[Jean Thibodeau]

Received the OlliN Morehead Sword a couple of days ago and here is a short and subjective review: I say subjective because with a really good sword versus an O.K. sword the differences are felt in the hand and dry statistics just get you only so far, so I'm concentrating on feel and describing what I think is not obvious from the OlliN site's pics.

Link to the OlliN page with their statistics:
http://ollinsworddesign.com/osd-production.html#Morehead ( EDITED to correct link ).

The statistics and my measurements differ slightly so I will recap the " official " measurements and my measurements.

Since these are all handheld on the belt grinder there should be some expectations of slight variability in dimensions and I mention these as they might be of interest but I assume that Morehead Sword to Morehead Sword the differences should be subtle and in part due to Mark getting better at making number 20 than number 1

Weight: 2 lbs 13 oz. - - - - My measurements Weight: 2 lbs 9.5 oz. ( weighed on a food scale )
OAL: 40 5/8" -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- -OAL: 41 "
BL: 33: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -BL: Same ( So the difference is in the handle + pommel being 3/8" longer )
COB: 5" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - COB: 4.5" ( I assume the slightly longer handle moved the COB back 1/2" )
COP: 20.5" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -COP: I'll take this as accurate as I'm not that good at measuring this.


More of my measurements:
Blade width at guard: 2"
Blade width at end of fullers: 1 5/8"

Guard width: 6 3/8"
Pommel diameter: 2"

Handle length: 5 1/8"

Comments:

The pommel face/sides are hollow ground. The Bronze inserts are very 3D with a circular ring in which these is a very sculptural conical insert that is higher than the surrounding ring: It looks more 3D than in the OlliN pics ( Good thing, very nice ). The bronze colour is very attractive.

The handle has 3 riser that do a great deal to make one's grip feel secure,the handle is also relatively flat oval.
The leather cover does have a slightly visible line where it is glued down. The surface before and after the risers shows cord wrapping.

The guard has an oval octagonal section and although wide is thinner in thickness and also narrows from the blade and widens again near the ends. ( Very sturdy in profile but not chunky because it is thinner than wide as just mentioned ).

On the inside corners of the guard there are two bronze inserts that fill the slot made to fit the guard onto the tang: These are like two rounded triangles of bronze approximately 1/4" long and 1/4" wide. Aesthetically interesting but maybe not historical ? To better describe the shape, if the handle wasn't there these two bronze pieces look like a lenticular blade section interrupted in the middle by the handle of the sword:
http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=...head+Sword
http://www.kultofathena.com/images/OSD02_4_l.jpg

The blade's fullers are very strait but one of the fullers on one side is maybe 1/16" longer than the other.
Looking down the blade at an extreme angle one can see very little waviness of the blade's surface and the fullers are arrow strait. If one looks very very hard I can find a few tiny flaws but this is only using modern aesthetics as period sword would typically be much more variable in not being 100% dimensionally perfect.

I'm just mentioning these very minor things to be accurate in my description of the sword but they really are less than one sees in most of the best swords out there.

The blade is very flexible and does droop a little when held on it's side but I wouldn't call it whippy: It does seem more of a cutter than a thruster. The edges came paper cutting sharp. The finish is a nice satin similar to an Albion finish.

Where this sword " shines " is in the great handling: It floats like it weighs nothing in motion but still feel like it has good presence for a powerful cut: It's a swordsman's sword in that it should be fast enough and light enough that it can be used effectively without a shield and one would be able to defend with the sword alone.

I can also see that it would work great for sword and buckler and in period one would use a shield in battle but might use it alone if wearing the sword in a civilian context.

Very hard to make accurate comparisons but I would compare it to my Albion Doge in blade presence and to my Albion Sovereign in agility combining the best of the two ...... anyway, the closest I can come to giving some subjective idea of what it feel like.

Bottom line this is a very good handling sword with great aesthetics and quality control: High end production sword that is frankly closer to a custom sword at a very good price considering the high quality.

[Joe Fults]

Jean...I think you tagged the wrong URL in this link:

Link to the OlliN page with their statistics:
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/posting.php?mode=newtopic&f=1

[Jean Thibodeau]

[J.D. Crawford]

Sounds terrific Jean. I'm impressed that these are fully hand-made; as such, I would call those 'minor flaws' endearing signatures of the Artist's hand. -JD

[Jean Thibodeau]