- Joined
- Dec 10, 2005
- Messages
- 37
Before I start, I would like to say that I have had this sword for 2-3 years, so I have had some time to observe its pros and cons. I am also not an expert, but have a reasonable idea of what a sword should and should not be able to do, how it should balance, how much it should weigh, flex, and etc.
Overview: This is a cheap ($100) sword made by Windlass Steelcrafts. It is based loosely on a sword from Western Europe, circa 1400.
Construction: High carbon spring steel (or so they claim), cast brass pommel, steel crossguard, peened tang. Leather wrapped wood grip. The engraving on the pommel sucks balls. There are slight waves in the blade, especially inside of the fuller. Its not too bad, but it does piss me off. The guard rattles after hitting relatively solid objects. This occured after about a year of use/abuse. I tried filling the slot that was machined too large in the guard with sotter, trying to melt it on a sottering iron and drip it in, but most of it fell out. I then got impatient and filled the crack with solid (unmelted) strips of sotter and tried to heat it up with a blow torch. Didnt work. The heat dispersed too quickly from the blade to the vice to melt the sotter. The peened tang did seem to loosen up from the pommel after this, not enough to move or rattle, but the end of the tang now protruded a fraction of a millimeter from the pommel. The base of the blade also took on some discoloring. There are currently a few pieces of sotter in the guard that did hold and are keeping it from rattling.
Feel and Balance: this sword is relatively light and fast. It responds best to full arm motions, not so well to wrist motions. The COG is about three inches from the front of the guard, and the COP is at the end of the fuller, about nine inches from the tip of the sword.
Cutting: After putting a reasonable edge on it with one of those cheap easy sharpeners (the ones with the V shaped carbide blocks), it would cut soda bottles, milk jugs, and OJ jugs with ease. I could usually get about four to five cuts out of the milk jugs, and 2 to 3 out of the other containers. It splits wood, with the grain, very well. For plywood, it cut four inches through one quarter inch plywood, and two inches into both the one half and three quarter inch thick plywood. Note: used on the plywood were one handed blows with a fairly blunt edge
Thrusting: The tip of the sword comes to a decent point. It will pierce sheet metal and metal garbage cans easy enough, but when hitting a solid wall, the blade will bend to the sides if your form is off.
Flexability and blade strength: The sword flexes and returns to true along the entire length. At one time, I threw the sword into the ground in such a way that it had a rotational velocity perpindicular to the blade (was rotating about its flat), and upon striking the ground, penetrated to the center of percussion, then rotated until the pommel hit the ground (There was quite a bit of rotational velocity, the blade doesnt have that much give). The blade then returned to true. To clarify the picture even more, the blade bent to or beyond 90 degrees (like an L) over a span of four to six inches. It then returned to true.
Subjected Abuse:
At one time, I threw the sword into the ground in such a way that it had a rotational velocity perpindicular to the blade (was rotating about its flat), and upon striking the ground, penetrated to the center of percussion, then rotated until the pommel hit the ground (There was quite a bit of rotational velocity, the blade doesnt have that much give). The blade then returned to true. To clarify the picture even more, the blade bent to or beyond 90 degrees (like an L) over a span of four to six inches. It then returned to true.
After one cutting session, I was tired and missed my 2litre target and hit a piece of PVC, split all the way through its length, hit a steel bar, bounced off and hit a cinder block with a fair amount of force. No damage (to the sword).
As a test for blade strength against chipping, I decided to beat the crap out of a metal coffee can. I set the can on the ground and proceeded to strike it with full force on the corners of the can. In the beginning it would cut through the can (a couple inches), and later on it only dented and smashed. There was no blade damage.
Hilt: See constuction for info regarding physical characteristics. This pertains more to handling. The leather handle was somewhat slick when I purchased the sword. I roughened it up with sand paper, so its good now. When certain lateral impulses (quick, strong forces) effect the handle, the tang will take a set. It can be bent back to normal. It is somewhat difficult to do this without applying a shock to the handle, a slow, continuous force would not make it take a set. Keep in mind that if the set is due to the heat treat, and not jamming within the wood handle, that it could be from the blowtorch expiriment mentioned earlier. The handle is reasonably comfortable after being sanded.
Summary: This sword is tough. It will not let you down as a cheap beater. As I do not have any higher end swords of this type, I cannot give you a comparison. The sword is a good cutter, is an acceptable thruster, a good chopper, and the blade is surprisingly reselient to setting or chipping. The sword doesnt take the keenest of edges, but does take enough to get the job done. I wil try sharpenning with a stone soon to see how good of an edge I can establish with it - up until now I have been using a cheap sharpener as a result of my laziness. For 100 dollars, I recomend it and give it five stars. For 150 dollars, 4 stars. If it is being sold for above that, get something else.
Overview: This is a cheap ($100) sword made by Windlass Steelcrafts. It is based loosely on a sword from Western Europe, circa 1400.
Construction: High carbon spring steel (or so they claim), cast brass pommel, steel crossguard, peened tang. Leather wrapped wood grip. The engraving on the pommel sucks balls. There are slight waves in the blade, especially inside of the fuller. Its not too bad, but it does piss me off. The guard rattles after hitting relatively solid objects. This occured after about a year of use/abuse. I tried filling the slot that was machined too large in the guard with sotter, trying to melt it on a sottering iron and drip it in, but most of it fell out. I then got impatient and filled the crack with solid (unmelted) strips of sotter and tried to heat it up with a blow torch. Didnt work. The heat dispersed too quickly from the blade to the vice to melt the sotter. The peened tang did seem to loosen up from the pommel after this, not enough to move or rattle, but the end of the tang now protruded a fraction of a millimeter from the pommel. The base of the blade also took on some discoloring. There are currently a few pieces of sotter in the guard that did hold and are keeping it from rattling.
Feel and Balance: this sword is relatively light and fast. It responds best to full arm motions, not so well to wrist motions. The COG is about three inches from the front of the guard, and the COP is at the end of the fuller, about nine inches from the tip of the sword.
Cutting: After putting a reasonable edge on it with one of those cheap easy sharpeners (the ones with the V shaped carbide blocks), it would cut soda bottles, milk jugs, and OJ jugs with ease. I could usually get about four to five cuts out of the milk jugs, and 2 to 3 out of the other containers. It splits wood, with the grain, very well. For plywood, it cut four inches through one quarter inch plywood, and two inches into both the one half and three quarter inch thick plywood. Note: used on the plywood were one handed blows with a fairly blunt edge
Thrusting: The tip of the sword comes to a decent point. It will pierce sheet metal and metal garbage cans easy enough, but when hitting a solid wall, the blade will bend to the sides if your form is off.
Flexability and blade strength: The sword flexes and returns to true along the entire length. At one time, I threw the sword into the ground in such a way that it had a rotational velocity perpindicular to the blade (was rotating about its flat), and upon striking the ground, penetrated to the center of percussion, then rotated until the pommel hit the ground (There was quite a bit of rotational velocity, the blade doesnt have that much give). The blade then returned to true. To clarify the picture even more, the blade bent to or beyond 90 degrees (like an L) over a span of four to six inches. It then returned to true.
Subjected Abuse:
At one time, I threw the sword into the ground in such a way that it had a rotational velocity perpindicular to the blade (was rotating about its flat), and upon striking the ground, penetrated to the center of percussion, then rotated until the pommel hit the ground (There was quite a bit of rotational velocity, the blade doesnt have that much give). The blade then returned to true. To clarify the picture even more, the blade bent to or beyond 90 degrees (like an L) over a span of four to six inches. It then returned to true.
After one cutting session, I was tired and missed my 2litre target and hit a piece of PVC, split all the way through its length, hit a steel bar, bounced off and hit a cinder block with a fair amount of force. No damage (to the sword).
As a test for blade strength against chipping, I decided to beat the crap out of a metal coffee can. I set the can on the ground and proceeded to strike it with full force on the corners of the can. In the beginning it would cut through the can (a couple inches), and later on it only dented and smashed. There was no blade damage.
Hilt: See constuction for info regarding physical characteristics. This pertains more to handling. The leather handle was somewhat slick when I purchased the sword. I roughened it up with sand paper, so its good now. When certain lateral impulses (quick, strong forces) effect the handle, the tang will take a set. It can be bent back to normal. It is somewhat difficult to do this without applying a shock to the handle, a slow, continuous force would not make it take a set. Keep in mind that if the set is due to the heat treat, and not jamming within the wood handle, that it could be from the blowtorch expiriment mentioned earlier. The handle is reasonably comfortable after being sanded.
Summary: This sword is tough. It will not let you down as a cheap beater. As I do not have any higher end swords of this type, I cannot give you a comparison. The sword is a good cutter, is an acceptable thruster, a good chopper, and the blade is surprisingly reselient to setting or chipping. The sword doesnt take the keenest of edges, but does take enough to get the job done. I wil try sharpenning with a stone soon to see how good of an edge I can establish with it - up until now I have been using a cheap sharpener as a result of my laziness. For 100 dollars, I recomend it and give it five stars. For 150 dollars, 4 stars. If it is being sold for above that, get something else.
. Try smoothing out the bevel using sandpaper you can get at most automobile stores if you ever feel like having a convex edge - you will have to polish the flats though to get an even "look".