[Jason Down]

I will get bombasted for this I know.......recent chit chat and talk makes me want to make it known. I've never posted anywhere but read too much to know that it is not all equal discussions and so will take my story with just facts and no conclusions.

Last year I bought a 2nd hand sword, a AT 1593 longsword with black handle and steel fittings. This is not my first sword but maybe my first higher quality one. I have collected for 20 years and have studied khukris mostly and some wwii items. It wasn't until my daughter did ren fair and I went and got involved that I started to love those kinds of swords. I bought a Starfire and two del tins and several MLR swords over 10 years. But then I found SwordForum and learned of the limits of these older brands and wanted something more like the real thing. I'm not a rich man and so when I found a AT 1593 for a good price i jumped. I am the 2nd owner but it is not much older than 2 years. I cut the box it shipped into and then more boxes that I had too. This was a year ago. It was the first time that I cut the way I read on so much about. It sliced and diced and made good mess of the them and lots of cleaning up after. I read about plastic bottles and so I tired that too. I'm not great at that but after practice got the hang of it. It wasn't as fun to me because its more finess and the water is not as messy. It seems too easy to slice them or also shoot them across the yard. I did more reading and found straw mats are the choice cutting type. These are wara mats and they stimulate flesh and bone more than modern made types. So my son in law who owns a angus trim elf sword bought his over to the house and we set up shop with the wara mats. We soaked them and let hang dry and put them on a block and did our cutting. All went good for most mats but then after half way done I did a bad cut and think it went a little sideways and low and beyhold I snapped my AT 1593. A big piece came off and flew and hit into my shed nearby. It was't a clean break in half or anything but a chip of 3' x 1' came off the tip. I know I blotched the cut but is this normal to expect? I dont think it is at all and nothing like what I read all the time. It should bend first before snapping and not a piece to come off but if it snaps at all should break in half if anything. Could cold weather cause it to be brittle? Its isn’t snowing but in the 40’s. This happened 3 weeks ago and I've been livid since. I've sent 2 emails but nothing yet and so I am hoping this gets satisfaciton. I post it here because its safer......

[Bill Grandy]

Honestly, that's not completely out of the question for that to happen. While tatami mats are not abusive targets, a lot of people underestimate how much stress is put on a sword during a bad cut. The tip is definately thinner, and perhaps the bad cut put a lot of torque on it? I don't know without having been there. From the sounds of it, it doesn't seem like you did anything abusive at all, but at the same time this break isn't completely unnacceptable, either. Regardless, I hope Gus can help you out.

[Arne Focke]

Apart from Bill's point, you never know what the previous owner did with the sword. If you put a lot of stress on a blade over and over again then it is not a question of whether it will break, but of when it will break.
Only from a dull practice sword, like the things used on ren-fairs, can you expect it to bend rather than break, since they are build not with more realistic cutting in mind, but for banging blades against each other.

[Allan Senefelder]

Arne, I don't know if I can completely agree with your statement regarding only training/stage combat blunts bending. About three years back at a little back yard cook out we were doing a little cutting on two liters filled with water using a first gen Crecy and let a guy have a try who had zero expirience or skill cutting. Tried to explain the basics to him and let him have a try. He completely botched it, possibly the worst cut i've ever seen, bottle must have shot 30 feet through the air, and the Crecy blade had a slight set after (starightened by Jason on a trip out and still cutting like all get out to this day).

By the way we in no way thought " there must be something wrong with the blade", we thought "worst cut we ever saw, lucky it wasn't futzed up worse".

[Allan Senefelder]

Jason, I should note my example is not meant as commentary on your happenstance only on swords for different purposes being susceptible to the same results.

[Allen W]

That break sounds peculiar to me but I'm concerned with your letting the mats dry. When James Williams cuts at the Blade Show his wara are dripping wet which makes them much easier to cut. My only personal experience cutting tatami was with some that were slightly undersoaked (not deliberately). If you didn't hit with enough speed the grain of the tatami pulled your cut into the verticle. This could only be worse with dry tatami, easily warping a blade on a hard botched cut.

[Bill Grandy]

Gus wasn't able to post this, so he asked me to post his number here for you. He said to call him this afternoon.

253-872-4801

[Joe Fults]

[Nathan Robinson]

Jason-

Call Gus Trim at the phone number listed a couple posts up and get this resolved. Please feel free to share your results with us. Until then, it's pretty much an incomplete story at this point.