This page is for reviews of places you've bought kit from. Please add your thoughts, but keep any criticism polite and objective as Manny isn't a proper lawyer yet. For more details about what to look for when purchasing weapons, see the buying weapons page.
Ana Period Shoes (UK)
Items sold Shoes (hand- and machine-stitched)
URL www.anaperiodshoes.co.uk
Items in Wychwood Lots of us have her budget machine-stitched shoes
Review 1 These are very comfortable indeed at a reasonable cost of around 40 pounds. If treated with care, they will remain in good condition and not wear out easily. (Philipp)
Ancient Battle Crafts (UK)
Items sold Weapons, helmets, clothing & tents
URL www.ancientbattlecraft.co.uk
Items in Wychwood Bunni has their gambeson
Review 1 My gambeson is great. Much too big and I wouldn't wear it anywhere where they were going to worry about authenticity (the sleeves are longer than my mail's sleeves, which is a Bad Thing). But it was ace at Tintagel, didn't feel a thing. (Bunni)
Armchair Armoury (UK)
Items sold Armour, mail rings
URL www.armchair-armoury.co.uk
Items in Wychwood A few members have purchased chainmail rings from Armchair Amroury.
Review 1 AA have a wide range of rings on offer, mostly at a comparatively good prize (5 pounds per thousand for standard 8mm spring steel rings). They can also normally be found at the NLHF. (Philipp)
Armour Class (UK)
Items sold Swords, seaxes, scabbards
URL www.armourclass.co.uk
Items in Wychwood Heid, Ross, Philipp and Freya have Armour Class swords
Review 1 Armour Class weapons are good quality for the prices they charge, however… they don't counterweight their blades properly by changing the pommel size. Now that Binnsy is doing budget-range weapons, I'd check him out first (Freya)
Review 2 The quality of blades is very good indeed, very well balanced, overall light and extremely well hardened - mine still shows only very small marks along the edge even after a year of using it. Furthermore, their design is aesthetically pleasing (=shiny). They offer a wide range of designs suitable for our period. (Philipp)
Asgard Crafts (UK)
Items sold Viking/Celtic/Pictish jewellery, belt fittings, combs and books
URL www.asgardcrafts.co.uk
Items in Wychwood Freya has a pendant from them
Review 1 I was bought a pendant from Asgard Crafts as a present and it is beautifully made (at first I wondered if it had been bought from Fred Ohrstrom). However, it took a looong time to arrive. Looking through their site, their prices are generally very good. (Freya)
Bohemia Beauty (Czech Rep)
Items sold Glassware - copies of a range of historical designs, including at least one Viking glass
URL www.bohemiabeauty.co.uk
Items in Wychwood
Review 1
Ceolred Monger (UK)
Items sold Weapons, bling, soft kit, games… basically everything!
URL www.history-explorer.co.uk (website currently being updated) You can also sometimes find him at Hauksby or DAS and be tempted by lovely shiny things on his stall.
Items in Wychwood Lots! - please add specific examples and reviews if you have something
Review 1 I have four lovely silver hair/wimple pins just some of the many tempting pieces of bling on offer (Guðrun)
The Cloth Hall (UK)
Items sold Cloth!
URL None - email Lindy Pickard at clothhallATtalktalk.net or call 01484512968
Items in Wychwood Various members have bought cloth here.
Review 1 At the not-cheap end of historical fabric, they stock a selection of beautiful wool and linen and are happy to give advice and info. Excellent quality. (Freya)
Cotswold Woollen Weavers (UK)
Items sold Wool, especially blankets / throws
URL www.cotswoldwoollenweavers.co.uk
Items in Wychwood Guðrun has a cloak in twill from here.
Review 1 Not cheap but the blankets are some of the most beautiful natural wool shades and patterns I have seen. You can also go and visit their 'factory' which has a museum of the Cotswold textile industry including enormous rawhide wool baskets (most exciting thing on my visit!). (Guðrun)
Daegrad (UK)
Items sold Tools, dress accessories, cooking items, weaving and spinning materials.
URL daegrad.co.uk and stores.ebay.co.uk/daegrad
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1 An amazing selection of useful tools - I've not bought any, but from the photos they look right for the period and nicely made. (Freya)
Danegeld (UK)
Items sold Viking & Saxon silver and bronze work (jewellery, belt fittings, clothes hooks, beads and more). Most pieces are based on actual finds. Commissions taken.
URL www.danegeld.co.uk
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1 I haven't seen any of these in the flesh, but from the photos it looks like he does some really nice work. The enamel brooches in particular are unusual for the reenactor market and look beautiful. I also notice he has made sword fittings for Paul Binns. All relatively high-end work - prices range from £20 to over £300 (Freya)
Get Dressed For Battle (UK)
Items sold Armour, helmets, weapons, clothes, camp kit, shoes
URL www.getdressedforbattle.co.uk
Items in Wychwood Dom, Philipp and John (?) have axe heads from GDFB
Review 1 They have a decent selection of weapons etc., mostly at very a very reasonable cost. In particular, would like to recommend the small (and extremely light) axe heads. (Philipp)
Review 2 Their armour range is well known and decent, but has a reputation for being quite heavy. Merely passing rumours on here, I don't actually know first hand. (Ferny)
Gothic Green Oak (UK)
Items sold Games and dice
URL www.gothicgreenoak.co.uk
Items in Wychwood
Review 1
Handfaste (Sweden)
Items sold Clothing patterns, jewellery, games. Also knives, scissors and other ironmongery but these aren't on the website
URL www.handfaste.se
Items in Wychwood
Review 1Nice jewellery and the ironmongery is an absolute bargain. I really put this on, however, for the clothing patterns they sell. The instructions are in Swedish but, well, they do have pictures (Freya)
Heron Armoury (UK)
Items sold Weapons, Swords, Helmets
URL heronarmoury.co.uk
Items in Wychwood seaxes (Manny & Phillip)
Review 1 Very hardy blades, generally quite thick and heavy. Herons are identifiable by the heron stamp at the base of the blade. (Manny)
Historical Shoes (UK)
Items sold Shoes
URL www.np-historicalshoes.com or craftmaker.co.uk page
Items in Wychwood
Review 1 Looked pretty good - fairly pricey, but all made-to-measure from veg/bark-tanned leather and hand stitched, with a choice of soles. Based on archaeological finds. (Freya)
Iduna Crafts (UK)
Items sold Clothing (made to measure), nalbinding, soft kit, embroidery.
URL www.iduna-crafts.co.uk
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1 This is one of my friends from Manaraefan, so I can vouch for the quality of her work (Freya).
ISCA Woodcrafts (UK)
Items sold Native hardwoods, modern carving and turning tools.
URL [http://www.iscawoodcrafts.co.uk/aboutus.html]
Items in Wychwood
Review 1
Jelling Dragon (UK)
Items sold Weapons, shields and armour
URL www.jelldragon.com
Items in Wychwood Jacco has a Jelling Dragon sword, some of their pendants and combat gloves.
//Review 1: Jelling Dragon do a wide variety of goods, anything from weapons to clothing. Their things can either be bought from stock or custom made. Prizes vary greatly: custom made items can run very expensive, but the budget items are a bit of a 'luck of the draw' situation. They don't appear on markets very much (that I've seen), so you're buying blind, but with everything I have bought of them so far, deliveries have been fast (if in stock) and the overall quality is good. (Jacco) //
Kokoszowa Manufaktura (Poland)
Items sold Arms, gambesons, maille (rivetted), clothing)
URL www.gambeson.pl
Items in Wychwood
Review 1
Kovex-ARS (Czech Rep)
Items sold Weapons, shields and armour
URL www.kovex-ars.cz
Items in Wychwood Two swords with lobed pommels. Manny has one of their hand-and-a-halfs. Bunni has a more blocky tri-lobe. Philipp has a sharp eating knife.
Review 1 Personally I would only buy from Kovex at a market where it's possible to pick up the weapons. The two swords we have in WW were bought mail-order and, while very well-made, are also very heavy. This apparently is not true of all their stock so do check out their goods if you see them in the flesh, as it were. (Freya)
Review 2 God their weapons look cool. Brutal and hardcore, seriously heavy metal. None of this pretty shiny stuff, these look like WEAPONS. They don't half make you tired using them, tho. (Bunni)
Review 3 The swords that belong to Wychwood are rather heavy and poorly balanced and are not to be recommended. However, in general their items are of good quality and if bought at a market should not disappoint. I have a very nice sharp knife with an antler handle that came with ready made leather sheath for a very reasonable 25 Euros (15 pounds). (Philipp)
Lancasters Armourie (UK)
Items sold Swords, armour
URL [http://threeshiresmedieval.com/test_website/Lancasters/index.html]
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1 They also run the full-contact tournaments Manny does. (Bunni)
Magnus - our friend from Hauksby (UK)
Items sold Weaponry, metalwork, leatherwork…you name it, he can make it
Items in Wychwood Dane Axe (Ferny), Dane Axe head? (Omar), Axe (Omar? Les?), leather water carrier (Ferny), plus he taught us how to make turnshoes which Les and VtU successfully made and Ferny less successfully made.
Review 1 Magnus doesn't set a price - he asks what you'd be happy to pay for it. There's potential for picking up bargains or ripping him off and flogging stuff on e-bay - please don't abuse his relaxed attitude to sales, he is a friend of us and the society. I haven't yet tested my drinking flask, but I'm sure it'll work. I payed £25 for it - I don't know whether this was expensive or cheap. My daneaxe is lovely, it is light and it sings. It cost me £60. However, it is top hafted, the 'eye' is very small (making bottom hafting difficult) and the 'wedge' is very small too, so it might buckle. Neither of us realised any of this at the time of purchase, I've only since found out from the Vike, but I get the impression that he wouldn't mind having a go at modifying the axe to meet these requirements - he's a very friendly and helpful fella. (Ferny)
Mercia Sveiter (UK)
Items sold Cast bronze and silver items, weapons, armour, horn goods
URL www.re-enactment.com
Items in Wychwood
Review 1 The place for cast bronzes (scabbard mounts, belt fittings etc). They have an enormous range of items and are excellent to deal with. I liked the fact that when I emailed my enquiry they rooted around and also found the chape design I wanted in another size, just in case I'd prefer that one - which I did. Also, their items are much shinier than they appear in the photos. (Freya)
Michael J King (UK)
Items sold Really really pretty musical instruments
URL www.michaeljking.com
Items in Wychwood None
Review 1
Montague Heritage Services (Eire)
Items sold Nice camping equipment, jewellery, clothes, plus all the GDFB stuff.
URL www.montague.ie
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1
Pasadena (Sweden)
Items sold Sami knives, clothes, spoons, cups etc
URL www.pasadena.se
Items in Wychwood None.
Review 1 Ohhh the pretty knives… if you have a hundred quid to spare, the tiny hand-forged Sami knives are the stuff of dreams. (Freya)
Paul Binns Swords (UK)
Items sold Swords and other weapons
URL www.paul-binns-swords.co.uk
Items in Wychwood 1 sword (now lost?), Bunni has their langsaex, axe and a nice 12" saex.
Review 1 Light, fast, deadly. And very pretty. Binns is undoubtably one of the best swordsmiths in the UK. Also he's good at making precisely what you want. Sadly, this means he's very popular. The waiting list can last A Very Long Time. Still, a great person to buy stuff off at the Re-enactors Market. (Bunni)
Review 2 Also note that Binns is currently doing Chrome Vanadium steel blades cheaper and quicker than the EN45 ones. (Manny)
Review 3 I trusted Mike at Viking Crafts to pick out a Binns for me and when he handed it to me I almost wept. It is perfect in every way. The thing with Binnsy is that he makes his blades individually, tailoring the tang and pommel to get the weighting correct. (Freya)
Pavel Moc (Czech Republic)
Items sold Exceedingly pretty swords
URL www.swords.cz/enindex.html
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1
Raymond's Quiet Press (US)
Items sold Jewellery, belt buckles, sissors, tweezers, helmets
URL www.quietpress.com
Items in Wychwood Shelagh has some of his jewellery and he has a very good reputation.
Review 1
Robin Wood (UK)
Items sold Hand made plates, bowls and spoons
URL www.robin-wood.co.uk
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1 He claims to be the only person in the UK to be using the traditional pole lathe to create bowls. He has some very pretty bowls, plates and spoons, but all rather expensive (which is why Claire and I didn't buy any). He had a stall at TORM MT 2007. (Ferny)
Spirit of the Fens (UK)
Items sold Leather goods
URL None. Tel: 07951 510242
Items in Wychwood Freya's boar pouch
Review 1 Beautiful tooled, carved and inlaid leatherwork, some of the nicest quality I've seen. I plan to use my pouch as a handbag when in civvies! (Freya)
Steve Dunford Ironwork (UK)
Items sold Ironwork (triopds, chains, firboxes, spits, tools, spearheads, trivets…manacles…)
URL [http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Period-Settings]
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1
Tillerman Beads (UK)
Items sold Beads. Lots and lots of lampwork beads. Also glass gaming pieces.
URL www.tillermanbeads.co.uk
Items in Wychwood
Review 1
Time Warrior (UK)
Items sold Shoes, shield bosses, spearheads, buckles, leatherwork
URL [http://test.histrenact.co.uk/timewarrior/]
Items in Wychwood Freya's toggle boots
Review 1 The boots I got from Time Warrior are ace. Not strictly authentic, as they have a hard sole nailed on, but they are very sturdy and very comfortable. (Freya)
Traditional Materials (UK)
Items sold Crafty stuff- tools, leather, other raw materials
URL www.traditionalmaterials.co.uk
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1
Travelling Fred (Sweden)
Items sold Bronze and silver jewellery, belt fittings etc.
URL None - email travellingfredAThotmail.com or ask Freya for his catalogue
Items in Wychwood
Review 1 I met this guy at a market in Sweden and he makes the most beautiful bronze and silver accessories. The craftsmanship of his items is fantastic - lovely clean shapes with clear decoration. I've never seen this quality for such a good price in the UK. I wanted to buy everything he had, but in the end limited myself to two bronze pendants for around £8 each. He doesn't have a website, but will email you a catalogue if you contact him. (n.b. for purists, silver items are marked 925 on the back). (Freya)
Twist Fibre Craft (UK)
Items sold Crafty stuff- tools, dyes
URL www.twistfibrecraft.co.uk
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1 I've bought dyestuffs for myself and wool for Katy from Twist Fibre Craft, and they're fast, reliable and well priced. (Freya)
Heather, indigo, madder, weld, walnut and oak are all suitable, authenticity wise.
For the mordants: alum brightens colours, iron deepens them. Rusty nails can be used in place of shop-bought iron.
-info from Freya (posted by Ferny)
Urweg Museum Replicas (US)
Items sold Jewellery, pouches, belts, salt containers, whetstones, combs
URL www.urweg.com
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1 These look like beautifully-crafted artefacts and most are, as the name of the company suggests, replicas of archaeological finds. Stock ranges from smaller, very competitively-priced items (but n.b. postage costs) to maximum bling. Commissions taken. (Freya)
Victor James Tents (UK)
Items sold Tents
URL None: email victortentsATtiscali.co.uk
Items in Wychwood Freya's tent
Review 1 Vic came very highly recommended by a number of other reenactors and I was really pleased with my purchase. The tent is robust, windproof and easy to put up and get down. I haven't tested it in weather worse than a light shower yet, but other people swear they've slept in his tents in a howling gale. The price was very competitive and, unlike many other suppliers, the price included pegs, poles and guy ropes. I would definitely recommend Vic as your first port of call for tentage requirements (Freya)
Viking Crafts (UK)
Items sold Weapons, armour, leatherwork, shoes, accessories
URL www.vikingcrafts.co.uk
Items in Wychwood 4 spangenhelms, Freya's Swedish style spun helmet, Bunni's boots and hand-beaten early Viking helmet
Review 1 Excellent, friendly service and good quality products. Their shoes are handmade to order using a drawing of your foot. (Freya)
Review 2 Really friendly people, really good stuff. Hurrah! Their beaten helmets are so damn cool. And their shoes are very stylish, although they came out a bit big because I drew my foot too big… (Bunni)
Viking Shield (USA)
Items sold Shields, helmets, mail, weapons, jewellery, clothes, shoes
URL www.viking-shield.com
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1
VW Runa (Sweden)
Items sold Runestones (i.e. big ones to tell the tale of how you perished at sea, or to stick near a bridge you've just built, not small ones for jewellery or fortune-telling…)
URL None - email vwrunaATteliaDOTse
Items in Wychwood None
Review 1 I saw this guy working at a living history display at Gamla Uppsala and his work is beautiful and vibrant. We also had an interesting chat about authentic pigments. Not sure about shipping/excess baggage charges though ;) (Freya)
White Rose Armoury (UK)
Items sold Armour, helmets
URL [http://www.whiterosearmoury.com/]
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1
Wieland Forge (Jason Green) (UK)
Items sold Handforged ironwork - cooking items, knives, arrowheads, brooches etc
URL www.wielandforge.co.uk
Items in Wychwood Freya's cauldron, Shelagh's skillet
Review 1 His cauldrons were so beautiful that there was no way I could resist buying one. Also he made me the most beautiful tiny spearhead. His handiwork was all well-made and fairly-priced (Freya)
Wight Leather Craft (UK)
Items sold Leather items (gloves, belts, water bottles etc) plus nalbinding, jewellery etc.
URL www.wightleathercraft.co.uk
Items in Wychwood
Review 1 Luke, who runs this outfit, is a member of the the same Vike group as me. His stuff (and the items made by others that he sells) is well-made, provenanced and fairly priced. I've bought several oddments from him, including my amazing battlefield-popularity-enhancing water bottle. He also makes great gloves. (Freya)
Wm. Booth, Draper (US)
Items sold Fabric (linen, wool, silk), linen thread of many colours
URL www.wmboothdraper.com
Items in Wychwood None?
Review 1This is aimed at 18th Century reenactors, so do check weaves and colours for Dark Age authenticity before buying.
