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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2009 21:10:31 GMT
I did end up going with a Windlass. I picked the Stiklestad Viking model. I haven't cut anything but paper yet, but I hope to post some pictures and my initial impressions this evening.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2009 23:18:33 GMT
Congrats on your first sword . I know we didn't exactly get off on the best terms, but it's a fine choice for a first sword and I hope you are happy with it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2009 0:29:22 GMT
Glad to hear Herb! Let us know what you think of it.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2009 1:05:17 GMT
Aarrggg, Happy cutting, that is one of there better swords.
.............SanMarc.
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Post by Tom K. (ianflaer) on Jul 11, 2009 1:59:49 GMT
Congrats, I'd love to hear your impressions. oh, and give us some cutting videos too please, we like those.
have fun be safe.
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Avery
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"It's alright little brother... There are more!!!
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Post by Avery on Jul 11, 2009 2:16:01 GMT
It's a good choice, happy and safe cutting.
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Post by shadowhowler on Jul 11, 2009 3:05:10 GMT
I love the overall look of that sword... I hope it's well assembled and not a wet noddle! Let us know what you think of it!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2009 4:05:55 GMT
Okay, here's what I think so far. I bought this sword from KOA, and I can see why they do so much business here. They gave me a great price and had phenomenal base rate shipping service, even with sharpening. I want to thank you guys for steering me toward a lighter sword. At less than 2 1/2 lbs, this sword feels hefty enough in my untrained hand. Some of that may be due to the balance. POB seems to be about 5 in in front of the guard. The grip seems a bit smaller and much more narrow than I had envisioned. It appears securely wrapped in the same suede that covers the scabbard. It is stitched up along one of the narrow sides. While I like the way the stitching further indexes the blade in my hand, it seems like it might be a bit irritating without a glove. The blade looks pretty good. It flexes nicely, but it seems a little more flexible than I had imagined a real sword would. That's probably just more of my inexperience. A few points about the blade. The fuller is done pretty well, though it does wander off a bit towards the tip on one side. I ordered the sharpening service KOA provides. It came as a basic secondary bevel v grind. It cuts paper, in most places. I would hesitate to say slices paper, if it does, it doesn't do it very well. The grinds are uneven, a little on the rough side, and even get pretty messy up by the tip. The fairly obtuse angle will probably last a while, though. Other points that I really can't say I liked were the soldering (it could be TACed I can't really tell.) on the scabbard and the gap between the blade and the crossbar. The soldering looked messy and unfinished. The gap between the blade and the crossbar looked a little crude to me as well. It also made me think about water running down the blade and onto the tang whenever I work up to cutting bottles. That might be more problematic since the tang is peened. The peen looked very nicely done, BTW. The copper inlay looked a little messy as well, and the guard and pommel looked like they might have had a little tarnish on them. Also, the sword does not always seat itself properly in the scabbard upon return. All of the faults I found with the sword may just be par for a $200 sword. I may have nitpicked some, but I'm used to some high quality cutlery. Overall I am really excited about the sword, surprised by the small, narrow handle, and disappointed with KOA sharpening. In any case, none of that stuff compares to how awesome this sword is. It feels better and better every time I pick it up. I wake up, put on the coffee, pick up my Stiklestad and smile. I get back from work, take a shower, and pick up my Stiklestad. Yep, still awesome. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2009 8:11:21 GMT
Yep, A lot of the nitpicking is something your gonna find in the lower end swords. Even swords at twice the cost. You'd be surprised how hard it is to get a good edge on a sub 300 sword. The only company that has a good proper edge all around is gen 2 and kris in this price range. Sonny is doing a good job with the new VA line as well...and honestly it's only a few little hick up...but yeah getting a good edge is a pretty big deal for this price. The gap in the hilt can be an issue with cutting bottle and water getting in. A proper hilt should not have enough of a gap for this to be an issue, but not all sub 300 swords will have a proper hilt. A fix is to inject some epoxy into the gap to seal it up if the gap is big enough for a lot of water to get in. A hyperdermic needle works well for this as you can fill the gap without having anything visable. As for the scabbard...yeah, once again, a good scabbard for this price is difficult. You should see the "wood" for my hanwei bastard sword . It's truely horrible...but at least it's straight and it fits...there are plenty of scabbard that are offered in this price range where even those two basics don't apply. Oh as for the edge...well at least it's a serviceable edge now. Windlass sharpening use to basicallu ruin 1/8 inch of your sword. Then again, I can sharpen a sword so I never bothered and just spent the 2-4 hours to sharpen a windlass sword by hand. Course now that I have access to a belt sander I can do an edge in half that time (still have to file by hand first). With the secondary bevel and a belt sander, you can get a proper edge on it in 15-30 minutes.
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Post by shadowhowler on Jul 12, 2009 8:24:37 GMT
Yep, A lot of the nitpicking is something your gonna find in the lower end swords. Even swords at twice the cost. You'd be surprised how hard it is to get a good edge on a sub 300 sword. The only company that has a good proper edge all around is gen 2 and kris in this price range. Sonny is doing a good job with the new VA line as well...and honestly it's only a few little hick up...but yeah getting a good edge is a pretty big deal for this price. The gap in the hilt can be an issue with cutting bottle and water getting in. A proper hilt should not have enough of a gap for this to be an issue, but not all sub 300 swords will have a proper hilt. A fix is to inject some epoxy into the gap to seal it up if the gap is big enough for a lot of water to get in. A hyperdermic needle works well for this as you can fill the gap without having anything visable. As for the scabbard...yeah, once again, a good scabbard for this price is difficult. You should see the "wood" for my hanwei bastard sword . It's truely horrible...but at least it's straight and it fits...there are plenty of scabbard that are offered in this price range where even those two basics don't apply. Oh as for the edge...well at least it's a serviceable edge now. Windlass sharpening use to basicallu ruin 1/8 inch of your sword. Then again, I can sharpen a sword so I never bothered and just spent the 2-4 hours to sharpen a windlass sword by hand. Course now that I have access to a belt sander I can do an edge in half that time (still have to file by hand first). With the secondary bevel and a belt sander, you can get a proper edge on it in 15-30 minutes. Heh... Was reading and was going to comment, but Cold pretty much said everything I was going to. The only thing I can add is... while part of the sword feeling overly flexable might just be expecatation issues... I still feel that many of Windlass's longer blades (anything over 28 inches) tend to be just a bit too flexable/whippy. Thats pretty much a matter of opinion/debate tho... others feel as I do, others think they are just fine.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2009 11:04:03 GMT
just wanted to say congrats on your first!
cheers,
Bill
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Post by Tom K. (ianflaer) on Jul 12, 2009 16:37:44 GMT
I agree with shadowhowler and cold napalm. as I understand it viking swords should be a bit thin and bendy. I have a sub $200 windlass sword and while it's really nice for the price, it can be nit-picked in many of the same ways as yours. I'm glad the little details aren't keeping you from enjoying your sword.
for your edge, just get some whet stones, even a combo rough/fine stone can help you and touch up the edge where it is sloppy. you don't HAVE to get rid of the secondary bevel but it will be a lot better if you did. but that's a lot more work. start with a file and round down that corner and blend the bevels together to make one curved plane. takes a bit of time but is well worth it. I have some sharpeneing tutorials that might help.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2009 15:16:35 GMT
Don't'cha just love that new sword smell/feel? Nothing like it...I can see you going about your daily ritual with a sword in-hand; Lord knows I still do. LOL
Enjoy it man...your first step onto a long and winding road through Sword Obsession Land.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2009 17:49:54 GMT
The first one is always a big excitement. Still remember when I got mine. The thrill of it all! Congratulations on taking the first step down the slippery slope.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2009 18:59:20 GMT
Looks like a nice sword for your 1st one, congrats.Now however you have a problem you caught the dreaded "SAS" (sword aquisition syndrome) and it just dont go away.The only cure known of is to buy more swords,God help you!
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Post by shadowhowler on Jul 13, 2009 20:58:16 GMT
Looks like a nice sword for your 1st one, congrats.Now however you have a problem you caught the dreaded "SAS" (sword aquisition syndrome) and it just dont go away.The only cure known of is to buy more swords,God help you! Sometimes the cure is even more dangerous then the disease. In my case, use of the prescribed cure cuased a nasty side effect. A really base case of AWS... Angry Wife Syndrome.
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Post by Tom K. (ianflaer) on Jul 14, 2009 15:23:35 GMT
AWS is indeed quite dreadful; I've had a few bouts of it myself.
is there an AWS support group? maybe we should form one. there was a thread here on SBG a while back that contained an excerpt from a story that was called "gun running" which was a story of a young newly married man seeking advice of an older husband on how to get his wife to let him have more guns. it was a great story and the same techniques work for getting swords. it really works I've used some of the tactics involved. I wish I could find that thread again. I've looked but not found. anyone know what I'm talking about?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2009 16:00:08 GMT
I used to collected guitars "GAS" (when i had money)I was up to 21 of them but the wife didnt catch on how many I had.The secret was to buy them all in black and only keep 3 or 4 out at a time.The rest were hidden in closets,attic,behind the door and all in cases.Every now and then i would switch out what was on the stands acording to what I wanted to play. It worked for a while till some jerk from Guitar center called when I was out and my wife answered the phone, he wanted to know when I was going to pick up my new guitar,she asked a few other questions and I was busted but she kind of had it figured out anyway I think. Maybe try it with swords keep only a few out at a time and change them out every now and them.
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Post by Tom K. (ianflaer) on Jul 14, 2009 16:27:52 GMT
LOL Buliwyf, that's very similar to the methods described in the story I wish I could find.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2009 17:04:58 GMT
I used to collected guitars "GAS" (when i had money)I was up to 21 of them but the wife didnt catch on how many I had.The secret was to buy them all in black and only keep 3 or 4 out at a time.The rest were hidden in closets,attic,behind the door and all in cases.Every now and then i would switch out what was on the stands acording to what I wanted to play. It worked for a while till some jerk from Guitar center called when I was out and my wife answered the phone, he wanted to know when I was going to pick up my new guitar,she asked a few other questions and I was busted but she kind of had it figured out anyway I think. Maybe try it with swords keep only a few out at a time and change them out every now and them. I would not advise this particular course of action, OP- lying to your wife can never amount to anything remotely good in the long term. As for mine, she's way too observant; she notices every time there's a new sword in the house, no matter if it was announced or not. Of course, the last one I bought was for her so- that always helps; I am now working on getting her one for ever 3 or 4 I get for me. It works...when she goes clothes shopping I usually get a shirt and/or some socks and I never complain...that just frees me up to do what I like to do. Just wish I had more money.
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