Posts: 1,903 Location: Toronto
Wed 08 Sep, 2010 2:23 pm
Guess what came in the mail today...(see picture below, just taken in my back yard).
Here are my initial thoughts:
Historical Accuracy - excellent. You have to really scrutinize it to find minor differences from the original - or to put it another way, if the original swordsmith had made two of these in a row, it is likely there would have been more variations between them than between this replica and its predecessor of 900 years ago. Note that at the last minute Craig slightly modified the blade profile near the tip to bring it closer to the original, at my request, and I think this worked nicely.
Fit, Finish, Construction - Of course everything fits well. I love the finish that A&A puts on its swords and this is no exception. The fuller and surface are quite regular, with only enough hint of imperfection to announce that this is a hand made item. The handle components, as obvious from the pictures above, are gorgeous. The only place I can find some mentionable imperfections is at the junction of the blade and cross, where the inner surface of the cross slot is a bit irregular on one side and there are some superficial scratches on the blade beneath the cross - only noticeable upon searching, and tiny compared to many historical imperfections. The blade is sharp, sharper toward the end, although not quite razor sharp (problaby right for real use). There seems to be a tiny bit of a secondary bevel, put almost invisible. The blade has a perfect balance of stiffness/flexibility for a cutting sword of this type - flexible enought to likely withstand hits, but not at all 'whippy'.
Handling - this was a really pleasant surprise compared to my expectation- this sword handles really, really well, not just for a sword of this size and type but for any one hand sword! I'm used to swords like this so I like the blade presence, but I'm surpised that I have no problems making quick transitions between guard positions and stopping on a dime, which is often difficult with swords of this type. My numbers are similar to Craig's (PoB 6.5" and weight 2 lb 15 Oz) so I put this down to mass distribution. It has a distal blade taper (starting from about 4mm at the cross to about 2.5mm close to the tip) along a similar non-linear progression to the
profile taper visible in the photo below. The grip is smooth but 'grippy' if you know what I mean, which is perfect for my taste. I insisted that the handle retain its historical dimensions so it's a tight squeeze for the hammer grip, but doable (due the the smooth comfortable pommel) except at full extension where the pommel corner digs a bit into the side of the palm. It is perfect for the handshake grip. I don't plan to cut with this sword, but based on its parameters (harmonics,
blade geometry, size, speed), I would guess it would cut very well against a variety of media if put to the test.
[Edit: on further testing I found the harmonics to be better than my initial impression - with the one node centered right on the cross. It also makes some pleasing sound effects - a nice woosh through the air and ringing sound on light contact.]
Very few people in the world have the skill to put together a custom replica like this, so I make these comments in all humility and respect, but since I'm a professor in real life, I feel the need to give Craig's work a mark:
'A' for Awesome, man!
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