En garde! Sharp-minded swordsmith students wanted

Sword maestro offers craft tuition


Calling all budding swordsmen! Are you sharp enough to learn the art of creating smatchets, dirks, dubhs and dusacks under a master swordsmith?

Sword Maestro, Paul Macdonald. What a man!

Paul Macdonald, owner of Macdonald Armouries,  is set to offer two lucky individuals the opportunity to work as his apprentice in the art of weapon craft.

Past experience is not necessary,  as Macdonald seeks prospective students who are confident in both their ability to learn quickly and utilize various power and hand tools. GSCE Design and Technology finally comes in handy!

Macdonald’s finest

Previously, Macdonald took two students under his wing from a list of 150 candidates. He said:  “It is difficult to find somebody because it’s quite specialist. You need to have patience and perseverance, because a sword can take anything from a few days to a few months to craft.”

Located on Brunswick Street Lane, Macdonald Armouries opened in 1998 and has consistently produced high quality reproductions of edged weaponry for museums, theatre companies and collectors.

Some of the replicas available from Paul include reproductions of the Montoya Rapier from the film The Princess Bride (“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” Remember that?) and the Swords of Power wielded by He-man and She-ra in the cartoon series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Where do we sign up?

On a crusade against mediocre replica weaponry.

To get in on this, successful applicants must have a passion for history due to the nature of the research often carried out in the reproductions, and of course some experience in arts and crafts. The Armoury also provides classes on general swordsmanship so that their products can be thoroughly enjoyed in a safe environment. En garde!

You killed my father. Prepare to learn.