SBG BKS Leafblade
Oct 4, 2010 5:14:40 GMT
Post by Lunaman on Oct 4, 2010 5:14:40 GMT
SBG Fantasy Bastard Sword Leafblade
by Baltimore Knife and Sword
Review by Zachary J. Luna -- March 2010
Historical Overview
This is a fantasy sword, so no real Historical Overview, though the project has some history:
Way back in September of ought-nine, a design submission thread was started by Brendan Olszowy after it had been decided that the next SBG project would be a fantasy bastard sword.
sbgswordforum.proboards.com/inde ... 200&page=1
Designs had to be in set dimensions of blade and hilt length, and they had to have symmetrical double edges, but beyond that, people were free to imagine what they would. I submitted this drawing:
I revised and modified it a little along the way.
Designs were voted on, and the top two were made into prototypes by the Balitmore Knife and Sword Company, (Headed by Matt and Kerry Stagmer) and mine was one of them, alongside Wes/ViolentSerenade’s design!
The prototypes were reviewed by Sean/Shadowhowler and BKS decided to offer them both!
sbgswordforum.proboards.com/inde ... read=13294
As far as the history of the design itself, Sean once said “Makes me wanna go mess up some Orcs... ” and I think he pretty much nailed it on the head. When I think “Fantasy sword” I think “Lord of the Rings.” And I think movies. I wanted something that would be right at home in Middle Earth. I just drew what I thought looked right and flowed well at the time, but looking back I can see echoes of several different swords from the ‘Rings Trilogy in the design. Those inspirations put together, filtered through my eyes and my hands and Brendan’s dimensions and Matt & Kerry’s skills and steel, have become the SBG Leafblade Fantasy Bastard Sword by Balitimore Knife and Sword.
This is the first leafblade sword of the production run.
First Impressions
The sword arrived March 19 (one day after my birthday!) at the very very end of my Spring Break, the last chance I would have to see the sword before summer. I actually had it sent to my brother’s home, since I live at school and my folks are in the process of moving houses this weekend. It arrived in a big enticing cardboard box, shown above.
When I opened the package, at my brother’s place, I was greeted with an array of materials and a few surprises:
The fine folks at BKS had sent me, yes, a copy of “PIRATES” magazine. It was full of images of swords and ships and flags and treasure and lovely lovely wenches! It included a full page BKS ad and had Matt listed as a contributer. After I stopped laughing from the surprise, my swashbuckling rogue heart was touched by the gesture. Thanks guys!!
The sword was securely, though interestingly packaged. There was everything from bubble wrap to plastic wrap to paper towels cushioning and filling out the box. It seemed pretty darn safe.
On the tip of the sword was a clever little protector assembled from leather handle wrap and packing tape. The tip was undamaged.
As I stripped away all the trappings, I was finally able to pick up the sword I had imagined for months and hold it in my hands. Naturally, I looked like a dumbstruck eight-year-old-kid gazing upon the BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER.
Here’s a super blurry picture for proof and to heighten suspense, courtesy of my sibling:
What a goofball.
Specifications
(Shown next to a Valiant Armoury Practical Longsword AT304S for scale.)
OverAll Length:------------------- 42.5”
Blade Length:---------------------- 30.25”
Hilt Length:------------------------ 12.25”
Grip Length:------------------------ 9”
POB (Point of Balance):---------- .25” from guard peaks (1.5” from end of grip)
Forward Node of Vibration:--- 18” from guard peaks
Forward Pivot Point------------- about 1” from the tip
I don’t have access to a scale here, so I can’t give an accurate weight. However, I do know that this sword is a bit lighter than the prototype sword (which weighed 4.2 lbs) as the guard on this one was cut from thinner stock, and it also has a lighter pommel than the prototype—with 6 facets instead of 8 and a deeper cut curve towards the grip, with as much weight removed as Matt could manage. The sword FEELS like it weighs around 3 pounds, but that’s the balance lying to me. I’d estimate the weight around 3lbs 15 oz, give or take, but I can’t be sure. I also have no way of accurately measuring the distal taper, but it is pretty slight along the length, until the end of the fuller, where it widens and then tapers sharply to the point to form the reinforced diamond cross section of the tip.
Aesthetics, Fit & Finish
This is where this sword really shines. Literally. I opted for the polished blade and polished fuller option on my leafblade and MAN does it show.
The polish is not a mirror finish (you can see yourself in it, but you look a little bit blurry, and you can see the striations from the final grit they used) but there’s no denying that it is shiny. It might even be a little TOO shiny—It looks great and closes the grain of the steel, but boy does it shows smudges. I was wiping and re-wiping to erase stray smears all afternoon. If you see any gunk in the pictures, that’s my fault from handling it and moving it around, the blade was pristine when I unpacked it and it is again now after cleaning, but in-between it varied. I might scotch-brite it back later like an Albion for simplicities sake, but for now I’m leaving it shiny.
The blade is straight and symmetrical. The surface of the bevels is a little wavy from the polishing and all that, but the fuller is laser-straight and the transitions between planes on the surface are fairly clean.
……………………………………………………………………..
I love the guard on this thing. I don’t mean just because I drew it; the guys at BKS have added a lot of subtle character and interest to a simple and elegant shape with absolute precision. The guard thins and thickens distally on each quillion and every single corner on the guard has been beveled smoothly. The whole thing has been polished as nicely as the blade (I can’t imagine how long this whole sword took to polish).The blade shoulders sit in an inletted slot and the guard has been welded in place.
Look at the fit on this guard!
I mean, just LOOK at it!
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The flared base of the blade has some recognizable letters and numbers. Here’s the BKS stamp:
Here’s the SBG stamp:
And right in the middle of that shiny fuller, hard to photograph, is a number “001”
Hell yea.
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Grip.
I opted for a brown wrap on my sword. I think it gives it some spirit. So many low-end swords use black grips that a brown one just stands out and grabs attention. The grip is simply done, wrapped around like a tennis racket grip, with the ends tucked under and glued. It seems sturdy, and it’s comfy on the hands. In an ideal world I’d probably get wood-cored, cord-wrapped leather grips, but this is nice enough for now. The metal spacer has been made larger than the one on the prototype, and the grip shows some nice taper moving in and away from the spacer.
The spacer itself surprised me.
It’s hard to see, but the whole thing is covered in what I believe are peen-hammer marks, which have been polished to a shine. The surface of the spacer is faceted like a jewel because of this, and it just glitters in the light when you move it around. Very cool.
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Here’s the shiny new pommel, with the pommel from the prototype below for comparison:
You can see that the facets on mine are wider (6 instead of 8) and cut at a more aggressive curve to reduce weight.
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The point on this sword is wicked:
The blade does have a slight secondary bevel, but it is of a strong geometry. It shouldn’t be too difficult to polish out. The edge is also quite sharp. It easily slices paper.
Handling Characteristics
This was surprising to experience.
From the numbers, you would already expect that a sword with a static balance point this close to the hilt (what equates to around a 1” POB if it had a normal guard) would feel pretty ‘light in hand’ for its weight, and that’s true: if you hold the blade firmly you can feel that the balance is very ‘neutral’.
But there’s more to it than that. There’s something else going on here.
When I set this sword in motion I could start to feel WHY the control ‘sits’ firmly in your hand, and it wasn’t so much the “balance” offset from the pommel as I was expecting. Yea, you can feel that the pommel is a pretty solid weight on the opposite end of the blade, but you can allow yourself to forget the pommel for a second and feel where the MASS of the blade goes when you swing it. The pommel doesn’t do as much moving or ‘balancing’ when you swing it; when you swing it you can feel what that flare at the base of the blade is doing to your experience. You can feel that the widest part of the tang is sitting right ‘in your hand’, that the widest part of the blade is sitting right next to your hand. Whatever shenanigans you want to pull with the far off ends of the sword, the CORE of the mass, the highest percentage of metal, is right at your fingertips, locked with you. The blade is big and sweeping and it LOOKS like it would have a lot of presence, and it would…it’s just that there’s a more powerful presence in the palm of your hand. The blade isn’t made any lighter, but it FEELS lighter because there’s a more massive center right in the wheelhouse of your digits. It’s not as much about the pommel as you’d think-- you could mount this as a one-hander and still feel this effect when you swing. It’s kind of wild. The mass distribution here is interesting: “Flared Shoulders” taken to an extreme example. I don’t know what part of the changing of the spacer, thinning the guard and lightening the pommel to attribute this shift to, but it does seem like there was a shift in handling characteristics from the prototype stage. The closest thing I have to proof of that is that I measured the forward pivot point relative to the guard and it was less than an inch from the tip of the sword, which indicates pretty good mass distribution.
Whatever the case, (this could very well handle exactly like the prototype for all I am absolutely certain of)
this sword is easy to move. Of my limited knowledge of longsword techniques, it flowed smoothly from guard to guard and required little effort to swing. I don’t just mean it was easy for a sword of this size and mass; it was just easy, period. One of the nice things about not having a scale handy was that I couldn’t just go for a reality check—this thing feels like it weighs a little less than 3 pounds, and there’s no proof from handling it that it doesn’t actually have that weight. Only the fact that I know how much the prototype weighs stops me from believing that.
Lest I sound like I think this sword is magical and perfect, believe me, by the end of the day I could feel it in the lactic acid of my body that I’d been rashly swinging around that much weight like it was nothing for hours. Oof. The sword was super easy to move around with the strong hand right up under the guard, like this:
But when I eased off the guard a bit and focused my grip on my smaller fingers like on a katana, I got a bit better feedback on the blade leading with a bit more oomph, albeit with not quite the same level of agility.
The grip is long enough to adjust for what feels better to you.
I also found the sword decently manageable with one hand. Recovery was a bit more sluggish and the grip length was awkward, but for a cutting blow or a few stokes, it wasn’t bad at all.
In two hands, though, this thing moves like greased lightning. I found that regardless of how I held my strong hand, putting my lower hand as close to the pommel as possible made controlling the sword easier and smoother.
In the trust, this thing is DEADLY. Not the close POB so much as the pivot point near the tip meant that the point did not wander as I thrusted even if I was less than perfectly steady at the hilt end. It just zips on target. With the reinforced narrow point on this sword, I get the feeling that might be one of the more effective uses of this weapon. Stab-tacular.
Cutting Tests
Well, being that I live in Colorado and our weather gets particularly schizophrenic in the spring, this is what it looked like outside today:
So I wasn’t gonna take the camera out there, and I unfortunately don’t have a video camera, so no cool embedded little movie thing.
I, however, wasn’t gonna let that get me down, and I forged out there in the falling snow to cut anyway! ;D I’ve got photos of the aftermath.
Now… I’ve been collecting swords for a while, but I am a rank amateur at cutting things. I’ve only started cutting this academic year, and, uh, I’ve been in school for most of it (read: not with my swords or able to practice/improve at cutting). Also, the years I spent playing tennis competitively have ruined my edge-alignment instincts; I always want to use the flat of the blade to transfer energy, even at a downward angle:
Basically, I’m a mediocre cutter on the best of days. I need to fight my body’s natural tendencies just to execute the most basic strokes. (That picture’s not me, by the way: Roger Federer. Respect.)
But I wanted to see if I could cut stuff with this sword. For SBG! Could this sword cut bottles and milk jugs with my counterintuitive hands guiding it, in the snow and the cold, no less? ……………..
Yeah. Yeah, I’d say so.
Except for one goof on the milk jug, clean slices all around,, no flubs, no ‘baseball’ moments and the blade’s unscathed. I didn’t cut a whole lot, mind you, but hey, it was cold as hell out there! ;D
I did lose a few bottle parts in the snow; they’d fall off the stand and just sink right through the layers of snowflakes and be engulfed in white. I spent a good five minutes digging through the snow to recover all the evidence. The rest will turn up eventually I suppose.
You see, the blade is wide enough that if I just loosened up and swung freely, the blade would sort of ‘self align’ like an airfoil, and edge alignment wasn’t as much of an issue. The sword is quick in hand and easy to get up to speed, so it just sings through the air and through the target. Also, this sword rings like a tuning fork when it cuts!!! TING!
In execution of the cuts, the wider swell of the leaf was the most natural place to make contact during the stroke, and it cut pretty darn well. I also noticed that cuts near the very tip were very effective. This is possibly related to the placement of the forward pivot point as well.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
-Beautiful design ( ;D)
-Pretty polish
-Ability to select options for customization
-Designed and created by SBG members, start to finish
-Unique and lively handling characteristics
-Cuts well
-Excellent point control
-Rock solid fit
-Rings like a bell
-Very exclusive run, you won’t find someone else with this sword unless you already know them here.
Cons: (some just for this particular sword)
-Secondary bevel present (though quite sharp)
-Shiny blade is unforgiving of smudges.
-Some evidence of modern machining
-Overall weight. It moves like lightning and is easy to control, but this is a beefy blade, no two ways about it. Not for everyone.
-Non-traditional construction/Welded components. Not everybody’s cup of tea.
-Grip. Comfortable and rugged, but not nearly as nice as a wood core grip with traditional cord-wrapped leather.
-Cost. We are getting a deal on these swords, but they ain’t cheap. All the options included on this baby brought the total to around $500USD, which would be tough for some collectors to justify.
Conclusions
Well, what can I say? I love this sword, but I am ridiculously biased. This isn’t just a sword I bought that’s SBG born and made; this is really my first custom piece. Everybody gets to pick their polish or grip color or what have you, but I actually had the entire sword based off of what I wanted or what I dreamt up. It gives me goosebumps. I drew a few lines on a piece of paper, and now they have been brought to life in steel, in my hand, by virtue only of my ability to reach a group of people through my computer. Of course I think it’s amazing. This is an amazing process, and I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of it. I can’t hope to be objective about this sword, but I can offer some general musings about it.
Do I think it’s perfect? No, I don’t. There are several things I’d change if I could start from scratch, but the majority of it falls back on me and the original design. What amazes me is that BKS delivered pretty much exactly what I had drawn and specified, but also cleaned up so it could be feasible for use. I could never really go “Oh, well that’s not really what I was aiming for…” while I was looking it over. What I designed is what I got, for good or ill. I think it’s pretty freakin’ good.
I’m not going to pretend the process has been perfect, either. I’m first to admit that I wasn’t exactly quiet about my frustrations and concerns through the many delays and setbacks we encountered over the past several months. But I’ve got to hand it to the Stagmers, they took on a huge project as a huge service to the community and they ran into some HUGE complications during it (absolutely absurd snowstorms and double workloads to name few). And they didn’t whine or make many excuses or play the blame game. They basically just buckled down and kept on working and doing the best of their abilities and making what progress they could, while still checking in every now and again and treating us with respect and kindness. Sure, it seemed distant at times, but they were busy doing the work they had to do. Confused and concerned as I have been at times with this project, I have to admit, I have never seen anything but compassion and respect from the Stagmers when they have contacted their customers or updated the order thread. I am impressed and I am full of gratitude.
Would I have liked some early indication that it would take until late March instead of late December to receive my sword? Of course I would have—like most people, I’d be less troubled by waiting several months if I understood from the get-go that that’s how long I’ll be waiting. But that's not how it played out this time, and I couldn't go undo the setbacks and neither could the Stagmers. The best they could do with the delays that came up was to keep doing the work they promised in spite of the circumstances, and that’s just what they did. It’s been hard for us to see everything come together from the distance we are removed from the action. I’m glad to see these folks be as honest and hardworking as they have been. I’d like to thank them for that, and it is REALLY great to see these swords starting to get into the hands of the buyers.
All in all, I’m honored to be a part of this project. At the very least, I’m quite satisfied with my sword. But far more than that, I’m grateful for having the chance to interact with skilled people who are interested in the same things that excite me, and to collaborate on something meaningful. This piece of steel is something else. I wasn’t really active at SBG until I submitted my drawing to the submissions thread, and checking on the progress of this project gave me reason to keep coming back here day after day, to the point where I looked around more and learned more and have gotten to know some really great people. This very special sword would not exist at all were it not for this community. I love it. ;D
**EDIT TO ADD***
This sword now has a custom scabbard, belt, and suspension from Sonny at the Valiant Armoury CSS.
SBG Fantasy Bastard Sword Leafblade
by Baltimore Knife and Sword
Review by Zachary J. Luna -- March 2010
Historical Overview
This is a fantasy sword, so no real Historical Overview, though the project has some history:
Way back in September of ought-nine, a design submission thread was started by Brendan Olszowy after it had been decided that the next SBG project would be a fantasy bastard sword.
sbgswordforum.proboards.com/inde ... 200&page=1
Designs had to be in set dimensions of blade and hilt length, and they had to have symmetrical double edges, but beyond that, people were free to imagine what they would. I submitted this drawing:
I revised and modified it a little along the way.
Designs were voted on, and the top two were made into prototypes by the Balitmore Knife and Sword Company, (Headed by Matt and Kerry Stagmer) and mine was one of them, alongside Wes/ViolentSerenade’s design!
The prototypes were reviewed by Sean/Shadowhowler and BKS decided to offer them both!
sbgswordforum.proboards.com/inde ... read=13294
As far as the history of the design itself, Sean once said “Makes me wanna go mess up some Orcs... ” and I think he pretty much nailed it on the head. When I think “Fantasy sword” I think “Lord of the Rings.” And I think movies. I wanted something that would be right at home in Middle Earth. I just drew what I thought looked right and flowed well at the time, but looking back I can see echoes of several different swords from the ‘Rings Trilogy in the design. Those inspirations put together, filtered through my eyes and my hands and Brendan’s dimensions and Matt & Kerry’s skills and steel, have become the SBG Leafblade Fantasy Bastard Sword by Balitimore Knife and Sword.
This is the first leafblade sword of the production run.
First Impressions
The sword arrived March 19 (one day after my birthday!) at the very very end of my Spring Break, the last chance I would have to see the sword before summer. I actually had it sent to my brother’s home, since I live at school and my folks are in the process of moving houses this weekend. It arrived in a big enticing cardboard box, shown above.
When I opened the package, at my brother’s place, I was greeted with an array of materials and a few surprises:
The fine folks at BKS had sent me, yes, a copy of “PIRATES” magazine. It was full of images of swords and ships and flags and treasure and lovely lovely wenches! It included a full page BKS ad and had Matt listed as a contributer. After I stopped laughing from the surprise, my swashbuckling rogue heart was touched by the gesture. Thanks guys!!
The sword was securely, though interestingly packaged. There was everything from bubble wrap to plastic wrap to paper towels cushioning and filling out the box. It seemed pretty darn safe.
On the tip of the sword was a clever little protector assembled from leather handle wrap and packing tape. The tip was undamaged.
As I stripped away all the trappings, I was finally able to pick up the sword I had imagined for months and hold it in my hands. Naturally, I looked like a dumbstruck eight-year-old-kid gazing upon the BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER.
Here’s a super blurry picture for proof and to heighten suspense, courtesy of my sibling:
What a goofball.
Specifications
(Shown next to a Valiant Armoury Practical Longsword AT304S for scale.)
OverAll Length:------------------- 42.5”
Blade Length:---------------------- 30.25”
Hilt Length:------------------------ 12.25”
Grip Length:------------------------ 9”
POB (Point of Balance):---------- .25” from guard peaks (1.5” from end of grip)
Forward Node of Vibration:--- 18” from guard peaks
Forward Pivot Point------------- about 1” from the tip
I don’t have access to a scale here, so I can’t give an accurate weight. However, I do know that this sword is a bit lighter than the prototype sword (which weighed 4.2 lbs) as the guard on this one was cut from thinner stock, and it also has a lighter pommel than the prototype—with 6 facets instead of 8 and a deeper cut curve towards the grip, with as much weight removed as Matt could manage. The sword FEELS like it weighs around 3 pounds, but that’s the balance lying to me. I’d estimate the weight around 3lbs 15 oz, give or take, but I can’t be sure. I also have no way of accurately measuring the distal taper, but it is pretty slight along the length, until the end of the fuller, where it widens and then tapers sharply to the point to form the reinforced diamond cross section of the tip.
Aesthetics, Fit & Finish
This is where this sword really shines. Literally. I opted for the polished blade and polished fuller option on my leafblade and MAN does it show.
The polish is not a mirror finish (you can see yourself in it, but you look a little bit blurry, and you can see the striations from the final grit they used) but there’s no denying that it is shiny. It might even be a little TOO shiny—It looks great and closes the grain of the steel, but boy does it shows smudges. I was wiping and re-wiping to erase stray smears all afternoon. If you see any gunk in the pictures, that’s my fault from handling it and moving it around, the blade was pristine when I unpacked it and it is again now after cleaning, but in-between it varied. I might scotch-brite it back later like an Albion for simplicities sake, but for now I’m leaving it shiny.
The blade is straight and symmetrical. The surface of the bevels is a little wavy from the polishing and all that, but the fuller is laser-straight and the transitions between planes on the surface are fairly clean.
……………………………………………………………………..
I love the guard on this thing. I don’t mean just because I drew it; the guys at BKS have added a lot of subtle character and interest to a simple and elegant shape with absolute precision. The guard thins and thickens distally on each quillion and every single corner on the guard has been beveled smoothly. The whole thing has been polished as nicely as the blade (I can’t imagine how long this whole sword took to polish).The blade shoulders sit in an inletted slot and the guard has been welded in place.
Look at the fit on this guard!
I mean, just LOOK at it!
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The flared base of the blade has some recognizable letters and numbers. Here’s the BKS stamp:
Here’s the SBG stamp:
And right in the middle of that shiny fuller, hard to photograph, is a number “001”
Hell yea.
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Grip.
I opted for a brown wrap on my sword. I think it gives it some spirit. So many low-end swords use black grips that a brown one just stands out and grabs attention. The grip is simply done, wrapped around like a tennis racket grip, with the ends tucked under and glued. It seems sturdy, and it’s comfy on the hands. In an ideal world I’d probably get wood-cored, cord-wrapped leather grips, but this is nice enough for now. The metal spacer has been made larger than the one on the prototype, and the grip shows some nice taper moving in and away from the spacer.
The spacer itself surprised me.
It’s hard to see, but the whole thing is covered in what I believe are peen-hammer marks, which have been polished to a shine. The surface of the spacer is faceted like a jewel because of this, and it just glitters in the light when you move it around. Very cool.
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Here’s the shiny new pommel, with the pommel from the prototype below for comparison:
You can see that the facets on mine are wider (6 instead of 8) and cut at a more aggressive curve to reduce weight.
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The point on this sword is wicked:
The blade does have a slight secondary bevel, but it is of a strong geometry. It shouldn’t be too difficult to polish out. The edge is also quite sharp. It easily slices paper.
Handling Characteristics
This was surprising to experience.
From the numbers, you would already expect that a sword with a static balance point this close to the hilt (what equates to around a 1” POB if it had a normal guard) would feel pretty ‘light in hand’ for its weight, and that’s true: if you hold the blade firmly you can feel that the balance is very ‘neutral’.
But there’s more to it than that. There’s something else going on here.
When I set this sword in motion I could start to feel WHY the control ‘sits’ firmly in your hand, and it wasn’t so much the “balance” offset from the pommel as I was expecting. Yea, you can feel that the pommel is a pretty solid weight on the opposite end of the blade, but you can allow yourself to forget the pommel for a second and feel where the MASS of the blade goes when you swing it. The pommel doesn’t do as much moving or ‘balancing’ when you swing it; when you swing it you can feel what that flare at the base of the blade is doing to your experience. You can feel that the widest part of the tang is sitting right ‘in your hand’, that the widest part of the blade is sitting right next to your hand. Whatever shenanigans you want to pull with the far off ends of the sword, the CORE of the mass, the highest percentage of metal, is right at your fingertips, locked with you. The blade is big and sweeping and it LOOKS like it would have a lot of presence, and it would…it’s just that there’s a more powerful presence in the palm of your hand. The blade isn’t made any lighter, but it FEELS lighter because there’s a more massive center right in the wheelhouse of your digits. It’s not as much about the pommel as you’d think-- you could mount this as a one-hander and still feel this effect when you swing. It’s kind of wild. The mass distribution here is interesting: “Flared Shoulders” taken to an extreme example. I don’t know what part of the changing of the spacer, thinning the guard and lightening the pommel to attribute this shift to, but it does seem like there was a shift in handling characteristics from the prototype stage. The closest thing I have to proof of that is that I measured the forward pivot point relative to the guard and it was less than an inch from the tip of the sword, which indicates pretty good mass distribution.
Whatever the case, (this could very well handle exactly like the prototype for all I am absolutely certain of)
this sword is easy to move. Of my limited knowledge of longsword techniques, it flowed smoothly from guard to guard and required little effort to swing. I don’t just mean it was easy for a sword of this size and mass; it was just easy, period. One of the nice things about not having a scale handy was that I couldn’t just go for a reality check—this thing feels like it weighs a little less than 3 pounds, and there’s no proof from handling it that it doesn’t actually have that weight. Only the fact that I know how much the prototype weighs stops me from believing that.
Lest I sound like I think this sword is magical and perfect, believe me, by the end of the day I could feel it in the lactic acid of my body that I’d been rashly swinging around that much weight like it was nothing for hours. Oof. The sword was super easy to move around with the strong hand right up under the guard, like this:
But when I eased off the guard a bit and focused my grip on my smaller fingers like on a katana, I got a bit better feedback on the blade leading with a bit more oomph, albeit with not quite the same level of agility.
The grip is long enough to adjust for what feels better to you.
I also found the sword decently manageable with one hand. Recovery was a bit more sluggish and the grip length was awkward, but for a cutting blow or a few stokes, it wasn’t bad at all.
In two hands, though, this thing moves like greased lightning. I found that regardless of how I held my strong hand, putting my lower hand as close to the pommel as possible made controlling the sword easier and smoother.
In the trust, this thing is DEADLY. Not the close POB so much as the pivot point near the tip meant that the point did not wander as I thrusted even if I was less than perfectly steady at the hilt end. It just zips on target. With the reinforced narrow point on this sword, I get the feeling that might be one of the more effective uses of this weapon. Stab-tacular.
Cutting Tests
Well, being that I live in Colorado and our weather gets particularly schizophrenic in the spring, this is what it looked like outside today:
So I wasn’t gonna take the camera out there, and I unfortunately don’t have a video camera, so no cool embedded little movie thing.
I, however, wasn’t gonna let that get me down, and I forged out there in the falling snow to cut anyway! ;D I’ve got photos of the aftermath.
Now… I’ve been collecting swords for a while, but I am a rank amateur at cutting things. I’ve only started cutting this academic year, and, uh, I’ve been in school for most of it (read: not with my swords or able to practice/improve at cutting). Also, the years I spent playing tennis competitively have ruined my edge-alignment instincts; I always want to use the flat of the blade to transfer energy, even at a downward angle:
Basically, I’m a mediocre cutter on the best of days. I need to fight my body’s natural tendencies just to execute the most basic strokes. (That picture’s not me, by the way: Roger Federer. Respect.)
But I wanted to see if I could cut stuff with this sword. For SBG! Could this sword cut bottles and milk jugs with my counterintuitive hands guiding it, in the snow and the cold, no less? ……………..
Yeah. Yeah, I’d say so.
Except for one goof on the milk jug, clean slices all around,, no flubs, no ‘baseball’ moments and the blade’s unscathed. I didn’t cut a whole lot, mind you, but hey, it was cold as hell out there! ;D
I did lose a few bottle parts in the snow; they’d fall off the stand and just sink right through the layers of snowflakes and be engulfed in white. I spent a good five minutes digging through the snow to recover all the evidence. The rest will turn up eventually I suppose.
You see, the blade is wide enough that if I just loosened up and swung freely, the blade would sort of ‘self align’ like an airfoil, and edge alignment wasn’t as much of an issue. The sword is quick in hand and easy to get up to speed, so it just sings through the air and through the target. Also, this sword rings like a tuning fork when it cuts!!! TING!
In execution of the cuts, the wider swell of the leaf was the most natural place to make contact during the stroke, and it cut pretty darn well. I also noticed that cuts near the very tip were very effective. This is possibly related to the placement of the forward pivot point as well.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
-Beautiful design ( ;D)
-Pretty polish
-Ability to select options for customization
-Designed and created by SBG members, start to finish
-Unique and lively handling characteristics
-Cuts well
-Excellent point control
-Rock solid fit
-Rings like a bell
-Very exclusive run, you won’t find someone else with this sword unless you already know them here.
Cons: (some just for this particular sword)
-Secondary bevel present (though quite sharp)
-Shiny blade is unforgiving of smudges.
-Some evidence of modern machining
-Overall weight. It moves like lightning and is easy to control, but this is a beefy blade, no two ways about it. Not for everyone.
-Non-traditional construction/Welded components. Not everybody’s cup of tea.
-Grip. Comfortable and rugged, but not nearly as nice as a wood core grip with traditional cord-wrapped leather.
-Cost. We are getting a deal on these swords, but they ain’t cheap. All the options included on this baby brought the total to around $500USD, which would be tough for some collectors to justify.
Conclusions
Well, what can I say? I love this sword, but I am ridiculously biased. This isn’t just a sword I bought that’s SBG born and made; this is really my first custom piece. Everybody gets to pick their polish or grip color or what have you, but I actually had the entire sword based off of what I wanted or what I dreamt up. It gives me goosebumps. I drew a few lines on a piece of paper, and now they have been brought to life in steel, in my hand, by virtue only of my ability to reach a group of people through my computer. Of course I think it’s amazing. This is an amazing process, and I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of it. I can’t hope to be objective about this sword, but I can offer some general musings about it.
Do I think it’s perfect? No, I don’t. There are several things I’d change if I could start from scratch, but the majority of it falls back on me and the original design. What amazes me is that BKS delivered pretty much exactly what I had drawn and specified, but also cleaned up so it could be feasible for use. I could never really go “Oh, well that’s not really what I was aiming for…” while I was looking it over. What I designed is what I got, for good or ill. I think it’s pretty freakin’ good.
I’m not going to pretend the process has been perfect, either. I’m first to admit that I wasn’t exactly quiet about my frustrations and concerns through the many delays and setbacks we encountered over the past several months. But I’ve got to hand it to the Stagmers, they took on a huge project as a huge service to the community and they ran into some HUGE complications during it (absolutely absurd snowstorms and double workloads to name few). And they didn’t whine or make many excuses or play the blame game. They basically just buckled down and kept on working and doing the best of their abilities and making what progress they could, while still checking in every now and again and treating us with respect and kindness. Sure, it seemed distant at times, but they were busy doing the work they had to do. Confused and concerned as I have been at times with this project, I have to admit, I have never seen anything but compassion and respect from the Stagmers when they have contacted their customers or updated the order thread. I am impressed and I am full of gratitude.
Would I have liked some early indication that it would take until late March instead of late December to receive my sword? Of course I would have—like most people, I’d be less troubled by waiting several months if I understood from the get-go that that’s how long I’ll be waiting. But that's not how it played out this time, and I couldn't go undo the setbacks and neither could the Stagmers. The best they could do with the delays that came up was to keep doing the work they promised in spite of the circumstances, and that’s just what they did. It’s been hard for us to see everything come together from the distance we are removed from the action. I’m glad to see these folks be as honest and hardworking as they have been. I’d like to thank them for that, and it is REALLY great to see these swords starting to get into the hands of the buyers.
All in all, I’m honored to be a part of this project. At the very least, I’m quite satisfied with my sword. But far more than that, I’m grateful for having the chance to interact with skilled people who are interested in the same things that excite me, and to collaborate on something meaningful. This piece of steel is something else. I wasn’t really active at SBG until I submitted my drawing to the submissions thread, and checking on the progress of this project gave me reason to keep coming back here day after day, to the point where I looked around more and learned more and have gotten to know some really great people. This very special sword would not exist at all were it not for this community. I love it. ;D
**EDIT TO ADD***
This sword now has a custom scabbard, belt, and suspension from Sonny at the Valiant Armoury CSS.