Blew $60 on a fake Viking axe at a Ren Faire in Michigan last month

Took it to a blacksmith friend who laughed and showed me the casting seam and said it was a mass-produced prop that would snap if I actually hit anything with it, has anyone else gotten ripped off by one of those pop-up weapon vendors?

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1 Comment

zara_miller1d ago

I actually read a post on a blacksmithing forum last month where a guy bought a "hand forged" sword for $200 at a Ren Faire and it literally snapped in half the first time he tried to cut a watermelon with it lol. They broke it open and found it was just cast iron with a cheap grind on the edge, zero heat treatment or anything. Those pop-up vendors seem to target the big Faires like the one in Holly or Novi where people have cash to blow. Your $60 axe is actually a pretty common scam - they sell them for way more than they're worth because tourists don't know what real steel looks like.

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