Who am I?
My name is Jarda Rezác, born in 1972. By original education I am electrician, but in 1993 good luck brought me to leather work. Two years later I definitively left electricity and joined a saddlery workshop to learn and work there. I spent four years by modern western saddlery but my fondness and admiration of the old and truly respectable craft has finally brought me to German WWII militaria. I work on their repairs and the production of replicas up to this day. Unfortunately, the influx of bad-quality, though cheap, replicas (from Poland, India etc.) reflects in the sale of my products. This is also the reason why I started the production of the first replicas of the equipment of the Austrian-Hungarian K. u K. common army (k. u k. standing for „kaiserlich und königlich“ – Imperial and Royal) at the beginning of 2007.
My work
My first replica was (on the request by friends from the Military History Club, KVH) an Austrian-Hungarian haversack. This was followed by pouches for the Austrian-Hungarian Rast Gasser 1898 revolvers and the amazing Gasser 1870 revolver with an ammunition pouch. I also feel attracted to substitute and untypical materials used during World War One. This is why I have patterned ersatz frogs for Mannlicher bayonets and a reserve pouch for the Rast Gasser 1898 revolver. In the future I would like to gather enough support materials for the production of replicas of most of arm pouches (e.g. for Frommer Stop, Roth Steyr 12 etc.), accessories and other parts of military equipment.
My sources of information
Before the start of patterning every new replica I collect sufficient information. An ideal combination is period documents (relevant military equipment regulations), a borrowed original piece and a good-quality photographs of possible other versions. I have been lucky to have been able to borrow an overwhelming majority of originals thanks to my friends-collectors. I have had at my disposal two versions of pouches for Rasst Gaser 1898 revolvers, a cavalry pouch for the Gasser 1870 revolver, an ersazt frog for the Mannlicher bayonet, an ammunition pouch for Gasser 1870, straps for a flask, three samples of a haversack, a police version of a pouch for the Czechoslovak pistol vz. 27 etc. I have also acquired the Austrian-Hungarian regulations for military equipment Adjustierungsvorschrift from 1907 and 1910.
I have also acquired the Austrian-Hungarian regulations for military equipment Adjustierungsvorschrift from 1907 and 1910.
Techniques
While repairing the originals I often meet with various period techniques, which I subsequently use in my production of replicas. I choose materials that correspond to the originals as much as possible (strength, color, surface, fabric etc.). Most of the metal parts are custom-made. I use machine sewing only where the originals were machine sewed as well. Everything else is hand sewed.
I believe you will be satisfied with the quality of my work.