On February 13th 2026 at 6pm Craig Johnson of Arms and Armor and Peter Johnson (no relation) sword maker, researcher, and designer will be participating in a streamed discussion on Matt Jensen's YouTube channel. You should definitely grab a beverage and your favorite sword friends for this one as it is going to be very interesting. The discussion is called "Inspired or Infringed" and will delve into thorny questions of intellectual property in the reproduction of historical arms. As Arms and Armor swords, and the Albion Swords that Peter Johnson has designed are among the most frequently copied swords out there, we thought an open discussion would be interesting to folks.
Here is a link to the event.
Additionally, Nathan will be going to SoCal Swordfight from March 20-22, 2026 in Pomona, California. Nathan will be teaching a class with James Reilly on 16th century federschwerts using reproductions of original swords from the Metropolitan Museum and the Higgins Armory Collection of the Worcester Art Museum. This class will focus on what we can learn about the fencing styles of the period by using historically accurate reproductions of the weapons used at the time. Here is a link to that event.
As always, our swords and other weapons are entirely made by us, by hand, at our shop in Minneapolis, MN. Sword blades are hand ground of 6150 carbon steel, hardened and tempered to 50-52 Rockwell. All of our products are made to look, feel, and function just like the historical originals on which they are based. Arms and Armor is dedicated to quality and authenticity. For over four decades we have worked with museums, collectors, and scholars around the world to develop a deep understanding of European weapons; knowledge we use to make products that exemplify the finest qualities of the very best historic pieces. When we select historic items to reproduce, being pretty isn't enough, they have to move with grace and beauty, and beg to be used when in the hand. These are pieces that feel as good as they look, and that work as well as they feel. Our mission is to craft items that recreate the look, feel, and function of the best historic originals.
Check out our website to see all of our awesome products, custom projects, and hundreds of blog posts here.
Nathan Clough, Ph.D. is President of Arms and Armor and a member of the governing board of The Oakeshott Institute. He is a historical martial artist and a former university professor of cultural geography. He has given presentations on historical arms at many HEMA events including Longpoint and Combatcon, and presented scholarly papers at, among others, The International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Craig Johnson is the Production Manager of Arms and Armor and Secretary of The Oakeshott Institute. He has taught and published on the history of arms, armor and western martial arts for over 30 years. He has lectured at several schools and Universities, WMAW, HEMAC, 4W, and ICMS at Kalamazoo. His experiences include iron smelting, jousting, theatrical combat instruction and choreography, historical research, European martial arts and crafting weapons and armor since 1985