Peter's Narnian Sword (Rhindon) by Windlass
Aug 25, 2007 8:47:16 GMT
Post by Brendan Olszowy on Aug 25, 2007 8:47:16 GMT
Review by Brendan. O, Western Australia.
My Sword Above
Unmodified Above
This was my first full tang carbon steel sword purchase. I had a couple of wallhangers, and I wanted something that looks glamour, but could be used properly without the blade flying out.
I purchased it from Global Gear here in Aus via ebay, and have only good things to say about their service.
When it arrived it however the Certificate of Authenticity (as this is a numbered limited edition 4000 units) was missing. Also there was no grease on the blade and a little bit of pitting, likely fingerprints. They found the bits for it and mentioned that this was a display item. I was a bit annoyed at that. Especially since they were still advertising that there were more for sale.
My first impressions on getting my hands on my first real sword? Well how could it be anything but affection. But to be critical for you, I noted a mirror like polish to the blade, with some slight waviness to it, as if it had been forged by hand. The blade was quite flexible and would move a little if you shake it. It also had a fairly blade heavy feel, though its not too bad it is enhanced by the small, narrow grip, which isn’t really big enough for two large hands, but hey, it was a gift from Father Christmas to a 14 year old warrior. (You are familiar with the story of Narnia, aren’t you?)
Statistics
Blade length: 32 1/2" (825mm)
Blade thickness: 4mm at the diamond section after the fuller. 3mm at the fuller and at the tang.
Hilt length: 8" (205mm)
Grip Length: 5 1/2" (138mm)
Overall: 40 3/4" (1030mm)
Guard Width: 8" (200mm)
POB (point of balance): 4 3/4" (120mm)
COP : Approx 21" from guard.
Blade Width: At Guard 2 1/4 (58mm) , 3” before tip 1 1/4" (33mm)
Design Fit and Finish
The Blade:
As mentioned above the blade features a mirror like polish, making apparent forging marks visible. It is quite flexible, as would be expected in a windlass blade. I wouldn't say the term whippy would be out of place. Its quite wide and thin, with a broad, shallow ‘soft edged’ fuller. It has a lenticular profile and is unsharpened, yet has a fairly fine edge.
The Acid etching is a joy to behold. It’s perfect. Actually I don’t know if they acid or laser etch it. It has some gold fill to bring out the print:
“When Aslan shakes his mane we shall have spring again”, and on the reverse “When Aslan bares his teeth, winter meets it’s death.”
This is true to the movie sword.
In fact I believe the main difference between this and the movie sword to be the blade: Hollow grinding to the movie prop, and a more pronounced ridge to the fuller. Below is a photo of the actual movie sword.
The Grip:
I found it too narrow, and too short for two big hands. Half of the bottom hand ends up holding the pommel, and my pommel has very sharp teeth – literally. It does have a nice oval shape toward the guard, and rounds off down below. The gold ring riser in the grip is only pinned by one small nail on one side, and slips in actual use. It will cut or pinch you, so I cut mine off straight away, well it broke.
I rewrapped my grip to make it thicker, and added a cord riser. More info at this link: /index.cgi?board=swordcustom&action=display&thread=1180548096
The Pommel:
Very fancy for a sword, but not perfect. It is made to a price. It is solid brass, threaded on, and also coated with some golden chromey stuff. When I was 5 I learned to draw cats with a cleft pallet (the split under the nose), yet someone failed to tell Windlass’ Artisans this. So I took a fine screw driver and gave him a cleft. I also sharpened the teeth, which were very blocky.
I thought the gold to be too Gaudy, I liked the more Pewter look of the box art. So I started sanding it off. I found the gold to come off easily to reveal a silver chrome. With the gold still in the grooves I liked the way this ended up. Its hard to get a good close up to do it justice. But some of the long shots show the effect better.
The Guard:
Very nice. Nickel plated, with two little langettes that come forward to cup the scabbard, which can be seen in the movie. The sucky thing is you can’t buy a replica scabbard for love nor money, so this feature is wasted. Quite wide, and perfectly sculpted.
The Scabbard:
??Frustration??
The Tang:
I’ve added this section for those who think that a movie sword cant be functional. Here is the unsung hero that holds all this engineering come glamour and glitz together. No welds. Adequately broad, with rounded shoulders. It's only 3mm thick, which is a little less than I'd like to see.
Testing:
Sorry I don’t have photos. But I can tell you that once sharp it has made a fine cutter and acceptibly durable beater, or medium duty cutter at least.
However Ive done horrible, inhuman things to this sword.
I’ve used it to hack through 19mm x 75mm pine boards. Which It went through in two strikes.
I’ve cut tree branches and saplings of about 40 - 50mm.
I even had some 16mm MDF around so I thought I’d see which would go further through, this, or my sharpened Hanwei Practical Hand and a Half (see here /index.cgi?board=swordreviews&action=display&thread=1187959333 )
Well with all my strength I could get through about 8” (200mm) of this stuff in one strike. The Plank was 450mm wide so I was able to cut it in half with a blow from each side. I’m talking full on kamikaze hacks!!!
The worst damage that this all caused her was a very slight bend in the blade when looked at from above the flat. One side still looks flat in profile taper, while the other looks slightly concave.
After about 8 months on and off giving this sort of "affection", I did the handle rewrap. By then I was over the “Limited Edition / Collectable” respect and decided to just hack it up. Well after that I must have gained more lateral leverage on the tang (via the riser and thickness) and noticed the handle was askew to the blade (after chopping down some saplings). I straightened it and it soon did it again, and again. It has obviously lost its temper now so I have retired it.
I was wondering if I could dismantle it and oven temper it if this would help? Anyone?
I recently saw another one on ebay (Global Gear) bidding from 99c. So I bought it. I got it for $60AU plus shipping. I was going to sharpen up that blade and swap furniture, and start abusing it anew. My Missus goes aren’t you going to just keep it as a collectable. So I unwrapped it, looked at it (all papers there), put it back in the box and shoved it under the bed. I have other swords to abuse. Now I have my modified one hanging up, and one for collectors sake.
Arty Plaque (really just MDF I think):
You can get replica Peter’s Shield from a vendor on ebay. But they don’t look functional at all so I never bothered – my home is too small.
Ratings:
Narnian Historical Accuracy: 4.5/5
Fit and Finish by Elven Craftsmen at Santa’s Workshop: 4/5
Handling for a spindly kid: 3.5/5
White Witch smashing Structural Integrity: 3.5/5
Value for Magic: 3.5/5
Overall 3.8/5
Conclusion:
I can sum it up by adding one rating category...
Stepping out of this world and into Narnia warfare factor: 5/5.
Very Cool!
My Sword Above
Unmodified Above
This was my first full tang carbon steel sword purchase. I had a couple of wallhangers, and I wanted something that looks glamour, but could be used properly without the blade flying out.
I purchased it from Global Gear here in Aus via ebay, and have only good things to say about their service.
When it arrived it however the Certificate of Authenticity (as this is a numbered limited edition 4000 units) was missing. Also there was no grease on the blade and a little bit of pitting, likely fingerprints. They found the bits for it and mentioned that this was a display item. I was a bit annoyed at that. Especially since they were still advertising that there were more for sale.
My first impressions on getting my hands on my first real sword? Well how could it be anything but affection. But to be critical for you, I noted a mirror like polish to the blade, with some slight waviness to it, as if it had been forged by hand. The blade was quite flexible and would move a little if you shake it. It also had a fairly blade heavy feel, though its not too bad it is enhanced by the small, narrow grip, which isn’t really big enough for two large hands, but hey, it was a gift from Father Christmas to a 14 year old warrior. (You are familiar with the story of Narnia, aren’t you?)
Statistics
Blade length: 32 1/2" (825mm)
Blade thickness: 4mm at the diamond section after the fuller. 3mm at the fuller and at the tang.
Hilt length: 8" (205mm)
Grip Length: 5 1/2" (138mm)
Overall: 40 3/4" (1030mm)
Guard Width: 8" (200mm)
POB (point of balance): 4 3/4" (120mm)
COP : Approx 21" from guard.
Blade Width: At Guard 2 1/4 (58mm) , 3” before tip 1 1/4" (33mm)
Design Fit and Finish
The Blade:
As mentioned above the blade features a mirror like polish, making apparent forging marks visible. It is quite flexible, as would be expected in a windlass blade. I wouldn't say the term whippy would be out of place. Its quite wide and thin, with a broad, shallow ‘soft edged’ fuller. It has a lenticular profile and is unsharpened, yet has a fairly fine edge.
The Acid etching is a joy to behold. It’s perfect. Actually I don’t know if they acid or laser etch it. It has some gold fill to bring out the print:
“When Aslan shakes his mane we shall have spring again”, and on the reverse “When Aslan bares his teeth, winter meets it’s death.”
This is true to the movie sword.
In fact I believe the main difference between this and the movie sword to be the blade: Hollow grinding to the movie prop, and a more pronounced ridge to the fuller. Below is a photo of the actual movie sword.
The Grip:
I found it too narrow, and too short for two big hands. Half of the bottom hand ends up holding the pommel, and my pommel has very sharp teeth – literally. It does have a nice oval shape toward the guard, and rounds off down below. The gold ring riser in the grip is only pinned by one small nail on one side, and slips in actual use. It will cut or pinch you, so I cut mine off straight away, well it broke.
I rewrapped my grip to make it thicker, and added a cord riser. More info at this link: /index.cgi?board=swordcustom&action=display&thread=1180548096
The Pommel:
Very fancy for a sword, but not perfect. It is made to a price. It is solid brass, threaded on, and also coated with some golden chromey stuff. When I was 5 I learned to draw cats with a cleft pallet (the split under the nose), yet someone failed to tell Windlass’ Artisans this. So I took a fine screw driver and gave him a cleft. I also sharpened the teeth, which were very blocky.
I thought the gold to be too Gaudy, I liked the more Pewter look of the box art. So I started sanding it off. I found the gold to come off easily to reveal a silver chrome. With the gold still in the grooves I liked the way this ended up. Its hard to get a good close up to do it justice. But some of the long shots show the effect better.
The Guard:
Very nice. Nickel plated, with two little langettes that come forward to cup the scabbard, which can be seen in the movie. The sucky thing is you can’t buy a replica scabbard for love nor money, so this feature is wasted. Quite wide, and perfectly sculpted.
The Scabbard:
??Frustration??
The Tang:
I’ve added this section for those who think that a movie sword cant be functional. Here is the unsung hero that holds all this engineering come glamour and glitz together. No welds. Adequately broad, with rounded shoulders. It's only 3mm thick, which is a little less than I'd like to see.
Testing:
Sorry I don’t have photos. But I can tell you that once sharp it has made a fine cutter and acceptibly durable beater, or medium duty cutter at least.
However Ive done horrible, inhuman things to this sword.
I’ve used it to hack through 19mm x 75mm pine boards. Which It went through in two strikes.
I’ve cut tree branches and saplings of about 40 - 50mm.
I even had some 16mm MDF around so I thought I’d see which would go further through, this, or my sharpened Hanwei Practical Hand and a Half (see here /index.cgi?board=swordreviews&action=display&thread=1187959333 )
Well with all my strength I could get through about 8” (200mm) of this stuff in one strike. The Plank was 450mm wide so I was able to cut it in half with a blow from each side. I’m talking full on kamikaze hacks!!!
The worst damage that this all caused her was a very slight bend in the blade when looked at from above the flat. One side still looks flat in profile taper, while the other looks slightly concave.
After about 8 months on and off giving this sort of "affection", I did the handle rewrap. By then I was over the “Limited Edition / Collectable” respect and decided to just hack it up. Well after that I must have gained more lateral leverage on the tang (via the riser and thickness) and noticed the handle was askew to the blade (after chopping down some saplings). I straightened it and it soon did it again, and again. It has obviously lost its temper now so I have retired it.
I was wondering if I could dismantle it and oven temper it if this would help? Anyone?
I recently saw another one on ebay (Global Gear) bidding from 99c. So I bought it. I got it for $60AU plus shipping. I was going to sharpen up that blade and swap furniture, and start abusing it anew. My Missus goes aren’t you going to just keep it as a collectable. So I unwrapped it, looked at it (all papers there), put it back in the box and shoved it under the bed. I have other swords to abuse. Now I have my modified one hanging up, and one for collectors sake.
Arty Plaque (really just MDF I think):
You can get replica Peter’s Shield from a vendor on ebay. But they don’t look functional at all so I never bothered – my home is too small.
Ratings:
Narnian Historical Accuracy: 4.5/5
Fit and Finish by Elven Craftsmen at Santa’s Workshop: 4/5
Handling for a spindly kid: 3.5/5
White Witch smashing Structural Integrity: 3.5/5
Value for Magic: 3.5/5
Overall 3.8/5
Conclusion:
I can sum it up by adding one rating category...
Stepping out of this world and into Narnia warfare factor: 5/5.
Very Cool!