The Armour Archive

Well I was hoping to review both items at the same time but it seems at though that they are never going to both be in my possession at this rate so ill review now. Its a tad long but if you ever plan on buying from them heed its message.

The story starts back in early October 2013. A family member of mine had inquired me about a Christmas gift, so wanting a new toy i pointed out AlCHEM Inc.'s Reaver basket hilt sword. Not wanting to pay and get a detail wrong (or perhaps too forgetful to remember the specifics of the order) they asked me to input the details, and place the order, this was early october. In the payment details it was stated that the sword was to be a Christmas gift and needed in time as such, an email was also sent by my family member to reiterate the point. On November 23rd I placed an order to AlChem for crossbow limbs and the string to go with them. The limbs were for a crossbow me and my better half were building, a project started two weeks earlier. The intent was to get us both equipped for archery in the SCA.

By this time my family member had called repeatedly, and emailed multiple times about the sword order to no reply.
After 3 dozen emails and a large number of phone calls they reach ALCHEM the first week in December. They tried to say that they had no notice that it was a Christmas gift (which is a bold lie), and that they would have the sword out to us "In plenty of time before Christmas". The box does not arrive until December 23, sent 5 days prior as noted on the shipping label.

Now back to my crossbow parts. Weeks pass and i send email after email. I even try sending emails from multiple accounts thinking one might just be getting lost for some reason. Lets back up to three weeks ago. I actually get someone on the line, and I am told they some issues occurred at some production facility but i would definitely get my parts within two weeks. I still have no limbs, no string, no notice. I am however out the $79 i paid for the limbs, but left with a nice oak paperweight that was to be the stock of my bow. None of my dozens of emails have been answered and it is now April 5 months after i spent my hard earned money on these parts.

But lets review what i got, the sword. Its nice granted, showed up with a few scratches in the bluing of the hilt. Granted its nothing that wouldn't get covered up by more scratches as i fight with it. Its well built, but the handle is somewhat loose and tends to rotate about 30 degrees as i fight, no matter what i do to tighten the pommel. Its heavy but the weight is in the right place for the sword, which is the spot i wanted it to be.

I would give the sword a 8 out of 10, i have seen better, but its still very nice. As for service, ALCHEM gets a 0 out of 10, they seem to have no care for their clients or informing them. Likewise communication is a 0 of 10 for the same reason. Price wise they get a 7 of 10, for what i got the price was good, i would have paid twice to three times as much for the same sword from anyone else. The limbs i still haven't gotten i cannot say anything about, as well i don't have them, and at this rate doubt i ever will get them. I personally find it sad this had happened, as i had wanted to buy another sword from them (being a case fighter) but unless i see a total 180 in the way they do business i will NEVER buy anything from them again and will NEVER recommend them to anyone.

I've heard others say similar things about orders from alchem coming through on time, and sadly the same for many other reenactment related vendors... I used to be apprenticed to an sca arms dealer and people often had similar issues with him. Only advice I can think of is to be patient and keep on politely reminding them to get you your stuff.

As for the loose handle - make two little leather washers and put them on the tang, one between the cross guard and handle, and the other between the handle and pommel. Tighten down the pommel and the leather washers should then keep it from loosening as easily... old trick from my old Master Popinjay, may he rest in peace.

I can understand why you're upset about the crossbow parts. Hopefully Alchem can figure things out there so you either get your money back, or the product you ordered. But why all the rage about the sword? You said yourself that you like it, and that it got there before Christmas as requested. Is your issue just the lack of communication?

The loose pommel happens a lot with several vendors including zen warrior, and dark wood.
Many rat tail blades with threaded pommels have this issue.
You can put a bit of leather to act as a compression washer between the pommel and grip or add a lock tight.
If its just the grip twisting and not the pommel you can try threading a small bit or string or thread through the grip as well.
To see if its the grip or pommel rotating add a little masking tape then mark pencil and check direction as things move about.

When I ordered my saber it was the same story. After the initial email nothing. I waited for almost two months and was about to send a pointed email when I came home from work one day and there was a box on my door step. Hopefully your crossbow parts show up. I love my sword but would be very hesitant to order from them again because of the lead time and lack of communication. That being said, I've heard of others getting their orders quickly and recieving prompt responses to their emails. If I were the only one to experience poor communication and a long wait when placing an order I'd call it a fluke but at least two other local fencers have had similar experiences.

Nathan Hartman wrote:I can understand why you're upset about the crossbow parts. Hopefully Alchem can figure things out there so you either get your money back, or the product you ordered. But why all the rage about the sword? You said yourself that you like it, and that it got there before Christmas as requested. Is your issue just the lack of communication?

The sword irks me more for the fact that despite everything they waited to the last moment to do anything. The communication is really what bothers me the most.
Im sorry a day and a half before the day of presentation is not plenty of time. If I got one of my rings to a client a day and a half before his wedding day I'm sure they would be just as, if not more angered by the turn of events. It doesn't help matters that they obviously waited until December to do anything, they had a long time to get everything built and ready to go but they did not, it shows poor business practices and tendencies.
The fact that it happened with not one but two different orders placed at two different times just goes to show that the folks at ALCHEM are not good businessmen.

I did a large bulk order with alchem years back, communication was awful and the delivery was months and months late, which when you are starting up a class and need a set of blades, is kind of an issue.

Their work is also not particularly impressive IMO. Cheap is cheap.

Several of their in-house blades snapped clean off under subsequent light use. I will never do business with them again and I will encourage others to avoid them. There are plenty of other merchants who provide better quality and communication on similar products.


Horrible customer service and shoddy quality has been an issue with Alchem for many years.

My order was ten months late, despite my giving them a 'needed by' date. They sure are quick to process payment, but very slow to produce and deliver items...

... I would assume that production would be difficult when both thumbs are shoved up your own ass to the elbow... having your receptionist flat-out lie to customers is also unot a good sign.

Yep, very typical of Alchem.. We will take your money NOW and get you your goods eventually..

Why do people continue to do business with Alchem? Are they that cheap that they're worth all this hassle?

I think mostly because the stuff is fair quality for the price, at events like pennsic where you can by something and have it in your hands things go a lot smoother.
For years the list of permitted blades for rapier/schlager combat was very small, and alchemy was only really competing with james the just, poppenjay, zenwarior, and some hanwei at least in the East coast market.
There are not a lot of vendors making crossbow prods so options are a little limited.

The SCA changed the permitted blade types and introduce the flex testing for "rapier" combat and that's opened up the options for a lot of different vendors.
The marshals used to do a flex test by pushing the blade into an immoveable object bending the blade first one way then the other.
to look for S curves and to see if the blade would return to straight. for both rapier and foil/epee.
Some marshals would put a lot more bend then others, there are a few locally I still won't let touch my gear after they put an 8" bend "just to make sure it won't snap in use"
Current methods use a calibrated weight hung from the tip and measure for a minimum flex.

Losthelm, why didn't you mention Darkwood as one of the competitors whose blades were allowed? Is it because they're in a higher price bracket?

Darkwood was not around when I started years ago.
They have a lot of great options produced in house as well as a few items they sell from other people.

There are also several other shops like master llewelyn gododdin and sunshade designs that build weapons on blades purchased through zen warrior, darkwood and henwei.

Finely got a set of limbs, not the ones i ordered but the ones they had on hand to ship me. With a few little changes to the stock it should work. I am so glad this is over.

My Longsword blade took 3 months to get , but no regrets , I can bend the blade 45 degrees , it returns to being perfectly straight and so far seems like no swords can dent it - $110 for the blade pommel and shipping with a couple bird blunts ... I am very happy ... but yes they are slow