DSA Knightly Bastard Review
Dec 18, 2009 23:38:41 GMT
Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2009 23:38:41 GMT
Before I start my review, I would like to add a quick note. I have always had a soft spot for DSA. Not so much for the quality of the swords, but more or less the active involvement Eyal has had in our community. My first sword was a DSA 12th century sword that I no longer have. Actually it was sold to brotherbanazi who totally redid that weapon into a monster of a two handed weapon. But that's not what I'm here to talk about.
Admist mountains of complaints and nitpicking, much of it was true, DSA listened to their customer base and made improvements where they needed to. Very few of their new swords have twist on pommels, most of them now are peenned at the end. They have also taken care of the excessive weight by lightenning their swords. I once said, in regards to Darksword, that they have the talent and at that point in time two years ago that if they put forth the effort they could build something to rival Del Tin or even a Squire Line Albion if they put their time into it. Well was I proven right? In many ways I was...
It is a pretty standard UPS package that the sword was shipped to me in. Now onto its contents...
The wrapping job of the sword and scabbard is decent but has more of a homey type of feel to it. What I mean by this, instead of using precut stryafoam packaging, the sword is wrapped and protected by old news paper and swran wrap. Not that I can complain really, that's exactly how I repack swords when I ship and trade. Never the less, it kept the sword safe during transit there by fulfilling its job!
Now onward to the blade!
Darksword has really done quite well listenning to its customers in regards to what its base wants. Gone are the nearly 2 mm edges of the past! This new sword has an edge of about 0.8mm, yeah you heard me right! A DSA that potentially may not be a nightmare to self sharpen! Mine is not sharp by the way because I'd rather do it myself with files and sand paper.
Total Length: 42"
Blade Length : 30"
POB:2.5"
Weight: 3lbs 6 oz.
These are the stats posted on DSA's website. I cannot verify the weight, I do not own a scale unfortunately. Though it does seem to be accurate. The sword is well balanced. In terms of handling the blade does well with one or two hands. The long grip with the rather large pommel helps keep the blade balanced making recovery fairly easy. Though the weight of the blade does get to you after some time. In honestly, I wish that DSA, even if it meant raising prices, would spend time grinding down the blade to thin out the last third.
There is very little taper on the sword, at all, until the very end where the point is. The point is very well executed though and pierces quite well. The sword is fullered about a bit more than half its length. After the fuller ends, it transits to a thick diamond cross section. When I mean thick, it is thick. Though I'd perfer it to be thinner, the added mass does make it very stiff. I do not think this blade would make a great cutter but thrusts are quite deadly especially with the reinforced diamond cross section.
A note about the pommel. Eyal if you are out there, on future versions of this sword I would suggest that you break the round pommel and penning cap into two pieces. It should be the round pommel, and a squarish peening cap. I personally think that it would give the sword a more authentic flair but that may just be me.
Though I must say that both the guard and pommel are quite well polished and are well formed. The only real issue I have with the hilt furnite is that the slot on the guard is too wide. When the pommel is struck, it makes an awful rattling noise as the blade keeps hitting the guard. Aside from that the blade is very tight.
The peen on top of the pommel I must say is superbly exectuted. Though I do not know if the pommel is screwed onto a threaded tang and then peened over, like on most Gen2s, or if it is a rectangular tang and then peened over like most higher end makes. I do not wish to volunteer my sword to find this out however... Though, if anyone from DSA is reading this and wants to chime in, please feel free.
The only other issue I had with the hilt is that the leather covering the cord is comming a bit loose. The cord itself is extremely tight but the leather cover is becomming undone unfortunately.
Another note about the hilt over all, like most other DSA's the hilt furniture is oversized. Personally, I'd wish that in the future they would cut down on the size of their hilt furniture and just grind down the blades more to add more distal taper and remove more mass. Though Del Tin, one of the world's most renowed sword makes, also suffers from this same foley in that they do not add much if any distal taper to their blades. As a result, they too compromise by making their hilt furniture a tad larger than normal.
One last note, a number of members had registered doubts on the lenght of the handel. I have included with my review a comparision photo of the sword sitting next to my Gen2 Lucerene which is similar in type and dimensions.
Both weapons handel well but suffer equally from the same flaw. When handeled with two hands, there is a lack of blade pressence that forces you to swing harder in the cut rather than let the blade follow through naturally.
Onto the scabbard...
The scabbard is a major step up from the old DSA scabbards with loose fittings. Though, in traditional DSA fashion, the sword does rattle a bit the scabbard . The only other issue I have with the scabbard is that the guard does not rest on the wooden core inside the scabbard. The leather covering the core actually extends an inch or so out over the core before executing into the round wonderfully stiched rain guard. I think the reason why they did this has to do with the guard being so wide. To compensate for this, and keep the scabbard rather skinny, they made the top flexible so it has room to stretch as the blade sits in its sheath. I took a picture of this up above but it is very difficult to see. Black on black doesn't tend to show well on camera.
Aside that, the scabbard is well put together. The belt is well stitched and made from good quality leather. It also rest comfrotably above your hips as it rests on your body, sword in sheath. I wouldn't say the scabbard is DBK quality or Christian Fletcher. It does however rival the entry level scabbards of Tritionworks and is in my opinion better than their entry level line. I own one of their scabbards that houses a Albion Squire Line Greatsword. I was not impressed with the quality of Russ's leather for the scabbard or belt on that scabbard though the build quality was good.
All in all my ratings are as follows!
3/5 historical accuracy
4/5 handling
3.5/5 fit and finish
4/5 structural integrity
5/5 value for your money
Just try getting a kit like this with sword and scabbard with integrated belt for under $400 from any other North American make! If you can, I owe you $20!
For refference to how much DSA has changed from even just one or two years ago, I am including here a picture of my old DSA 12th century sword. A brute it was as it wieghed well over four pounds in weight with its screwed on pommel. Not only that, the pommel would peridocially untorque as the blade was handeled.
(Note grip was rewrapped by DBK.)
Admist mountains of complaints and nitpicking, much of it was true, DSA listened to their customer base and made improvements where they needed to. Very few of their new swords have twist on pommels, most of them now are peenned at the end. They have also taken care of the excessive weight by lightenning their swords. I once said, in regards to Darksword, that they have the talent and at that point in time two years ago that if they put forth the effort they could build something to rival Del Tin or even a Squire Line Albion if they put their time into it. Well was I proven right? In many ways I was...
It is a pretty standard UPS package that the sword was shipped to me in. Now onto its contents...
The wrapping job of the sword and scabbard is decent but has more of a homey type of feel to it. What I mean by this, instead of using precut stryafoam packaging, the sword is wrapped and protected by old news paper and swran wrap. Not that I can complain really, that's exactly how I repack swords when I ship and trade. Never the less, it kept the sword safe during transit there by fulfilling its job!
Now onward to the blade!
Darksword has really done quite well listenning to its customers in regards to what its base wants. Gone are the nearly 2 mm edges of the past! This new sword has an edge of about 0.8mm, yeah you heard me right! A DSA that potentially may not be a nightmare to self sharpen! Mine is not sharp by the way because I'd rather do it myself with files and sand paper.
Total Length: 42"
Blade Length : 30"
POB:2.5"
Weight: 3lbs 6 oz.
These are the stats posted on DSA's website. I cannot verify the weight, I do not own a scale unfortunately. Though it does seem to be accurate. The sword is well balanced. In terms of handling the blade does well with one or two hands. The long grip with the rather large pommel helps keep the blade balanced making recovery fairly easy. Though the weight of the blade does get to you after some time. In honestly, I wish that DSA, even if it meant raising prices, would spend time grinding down the blade to thin out the last third.
There is very little taper on the sword, at all, until the very end where the point is. The point is very well executed though and pierces quite well. The sword is fullered about a bit more than half its length. After the fuller ends, it transits to a thick diamond cross section. When I mean thick, it is thick. Though I'd perfer it to be thinner, the added mass does make it very stiff. I do not think this blade would make a great cutter but thrusts are quite deadly especially with the reinforced diamond cross section.
A note about the pommel. Eyal if you are out there, on future versions of this sword I would suggest that you break the round pommel and penning cap into two pieces. It should be the round pommel, and a squarish peening cap. I personally think that it would give the sword a more authentic flair but that may just be me.
Though I must say that both the guard and pommel are quite well polished and are well formed. The only real issue I have with the hilt furnite is that the slot on the guard is too wide. When the pommel is struck, it makes an awful rattling noise as the blade keeps hitting the guard. Aside from that the blade is very tight.
The peen on top of the pommel I must say is superbly exectuted. Though I do not know if the pommel is screwed onto a threaded tang and then peened over, like on most Gen2s, or if it is a rectangular tang and then peened over like most higher end makes. I do not wish to volunteer my sword to find this out however... Though, if anyone from DSA is reading this and wants to chime in, please feel free.
The only other issue I had with the hilt is that the leather covering the cord is comming a bit loose. The cord itself is extremely tight but the leather cover is becomming undone unfortunately.
Another note about the hilt over all, like most other DSA's the hilt furniture is oversized. Personally, I'd wish that in the future they would cut down on the size of their hilt furniture and just grind down the blades more to add more distal taper and remove more mass. Though Del Tin, one of the world's most renowed sword makes, also suffers from this same foley in that they do not add much if any distal taper to their blades. As a result, they too compromise by making their hilt furniture a tad larger than normal.
One last note, a number of members had registered doubts on the lenght of the handel. I have included with my review a comparision photo of the sword sitting next to my Gen2 Lucerene which is similar in type and dimensions.
Both weapons handel well but suffer equally from the same flaw. When handeled with two hands, there is a lack of blade pressence that forces you to swing harder in the cut rather than let the blade follow through naturally.
Onto the scabbard...
The scabbard is a major step up from the old DSA scabbards with loose fittings. Though, in traditional DSA fashion, the sword does rattle a bit the scabbard . The only other issue I have with the scabbard is that the guard does not rest on the wooden core inside the scabbard. The leather covering the core actually extends an inch or so out over the core before executing into the round wonderfully stiched rain guard. I think the reason why they did this has to do with the guard being so wide. To compensate for this, and keep the scabbard rather skinny, they made the top flexible so it has room to stretch as the blade sits in its sheath. I took a picture of this up above but it is very difficult to see. Black on black doesn't tend to show well on camera.
Aside that, the scabbard is well put together. The belt is well stitched and made from good quality leather. It also rest comfrotably above your hips as it rests on your body, sword in sheath. I wouldn't say the scabbard is DBK quality or Christian Fletcher. It does however rival the entry level scabbards of Tritionworks and is in my opinion better than their entry level line. I own one of their scabbards that houses a Albion Squire Line Greatsword. I was not impressed with the quality of Russ's leather for the scabbard or belt on that scabbard though the build quality was good.
All in all my ratings are as follows!
3/5 historical accuracy
4/5 handling
3.5/5 fit and finish
4/5 structural integrity
5/5 value for your money
Just try getting a kit like this with sword and scabbard with integrated belt for under $400 from any other North American make! If you can, I owe you $20!
For refference to how much DSA has changed from even just one or two years ago, I am including here a picture of my old DSA 12th century sword. A brute it was as it wieghed well over four pounds in weight with its screwed on pommel. Not only that, the pommel would peridocially untorque as the blade was handeled.
(Note grip was rewrapped by DBK.)