I used
Wings 3D, it's free and easy to use.
First thing I did was to watch
Highelf's video tutorials and try the stuff he did.
First real model I ever made was my Viking berserker bear-head helmet. And that's after only a couple of hours of playing around in the program.
No idea how many vertices/polygons/whatever and item should have though.
Also, don't know how to use photoshop either. But I bet it would be badass to 'copy' the fur on the Kuyak and patch it onto the bear head, so it matches.
Last thing I did was this Ornamental Yataghan, requested by someone. Untextured as well and very much unfinished.
I'd really like to try my hands at texturing some day, plus actually getting them into a game/mod to see how they look. Also, body armours seem to be harder to make, with rigging or whatever.