[Harry J. Fletcher]

The door bell rang this morning and there was a long box and a Federal Express deliveryman waiting for me to sign for it. I had not been expecting this sword until next week and so was pleasantly surprised. I had been looking at the Shamshir/Kalij for sometime now since seeing a review of it on Sword Buyers Guide. Somehow it was put on the backburner and the Spartan Lakonian came into play. After letting the wife settle down after that purchase I finally broached the subject on the Shamshir and got the immediate reaction from her I expected "...just how many swords do you need?" After serious discussion and negotiation (the way most money conflicts are resolved at our house) she got something and I got the sword or let's say I could order the sword.

There are two varieties of the Shamshir, one carries the Cold Steel name and the other carries the Windlass name although both are made by Windlass. The real difference is that Cold Steel blades come very sharp indeed and have been tested and checked for defects. Windlass blades do not come sharpened unless requested and most likely are sharpened at the distributors. Cold Steel has an excellent reputation for keen blades. Eitherway, the Windlass blade is well tempered and well done. The suiggested retail price is $369.00 for the Cold Steel and the Windlass is around $199.00.

I paid $209.00 for my Cold Steel from True Sword and have seen the Windlass advertised at Two Clicks for $169.00. I checked my sword on delivery and it was sharp and cut paper like a razor. The fit and finish were first rate. For those wanting to add a Scaracen sword to their collection it fits the bill in my opinion.

I am going to add links to YouTube videos showing tribal dances in South Saudi Arabia using Shamshirs while they dance and shoot off muzzle loading snaphances. Also, I will follow up with some pictures of my sword doing some cutting of tatami mats but I am out them at present.

Happy Easter Everyone and God Bless, Christ has Risen

Harry

This is part of the evenings festivities at a Saudi Arabian town's celebration. Just look at all those swords in action!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjMGEP5_tg0&am...eo=019SdEA

This is an afternoon ceremony with snaphances being fired and at the beginning if you look closely you will see a shamshir sword. As the video progresses you can see other types of swords on close viewing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn-rqKgPQaA&am...yaavNUNOUM

[Gottfried P. Doerler]

happy easter.
i never owned a piece from coldsteel or windless. as for now, i`ve always sticked to czech craftsmen, who always pleased me with sufficiant quality for a reasonable price.
but if i one day want a sword with real cutting power and the feeling, it might be used in earnest, i`d come to coldsteel.
their cutting test videos are really impressive and convincing, i especially liked their 1796er light cavalry.
so congrats to your acquisition, a nice piece.

[Sean O Stevens]

I have the Cold Steel Shamshir as well and, for the money, its a good buy. I prefer the look and fittings of the Windlass Scimitar but I like my CS Shamshir just fine.

[Timo Nieminen]

How is the edge - is it a secondary bevel, flat grind all the way to the edge, convex-ground, or something else?

Their swords that I've handled - 1 Japanese-style, 1 European-style, 1 Chinese-style - have good edges without a secondary bevel, but these are all made in China. Their naval dirk, made in India, comes with a quite ugly secondary bevel.

If the shamshir comes with a similarly ugly secondary bevel, I'd be very tempted to fix it, and at that point, might as well get the unsharpened Windlass and sharpen it. Any thoughts? How is it?

(I don't mean to say that all secondary bevels are ugly, but the one on the dirk was.)

[Harry J. Fletcher]

Hello Timo,

Well I hesitate to say since I am not that keen on sharpening but edge is very sharp. It is not an appleseed edge or a track edge and angle from the blade about 25 degrees each side. Is that what you mean by a secondary edge? I always thought a secondary was angled from the blade and had another angle from that angle. Anyway it is sharp and wouldn't take much work to bring up to your par. Me, I am not that picky. I can do a touch up but if my katana needs an edge, I am sending it off for a monouchi sharpening job, $79.00 plus shipping. For me, Mr. Bumble Fingers, it is worth the expense every 18 months or so with a working katana. My Tinker Viking on the other hand can be touched up quite handily,

Anyway, enough of my shortcomings, I do recommend you get the Cold Steel if only for the warranty. I couldn't begin to attempt to try sharpen the Windlass.

Hope that helps. By the way, do the Australian use Kangaroos instead of Easter Bunnies to deliver Easter eggs?

Regards,

Harry

[Jean Thibodeau]

A secondary bevel can be very sharp and historically correct depending on the sword and one can always " apple seed it "
by blending the bevels where they meet to a rounded rather than and obvious transition to a different bevel.

A bad secondary bevel to me aesthetically would be a rough or ragged one with vibration marks or one varying in width along the edge or of a different angle on one side of the blade than the other: It might still be sharp but would look grinder sharpened by someone with a shaky hand on a too rough grit wheel with a vibrating/stuttering wheel grinder.

[Harry J. Fletcher]

Thanks Jean,

Could you provide an illustration for neophytes like me to look at. This has always been a shortcoming on my part and guess I need to address it if I am to continue to play with swords.


Happy Easter and God Bless

Harry

[Timo Nieminen]

[Jean Thibodeau]

[Harry J. Fletcher]

Hi Jean,

Thanks for the help but it was hard to see with the Albion although I do have a Reeve. The Espada (that is a BIG knife, a really big knife. I almost bought one for its size but didn't realize just how big it was and am glad I didn't for that reason) looks like it is showing a bevel.

Regards,

Harry