I've been thinking about getting a Military Heritage/ Coldsteel 1796 LC saber for some time now but I'd like to make some modifications. I've heard they are quite a bit heavier than the originals so I was thinking about try to "shave" some of the weight from tip and first third of the blade. This may have the added benefit of centering the balance a bit more. Besides reducing the weight, the other reason I'm considering this is that I want to achieve a more "spatula" like hatchet-point as I've seen on many of the originals. The reproductions I've seen have a thicker, more rounded tip.

Does anyone see any problems with any of this that I should be aware of? What tools should I use? I was planning on just using a few files (of different grades) but if you have any better ideas please let me know.

I can't really help with how you'd do this Ian, but you would need to reduce the weight to about 2Lbs, so on the CS model that means shaving off about 6oz !

The originals have a distal taper that is not uniform and narrows sharply from the hilt, the splayed end of the blade is much thinner and wider too. On many models the thickness of metal between the fullers on each side is only 1/16" and acceptance stamps often dent through to the opposite side of the blade.

I imagine if you want to reduce the CS by that much the structural integrity of the blade comes into question.

David

Craig Johnson of A&A did a similar project, and he discusses it in this thread on the CS 1796 LC saber.

Jonathan