Windlass Musketeer Rapier Set
Nov 23, 2009 9:29:13 GMT
Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2009 9:29:13 GMT
Windlass Musketeer Rapier Set
Introduction: I have a real love/hate relationship with rapiers. Aesthetically they are very handsome weapons. On the one hand there is the nostalgia derived from Dumas and Cyrano. On the other I don’t like the cramped grips and fussing over those bloody quillons. When I saw Windlass had regenerated this larger than life iconographic representation I fell for the chrome and whale tail fenders.
Kult of Athena (KoA) has been my go to guy for a lot of weapons. The Museum Replica price was something like 265.00 for the rapier and 135.00 for the dagger. KoA was 300.00 for both. Dropped the order on a Sunday evening, and UPS passed it to me at work on Thursday.
Historical Overview: According to Windlass this is a “representational” sword of the 1590 period characteristic of what one would expect of a royal musketeer. Houston, we have a problem. The Musketeers of the Kings Royal Troops were first commissioned in 1622. They were a company of 110 men (not a regiment). Four years later Prime Minister, Cardinal Richelieu decided he wanted his own musketeers and commissioned a company. Being rowdy and unoccupied, unless the King took the field, these two junior companies of royals did rub each other the wrong way on occasion. Louis XIV would finally order the two companies consolidated into one battalion in the first regiment ( the Reds) of his house troops (1662). My resources are somewhat limited, but initial research has failed to yield any indication that this type of rapier design was used by the musketeers of France, Spain or the planet Nebulac.
Initial Impressions: Can’t give you a picture of the packaging from KoA. Didn’t have a camera at work. My workmates are accustomed to my “deliveries”. No way I’m going to go home without their getting a vicarious chance to play with my toys. KoA has a standard bombproof they ship in. It’s 11 pounds automatically. If you don’t buy enough they fill it up with brown stock paper, rolled and crinkled into a buffer for your product. The sword itself was wrapped and taped in paper. The hilt had its own plastic cover bag to protect the finish. The Main Gauche dagger was similarly wrapped.
Have to admit, it was the dagger that stole the show. As already mentioned in the new acquisitions, it is ridiculously, spectacularly enormous. Besides that both weapons have tremendous eye appeal with high polish on nickel plate and excellent proportions. Everything felt tight and solid.
For perspective, below is a photo of three types of rapier sets laid out together. On the left is a Darkwood 43 inch shell plated three ring guarded rapier with a bated fencing blade. A Windlass dagger from the Munich Municipal Guard set is coupled with it. The Windlass Musketeer set is in the center. The Hanwei Taza set is on the right. Of note is that the Musketeer blade is the least tapered down of the three (has the most cutting power). Also the dagger (semi officially now dubbed the "Crocodile D'Artagneon Main Gauche") is significantly larger than the other two.
Statistics: Rapier Dagger
Blade Length(inches) 37 ½ 17
Handle Length (inches) 5 3 1/2
Overall Length (inches) 46 23
Guard Width 5
Width of Quillons 10
Point of Balance 3 1/2
Weight (ounces) 40 28
Components:
The Blade: The blade comes in on the cut and thrust, militaryish side of rapier blades. There is a 3 ½ inch ricasso above the guard. For the next 6 inches the blade is hexagonal and retains about a 1 inch width. The blade then turns diamond shaped and progressively tapers down to ¼ inch width. Compared to civilianized blades this isn’t severe. There is a cutting edge almost to the tip.
The Handle: Being a rapier the handle is a complex arrangement of two parts. The main handle is 3 inches long, consisting of a louvered wood core overlaid with a high brass wire. There are no finishing knots on the ends of the wire. One is expected to reach over the cross guard (quillons) to control the sword. This space is 2 inches in depth. This inner ricasso in this case is enclosed by a plate sheath which is part of the hilt frame.
The Guard: From a distance one might expect this to be a plated guard. But it is actually a cup hilt. The guard cup is bolted and peened to the hilt top and bottom.
The Pommel: Looks like a modified acorn. With the plating I really can’t be certain if it is peened or screwed together.
The Scabbard: Scabbard is soft leather (or plastic ). There is a steel chape for the bottom, and the throat piece has a frog button for mounting.
The Main Gauche: With the large knuckle bow this style is most familiar as Spanish. When employed the dagger served a shield and secondary offensive weapon. You will note this weapon dwarfs the Taza and German daggers compared to it. Trying to wear this dagger as a back up weapon is an exercise in humility (you look the ass with this chain saw sized weapon slapping your butt and clanging off your rapier). But it still a fun blade to pull out: it gets attention.
Handling Characteristics: I have a tendency to gripe about any weapon over 2 1/4 pounds as being "heavy". I suppose it's because for larger weapons I have to retrain muscle memory to cope with the weight of the weapon to meet the demands of the style. After training for a while with the new weapon I start to get comfortable with it and find that I over-reacted in my initial impression.
37 inches of blade is a good length for this much blade. It feels resonably stiff and responsive; no warble. All the boiler plate of the full guard puts a lot of weight in your hand. That's what really makes the weapon feel slow.
Main Gauche is nearly 2 pounds in weight. That can initially be distracting for someone not used to carrying left hand weight.
Side note: I'm photographing myself. The remote is in my left hand. My form is a little too open here, but I'm trying to show the weapons, get the remote to work and hate taking pictures of myself, yadda, yadda... ;D Oh, I suppose to aid perspective I have to mention that I'm 6'2" and 195 pounds.
Overindulging. The thing about rapier that totally pissed me off when I first confronted them was the chinese torture of the grip. The history of european grip design is Rube Goldberged. The sword is an offensive weapon. Throughout the Middle Ages a simple cruciformed guard was deemed enough because defense was strengthened with armor. Later day weapons and swordsmen saw an advantage to be derived in reaching over the guard for better balance; and also because big handed men couldn't find handles on most swords large enough to accomodate them.
The practice of reaching over the guard resulted in the design of finger/knuckle guard rings protecting the finger that was extended. The base of the blade was also fattened and dulled to support this maneuver giving birth to thr ricasso. Instead of designing more accomodating handles, period swordsmiths kept piling structures around the crossguard and expecting the swordsman to make it work. ( There already was an alternative in the bolognese broadsword, the Schiavona, but this engineering didn't catch on for some time. ) This is my own worthless opinion. The next two photos demo how I cope with the grip and my size 11 hand. First is a text book fingering with the index finger over the quillon:
Here, for a heavier weapon I have two fingers over the quillon. I find this arrangement strengthens use of the point but sacrifices range of cutting motion.
Test Cutting: Both the sword and the dagger can be sharpened by the Windlass contractors for a fee. Frankly my recent history with this service has been unhappy. They tend to make a mess of it, scratchy the blades in the process. Even without sharpening the cast of the blade is fairly sharp and easily finished if you want a real cutting edge. I bought mine unsharpened and consequently can not offer cutting examples at this time.
Conclusions:
Pros:
Very High rating as eye candy
Well put together
very good cut and thrust capability
Bargain at the price
Cons:
Heavy for a thrust weapon = slow
Hollywood sword - ahistorical rapier
The Bottom Line:
This is a qualified great buy. This is a glamour sword, not a cutter. It gets attention from viewers. But clinically swords like this give rapiers a bad reputation, because these are the bloated sort of weapons we have come to see as representative of this class of sword, when in fact such swords were either early cut and thrust weapons or prestige swords demonstrating conspicuous consumption for its own sake.
By comparison, the Hanwei Taza Spanish bell guard is actually a quick weapon. The blade has presence but tapers down to a finer point. The hilt is fancy but stripped of weight.
My first review. Critique is welcome.
Introduction: I have a real love/hate relationship with rapiers. Aesthetically they are very handsome weapons. On the one hand there is the nostalgia derived from Dumas and Cyrano. On the other I don’t like the cramped grips and fussing over those bloody quillons. When I saw Windlass had regenerated this larger than life iconographic representation I fell for the chrome and whale tail fenders.
Kult of Athena (KoA) has been my go to guy for a lot of weapons. The Museum Replica price was something like 265.00 for the rapier and 135.00 for the dagger. KoA was 300.00 for both. Dropped the order on a Sunday evening, and UPS passed it to me at work on Thursday.
Historical Overview: According to Windlass this is a “representational” sword of the 1590 period characteristic of what one would expect of a royal musketeer. Houston, we have a problem. The Musketeers of the Kings Royal Troops were first commissioned in 1622. They were a company of 110 men (not a regiment). Four years later Prime Minister, Cardinal Richelieu decided he wanted his own musketeers and commissioned a company. Being rowdy and unoccupied, unless the King took the field, these two junior companies of royals did rub each other the wrong way on occasion. Louis XIV would finally order the two companies consolidated into one battalion in the first regiment ( the Reds) of his house troops (1662). My resources are somewhat limited, but initial research has failed to yield any indication that this type of rapier design was used by the musketeers of France, Spain or the planet Nebulac.
Initial Impressions: Can’t give you a picture of the packaging from KoA. Didn’t have a camera at work. My workmates are accustomed to my “deliveries”. No way I’m going to go home without their getting a vicarious chance to play with my toys. KoA has a standard bombproof they ship in. It’s 11 pounds automatically. If you don’t buy enough they fill it up with brown stock paper, rolled and crinkled into a buffer for your product. The sword itself was wrapped and taped in paper. The hilt had its own plastic cover bag to protect the finish. The Main Gauche dagger was similarly wrapped.
Have to admit, it was the dagger that stole the show. As already mentioned in the new acquisitions, it is ridiculously, spectacularly enormous. Besides that both weapons have tremendous eye appeal with high polish on nickel plate and excellent proportions. Everything felt tight and solid.
For perspective, below is a photo of three types of rapier sets laid out together. On the left is a Darkwood 43 inch shell plated three ring guarded rapier with a bated fencing blade. A Windlass dagger from the Munich Municipal Guard set is coupled with it. The Windlass Musketeer set is in the center. The Hanwei Taza set is on the right. Of note is that the Musketeer blade is the least tapered down of the three (has the most cutting power). Also the dagger (semi officially now dubbed the "Crocodile D'Artagneon Main Gauche") is significantly larger than the other two.
Statistics: Rapier Dagger
Blade Length(inches) 37 ½ 17
Handle Length (inches) 5 3 1/2
Overall Length (inches) 46 23
Guard Width 5
Width of Quillons 10
Point of Balance 3 1/2
Weight (ounces) 40 28
Components:
The Blade: The blade comes in on the cut and thrust, militaryish side of rapier blades. There is a 3 ½ inch ricasso above the guard. For the next 6 inches the blade is hexagonal and retains about a 1 inch width. The blade then turns diamond shaped and progressively tapers down to ¼ inch width. Compared to civilianized blades this isn’t severe. There is a cutting edge almost to the tip.
The Handle: Being a rapier the handle is a complex arrangement of two parts. The main handle is 3 inches long, consisting of a louvered wood core overlaid with a high brass wire. There are no finishing knots on the ends of the wire. One is expected to reach over the cross guard (quillons) to control the sword. This space is 2 inches in depth. This inner ricasso in this case is enclosed by a plate sheath which is part of the hilt frame.
The Guard: From a distance one might expect this to be a plated guard. But it is actually a cup hilt. The guard cup is bolted and peened to the hilt top and bottom.
The Pommel: Looks like a modified acorn. With the plating I really can’t be certain if it is peened or screwed together.
The Scabbard: Scabbard is soft leather (or plastic ). There is a steel chape for the bottom, and the throat piece has a frog button for mounting.
The Main Gauche: With the large knuckle bow this style is most familiar as Spanish. When employed the dagger served a shield and secondary offensive weapon. You will note this weapon dwarfs the Taza and German daggers compared to it. Trying to wear this dagger as a back up weapon is an exercise in humility (you look the ass with this chain saw sized weapon slapping your butt and clanging off your rapier). But it still a fun blade to pull out: it gets attention.
Handling Characteristics: I have a tendency to gripe about any weapon over 2 1/4 pounds as being "heavy". I suppose it's because for larger weapons I have to retrain muscle memory to cope with the weight of the weapon to meet the demands of the style. After training for a while with the new weapon I start to get comfortable with it and find that I over-reacted in my initial impression.
37 inches of blade is a good length for this much blade. It feels resonably stiff and responsive; no warble. All the boiler plate of the full guard puts a lot of weight in your hand. That's what really makes the weapon feel slow.
Main Gauche is nearly 2 pounds in weight. That can initially be distracting for someone not used to carrying left hand weight.
Side note: I'm photographing myself. The remote is in my left hand. My form is a little too open here, but I'm trying to show the weapons, get the remote to work and hate taking pictures of myself, yadda, yadda... ;D Oh, I suppose to aid perspective I have to mention that I'm 6'2" and 195 pounds.
Overindulging. The thing about rapier that totally pissed me off when I first confronted them was the chinese torture of the grip. The history of european grip design is Rube Goldberged. The sword is an offensive weapon. Throughout the Middle Ages a simple cruciformed guard was deemed enough because defense was strengthened with armor. Later day weapons and swordsmen saw an advantage to be derived in reaching over the guard for better balance; and also because big handed men couldn't find handles on most swords large enough to accomodate them.
The practice of reaching over the guard resulted in the design of finger/knuckle guard rings protecting the finger that was extended. The base of the blade was also fattened and dulled to support this maneuver giving birth to thr ricasso. Instead of designing more accomodating handles, period swordsmiths kept piling structures around the crossguard and expecting the swordsman to make it work. ( There already was an alternative in the bolognese broadsword, the Schiavona, but this engineering didn't catch on for some time. ) This is my own worthless opinion. The next two photos demo how I cope with the grip and my size 11 hand. First is a text book fingering with the index finger over the quillon:
Here, for a heavier weapon I have two fingers over the quillon. I find this arrangement strengthens use of the point but sacrifices range of cutting motion.
Test Cutting: Both the sword and the dagger can be sharpened by the Windlass contractors for a fee. Frankly my recent history with this service has been unhappy. They tend to make a mess of it, scratchy the blades in the process. Even without sharpening the cast of the blade is fairly sharp and easily finished if you want a real cutting edge. I bought mine unsharpened and consequently can not offer cutting examples at this time.
Conclusions:
Pros:
Very High rating as eye candy
Well put together
very good cut and thrust capability
Bargain at the price
Cons:
Heavy for a thrust weapon = slow
Hollywood sword - ahistorical rapier
The Bottom Line:
This is a qualified great buy. This is a glamour sword, not a cutter. It gets attention from viewers. But clinically swords like this give rapiers a bad reputation, because these are the bloated sort of weapons we have come to see as representative of this class of sword, when in fact such swords were either early cut and thrust weapons or prestige swords demonstrating conspicuous consumption for its own sake.
By comparison, the Hanwei Taza Spanish bell guard is actually a quick weapon. The blade has presence but tapers down to a finer point. The hilt is fancy but stripped of weight.
My first review. Critique is welcome.
Ebon, what happened to your visceral aversion for Windlass products?? 
)
