Could you define "secondary bevel" to make sure we're on the same page?

M.

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I think we are referring to this, note the secondary bevel edges.

M. Eversberg II wrote:

Could you define "secondary bevel" to make sure we're on the same page? M.

So it's where the wedge of the cutting edge is at an angle to the body of the blade? Sorta like this <_> only not crap.

The pic is a bit ambiguous.

M.

Correct.

M. Eversberg II wrote:

So it's where the wedge of the cutting edge is at an angle to the body of the blade? Sorta like this <_> only not crap. The pic is a bit ambiguous. M.

Ah then in that case my Windlass sword has that too. How is it supposed to be on a correct sword? Just taper out to the edge?

M.

Surprisingly it has a good edge -- I've abused it by cutting thin pine limbs before and it still holds an edge -- owned it almost a year now and have yet to need a sharpening.

M.

I have owned the 15th Century Longsword, it was a nice piece, well made, the cross and siderings were poorly done in my opinion, but it was a Windlass after all. It handled OK, there was a serious lack of dynamic feel probably due to little distal taper and poor mass distribution. I thought it a good sword to own, and most Windlass swords that have passed through my hands have been more than worth the price (although I have to say I would rather own one Atrim or Albion than 2-3 Windlass offerings).


I also briefly owned a Windlass War Sword with a sharpened edge. It was a beveled edge, but all of the Atrims I have owned have also had beveled edges. They all cut just fine and there were no issues at all. If I look closely at my Albion Mercenary, there is certainly a place where I can see the bevel, however in this case it was nicely blended in with the main bevel of the flat. I don't think it's possible to have a completely solid wedge shape on a diamond cross section without some kind of bevel towards the edge (you just can't see it because it becomes more "apple-seed" like towards the cutting surface). As Angus Trim remarked earlier in the thread, beveled edges seem to be pretty common in all swords, but sometimes this feature is blended in with the main flat and it looks like a continuous surface.

How were the cross and side rings poorly done on your sword?

Mine are adequately executed (which was a pleasant surprise).

What do you mean by "dynamic feel"? A bit of term checking here, and some Googling, gave me no standard definition in any context. Seems to be of flexible meaning in most industries (marketing term?). Its easy enough to make an assumption, but that does not mean the assumption is right.

Regarding the mass distribution on this Windlass sword (15th Cent.) being poor in your experience, could you please provide a bit more detail? I'm able to work this sword effortlessly through guard transitions, and for me it cuts efficiently (given its blunt). I generally cannot cut for crap with a sword that is poorly balanced. Perhaps I got lucky and got a good one. I bought from KoA hoping I would since they supposedly recieve and do their own QC instead of just drop shipping product out.

I think I understand Nicholas' meaning. When comparing the sword to Albion and Tinker's, as mentioned in my review, the windlass sword is slower to get into action, and slower to change direction. That was due to the less-sophisticated distal taper model, resulted in a less-performing mass distribution. One thing you may test with your sword is to flex your windlass sword with light force and see where it starts to bend, or you may say, where the curvature begins. From my observation, both Albion brescia spadona and Tinker's "no dust" started to bend below the forte area. The windlass sword bends right out from the guard. That means when it wobbles around in a quick directional change , it wobbles the whole blade. That will cause a lot of inertia due to the whole blade mass was against your will to change direction. You may try to swing the blade flat wise in small but rapid left-and-right motion and you'll see the blade starts to carry the former momentum and causes the tip to go farther than you aim it to. The same test with the spadona and the tinker would bring the tip to an instant reaction once I apply force on the change.

But then one isn't supposed to expect a Honda running circle around Lamborghini hehhee.

Joe Fults wrote:

How were the cross and side rings poorly done on your sword? Mine are adequately executed (which was a pleasant surprise). What do you mean by "dynamic feel"? A bit of term checking here, and some Googling, gave me no standard definition in any context. Seems to be of flexible meaning in most industries (marketing term?). Its easy enough to make an assumption, but that does not mean the assumption is right. Regarding the mass distribution on this Windlass sword (15th Cent.) being poor in your experience, could you please provide a bit more detail? I'm able to work this sword effortlessly through guard transitions, and for me it cuts efficiently (given its blunt). I generally cannot cut for crap with a sword that is poorly balanced. Perhaps I got lucky and got a good one. I bought from KoA hoping I would since they supposedly recieve and do their own QC instead of just drop shipping product out.

I got to handle this one briefly when Joe came over a while back. It's pretty darn nice for $170. The construction seemed soldi and it handled well, though it's not the daintiest sword around.

MRL's stock edges shouldn't take a lot of work to get sharp. They are more like unsharpened sharps than true blunts. As I noted in my review of the Towton, a Windlass unsharpened edge can handle light targets (like pool noodles) just fine.

I am going over to Kult of Athena today, only 17 miles, I am going to take a look at this sword while I am there.
Looks real nice!

Bob

I will conceed that as Angus Trim has mentioned, It is not as cut and dry as bevel = bad. I'm refering more to MRL's machine bevels than to other products. I will say that they can make a good starting point to better sharpening, and it is pretty dependant on the over-all blade shape.

Ryan;

Welcome to the site and thanks for the details of what to expect if one orders a sharpened version of a MRL sword.

A secondary bevel can give a good sharpened edge if well done and the difference in cutting from a blended edge can be small if theoretically there: The differences are in part aesthetics and in part a better edge.

A very small secondary bevel on an edge that was close to being sharp can be re-worked by hand ( rounded ) to make it into a blended edge but the amount of handwork needed will still take a while to do, but maybe a little less time than if doing from an unsharpened blade.

I guess the thing is how " cleanly done " is the sharpening done by MRL and is it consistently good ?

Ryan;

There is where your usual inspections before shipping comes in as superior customer service as I'm sure that you would reject a really badly sharpened blade. ;) :cool:

Oh, and I hope you will post replies on a variety of topics that come up and not just on those relating to your business or products as I'm sure you can contribute interesting ideas or opinions on many subjects.

So, not just for your posts on this topic, a big welcome again from me to the site. :D

I'll second that welcome! :D

I can confirm that the sharpened Windlass swords purchased from Ryan was sharp enough to slice and cut consistently, against the soft and light targets I put them against. Edge retention, is not as good as Atrim and Tinker and Albion's league, though. But it is very functional in my opinion. I kept purchasing from KoA nowadays. :)