Has anyone handled cold steel European wasters?

Cold steel has a new line of European wasters made of polypropylene, and claim to be unbreakable.

http://budk.com/product.asp?pn=46%20CS92BKHNH...id=SPLID01
http://budk.com/product.asp?pn=17%20CS92BKD&a...id=SPLID01

wanted to see what you're thoughts were.

Last I heard they hadn't shipped yet. They are listed on that site as shipping 5/22.

So nobody knows much about them.

That being said I hope they do work well; they would be great tool.

Cheers,
Steven

I will be getting a couple of these to try out since having one won't tell you much: If used with/against a wooden waster it might not work well just because of the mismatch of wood against polypropylene.

Against a steel blunt even worse mismatch.

If it slides well in the bind or winding, aren't to stiff or to rigid and are closer in feel to steel on steel, only trying them will tell.

If they are no better than wood in handling but no worse but are more durable and near indestructible then maybe they will be worth it ? (If they hold their shape and don't warp like wood can and certainly no worries about getting a bad splinter like wood if damaged ).

I recently ordered and received a black plastic longsword waster from Cold Steel.



I don't have an accurate way to weigh the sword, but to my hand it feels a bit lighter than my Albion Crecy. However, it has more blade presence with its point of balance around 9" from the center of the cross guard -- as opposed to the Crecy which balances around 4" from the center of the cross guard.



It comes in three pieces. The blade through to the pommel is one piece. The cross guard is fitted over the blade and pushed firmly into place at the handle. And lastly there is a thick rubber band that fits snugly over the blade to hold the cross guard in place.



The whole thing feels very solid and robust. The handle thickness is a bit more than the Crecy, but nicely shaped. The material has been molded to provide some friction to the grip, but as a polycarbonate it is considerably more slippery than leather.

I own one of their bokens and it is really a great buy for the price (about $20.00 from Kult of Athena). If these are made using the same methods, I am sure that they are *very* durable. If only they had a one handed sword...

Bill, do these have an 'edge'? Or are they entirely rounded on the edges? I'm not sure from looking at the picture. And as someone looking at these as a practice tool an edge would be at cross purposes to my use.

Thanks,
Steven

They do taper to a rounded edge, i.e., they are not flat on the sides, but the 'edge' is not sharp either.

Now that these are shipping, I might try to get my longsword interested people to purchase these instead of the feder by Hanwei (which are 3 times the expense).

M.

They don't have what I'd call an edge. They are rounded over from the full thickness of the blade with just a slight "edge" where the two rounded surfaces meet.

Thanks for the details.

Now I'd love to hear from someone who's also handled one of the nylon wasters. 'Cause if these are comparable for half the price then that is great.

Thanks,
Steven

There is a group here with 20 Cold Steel synthetic bokens they use extensively for full contact drills (not for sparring - they WILL shatter bones). I can hardly wait to put my hands on the new waster, weight is supposed to be appr. 1kg, somewhat light for a longsword but heavier than most wooden wasters though. Weight distribution should also be checked. As for durability, these things will probably last forever.

I picked one up last week, and so far, I like it. I haven't used it against another one yet, but my guess is that impacts won't be quite as rough on my hands as they are with wood. It is weighted better than a regular waster, IMHO.

I just got my hand and a half in the mail last week. It is very nice, especially when the price is taken into consideration. It is a bit heavy for my tastes, but that is not a reflection on the waster itself but more a reflection on my ability to spar with a two-handed weapon. I usually practice with smaller, one-handed wasters.

Just got them and since I bought two I can test how they feel against each other: First impressions are that they slide on each other very well and might compare favourably to steel. There is more flex across the flats than in line with the edges as a steel sword compared to the uniform rigidity of wood wasters.

Still rigid enough that they are wood substitutes and one shouldn't train with them as if they were rubber and they are not meant to flail away without good control as with steel or wood as I think these things could break bones.

I will be showing them to my longsword director and if he wants/allows me to try them we might use them tonight or later this week: In any case we will probably test them in informal free exchanges or light bouting to see how they handle, compared to steel or wood and if they hold up to impact ( I assume that they are near indestructible thought. ;) except that they might not play well with steel blunts, mixed with wood wasters might be O.K. but the optimum is to buy them in pairs.

Also, got the daggers.

Will come back to this Topic to give my personal and my director's opinion on them after a bit of use: We might like them right away or it might take a while to really test them to see if they help in simulating steel sharps as well or better than wooden wasters + durability.

Quick question somewhat related to this topic:

How might the plastic take painting? For inexpensive background props in an indy film, they look like they might fit the bill, but the black color might be an issue.

Might anyone know if they intend to make a single hander anytime soon? I would be very interested in something like that. Especially at the price point that these have compared to other nylon wasters.

I am likewise interested in their durability vs. price vs. handling.

Nathan,

Painting them might end up being messy-that material isn't known for holding paint well. If you could find a primer that etched the plastic without dissolving it then maybe, but my guess is that the end result wouldn't be very durable. If you want to really go whole hog, you'll probably get better results by making a mold of the waster and casting it in silver plastic or resin.

I modified mine a bit. I cut the handle a couple inches down from the guard and made a hickory spacer. I then drilled a 3/8 hole about 2.5 inches into the upper portion of the handle, 3 inches into the lower portion, then drilled all the way through the spacer. After that, I threaded the holes thanks to my handy-dandy tap and die set (everyone should have one... very cheap at harbor freight), and inserted a threaded 3/8 steel rod from Lowe's. I also used a generous amount of JB Weld on all connections. to cover up the modifications, I covered the grip in some gray leather I'd had laying around. So far, it seems to be 100% as solid as the original. We'll see if that stays true...lol

http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae121/rykk...0_0632.jpg

http://i964.photobucket.com/albums/ae121/rykk...0_0630.jpg

Thanks for starting this thread, all my bokken are cracked and I was about to order more (wood) ones. I did not know that there even were poly ones!

I may order a couple of wasters also. Wonder if they could do some poly targes?