The story of Sam’s personal custom rapier, that you can own as well! Sam Kovic is the founder of Castille Armory and he has an extensive background in competitive HEMA and has won Gold in several tournaments. This is his introduction to his signature style rapier which embodies the very best in performance and craftsmanship Castille Armory can offer.
“I started fighting rapier in the SCA in the late 1900’s (heh) and watched the modern game of rapier evolve from Olympic style epees and foils, to the iconic schlager, and eventually the precision diamond distal tapered sparring simulators we have available today. There was even a brief time when fiberglass and duct tape entered the arena. For real…
In the early 2000’s I started using a low ward (guard) when using a rapier/dagger combination. I found it easier to feint from a low ward and by transferring the defensive obligations almost completely to the dagger, it meant that once the opponent’s blade was successfully bound, the rapier was free to strike from the low position. The low ward also allowed me to fight longer with less fatigue on my shoulders. This was a strategy that was recognized by the infamous Black Tigers and would later be expanded upon as I began to study under Joe Brickey (Blayde) and Rob Childs (Tora Taka).
I found great success on the rapier field with this strategy and acquired tournament wins numbering in the hundreds and eventually acquiring 5th rank (highest) among the Black Tigers. But that’s another story.
In 2011, at the dawn of Castille Armory’s existence, I wanted rapier specs that just weren’t available through other makers, and I was ready to start making swords of high quality, so I set to work on building what I refer to as “Old #1”. I wanted something that would specifically aid my “sharpshooter” rapier/dagger style and still be universally effective. Something with maximum reach, light and fast with reasonable hand protection, short quillons for close-in maneuverability and as fast a rotation as I could get regardless of the point of balance. So, I built the original and this was my journey in doing so.
A longer blade would help maintain a safer measure, but long blades are heavy. To fix this, I developed a tight taper blade with an almost symmetrical diamond distal taper (45 deg square) from the end of the fuller to the tip. This made the blade as rigid as could be legal with the smallest cross section. The forte section of the blade would be stepped wider for a strong bind and rigidity, and then fullered and pierced for even greater weight reduction. I added a small nail head to the tip of the blade for safety.
Since binding was being focused on the offhand, shorter “S” curved quillons and removing the knuckle bow was reasonable and it kept the rotation effortless. I wrap two fingers around the ricasso for added strength but keep them tight, so I didn’t need a larger ricasso space. I still found the quillons to be more than adequate for normal blade binding. The deep curvature of the quillons makes the bottom quillon fill the role of a knuckle bow to a great degree. This guard design puts most of its mass directly over the cross which is our pivot point when wrapping 2 fingers. So, the guard only adds to the wonderful balance of the sword. Because it needed to be fancy, I cut my personal SCA device into the guard. A version of the 17th century Spanish Eagle and polished everything.
Here is where the magic is. This is what makes this design the fastest, most maneuverable sword in existence for its length. I started messing around with what some call “moment of inertia”. This is what academia essentially explains as the quantification of force applied to either side of the fulcrum to accelerate or decelerate the sword. Or in other terms, the less force that needs to be applied to making the sword move or stop, especially while in any sort of rotation means that the sword will be faster and so, with less effort. The sword is faster and nimbler.
This is achieved by reducing the centrifugal forces around the pivot as much as possible. Here is an example: rotating a 60” dowel with one hand takes a lot of strength to start and stop, while rotating a 24” dowel of the same mass in the same fashion takes a great deal less strength because the shorter dowel has less centrifugal mass to render further away from the pivot. So, I made the tang and Basswood Burl grip shorter (2.25”) and put a relatively heavy pommel on it. The pommel has a pear shape so that I still have ample grip space and the pear shape has a contour that fits into my wrist naturally as to not impede full wrist rotation. This shorter counterbalance reduces the centrifugal mass on the back half of the pivot by half that of a normal rapier even though the POB is conventional. The result is the most nimble 45” rapier currently being manufactured. This is is not new information in terms of antiques or even greater sword knowledge, it’s just not something other makers are doing.
Is it really that amazing? Yes. Just ask someone who has one, try it yourself. It’s truly a marvel.
As an added bit of lore surrounding this rapier, in about 2014, this sword was stolen from my gear bag. I promptly built a replacement down to every detail. In late 2022, the original found its way back to my keeping through a series of remarkable events. Having both swords, I decided to gift #2 to my SCA Knight Sir Einar (An Tir) for his personal rapier journey; he always loved borrowing it. I have since retired #1 although it is in great working shape. I currently use one of these production signature models.”
-Sam
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