Scottish Basket Hilt Broadsword
Mar 10, 2007 23:46:12 GMT
Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2007 23:46:12 GMT
A review of the Cold Steel Basket Hilted Broadsword, in it's entirety as of October 2005.
Yesterday, I recieved the sword I've been hoping to get for some time now, the Cold Steel Basket Hilt Broadsword(88SB). This is a sword, typical of what could be found in Scotland in the 16th-17th Centuries(1500's-1600').
First, the things that I've found to be bad:
1) The Distal Taper. The blade thickness, according to Cold Steel's catalogue, is 7/32 of an inch thick, which is a hair under a quarter of an inch. That's fine and dandy with me, but the sword thickness does not taper at all throughout the length of the blade(I could be wrong, I'm just eye-balling it). This creates semi-poor distribution of mass, generating a blade heavy feel. Overall, the balance is still ok(IMHO), as I like a little blade heaviness, as it adds to cutting authority and I have strong enough forearms to deal with it. But this is just a little teeny bit too much blade heavy for me. Still better handling than my viking sword by a long shot.
2) The Tang. The section of the blade that runs through the grip is a little bit thin. Generally speaking, a tang 1/3 the width of the blade is the industry standard. The tang of this sword starts at about this width(good), but tapers down to a 1/4'' threaded rod. Now, no doubt a threaded rod of this thickness is strong enough to hold the whole thing together(i've been pretty harsh on it so far), it's just not accurate for a sword of this type. Such tang construction can be found on Russian Swords pre and during the world wars. The advantage to this is that if the handle construction ever comes a bit loose due to fatigue or stess, one can tighten it just by screwing the pommel on a little more.
3) The basket. This is the most attractive production run basket hilt available on the market today, I think. Problem is mine is just a little bit warped. It's almost unnoticeable, but it's there. At first, it created the illusion that the blade exits the basket at an angle as opposed to straight, but a test connecting a taut string from tip to pommel shows that the blade is straight; it's merely the basket that's warped a bit. Given that this is not a high end production run and merely a 'workhorse' type of sword, this is perfectly acceptable, and actually adds character to the sword from my point of view.
4) The edge. The edge of the blade(both of them actually) possess a secondary bevel, or cantle. This is common edge geometry for a knife, but not really desirable on a sword. I plan on personally putting a nice rolled edge on it in the future. Again, this doesn't bug me very much at all for the time being.
that's about it for the bad, onto the good:
The steel and temper:
This thing is STRONG, and it is TOUGH, and it is SHARP. I struggle to flex it from the basket, even when the point is fastened. And it always springs back to being straight. On top of that, I purposely got a bit sloppy when doing some cutting, hitting both soft and hard targets(including a tire and tree-stump) right on with both edge and flat and sometimes with bad edge alingment just to push it, and there is no visible edge damage or blade warpage at all. I cut through 2 layers of corugated card-board all the way down(about a 4 foot cut), without too much effort. I'm afraid of how this thing will cut if I really put some UMPH! into it. It seems to track very well into soft targets, but struggles a bit with harder targets(this is to be expected with the edge geometry on it...as stated before).
The weight is almost spot on for a historical piece of this variety. At just a hair under 3 lbs(according to the catalogue), it's at the high end of average, which is in accordance with it's authoritative feel. It is definately a dedicated cutter, but posses a strong and sharp point, and is thick enough to withstand good thrusts as well. Not a particularly lively sword, but point control is good.
I've taken the liberty of removing that silly tassle from the pommel.
Fit and finish: It's a very attractive sword, the blueing on the hilt and scabbard is even and well done, and the blade has a wonderful mirror polish that was so pretty I was afraid of messing it up. Assembly is tight. At first, after cutting some hard targets, I noticed the blade had rotated ever so slightly in the basket(but the grip was still alligned with the blade). I fixed this and tightened the whole thing from the pommel, and no furthur troubles in this area have occured.
The scabbard is utilitarian and attractive as well. Not your run of the mill scabbard for a sword this price, the wood core is much stronger than the one on my viking sword, and the leather a bit thicker and is attached better. The throat and chape of the scabbard are blued to match the hilt, and are of sturdy mild steel, also fastened securely. Not a fancy scabbard by any means, but it's character fits the sword.
Hope I didn't bore you.
Yesterday, I recieved the sword I've been hoping to get for some time now, the Cold Steel Basket Hilt Broadsword(88SB). This is a sword, typical of what could be found in Scotland in the 16th-17th Centuries(1500's-1600').
First, the things that I've found to be bad:
1) The Distal Taper. The blade thickness, according to Cold Steel's catalogue, is 7/32 of an inch thick, which is a hair under a quarter of an inch. That's fine and dandy with me, but the sword thickness does not taper at all throughout the length of the blade(I could be wrong, I'm just eye-balling it). This creates semi-poor distribution of mass, generating a blade heavy feel. Overall, the balance is still ok(IMHO), as I like a little blade heaviness, as it adds to cutting authority and I have strong enough forearms to deal with it. But this is just a little teeny bit too much blade heavy for me. Still better handling than my viking sword by a long shot.
2) The Tang. The section of the blade that runs through the grip is a little bit thin. Generally speaking, a tang 1/3 the width of the blade is the industry standard. The tang of this sword starts at about this width(good), but tapers down to a 1/4'' threaded rod. Now, no doubt a threaded rod of this thickness is strong enough to hold the whole thing together(i've been pretty harsh on it so far), it's just not accurate for a sword of this type. Such tang construction can be found on Russian Swords pre and during the world wars. The advantage to this is that if the handle construction ever comes a bit loose due to fatigue or stess, one can tighten it just by screwing the pommel on a little more.
3) The basket. This is the most attractive production run basket hilt available on the market today, I think. Problem is mine is just a little bit warped. It's almost unnoticeable, but it's there. At first, it created the illusion that the blade exits the basket at an angle as opposed to straight, but a test connecting a taut string from tip to pommel shows that the blade is straight; it's merely the basket that's warped a bit. Given that this is not a high end production run and merely a 'workhorse' type of sword, this is perfectly acceptable, and actually adds character to the sword from my point of view.
4) The edge. The edge of the blade(both of them actually) possess a secondary bevel, or cantle. This is common edge geometry for a knife, but not really desirable on a sword. I plan on personally putting a nice rolled edge on it in the future. Again, this doesn't bug me very much at all for the time being.
that's about it for the bad, onto the good:
The steel and temper:
This thing is STRONG, and it is TOUGH, and it is SHARP. I struggle to flex it from the basket, even when the point is fastened. And it always springs back to being straight. On top of that, I purposely got a bit sloppy when doing some cutting, hitting both soft and hard targets(including a tire and tree-stump) right on with both edge and flat and sometimes with bad edge alingment just to push it, and there is no visible edge damage or blade warpage at all. I cut through 2 layers of corugated card-board all the way down(about a 4 foot cut), without too much effort. I'm afraid of how this thing will cut if I really put some UMPH! into it. It seems to track very well into soft targets, but struggles a bit with harder targets(this is to be expected with the edge geometry on it...as stated before).
The weight is almost spot on for a historical piece of this variety. At just a hair under 3 lbs(according to the catalogue), it's at the high end of average, which is in accordance with it's authoritative feel. It is definately a dedicated cutter, but posses a strong and sharp point, and is thick enough to withstand good thrusts as well. Not a particularly lively sword, but point control is good.
I've taken the liberty of removing that silly tassle from the pommel.
Fit and finish: It's a very attractive sword, the blueing on the hilt and scabbard is even and well done, and the blade has a wonderful mirror polish that was so pretty I was afraid of messing it up. Assembly is tight. At first, after cutting some hard targets, I noticed the blade had rotated ever so slightly in the basket(but the grip was still alligned with the blade). I fixed this and tightened the whole thing from the pommel, and no furthur troubles in this area have occured.
The scabbard is utilitarian and attractive as well. Not your run of the mill scabbard for a sword this price, the wood core is much stronger than the one on my viking sword, and the leather a bit thicker and is attached better. The throat and chape of the scabbard are blued to match the hilt, and are of sturdy mild steel, also fastened securely. Not a fancy scabbard by any means, but it's character fits the sword.
Hope I didn't bore you.