I base my forged blades and complete swords off of research done on antique blades that I am able to observe and document, as well as my strong friendship with Swedish Swordsmith Peter Johnsson.  Peter has been able to have a hands-on approach to blades in Europe, that just are not as accesable to North American smiths.  I am proud to consider him a mentor and friend. 

The majority of my European blades will be made from monosteel construction methods, because that is what is appropriate for the time period I am most interested in.  I prefer making pieces from the 13-16th Centuries, but will occasionally make one from an earlier or later time period.

For pattern-welded European blades, I typically lean towards highly constrasting steels, welded to between 600-1000 layers, depending on the piece, and time period.  This will vary according with what is historically correct, or the customer's specific desires.

I am capable of producing most grind types found on historical swords, including hollow grinding in several styles.  The grind type is a consideration when designing a sword, some grinds work better with certain geometries, some don't work at all.  I also tend to key my blade thickness to the sword type and grinding style (unfortunately one size does not fit all).

I prefer not to create any dismountable hilts.  I feel that if a customer can take their sword apart, they will.  This can and will lead to rapid wearing of all the hilt components, and may lead to the failure of one or more component (most often the grip).