Another Look: Windlass' Shrewsbury!
Jan 26, 2007 21:39:48 GMT
Post by rammstein on Jan 26, 2007 21:39:48 GMT
As always this is a work in progress. I'm probably going to be adding new and improved tests and thoughts regarding this sword as I've done in my Sword of War review, and my friend shootermike has done in his falchion review. Also, I've tried to stay within the same style as my Sword of War review
I received this sword in mid October 2006. At the time I received this sword (as well as when I'm writing this review) I only own 3 other swords: The Windlass Sword of War, an old Triplette training rapier, and some crappy wallhanger not worth mentioning (see my "Anatomy of a Wallhanger" post.) I Say this so one gets a good feel as for my experiences with swords. I will be the first to admit that I am n expert and that my views should not be taken anywhere near as seriously as, for example, Paul Southern's, who has owned and handled more sword than I can ever dream of owning. Just so one knows, these pictures are taken a few months after I bought the sword (January of 2007).
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
My first impressions of this sword was its profile taper. For some reason, I just wasn't expecting the sword to be so narrowly pointed! The tip looks amazingly fearsome and pictures on the internet just don;t seem to do it justice. Next I noticed that the sword has a more than adequate hilt for a two handed grip. While it may be a good addition, I wasn't totally prepared for that, though the shock was lessoned somewhat because of The other review on the Shrewsbury, thanks to another awesome forumite, Kriegschwert.
Note that I have large hands and that someone with slightly smaller hands would find the grip possibly more pleasing that I do. It seems to have just enough room to slide that second hand in.
The Test: I decided, as always, to test the temper of the blade. Just like any other windlass, it passed this test with flying colours. I managed to bend it more than a foot and a half out of line without the blade taking a set. Quite good!
In my concerted efforts to prevent deception of any kind, it should only be fair to say that I have discovered a flaw in the tip of blade, about the last 5 inches, in which it seems has no tempering whatsoever. I can place this on the ground and bend it more than 30 degrees out of line. Obviously it takes a set and stay bent at that angle. However, the rest of the sword seems fully functional and this leads me to believe that I have a bad tip on my personal sword. Probably just a defect. I don't think that the failure on this point is worth returning the sword or even being too angry about considering the price at which I bought it. It is very easy to fix. I probably do it the most historic way possible, actually! I place the tip under foot and use the rest of the sword as a lever to bend the tip back into place. I'd assume that the average man-at-arms would not waste his time professionally repairing this and would tend to use a more oblique method.
Kriegschwert has this to say about this defect:
"I concur with Rammstein's belief that his sword was one that unfortunately snuck through quality control with an unevenly tempered blade, as I have not had trouble with the tip of mine."
Fit and Finish: I found the Shrewsbury to be a remarkably attractive sword. It comes with a mirror finish that usually doesn't appeal to me, but seems to work well on this particular sword. The quillions seem to be an afterthought. They are made sloppy and uneven with a strange warping to one tip. The pommel is well made and is 8 faceted. Because it is grippable and acts as an extension of the handle, it seems prone to rusting, so one might want to be pretty liberal in applying oil to this area, and doing it often. At the very end of the pommel is a small nut that can be unscrewed to take apart the entire sword. This nut hold all of the pieces of the sword together and without it, everything would just fall apart. The blade itself is well made with little or no scratches other than the ones I have already given it. It did however have two medium size spots of rust 2-3 inches from the hilt on the blade were the scabbard pinches the sword and holds it. Nothing big, but I have found these spots irremovable. The scabbard is poorly constructed, as usual, but it seems to fit the portion of the blade closest to the hilt very well. It still rattles, but does not fall off when turned upside down.
I have found that, like many of windlass' swords, the hilt starts to loosen after a while. With this sword it is easily fixable. Just give the nut on the end a few twists with a vice grip and/or pliers and it will stay as solid as a rock (at least for some time). This does, however, leave the cosmetic problem of a slightly exposed tang. My Shrewsbury has about 5 millimeters of the threaded tang that sticks out. This has no effect on anything other than looks. I really don't care or notice one way or the other.
Handling and Durability: This sword handles exceptionally well due to its light weight (around 2.5 pounds I believe, though I haven't weighed my personal sword). The Shrewsbury requires very little effort to move from guard to guard and throwing strikes seems to be easy enough. A slight problem that I've found is that the handle is a bit square-ish and is a little difficult to grip well enough to hold it stable in the hand. I'd suggest a 5 minute job of rounding off those edges more and the sword should handle even better than it already does. I believe that the sword can be used pretty well in one hand as it does two, but I prefer a two handed grip. I've tried the one handed grip out with several of my shields that I've made and I found that the Shrewsbury is a tad sluggish, but not enough to detract points at all. This may have something to do with the oddly shaped handle.
The Shrewsbury is obviously designed for thrusts. Unfortunately, windlass has done a swell job in repeating one of their many flaws -- an entirely too flexible blade that I really don't like. Sure, it can thrust through light targets (it has a point, doesn't it!?) but with a more rigid blade, it would be a monster. Cuts are effortless and I've sliced through many water filled bottles and other plastic containers. I wouldn't recommend heavy pell work with this until you have made sure the grip is good and tight.
Overall I am very happy with the sword, but I can see room for improvement. I wish windlass would spend the few 20-40 dollars at most needed to reach this sword's potential.
The Shrewsbury's tang isn't a beefy monster of a piece of steel that could take blows as, say, a gen2 could, but it is relatively strong. I am fairly confident that it will not break anytime in the distant future. This is the first sword I have ever taken apart and I was quite suprised at how simple the inner pieces of a sword (any in general) are. This shrewsbury can be broken into 5 pieces: The blade, the guard, the hilt, the pommel, and the nut.
I leave you with one last picture:
The major aspects that need to be fixed:
The Parts that I like:
I received this sword in mid October 2006. At the time I received this sword (as well as when I'm writing this review) I only own 3 other swords: The Windlass Sword of War, an old Triplette training rapier, and some crappy wallhanger not worth mentioning (see my "Anatomy of a Wallhanger" post.) I Say this so one gets a good feel as for my experiences with swords. I will be the first to admit that I am n expert and that my views should not be taken anywhere near as seriously as, for example, Paul Southern's, who has owned and handled more sword than I can ever dream of owning. Just so one knows, these pictures are taken a few months after I bought the sword (January of 2007).
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
My first impressions of this sword was its profile taper. For some reason, I just wasn't expecting the sword to be so narrowly pointed! The tip looks amazingly fearsome and pictures on the internet just don;t seem to do it justice. Next I noticed that the sword has a more than adequate hilt for a two handed grip. While it may be a good addition, I wasn't totally prepared for that, though the shock was lessoned somewhat because of The other review on the Shrewsbury, thanks to another awesome forumite, Kriegschwert.
Note that I have large hands and that someone with slightly smaller hands would find the grip possibly more pleasing that I do. It seems to have just enough room to slide that second hand in.
The Test: I decided, as always, to test the temper of the blade. Just like any other windlass, it passed this test with flying colours. I managed to bend it more than a foot and a half out of line without the blade taking a set. Quite good!
In my concerted efforts to prevent deception of any kind, it should only be fair to say that I have discovered a flaw in the tip of blade, about the last 5 inches, in which it seems has no tempering whatsoever. I can place this on the ground and bend it more than 30 degrees out of line. Obviously it takes a set and stay bent at that angle. However, the rest of the sword seems fully functional and this leads me to believe that I have a bad tip on my personal sword. Probably just a defect. I don't think that the failure on this point is worth returning the sword or even being too angry about considering the price at which I bought it. It is very easy to fix. I probably do it the most historic way possible, actually! I place the tip under foot and use the rest of the sword as a lever to bend the tip back into place. I'd assume that the average man-at-arms would not waste his time professionally repairing this and would tend to use a more oblique method.
Kriegschwert has this to say about this defect:
"I concur with Rammstein's belief that his sword was one that unfortunately snuck through quality control with an unevenly tempered blade, as I have not had trouble with the tip of mine."
Fit and Finish: I found the Shrewsbury to be a remarkably attractive sword. It comes with a mirror finish that usually doesn't appeal to me, but seems to work well on this particular sword. The quillions seem to be an afterthought. They are made sloppy and uneven with a strange warping to one tip. The pommel is well made and is 8 faceted. Because it is grippable and acts as an extension of the handle, it seems prone to rusting, so one might want to be pretty liberal in applying oil to this area, and doing it often. At the very end of the pommel is a small nut that can be unscrewed to take apart the entire sword. This nut hold all of the pieces of the sword together and without it, everything would just fall apart. The blade itself is well made with little or no scratches other than the ones I have already given it. It did however have two medium size spots of rust 2-3 inches from the hilt on the blade were the scabbard pinches the sword and holds it. Nothing big, but I have found these spots irremovable. The scabbard is poorly constructed, as usual, but it seems to fit the portion of the blade closest to the hilt very well. It still rattles, but does not fall off when turned upside down.
I have found that, like many of windlass' swords, the hilt starts to loosen after a while. With this sword it is easily fixable. Just give the nut on the end a few twists with a vice grip and/or pliers and it will stay as solid as a rock (at least for some time). This does, however, leave the cosmetic problem of a slightly exposed tang. My Shrewsbury has about 5 millimeters of the threaded tang that sticks out. This has no effect on anything other than looks. I really don't care or notice one way or the other.
Handling and Durability: This sword handles exceptionally well due to its light weight (around 2.5 pounds I believe, though I haven't weighed my personal sword). The Shrewsbury requires very little effort to move from guard to guard and throwing strikes seems to be easy enough. A slight problem that I've found is that the handle is a bit square-ish and is a little difficult to grip well enough to hold it stable in the hand. I'd suggest a 5 minute job of rounding off those edges more and the sword should handle even better than it already does. I believe that the sword can be used pretty well in one hand as it does two, but I prefer a two handed grip. I've tried the one handed grip out with several of my shields that I've made and I found that the Shrewsbury is a tad sluggish, but not enough to detract points at all. This may have something to do with the oddly shaped handle.
The Shrewsbury is obviously designed for thrusts. Unfortunately, windlass has done a swell job in repeating one of their many flaws -- an entirely too flexible blade that I really don't like. Sure, it can thrust through light targets (it has a point, doesn't it!?) but with a more rigid blade, it would be a monster. Cuts are effortless and I've sliced through many water filled bottles and other plastic containers. I wouldn't recommend heavy pell work with this until you have made sure the grip is good and tight.
Overall I am very happy with the sword, but I can see room for improvement. I wish windlass would spend the few 20-40 dollars at most needed to reach this sword's potential.
The Shrewsbury's tang isn't a beefy monster of a piece of steel that could take blows as, say, a gen2 could, but it is relatively strong. I am fairly confident that it will not break anytime in the distant future. This is the first sword I have ever taken apart and I was quite suprised at how simple the inner pieces of a sword (any in general) are. This shrewsbury can be broken into 5 pieces: The blade, the guard, the hilt, the pommel, and the nut.
I leave you with one last picture:
The major aspects that need to be fixed:
- Loose hilt
- Whippy blade
- Lopsided quillions
- Handle prohibits reaching full potential with one handed use
- Uncomfortable leather grip (Take off immediately!)
The Parts that I like:
- Although obviously dedicated to thrusts, it is great at light cutting as well
- It has a threaded tang that makes it easy to tighten the hilt when needs be
- Can easily accomodate a two handed grip
Historical Accuracy - 3/5
Fit and Finish - 3/5
Handling - 4/5
Structural Integrity - 3/5
Value for Money - 5/5
Overall: 4/5