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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2009 21:59:38 GMT
Re: Cpt Alatriste
Bought it last spring from Amazon.com
Spanish with english subtitles. I'm not familiar with the book series, but know the period history enough to be comfortable with what I was watching. I think it's a gorgeous period peace. Pace is slow and the atmosphere is rather depressed, but that's the reality of the circumstances of an empire on the decline.
Fight sequences are excellent, but sparse.
Sit back and let it flow and it's a pretty nice period movie. If you just want an action buzz, stay away.
Now if you want action just for the heck of it, I might suggest 1612, a very silly Russian spectacle from 2007(?). Takes place during the time of troubles between the ousting of Boris Godunov and the reenstatement of the Romanovs.
Lots of action, a little gratuitous nudity, and some gory violence you'd never get away with in a western film. (ie rapiers thru the mouth ala Cappo Ferro - whoopee!!)
Can also get this from Amazon.com: russian with english subs.
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Post by Kilted Cossack on Nov 4, 2009 23:06:48 GMT
Dave:
I liked 1612 too! I could never quite accept that Andrei could pass for a Spanish gentleman adventurer . . . but there were unicorns, which give you a clue it's not all going to be exactly according to Hoyle anyway, right?
One of the side effects of getting (back) into swords is a renewal of my interest in history. I know that's one of the reasons for my interest in swords---I want something like what the Musketeers carried, what a Dane gone a-viking carried, what a French light cavalryman carried . . . .
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Post by Jeff K. ( Jak) on Nov 5, 2009 0:23:29 GMT
Well, sounds like Im goin to have to look for Alatriste online, sounds like a great film. Thanks for the feedback. brissybeater....if you're at all in the market for matchlocks and wheel locks, might I direct you to a Canadian Company, Actual muskets and pistols but without the venthole drilled rendering them "temporarily" non-fireable for customs purposes. A gunsmith can fix that right quick ;D They did the guns for Pirates of the Caribbean and Master and Commander etc....Im getting one of the Dragoon pistols soon and my eye is on their Blunderbuss... www.militaryheritage.com/muskets.htm
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2009 1:01:24 GMT
He he when I get my gun licence I'm sure I'll be very much in the market for blackpowder
The best part is in Australia when the gun restrictions caused alot of the gun buy back and all the costly BS etc etc alot of the firearms enthusiests turned to muzzle loading.
Kinda fits in with our historical reenactment stuff (1st fleet) and its got a whole soul to itself so the boom down under has been for black powder so when I get to my licence there shouldnt be a lack of supplies and choices around. One of my customers Tony Van Elst is a bigtime black powder shooter usually visits the states once a year he's got at count now about 46 different black powder firearms. Nice guy wouldnt pick him for a firearms enthusiest.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2009 5:43:58 GMT
Also, Darkwood mostly does blunt practice/fencing swords. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but the OP was looking for something functional.
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Post by Kilted Cossack on Nov 7, 2009 15:30:27 GMT
Thanks for all the comments, guys. I thought I'd post an "in progress" update. Trueswordsman (Jason from AOV) kindly offered to help me choose the blade that suited me, we talked it over and I made a purchase from him.
As I thought over what I wanted, I came up with the following idea: a complex hilted thrust-and-cut (to coin a term) blade of medium length. Not a war sword, not a duelist's four yard pokier (I mean, rapier), but, in essence, a Renaissance arming sword. I inverted the traditional terminology of "cut and thrust" to emphasize the thrust while retaining some cutting ability, and went with a "walking around" length.
My initial range of choices ran from the Windlass Saxon-hilt, Munich town guard, and bilbo, through the mortuary hilts, out to the various Hanwei and Windlass rapiers. I didn't want to obsess too much, so after some thought I ordered the Hanwei Renaissance side sword from Jason. It wasn't the cheapest I could find it, but the difference, for me, wasn't worth the difference, and I appreciate his help, and believe in supporting vendors I like.
I think the side sword is devilishly elegant, with a complex yet not busy guard. If the hilt is still hollow plastic, that'll just be an extra project to undertake, and I always enjoy those.
And if I squint I'll be able to Walter Mitty myself into Solomon Kane, d'Artagnan and the Scarlet Pimpernel depending upon my mood . . . and you gots to love that.
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Post by alvin on Nov 7, 2009 15:43:13 GMT
Congrats on the choice of the Hanwei Renaissance Side Sword. I too have always thought it looked elegant but also a practical and a usable design. We need another review of this sword. Hint...hint
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Post by Kilted Cossack on Nov 7, 2009 16:15:02 GMT
Alvin:
I'm slowly getting to the point where I'll soon be comfortable, i think, drafting a review. I just need to get my knowledge a little closer to my enthusiasm, and I'll be all set.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2009 16:47:12 GMT
Funny you should mention this, seems like the rapier/basket bug is going around...I caught it a while ago too which was extremely odd for my usual tastes. In response to Reflingars post about Captain Alatriste....I have been looking high and low for that movie....apparently it HAS been released in North America for a while but I cant seem to find it. Anyone seen it? Also anyone seen The Musketeer with Tim Roth? Im interested despite all that crazy "Crouching Tiger" cable swinging fight style. It seems to be only available on Amazon.com not Amazon.ca...
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Post by Kilted Cossack on Nov 13, 2009 0:39:44 GMT
"Playing with it" update.
Gents:
This is another 'in progress' update. Today I received the Hanwei Renaissance Side Sword shipped from Arms of Valor. I will get the hinky issues out of the way up front, before my enthusiasm bubbles over.
Hinkiness Number One: It's a regular old Hanwei, and from my readings, that means that the sorta-kinda, theoretically sharp nature of the blade won't surprise anyone. If you add "plain Hanwei" and "Euro sword" the sum usually equals "sharp-ish." I am still fairly new to the sword game, so I will reason by analogy. It is not as sharp as my factory sharpened Windlass swords, and unsurprisingly doesn't compare with the VA AT303S. It's no butterknife, though!
Hinkiness Number Two: This sword maintains the hollow, plastic handle that ShooterMike wrote about. I haven't completely disassembled it as of yet, but I did unscrew the pommel, and the sight that greeted me was familiar. To wit, a hint of grey plastic and the impression that there was plenty of room for the tang to float around inside the grip. I don't know if this needs to be corrected . . . but based on ShooterMike's review, it's soemthing I'm probably going to want to correct before I do any cutting with it. I'm still open to really good ideas, and if none are forthcoming, I'll come up with some on my own.
With hinkiness disposed of, it's time to share the happiness. This sword puts a smile on my face. Earlier I had coined the term "thrust-and-cut" and that is what this seems like to me. Definitely oriented towards the thrust, but with what seems to be a good secondary cutting capacity. Your Viking swords might sneer at the cutting ability of this sword, but I doubt anyone of "too too solid flesh" would care to catch a draw cut from this sword.
As is my taste in handguns, so is my taste in swords. That is, I am most intrigued by the idea of a "walking around sword." Not a sword of war, not a specialized dueling sword, but a sword you strap on to take with while you go about your daily business. While the 1911 is a compact pistol, this might be a touch lighter, perhaps more like a Commander. A friend of mine once said about the Colt Commander that it was 'where the curves cross,' that magical intersection between portability and unrepentant fighting prowess.
It's a tad smaller than the VA AT303S, with a blade that is thinner. Let me put it this way: the Side Sword, with the sheath/scabbard on, still feels "pointier" than the AT303S. The fuller is fairly broad and extends roughly forty percent of the blade length, originating down in the leather-covered ricasso. The fullers terminate evenly on each side of the blade. After the fuller, the blade has (I believe) a diamond cross section.
The guard is nice, and pleasing to the eye. In my ignorance, I'd describe it thusly: double rings on the outboard side, for a right handed grip, with a "mini swept guard" on the inboard, left side. The quillions are turned up aft, and down fore. With the index finger curled over the quillion, the blade feels lively and responsive. Once more, bear in mind what I'm used to: AT303S, American Revolution Saber by Windlass, Kris Korean sword, and Hanwei Practical Genghis Khan sword (err, I mean, Practical Kung Fu sword).
The grip is wire wrapped: twisted double strands alternating with three single strands, repeating. There are Turk's Head knots at top and bottom of grip, tacked in place.
The scabbard is probably fiberglas. The chape and throat are metal, and nicely finished. The black leather covering for the scabbard is neatly sewn up along the back. Fit of the scabbard to the blade is pretty decent: you can hold it upside down, but not shake it.
I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to see about modifying the grip and doing some cutting, but initially I quite like it. It feels good in the hand, the complex hilt is a good bit more elegant than the hanger-style grip on the American Revolutionary Saber, the screw-on pommel is solid and somewhat classy, initial fit and finish raise no concerns, the blade is sharpish if not sharp, the point wants to track with your eyes. During the combat shooting phase of boot camp, they told us to do the 'eyeballs and muzzle' thing, that is, the muzzle of your rifle should be centered where you're looking. This sword works with that mantra . .. so far as I can tell so far. I can scan the room, picking out the bust of Lenin (long story), my Walter Sobchak doll from the Big Lebowski collection, and the bust of Alexander the Great, and the point of the sword will want to be just a touch under my line of sight, aligned where I'm looking.
I'd like to thank Trueswordsman (that is, Jason, from AOV) for his assistance in picking a 'complex hilted single handed pokey sword' and for a smooth, easy purchase. E-mail comms were smooth and easy, the purchase was point and click interface, packaging was good and in general, I have no complaint at all.
With any luck at all, in the next week or two I'll be able to rectify the grip issue, do some cutting and poking, and maybe even film a video, but my initial reaction is positive. It's not a rapier, it's not a broadsword, it's a little from column A and a little from column B, and I'm happy with it, and anticipate being even happier.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2009 1:01:08 GMT
Glad to hear it arrived safe and sound. I do believe all the Euro swords by Hanwei have the fiberglass scabbards. For a purist like me it is painful, but exterminates the issues found in wood core scabbards like warping, changing size with the environment, etc. Same feeling on the plastic grip, but a would assume Hanwei's same take on the ease of manufacture and extermination of wood issues.
I think the cut and thrust sword saw more action than it gets credit for. I have read somewhere that the English were slow (behind the rest of Europe) in the transition between the cutting sword to the true rapier and used cut and thrust style swords for a long period of time.
I look forward to seeing the review/videos.
Jason AoV
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Post by Kilted Cossack on Nov 13, 2009 1:46:45 GMT
In re: the fiberglas scabbard. (I think "fiberglas" is actually the trademarked spelling, too.)
It doesn't bother me. The leather looks nice, and I can see the advantages of a fiberglas molded scabbard in terms of quick, easy and consistent. I'd put this scabbard somewhere between the AT303S's scabbard, and the funky-junky scabbard that came with the American Revolutionary War saber from Windlass, and probably closer to the AT303S than the Windlass.
Once more, analogy time. The great hunter Frederick Selous carried a four bore rifle in the 1870s. If he had had access to a .458 Winchester, I'll bet he would have switched to a bolt action repeater. While the fiberglas does not offer the same panache as wood, let's face it, we're talking about a dirt-cheap ($$) sword, and duplicating the quality of the fiberglas scabbard in a wood iteration would have added a good bit to the price.
Once more, I'm very pleased with Trueswordsman's assistance. In our dealings he was prompt, courteous, well informed, and shipped promptly. The sword was everything he'd described. That's all good stuff; when you throw in his presence here, it's even better. I appreciate his presence at SBG, the specials he runs, and his comments, not only about my particular sword interests, but in general. He's "one of us" and I think the very definition of a community is mutually reinforcing support.
I could have gotten the sword a little cheaper somewhere else, and I don't disguise that fact. However, I have never wanted to be like that old line about the Bourbons: "They knew the price of everything, and the value of nothing." (Wasn't that a quote about the Bourbons?) Dealing with AOV was a pleasure. My experience is not dispositive----but my experience was very good.
Dang, now I guess I'm on the hook for a review.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2009 2:41:38 GMT
The fibreglass scabbards that Hanwei do are fine in my books, but I REALLY REALLY wish they would use wood for their handles. Its just a little fake and not everyones super skilled or has the time to custom one themselves. But hey their call I suppose. At least the price is kept in check.
I could really go their Antiqued Taza Rapier and Taza Main Gauche Combo, they seem the most useable and accurate of Hanwei's Rapier and Main Gauche combos.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2009 4:03:38 GMT
Congrats on your new toy. It's a nifty sword. I'd ignore the production issues. Getting a real one at auction would put you out $3000.00 if you're lucky. So be consoled and have fun.
By all means be loyal to Jason. He's a great asset to the community, and a pretty nice guy for a tin man ( ;D). ( He can't beat me up too bad; I bought 4 swords from him this year.)
There's a borderland for the "rapier" transitional side swords tended to have 1.25ish wide blades. For the period these were considered thin; but that's the standard width of a mid 19th Cent military sword. So early rapiers were more than adequate cutting swords and the early fencing masters still taught cut and thrust.
By the 17th Cent military and civilian interests diverged. The civilian rapier blade lengthened and decreased in width and had a more severe taper. The military sword often adopted the furniture but retained better cutting blades.
The Windlass Pilsen is a pretty good representation of the cut and thrust style rapier. The Bilbo will have a military blade by rights and as indicated by the MRL pic.
Opinions FWIW. Again enjoy your new acquisition...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2009 5:14:00 GMT
Nice choice with the side sword. I bought one to satisfy my "Dread Pirate Roberts/Inigo Montoya" itch, and I love it. It's definitely got the best cost-to-appearance ratio of all my swords. You can pick one up for about $150, and when I show people my stuff they very often go straight past my more expensive swords to look at this one. It really is pretty beautiful in person, and the handling is lovely. The only place you really have to take a little hit is in the structural integrity and sharpness department, but the tang is pretty substantial and the grip isn't TOO difficult to fill if you want to improve it a bit, and the sharpening the thing isn't all that hard either, especially since much of the forte is blunt in geometry. The distal taper is really nice in this piece, it's reminiscent of the EMSHS video Tom did about distal taper. The thing just dances in your hand. Nothing I own thrusts like this one does. Unfortunately I've heard some sad stories about what happens to the grip when you go for big cuts without strengthening it first, but this sword is hard to beat for looks, price, and handling.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2009 8:46:31 GMT
Is it pretty much the consensus that just filling the grip with epoxy should do the trick? If that's all that's needed this looks to be a nice sword.
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Post by Kilted Cossack on Nov 14, 2009 12:42:21 GMT
Brissybeater:
I entirely agree, as to both scabbard and handle. One day I'll probably get to the point that a fiberglas scabbard bothers me, but I'm sure not there yet.
davekelly:
Thanks for your opinions---that's why I opened this thread (well, and to reiterate how much I like the Lester movies). Ordinarily, I'd probably have leaned towards a sword with more cutting ability, a touch more blade presence, something more along the lines of (Windlassfest coming up!) the Saxon, the Munich town guard, or the Bilbo. I was pretty impressed with the Bilbo's look and statistics. I was afraid, however, of turning into a Windlass guy, and wanted to try out a Hanwei blade. I was trying to see into the future, and I'm pretty sure that one day I'm going to want a simple basket hilt with more blade presence, so I rationalized this as a lighter sword with more speed in the thrust than "heft in the whack." I'm planning to enjoy it!
Lunaman:
It IS an elegant little beast, isn't it? My wife likes it (she's always been a big Musketeers fan, although she quite naturally prefers the movie versions in Russian she watched as a youth) and immediately struck a pose with it in hand. If you've never imagined a very pregnant musketeer . . . well, I'm not sure what to say. The feel in the hand is quite good. (Umm--the sword, I mean.) I've already poked holes in some bottles, but am holding off on cutting until, at the very least, the hilt can be reinforced. As I've said about other swords, it offers a one way ticket to stabby-town.
slackitude:
Part of me wants to simply fill the hilt with epoxy and turn it into a non-dismountable blade, but part of me wants to do something more troublesome and complex, like making an inner sleeve of wood for the tang, which is then slid into the hilt, and then secured with epoxy. I'll probably think about it obsessively rather than doing anything concrete.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2009 19:05:05 GMT
I've already poked holes in some bottles, but am holding off on cutting until, at the very least, the hilt can be reinforced. As I've said about other swords, it offers a one way ticket to stabby-town...........Part of me wants to simply fill the hilt with epoxy and turn it into a non-dismountable blade, but part of me wants to do something more troublesome and complex, like making an inner sleeve of wood for the tang, which is then slid into the hilt, and then secured with epoxy. I'll probably think about it obsessively rather than doing anything concrete. I hear you on the "think obsessively rather than doing anything concrete" bit, lol. I've had this sword for years and I always change in my mind how I want to fix up the hilt once I "get around to it." Really, my solution has been for it to be a "show and stab" piece as of yet; I still haven't gotten around to changing the grip or taking a whack at anything. But I sure feel cool swinging it around with a big grin on my face. ;D
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Post by Kilted Cossack on Nov 14, 2009 20:27:33 GMT
But I sure feel cool swinging it around with a big grin on my face. ;D That's a BIG part of the whole sword experience for me, uh huh!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2009 2:33:25 GMT
I'm looking forward to seeing the full review posted for this sword To get back on topic, one of the thing I liked about the movie is the variety of weaponry used. In one case, a character used his large hat as an off-hand parrying weapon. While it might seem silly, it's realistic - if you are in a fight, do what you must to win (or at least survive), and a big hat is better than nothing!
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