As it happens too often with me, I'd buy an item an then I'd do the research. So I ordered the MRL's Coustille sword. It is meant to be an overgrown dagger. The name Coustel ( or Cultellus) refers to dagger, as elaborated by E. Oakeshott in the Archeology of weapons (p 253), but from the descriptions of the weapons in the period literature they are more like the "normal" daggers, and in one inctance a very long (~20in) but slender blade is depicted in the Apocalypse in the Triity college library.

The MRL coustille sword/dagger (why spell the name that way and not coustel?) is not slander (IMO). It has 17in blade and is 23" overall in length (at ~1.8lb). It looks like a shrunk type XIV. MRL makes it sound that this was a very common weapon and dates it to 1300-1350. Does anybody know of depictions or has handled/seen an original of such a weapon. MRL cites a drawing in the book "Age of Chivalry" by Liliane and Fred Funcken. Any chance of a scan?

Thanks for any input. I will chare my opinion impression of the weapon. I know few other forumites that have this weapon, but it has not sparked any discussions so far.

Alexi

More pictures:
http://www.reliks.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=1457...mp;close=1
http://www.reliks.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=1457&step=4

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The Coustelle

Alexi;

I think Coustille is the French version of the name also Coustille is also used I think to describe the common soldier of the time: Somewhat derogatory connotations of "Cut troat" or brigand, a popular weapon for peasants and common soldiers good as a secondary weapon and usefull in back ally or tavern fights.

To quote from "The Archaeology of weapon" , Oakeshott page 253 "From their use of this weapon bodies of foot soldiers came to be called "COUSTILLIERS", and even as early as the middle of the twelfth century the term was applied in an entirely derogatory sense to bands of brigands".

OOOOPS just reread your post and I see that you are quoting the same source, well maybe others will benefit from the short quote so I won't delete the above.

I do have a custom dagger with a 15" blade that looks like a lighter and slimmer version of a Coustille diamond section, I wonder if at that lenght it would still be long enough to deserve the name? Maybe at the lower limit. (Not strictly a period piece 440C stainless at 60R.C. and scary sharp.)

I finally received the Coustille sword and I was very quickly reminded why Windlass products are low on the food-chain.
Having handled only Albion's stuff and my Atrim recently, some of the flaws on the Coustille made me dissatisfied with the product but I had to remind my self that this is the reason it is cheep. Now that I have gotten over it I think that is might be money well spent.

It is hard to talk about heft on a 23in weapon but I will try to convey its characteristics for those interested. The sword (or maybe I should call it dagger) feels light in the hand and rather comfortable albeit the grip being a bit too narrow for my hand.

The POB is 1.75in from the top of the guard. The blade does not feel that it could deliver a powerful stroke. Maybe it is not meant to be used in a striking/cutting fashion. That changes if I slide my hand and grip part of the pommel as a swing ( that moved the POB away from my hand) and the sword feels a bit more hefty. I can quite easily align the sword in a cut and hear the gratifying "woosh" as I swing it. I think a smaller (lighter) pommel could improve the heft of the sword.

The point of the blade is needle sharp but that cannot be said about the edges (I think it is the standard that the Windlass blades some unsharpened). The is no distal tapper until after the fuller finishes. The blade is VERY stiff, which together with its sharp point makes it pretty good for trusting.

The hilt construction is still a mystery to me . The pommel does not have a nut so I think that it is directly screwed on the tang. The drip is leather over wood. The problem is that the wood can be seen under the leather where the seam if the grip is. Nothing terrible but it is there. Somehow I get the feeling that the tang will not handle cutting. I will try cutting soon enough, but if anyone has experience (good or bad) with this sword please tell me before I irreversibly damage the sword.

The lines of the sword look great (IMO) from some distance. But upon closer inspection irregularities start to emerge.
The pommel's two faces are not symmetrical, for one. The blade when inspected under the right angles shows this waving on the surface. (luckily it is totaly invisible when looked straight on). There are no machining marks, however.
The lines of the fullers are not as crisp as on the picture, but the fullers is straight and it ends at the same place on both surfaces of the blade. The Fade of the fuller is nice and gradual.

Now that I have stripped the liqueur (few hours of scrubbing with sand-paper) I can start sharpening, aging, and finishing the blade to my likes.

The recess in the pommel is nice in the sense that I can insert something there to add "character" (coin reproductions for example).

I particularly like the shape of the guard, as the smooth lines make it attractive. The swelling of the ends of the guard is very nicely done.

If the tang is of a decent construction, the $108 I spent on this sword will be well worth it, as it will give me the joy of experimenting with aging an what not and still having a tool that can do its job. The scabbard is VERY loose but that is nothing new.


Few picture follow (I apologize for the quality but I had limited light and did not want to use flash). Bear in mind that the sword is not finished properly yet (polished only with 250grit sand-paper)

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For the money spent I really don't think it looks that bad. IMHO it's definetly a candidate for some antiquing. The pommel should be threaded directly onto the tang, so It should screw off fairly easily.

Alexi,

Could you post a picture of the blade shoulder, assuming the guard will come off?

Interesting.

Does not appear to be a stub welded on, and yet they appear to have done a poor job with the shoulder. Would shaping it to avoid stress points have added that much to the construction effort? Probably would not have hurt production time/cost to leave a bit more meat on the tang either.

How much effort does it take to bend the tang?

That does not sound great IMO.

If you got this one from MRL maybe you should see about a swap?

The tang could be wider but it's probably sufficient for what it is. It is an overgrown knife after all, not really a sword. If the tang is easily bendable it may indicate a lack of heat treatment in the tang, so the sharp shoulders wouldn't be a problem there. Quite a few antiques have sharp shoulders, however, their tangs are made of soft iron and aren't heat treated so it isn't an issue. Not an ideal design to be sure. But like I said, for the price it looks okay to me. It really strikes me more as a cheap project to tinker with rather than a serious user/collectable.

Mr Goranov
Nice pictures. I think it looks quite an attractive little thing (whether sword or dagger), and the construction doesn't look bad for the price, as has already been said. One question. I understand that MRL will take returns readily, but only if you take the regular (unsharp) version, so, the question, how 'unsharp' is it? Is it possible to give and estimate of edge thickness, and is it rounded or flat?
Regards
Geoff

When I reviewed this sword: http://www.myArmoury.com/review_mrl_alb.html , one of the things that suprised me was the nice finish on the blade itself. It was certainly better than what I had previously seen from Windlass.

Hi, Alexi.

No, if that's the case, your description was accurate and I was the one going off on a lark. ;)

And the tang is definitely one piece with body and threaded portion? Hmmm, I'll defer to Patrick or perhaps one of the other makers will drop by the thread. How about it? Simple quench? Is Windlass taking more effort in the drawing phase than I'd given them credit for?



Mike

I think it's a bargain. I certainly wouldn't do that much hand/machine work for a measly $100, and then you add in the cost of steel, etc. Heck, I wouldn't write the catalog copy for that. I've often wondered about this piece, and your notes and photos make it that much more interesting. By the way, I find that the Windlass edge sharpens easily with a file, followed by a stone. If the scabbard has a metal throat, press on it a bit while empty and it'll hold the sword more securely. Thanks for the post! I wish everybody who gets a new repro would follow suit.

Hello Alexi,
Looks like a nice thing to mess around with. Looking at your pictures the construction of the hilt is the same as that used on my A&A crusader dagger- same thickness tang so like others I say gool value. Jeremy