Depeeka 17th C. Italian Schiavona *UPDATE W/ TEST*
Jun 21, 2009 3:52:05 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2009 3:52:05 GMT
17th Century Italian Schiavona
Manufacturer : Deepeeka
By Jonathan Guest, Mohave Valley/Flagstaff AZ
Introduction:
I've been looking into getting a rapier-like sword for some time now. I really like the lethal combination of length and speed. Initially, I had ordered a rapier blade, so that I could make my own handle, but after I placed my order, the item became backordered, and I decided to cancel my order and keep looking. I stumbled across the Schiavona, which has a bit wider blade than a rapier, and is more of a cut-and-thrust broadsword, but still has a nice basket hilt. I fell in love.
I found this sword on Aurora History Boutique, and was impressed by its style from the first minute I laid eyes on it. It's a "museum quality historic replica" with a high carbon steel blade. It's advertised as being 46 inches long, with a full tang, but that's all the information given. Shipping included, it cost approximately $105.
Historical Overview:
Schiavona were popular in Italy during the 16th and 17th centuries. A surviving piece has a blade that's approximately 36" long and weighs about 2.3 lbs. The basket hilt was more often crude than not - elegant ones are rare, but do exist. Schiavona almost always had a "cat's head" pommel. Pommels were made of iron, bronze, brass, or even solid silver.
Initial Impressions:
The package arrived and I was so freakin' excited.
I rip this bad boy open, and the box was FULL of packing peanuts.
After swimming through a mound of peanuts, I found more cardboard! Jeebus this thing was packed well.
I finally got all of the packing material off, and I discovered that this is a beefy sword for a one hander. It's fairly plain, but very nice. Sadly, it comes completely unsharpened. There were some minor imperfections that I noticed right away, but nothing so serious as to condemn this sword.
Components:
Blade Length: 34.25," edge 28.5"
Blade Width: 1.5" at widest.
Blade Thickness: 3/16"
Handle Length: 5" excluding pommel
Overall Length: 42"
Guard Width: 7" guard
Point of Balance: 7.5" from guard
Weight: 2.5 lbs
The Blade:
The blade is unsharpened carbon steel. It's a little crooked coming out of the handle, and has a small spot of rust.
(rust spot)
(little crooked)
The Handle:
Leather over wood, with wire accents. The leather has a surface scuff on it. The wood at the top of the guard is poorly painted. The handle is cone shaped, widest at the top, and it's round. That's right, round. Blah.
(damaged leather)
The Guard:
The welds on the basket guard appear decent. The guard is painted black, and they got a bit of black paint on to the very base of the blade.
The Pommel:
The pommel is... interesting for this kind of sword. Historical schiavona have "cat's head" pommels, and this one is a little out of place on this sword, though is not a bad pommel. Also, it's threaded.
The Scabbard:
The leather on the opening of the pommel is not secured, and looks fairly amateur, and it holds the sword very tightly at the base of the blade. Also, the metal piece used at the top of the scabbard is nailed on with small nails, causing a hammer ding in the metal, and also, the nails are sticking into the scabbard. The sword fits very snugly into the scabbard, perhaps too much so, so that drawing the blade in a snap is difficult.
(poor leather work on the opening)
Handling:
This is a large sword for a one hander, and it's a bit tip heavy. Any blow struck with this cut-and-thrust blade would be devastating, when it's sharpened, but it's downfall is in the slow recovery of a swing, and lack of grace. Also, the roundness of the handle can impede on one's ability to make the edge of this sword find a target.
CONCLUSIONS
Pros: Price. As far as reproductions of Schiavona go, this is probably the cheapest, and at 105$ including shipping, it's not bad.
Cons: Unsharpened. Imperfections. Historically not-so-accurate. A little unwieldy.
The Bottom Line: Depeeka has a monopoly on reproductions of Schiavona in the low 100's pricetag. If you REALLY want a Schiavona for around 100 dollars, be my guest, get one of these. You can probably expect it to be a lot like mine. If you want a good Schiavona, wait until you can afford something in the mid 200's.
** UPDATE **
I got my accusharp, and sharpened up one of the edges, and split my knuckle open doing it... yes, accusharps do come with a knuckle guard, and I feel pretty stupid for getting so hurt.
Anyways, I'm impressed with the blade, but as my dry handling indicated, this was a very hefty sword for one hand, and as you'll see in the video, I managed to squeazle my lefty in there for support. Also, a round handle? What exactly were they thinking? What this video doesn't show, is the bottles that got sent flying due to poor edge alignment... I edited them out.
So, my previous conclusion still stands. If you want a cheap Schiavona, go ahead and get Deepeeka. You can expect a fairly unweildy sword with a round handle.
Manufacturer : Deepeeka
By Jonathan Guest, Mohave Valley/Flagstaff AZ
Introduction:
I've been looking into getting a rapier-like sword for some time now. I really like the lethal combination of length and speed. Initially, I had ordered a rapier blade, so that I could make my own handle, but after I placed my order, the item became backordered, and I decided to cancel my order and keep looking. I stumbled across the Schiavona, which has a bit wider blade than a rapier, and is more of a cut-and-thrust broadsword, but still has a nice basket hilt. I fell in love.
I found this sword on Aurora History Boutique, and was impressed by its style from the first minute I laid eyes on it. It's a "museum quality historic replica" with a high carbon steel blade. It's advertised as being 46 inches long, with a full tang, but that's all the information given. Shipping included, it cost approximately $105.
Historical Overview:
Schiavona were popular in Italy during the 16th and 17th centuries. A surviving piece has a blade that's approximately 36" long and weighs about 2.3 lbs. The basket hilt was more often crude than not - elegant ones are rare, but do exist. Schiavona almost always had a "cat's head" pommel. Pommels were made of iron, bronze, brass, or even solid silver.
Initial Impressions:
The package arrived and I was so freakin' excited.
I rip this bad boy open, and the box was FULL of packing peanuts.
After swimming through a mound of peanuts, I found more cardboard! Jeebus this thing was packed well.
I finally got all of the packing material off, and I discovered that this is a beefy sword for a one hander. It's fairly plain, but very nice. Sadly, it comes completely unsharpened. There were some minor imperfections that I noticed right away, but nothing so serious as to condemn this sword.
Components:
Blade Length: 34.25," edge 28.5"
Blade Width: 1.5" at widest.
Blade Thickness: 3/16"
Handle Length: 5" excluding pommel
Overall Length: 42"
Guard Width: 7" guard
Point of Balance: 7.5" from guard
Weight: 2.5 lbs
The Blade:
The blade is unsharpened carbon steel. It's a little crooked coming out of the handle, and has a small spot of rust.
(rust spot)
(little crooked)
The Handle:
Leather over wood, with wire accents. The leather has a surface scuff on it. The wood at the top of the guard is poorly painted. The handle is cone shaped, widest at the top, and it's round. That's right, round. Blah.
(damaged leather)
The Guard:
The welds on the basket guard appear decent. The guard is painted black, and they got a bit of black paint on to the very base of the blade.
The Pommel:
The pommel is... interesting for this kind of sword. Historical schiavona have "cat's head" pommels, and this one is a little out of place on this sword, though is not a bad pommel. Also, it's threaded.
The Scabbard:
The leather on the opening of the pommel is not secured, and looks fairly amateur, and it holds the sword very tightly at the base of the blade. Also, the metal piece used at the top of the scabbard is nailed on with small nails, causing a hammer ding in the metal, and also, the nails are sticking into the scabbard. The sword fits very snugly into the scabbard, perhaps too much so, so that drawing the blade in a snap is difficult.
(poor leather work on the opening)
Handling:
This is a large sword for a one hander, and it's a bit tip heavy. Any blow struck with this cut-and-thrust blade would be devastating, when it's sharpened, but it's downfall is in the slow recovery of a swing, and lack of grace. Also, the roundness of the handle can impede on one's ability to make the edge of this sword find a target.
CONCLUSIONS
Pros: Price. As far as reproductions of Schiavona go, this is probably the cheapest, and at 105$ including shipping, it's not bad.
Cons: Unsharpened. Imperfections. Historically not-so-accurate. A little unwieldy.
The Bottom Line: Depeeka has a monopoly on reproductions of Schiavona in the low 100's pricetag. If you REALLY want a Schiavona for around 100 dollars, be my guest, get one of these. You can probably expect it to be a lot like mine. If you want a good Schiavona, wait until you can afford something in the mid 200's.
** UPDATE **
I got my accusharp, and sharpened up one of the edges, and split my knuckle open doing it... yes, accusharps do come with a knuckle guard, and I feel pretty stupid for getting so hurt.
Anyways, I'm impressed with the blade, but as my dry handling indicated, this was a very hefty sword for one hand, and as you'll see in the video, I managed to squeazle my lefty in there for support. Also, a round handle? What exactly were they thinking? What this video doesn't show, is the bottles that got sent flying due to poor edge alignment... I edited them out.
So, my previous conclusion still stands. If you want a cheap Schiavona, go ahead and get Deepeeka. You can expect a fairly unweildy sword with a round handle.