Military Herritage Haidrik sabre
http://www.militaryheritage.com/hadiksword.htm



Overall length: 101cm
Blade length: 86
Weight:1100 grams (ca)
PoB: 20 cm in front of cross (ca)


I've been putting together a hussar kit for the last year or so, and spent some time trying to find a suitable weapon of my role (a Rittmeister of the purssian 5th hussars) After some consideration I ended up with the Haidrik Sabre from www.militaryherritage.com
While not perfect in period and nationallity, it fitted my needs: a weapon fit for a officer, with a leather scabard.

Fit and finish
The fit and finish of this weapon appears to be exelent. There are no vibrations in the hilt what so ever, and the sabre mates with the scabbard perfectly: you can place the point in the scabard mount, and let go of the sword; it slides perfectly into the scabard all by itself.
The engravings on the blade are quite nice, though there are some very slight imperfections.

Handling and performance
I was surpiced that the overall weight was so low; Beeing used to medevial weapons it felt heavier to me. The PoB is a lot further forward than my medevial blades. I do not know how these weapons where balanced historically, but the lack of a pommel obvioulsy means a more front heavy weapon.
Despite this, the sabre handles quite well. It is quite responsive, and moves easily from side to side. The biggest problem is actually that the blade generates so much momentum that it pulls itself forward when swinged; A powerfull blow leaves you holding around the end of the hilt.
Since the sword is not sharpened, i have not tried to cut with it. However, as mentioned it delivers almost frightening powerfull sweeps.
Thrusts are fast and feel quite natural.
The blade has a ca 1mm edge that appears to be rather solid. A few test wacks with a handy dagger left some small notches, but nothing worth worrying about with a bit maintaniance. As suplied, the tip was not rounded at all, and would need to be rounded if one plans to use the weapon for sparring; I wound be a bit carefull with mine, since it is a parade weapon, but a more plain model should be suitable for at least light sparring.


Conclusion:
I am very happy with my new sabre. It looks extremely good and feels very solid and real. Combined with the very resonable price, the Haidrik is definitely a great buy.

More pictures;

Thanks for taking the time Elling,

These offerings do seem to suit the re-enactment market well. MH seems to be supplied via www.weaponedge.com
Someone last year was in contact directly and I can recall someone else buying another example that seemd well pleased with fit and finish.
http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t=81331

The mass distribution is likely wacky, as the reproductions don't seem to have the distal characteristics of period blades.

There are some other sources in Eruope that sell similar goods but some of those are (I believe) sourcing through Deepeeka (or their producers) and the product just doesn't come as close to being visually appealing. A lot of American Civil War groups stress not spending a lot of money for swords but the market is such that some are just really awful looking. If anything, the hope is that some of the better looking ones will at least give good marked indication that they are reproductions. This will help fend off those that would sell them as originals and be a service to the unwary novice.

If you could share the thickness of the blade spine at several distances from the hilt, that would answer the mass distribution accuracy quite well. As these are sold as blunts, that is one immediate indication of compromise. My dainty period hussar hilted piece is 8mm thick at the hilt and is barely more than 1mm to less than 1mm for the last 10cm of blade. Weight? 1lb 12oz (less than a kilo=2.2lbs). It is slightly shorter than your sword though, at 91cm overall length.

The slide show is nice :)

Cheers

GC

Hi
The spine of the sword is 8mm at th cross, 6mm at 20 cm, 6mm at 40, 5 mm at 60, just after which it tapers sharply to 2mm at 70, and 1 mm at the tip.
I suspect that there was some manufacturing trick (extremely deep hollow grind, or some such) that have simply been lost.
If I had a cheaper/plainer sword, I might try to "tune" it, but the engravings on the Haidic is simply to nice to mess with.

That's beautiful! I sometimes wish I had more interest in 18th and 19th c. swords. Originals are affordable and nice reproductions such as this one and the others from MH are great bargains. $250 for this piece? Amazing....

The taper actually sounds pretty good and the weight isn't truly outrageous (i'm getting about 21/2 pounds in my head). The engravings do look nicely done and had actually attracted me to one of the other swords sold there. They have added quite a few new ones in the past years.

Cheers

GC