Making a lot of Saexes lately...

[Tinker Pearce]

From the fall of Rome to the early medieval period the sax ruled supreme as every man's all-purpose tool and weapon. It's roots go back to the Celtic La Tene period. Every free man in western europe, from Iceland and the Viking settlements in the Americas in the West to Russia in the east carried one for the better part of 1000 years. As such they are fertile ground for the knife-maker with an historical bent! The variety of blades, handles, sheaths and decorations could keep a man busy for a lifetime. I been making a lot of them this spring; here's a sampling.

Based on a recovered scabbard dating to the 6th-7th C.

This is one that I made for my wife Linda

a shotof the scabbard showing the tooling better...

My personal sax; I am likely to be redoing the engraving which means disassembling the scabbard... bleah!

All of the forms and decorative motifs are consistent with surviving examples.

More photos of my Saexes here: http://tinkerswords.com/saxarchive.html
For pricing and availability check here: Http://tinkerswords.com/forsale.html

 

[Michael Kemp]

I love these!

 

[Tinker Pearce]

Thanks

 

[Church & Son]

Nice stuff, I also love the Saexes..
Despite the influx of Euro's into the US in the early-mid 1800's, I have often wondered why the Saex blade did not become popular here.
So a while back I made my interpretation of a US blacksmith made "Cowboy Saex" with rawhide sheath and western influences...
Nice thread, love the history.....

 

[Tinker Pearce]

Cool! Of course if you add a false-edge and guard to a sax you have a Bowie Knife more or less...