Several months ago, after my Hanwei training sabre had broken during training, a friend and fellow fencer of mine created a new training sabre for me in his forge.
Here’s a short review of it.
Overview:
The sabre shown here was created as a training weapon for the system of Alfred Hutton’s 1889 work “Cold Steel: A practical treatise on the sabre”. Training methods used by my group include everything from solo drills to full contact sparring using protective gear, so durability and safety are important, as well as handling characteristics.
Basic stats:
Weight: 910 g ( 2 lbs )
Overall length: 102 cm ( 40,2 inches ) ,including tip cap
Blade length: 85 cm ( 35,5 inches )
Blade width: 19 mm at base, tapering to about 11 mm near the tip
Grip length: 13 cm ( 5,1 inches ), excluding pommel
Guard width: 14 cm ( 5,5 inches )
Point of Balance: 9 cm ( 3,5 inches ) from guard, see picture below
Center of Percussion: ~ 62 cm ( 24,4 inches ) from guard, see picture below
Handling Characteristics
After training with this sabre for a while, I can say I am quite pleased with its handling characteristics.
This sabre feels significantly heavier in the hand than my old Hanwei Hutton sabre, but it is not clumsy. The PoB also seems to be a little more towards the grip. Overall I’d say the handling of this sabre is good in offence ( it is quite easily accelerable but lacks that “Just wanting to cut” feeling of some other cut orientated weapons, while trusting better than most sabres ) and very good in offence ( Transitions from guard to parry are very easy, and there is no undue vibration in the grip, even when parrying rather hard cuts ).
Fit and Finish
This sabre is meant to be a training weapon that can and will take blows, but I still like its overall aesthetics and finish. The blade and outside of the guard are roughly polished and the inside of the guard still shows some hammer marks. I would describe the overall look of the sabre as rugged but attractive.
The grip is made of a single, carved peace of wood ( I’ll add some leather when I have the time ) and the pommel can be unscrewed for cleaning/ disassembly.
The sabre came with a flat tip, but for safety reasons it was also fitted with a hard plastic cap containing a metal nut. The cap was hot-glued in place, and subsequently secured with tape.
After several training/ sparring sessions I can say I’m very pleased with this sabre’s durability. It has taken and dealt a lot of blows without taking damage. While the overall blade is flexible enough for thrusting during sparring fights, the edge is quite durable and did not take any large nicks. There is no rattling, everything is fitted nice and tight.
Conclusion
I am very pleased with the handling, durability and looks of this sabre. And I’m sure it will be fun to use for a very long time.
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A first look
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Another perspective
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Guard and pommel
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Point of Balance
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Center of Percussion