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Russ Mitchell
Location: Irving, TX Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 51
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 Posted: Fri 09 Jul, 2004 1:40 pm Post subject: Weapons review by Sczepan Twardoch... |
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This gent is an awfully nice guy who tried to put together an armory in Poland, and just couldn't quite get it to work -- it's VERY hard to do business in Poland and Hungary, especially with a far-away client base... in that respect, the Czech guys have it much easier. So he's getting out of the biz. BUT, he has produced two different sabres (10-12th. c, and 16th c., respectively) and a couple of fokosbard heads for me, and I am expecting, by the end of the month, two more fokos types and a couple of mace heads made in the old Pecheneg style... this isn't PRECISELY the standard focus for myArmoury, but if folks are interested, once they're all in, I'll do up a review.
10,000 lemmings can't be wrong.
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Nathan Robinson
myArmoury Admin
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| Posted: Fri 09 Jul, 2004 1:44 pm Post subject: Re: Weapons review by Sczepan Twardoch... |
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| Russ Mitchell wrote: | | This gent is an awfully nice guy who tried to put together an armory in Poland, and just couldn't quite get it to work -- it's VERY hard to do business in Poland and Hungary, especially with a far-away client base... in that respect, the Czech guys have it much easier. So he's getting out of the biz. BUT, he has produced two different sabres (10-12th. c, and 16th c., respectively) and a couple of fokosbard heads for me, and I am expecting, by the end of the month, two more fokos types and a couple of mace heads made in the old Pecheneg style... this isn't PRECISELY the standard focus for myArmoury, but if folks are interested, once they're all in, I'll do up a review. |
I have become extremely interested in Polish and Hungarian arms lately. I'm very interested in hearing more about this.
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Nathan Robinson
myArmoury Admin
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Scott Byler
Location: New Mexico Joined: 20 Aug 2003
Posts: 209
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| Posted: Fri 09 Jul, 2004 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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Russ, I'd be interested in a review. 
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Chris Holzman
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| Posted: Fri 09 Jul, 2004 9:58 pm Post subject: |
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| Nathan Robinson wrote: | I recentlly purchased this Polish Saber off the used market. It was said to be from "Studio M" in Poland.
Is this Sczepan Twardoch's work?
Click photo for full-sized version
Either way, can you tell me anything about this particular saber? |
Nathan,
yes, Studio M swords are Szczepan's work. This winged hussar sabre is a variant of a Zablocki type Ib (Wojciech Zablocki wrote a sabre manual, and classified a whole bunch of types of Polish/Hungarian sabres in it. the sabre usage section is seen very much through the eye of a sport or duelling sabre fencer of the time, and I wouldn't give it a second thought, but his illustrations, weights and measurements seem to be quite well done. ) I believe this is a 17th Century piece, though Russ could certainly hit that date better than it
I have a French M1803 Cheval d' Chasseur sword from them - and its...well, interesting. I could also do up something on it. I'll attach an image.. The image frankly shows the sword in a better light than it actually is. This image was taken by Szczepan.
As Russ and I were discussing earlier today, Szczepan's stuff is 'good enough' but no more, and 'good enough' just doesn't cut it in this market place, for custom work.
From a functional standpoint, as a long time sabre user, this sabre is what a sabre is supposed to feel like. however, its got some serious aesthetic issues.
Chris
 Attachment: 72.3 KB
Chris Holzman
River City Fencing Club
Wichita, KS
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Tom Wegener
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| Posted: Sat 10 Jul, 2004 1:58 am Post subject: |
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Some aesthetic issues ? Well in the photo it looks fantastic to me , but then again you said is an older photo . Still , it is a nice looking sabre from my stand point .
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Timothy Gulics
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| Posted: Sat 10 Jul, 2004 8:04 am Post subject: |
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I've heard about this sabre. It has some problems with the leather wrap that have to be seen up close, and I think issues with the blade or hilt components as well.
I had a Studio M sword... the one that was going to be released through SFI's Museum Store, in fact. From a distance, it looked like a nice sword, but up close you could see the problems. Uneven finish on the blade, haphazard fuller with a bad termination, and a spotty leather wrap with poorly aligned risers beneath.
The sword is my companion.
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Chris Holzman
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| Posted: Sat 10 Jul, 2004 9:08 am Post subject: |
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| Tom Wegener wrote: | | Some aesthetic issues ? Well in the photo it looks fantastic to me , but then again you said is an older photo . Still , it is a nice looking sabre from my stand point . |
Tom,
Its a *gorgeous* sword from about 10 feet away. inside about 10 feet, and well..umm... yeah... not so good. part of the problem is that all the photos I got from Szczepan failed to show any of the problems with the sword. oooooops.
I don't want to talk about it too much until I hear something about whether Nathan would want me to do a full write-up, since I know he's not keen on publishing stuff twice. I had a review mostly ready some months back, but law school sort of intervened and killed my free time.
Chris Holzman
River City Fencing Club
Wichita, KS
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Nathan Robinson
myArmoury Admin
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| Posted: Sat 10 Jul, 2004 3:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Chris Holzman wrote: | | Tom Wegener wrote: | | Some aesthetic issues ? Well in the photo it looks fantastic to me , but then again you said is an older photo . Still , it is a nice looking sabre from my stand point . |
Tom,
Its a *gorgeous* sword from about 10 feet away. inside about 10 feet, and well..umm... yeah... not so good. part of the problem is that all the photos I got from Szczepan failed to show any of the problems with the sword. oooooops.
I don't want to talk about it too much until I hear something about whether Nathan would want me to do a full write-up, since I know he's not keen on publishing stuff twice. I had a review mostly ready some months back, but law school sort of intervened and killed my free time. |
Oops. Sorry.. yes, I'm interested in a review.. I'll send you the info and a template to make it easier... thanks man!! I should review mine, too. That would be a good weekly update.
.:. Visit my Collection Gallery :: View my Reading List :: View my Wish List :: See Pages I Like :: Find me on Facebook .:.
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Russ Mitchell
Location: Irving, TX Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 51
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| Posted: Sat 10 Jul, 2004 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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The hell of it is that he probably would have been very successful as a sword *designer,* because he knows what the weapons are supposed to feel like. I've shot my mouth off here and there saying that I've never met a swordsmith who does a good job on both sabres and swords... that's because in my region, there's a feel to the sabres that I've never found in a sabre made here stateside... but Sczepan's blades have them. The fittings, finish, all that, is separate, but the man knows what they're supposed to be like, and in that respect it's a real shame he's moving on in life, because he could have been the next best thing since sliced bread.
Nathan: if you like Hungarian and Polish, bear with me for a little bit until I'm ready to post a collection... just finished putting a repair polish on a fokos this evening...
10,000 lemmings can't be wrong.
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Chris Holzman
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| Posted: Sat 10 Jul, 2004 11:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Russ Mitchell wrote: | The hell of it is that he probably would have been very successful as a sword *designer,* because he knows what the weapons are supposed to feel like. I've shot my mouth off here and there saying that I've never met a swordsmith who does a good job on both sabres and swords... that's because in my region, there's a feel to the sabres that I've never found in a sabre made here stateside... but Sczepan's blades have them. The fittings, finish, all that, is separate, but the man knows what they're supposed to be like, and in that respect it's a real shame he's moving on in life, because he could have been the next best thing since sliced bread.
Nathan: if you like Hungarian and Polish, bear with me for a little bit until I'm ready to post a collection... just finished putting a repair polish on a fokos this evening... |
Yeah Russ, thats the hell of it. these sabres are *right* 100% in feel. its dead on.. doesn't feel like any other swords I've ever handled. It's a shame - but with all the other issues, well, I'm not surprised. He should have been designing them, and letting someone else do it. the dynamic balance on this blade i have is dead on - something to do with the multiple points of rotation, and the way you transition back and forth through them, I think. My M1860-shashqa-thing has it as well... that 1796 you've got...well, doesn't. bleh!
Its sad, but no shock, considering. I just wish I'd gotten a karabela off of him first.
Nathan: please do send me a template, it should make things much easier for me, and I'll see what I can do about pictures - I dont have much by way of a digicam, but with some luck I should get some decent shots. I'm in the process of working on the edge, along the first third of the blade, so its a little shredded looking, but heck, its an armory grade piece anyway. quite nice, if it was what one was expecting. sigh.
Chris
Chris Holzman
River City Fencing Club
Wichita, KS
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Lee O'Hagan
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| Posted: Sun 11 Jul, 2004 4:45 am Post subject: |
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Nathan,
John has put up a link to a seller PCAY, on the ebay finds post,
The hussar sabre at the bottom of the list looks somewhat like the sabre you have pictured,
Different blade curvature but the hilt isnt too far away,
it looks good in the pic,
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Chris Holzman
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| Posted: Sun 11 Jul, 2004 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Lee O'Hagan wrote: | Nathan,
John has put up a link to a seller PCAY, on the ebay finds post,
The hussar sabre at the bottom of the list looks somewhat like the sabre you have pictured,
Different blade curvature but the hilt isnt too far away,
it looks good in the pic, |
PCAY tends to have a *lot* of ridiculously cool stuff. the sad thing is, he's in Oklahoma, about a 3 to 5 hour drive from me, wherever he is, and I've never managed to go down and look at any of his stuff. I'd really like to though. he's had several things over the last few years that i'd have loved to have seen/handled. He comes up with decent naginata in full mounts, several times a year, which drives me nuts, as they're always worth *way* more than I can dream of spending for the next several years.
I'm not sure which ebay item you're referring to though. one looks like an m1803 hilt like mine, with a 1796 sabre blade on it. cool piece, doubtless, but I can't stand the 1796. yucky for what Russ and I do. the other piece, with the HUGE curve, looks reallllly cool. I wonder what it handles like. if the distal taper is good, the points of rotation should be very interesting in the hand.
Chris
Chris Holzman
River City Fencing Club
Wichita, KS
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Lee O'Hagan
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| Posted: Mon 12 Jul, 2004 8:49 am Post subject: |
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Hi Chris,
Yes the one with the huge curve,
i thought the hilt assembly looked quite similer to what Nathan picked up,
Your definately right about PCAY and the stuff he sell's on,
Also seen so many fine pieces that would be worth bidding on,
The japanese items he has listed always look really good,
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Chris Holzman
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| Posted: Tue 13 Jul, 2004 2:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Nathan Robinson wrote: | | Chris Holzman wrote: | | Tom Wegener wrote: | | Some aesthetic issues ? Well in the photo it looks fantastic to me , but then again you said is an older photo . Still , it is a nice looking sabre from my stand point . |
Tom,
Its a *gorgeous* sword from about 10 feet away. inside about 10 feet, and well..umm... yeah... not so good. part of the problem is that all the photos I got from Szczepan failed to show any of the problems with the sword. oooooops.
I don't want to talk about it too much until I hear something about whether Nathan would want me to do a full write-up, since I know he's not keen on publishing stuff twice. I had a review mostly ready some months back, but law school sort of intervened and killed my free time. |
Oops. Sorry.. yes, I'm interested in a review.. I'll send you the info and a template to make it easier... thanks man!! I should review mine, too. That would be a good weekly update. |
Hi Nathan, sorry to be a pest, could you run that template by me? use c_holzman@hotmail.com I'd like to get it zapped out sometime this week, and we're supposed to have good weather for taking pictures all this week.
thanks,
Chris
Chris Holzman
River City Fencing Club
Wichita, KS
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