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Post by Jeff K. on Oct 17, 2010 23:53:05 GMT
Hey guys, I've been looking for a good Baskethilt broadsword for a while and I had it narrowed down to Hanwei's and Cold Steels, but I noticed one on Military Heritage's website that is nice looking but I'm not sure who the maker is...The Discriminating General??... I'll probably give them a call and get the details but has anyone here had any XP with this sword or swords by this company...its halfway down this page... www.militaryheritage.com/swords2.htm  They've also got a nice looking 1796 Light Sabre that I'm interested in. Much like Cold steels but without the pommel nut and flush ground grip rivet.  |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 20, 2010 1:32:37 GMT
Hi Jeff
I can't say I know anything about this company. I'd like to see a little more information on the steel in the blades other than the standard "tempered high carbon steel" comment. There are some very dangerous blades out there that would meet this criteria. I own the Hanwei Basket Hilt. One plus is the stainless basket that cuts down on maintenance. (That's a lot of filigree to be cleaning and polishing.) It has a nice satin-finished blade with a polished fuller. The cloth and leather basket liner is a bit finicky, but I solved the problem by disassembling the sword (super easy) and using matching red thread to tack the outer cloth to the inner leather liner at a half-dozen points. The reason I went with the Hanwei is the fact that it's a museum replica. I like that.
The thing you need to know about all basket hilts is a.) the baskets on most are a tight fit for big hands. b.)the swords tend to be weighted pretty far forward.
Whatever you decide on, I hope you enjoy it.
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Post by Reflingar on Oct 20, 2010 2:33:23 GMT
I've also looked at that sword at one point... Military Heritage is a retailer, as far as I know, they don't manufacture swords. I'm pretty sure they used to get their swords from Weapon Edge ( weaponedge.com/), an Indian manufacturer, but sometime last year (IIRC) they strongly denied that information...hum...IMO, many of their swords still look a lot like the Weapon Edge offerings... I have one 1802 Imperial Guard saber (WES1002) -pretty much identical to the MH one- ordered directly from WE and, althought very nice looking, it displays almost no distal taper making it a very point heavy wrist breaker (more than it's historical counterpart, from what I've gathered). A characteristic I've noticed on many reviews of their products...But the one on the WE page is different than the MH one? It looks like India-made: very thin metal for the basket, a bit crude, cheap lining (can be replaced or taken out altogether easily)...it still is interesting, mind you, just observations... Best would be to ask MH to share their manufacturer's name with us! Also to not: on many Indian made repros of basket-hilts, the baskets tends to be very big, something to avoid if going for historical accuracy (even if some few had big baskets, and this repro doesn't seem so big) and a good, balanced, aesthetic harmony of the whole thing, IMO... Finally, there also was discussions about the softness of the steel used on the WE swords...it's somewhere deep in the old forum I think...I've not cut with my saber yet but would bet the steel is hard enough for reasonable purposes... I also own the Hanwei Scottish basket-hilt broadsword and like it very much althought I think it is more point-heavy than it should be (or than most historical examples) and has a weird blade type...but for the SBG budget, it's probably the nicest basket-hilt out there for the moment... For me, if the MH one was way cheaper, I would maybe consider it...but being more expensive than the Hanwei...I would go for the Hanwei... Hope this helps a bit, let us know if you'll go for the MH basket-hilt and, if so: please post pics pics pics & impressions! Ciao! Reflingar Edited to add: just looked and Weapon Edge do have one that's strangely very similar to the MH one! Also Stromlo, a member here, could get it for you: www.stromloswords.com/swords.html |
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Post by Jeff K. on Oct 20, 2010 4:45:43 GMT
Thanks for the replies everyone! I looked at Weapon Edge's sword and, yes, it does look identical to me, thanks for that tip Reflingar, karma to you! I think I will go the safe route and get the Hanwei version. I have had good experiences in the past with Hanwei blades incliding some baskethilts. The drawbacks for me on Hanwei's is actually the stainless basket...I love patina on my swords. I'll go for the antiqued version. The blade also looks odd to me, maybe I can find a triple fullered blade with no ricasso to change it out. I do love the red liner behind blued baskets, something that Hanweis antiqued one lacks.
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Luka
Senior Forumite
Posts: 2,848
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Post by Luka on Oct 20, 2010 12:10:14 GMT
I suggest searching for this company on myarmoury, I think I have seen something about Discriminating General and Weapon's Edge there...
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Luka
Senior Forumite
Posts: 2,848
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Post by Luka on Oct 20, 2010 12:22:48 GMT
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Post by Jeff K. on Oct 20, 2010 17:19:11 GMT
Thanks Luka, seems like Patrick Kelly is the only guy to say anything really positive about them. Maybe I'll shoot him a PM to see if this was one of the swords he bought. Have a karma for the good detective work!
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Post by Reflingar on Oct 20, 2010 20:53:17 GMT
You're welcome. I also picked the Hanwei antiqued one and the coating on the basket is fragile and easily rubs off...Nice nonetheless...(maybe I'll just disassemble it and, after sanding the black powder coating, antique it myself...(since it's stainless, I'll have to go with very agressive home-antiquing: i.e.: bury it) I like the Cold Steel's blued basket (at least in pics), but feedbacks on the whole sword are not too nice... You could get the one from WE via Stromlo or directly from WE in India (and then swap blades, customize the basket to improve it?)...But, it's truethey are expensive swords just to get the basket and put another blade on it... There is also the Darkwood Armory route: www.darkwoodarmory.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2_6 for a basket, I think they can mount it on a blade of your choice... I really like some of the basket-hilts a few members have had made and/or customized here: Luka, Earncynn, etc. Nice basket-hilts: www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=20820 Or the one John Lundemo did the blade for: www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=20917 :shock: Wow...I don't know what happened to me but I've been bitten by the basket-hilt bug lately...aargh... |
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