we have to step back in time a bit and...

Fabrice Cognot – Bladesmith & Scholar

Posted by Roger Norling | Oct 10, 2014 | Arms & Armour, Articles, Knives, Reviews |

Today we are introducing Dr. Fabrice Cognot, Burgundian swordsman, polearms specialist and...

Review: Swordbag Liechtenauer

Posted by Roger Norling | Aug 21, 2014 | Bags, Reviews, Training Gear reviews |

As much as I love the pioneering aspect of Historical Fencing some aspects of it have, at times,...

Review: Ontario Knives Chimera

Posted by Roger Norling | Aug 8, 2014 | Knives, Reviews |

Among the countries of the world one stands out as truly blessed with excellent knife makers...

Review: Tinea Kombat Knife

Posted by Roger Norling | Jun 29, 2014 | Knives, Reviews |

Today we are going to look closer at a fairly new modern Italian-design combat knife that not so...

Review: KA-BAR D2 Extreme Fighting/Utility Knife

Posted by Roger Norling | Jun 20, 2014 | Knives, Reviews |

When it comes to combat knives, next to the classical Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife, few are as...

Review: SPES Dussack Waster

Posted by Roger Norling | Apr 4, 2014 | Reviews, Swords, Training Gear reviews |

Given how important the dusack has been both in the fencing schools and tournaments, all the way...

Review: A history of Europe by Aneas Silvius Piccolomini – 1400-1458

Posted by Jean Chandler | Feb 7, 2014 | Books, Reviews, Study Book reviews |

A ‘new’ book from the 15th Century has just been translated and published. The book...

Review: SPES HEMA Jacket – Axel P model

Posted by Roger Norling | Dec 27, 2013 | Protective gear, Reviews, Training Gear reviews |

Looking at how the HEMA community looks today it is easy to forget how hard we have been working...

Review: Warring Maidens, Captive Wives, and Hussite Queens

Posted by Jean Chandler | Nov 7, 2013 | Books, Reviews, Study Book reviews |

Before I go any further, I would like to point out that this is physically a very nice book. The...

Review: Black Lance 5-finger HEMA Gloves

Posted by Roger Norling | Jul 11, 2013 | Protective gear, Reviews, Training Gear reviews |

One of the most elusive pieces of protective gear for HEMA, the Holy Grail if you will, is good...

Review: Where’s my fighting trousers?

Posted by Roger Norling | Apr 8, 2013 | Reviews, Shoes & clothing, Training Gear reviews |

“A telegram? Oh, dear. It seems someone has been “biting me”…? Fetch me my trousers at once! No, not those. Those are my time travel trousers. No, those are my tea trousers… That’s it! Those...

Review: Regenyei fechtschwert

Posted by Roger Norling | Feb 5, 2013 | Reviews, Swords |

The swordsmiths around the world have seen some pretty fierce competition developing over the...

Review: Arms & Armor Fechterspiel Sword

Posted by Roger Norling | Jun 18, 2012 | Reviews, Swords, Training Gear reviews |

Swordsmith: Arms & Armor Arms & Armor have been making swords for practice and...

Hands-on Preview: Pavel Moc Fechtschwert

Posted by Martin Fabian | Feb 21, 2012 | Reviews, Swords, Training Gear reviews |

HEMA has gone through a lot of progressive development in the last decade. The community is...

Review: Lichtenauer steel longsword

Posted by Roger Norling | Sep 10, 2011 | Reviews, Swords |

In a way I think one’s first real sword is like your first love. It is something you will always remember in a special way, since it was such a strong emotion experienced for the first time. My first, was a Pavel Moc...

Review: The Dave Rawlings/Knightshop Synthetic longsword – Pro-Line Extreme

Posted by Roger Norling | Aug 2, 2011 | Reviews, Swords, Training Gear reviews |

Few HEMA-related products have caused as much debate as the Dave Rawlings/Knightshop range of Synthetic Swords. This comes quite natural as they were developed in close collaboration with the HEMA community, and the way we...

Review: Zugadore poly sparring sword by Revival.us.

Posted by Roger Norling | Feb 4, 2011 | Reviews, Swords, Training Gear reviews |

This waster came seemingly out of nowhere onto the market, at a time were we are seeing very quick...

Review: Norrlands waster by Plastsmeden

Posted by Roger Norling | Feb 4, 2011 | Reviews, Swords, Training Gear reviews |

The best longsword nylon wasters I have tried thus far were hand made by Pentti of GHFS....

Review: Synthetic Longsword Type II by Purpleheart Armoury

Posted by Roger Norling | Feb 3, 2011 | Reviews, Swords, Training Gear reviews |

This hand-made Synthetic Longsword II is actually a bit of an old Rolls Royce or a Bentley. The...

Review: Synthetic Longsword Waster by Pentti of GHFS

Posted by Roger Norling | Feb 3, 2011 | Reviews, Swords, Training Gear reviews |

I consider myself very fortunate having had the chance to follow the development and having been able to practice with the infamous Pentti nylon wasters, which in my experience is amongst the finest nylon sword simulators, if...