Darksword Armoury Viking Sword review and makeover
Aug 8, 2007 0:00:00 GMT
Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2007 0:00:00 GMT
By cs76cs, shot with CYBERSHOT at 2007-08-07
The Review.
Hello,
This is a brief review of a Viking sword I purchased. This is made by Canada’s Darksword Armoury, their 10th century Viking sword. I bought this from their ebay auctions (ebay sellers id “2310” or “combatswords”) at a sale price of $150us.
By cs76cs, shot with FinePix S9000 at 2007-08-07
I have been looking for a Viking sword for quite some time and this was not a model I wanted to buy, but I thought it would make a good project piece, so that’s what I bought it for, a project to work on in my spare time. Looking at the photo in the listing I thought that I would be getting a fairly broad (2”) blade which didn’t taper very much, but when I received the sword, I was a bit surprised because the sword I got didn’t quite look like the one in the photo.
By cs76cs, shot with FinePix S9000 at 2007-08-07
The Viking I received has a smaller blade which tapers greatly, almost like a small cut and thrust sword, it’s not what I think of when I think of a Viking sword and it’s just different than the photo. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it’s bad, it’s just different. I contacted Darksword and they insisted that the blades are the same, they were quite nice though, informed me of new models they will be releasing later this year and offered discounts, and since I have purchased this sword, they have updated the photos (which is a great improvement over their old ones) on their website. Now, the sword on their website matches the one I bought, but I think everyone can see the difference between the old photo and the new one, or maybe it’s just me, either way, it’s decent sword overall, which seems a lot smaller in person than in the pictures.
Sword stats:
36” overall length
2 lbs. 4 oz. weight.
Blade width at guard 1 3/4”
Blade thickness 3/16”
Blade material 1060 cs
Lets start with the blade, it’s a typical Darksword blade. Very clearly hand forged, no straight lines anywhere, very stiff, almost impossible to bend with one hand, unsharpened with some sand and grind marks visible (pretty typical of swords in this price range), even with that, the blade finish is actually pretty good. The blade is also a bit on the thick side, the thickness starts at 3/16” near the guard and it does not taper very much at all making this what some would call a “blade heavy” weapon. The tang is what I would call acceptable, it is an improvement over their swords from let say 5 years ago, but I think most people would prefer the tang to be a bit wider.
The guard is pretty simple in appearance, with a decent fit onto the blade, there are two decorative rings on the wood handle which, in typical Darksword fashion is cracked on the inside, this becomes visible only if you take the sword apart, since I bought this with the intentions of making my own handle, the crack didn’t bother me. The pummel is quite large and heavy and also pretty simple in appearance, nothing fancy. Because of it's size, it might be obtrusive when handling for some users.
The sword has a threaded tang, there is a nut hidden under the top decorative ring which holds handle assembly together with the pummel threading on for extra support. The overall assembly was actually better than I had expected, there is very little chance of this sword coming apart on you during actual use.
The scabbard that came with this model I can only describe as being poor. It’s a typical Darksword wood core wrapped in black leather scabbard. It had quite a bit of rust on the steel parts and the sword fit pretty loosely in it, I will also mention some other issues in the makeover part of this review.
Handling and cutting, I think most people would describe this sword as being an ok cutter (once sharpened), it should stand up to most targets you try it out on. The handling would be acceptable to most, it isn’t great and it isn’t too horrible, it’s fairly easy to use since it’s a smaller sword. Most people would find this to be a bit blade heavy just like most other swords from this maker.
Overall, this is a pretty average sword for the price, which I don't think i would recommend purchasing from their website. At $210us (what they are asking for it) you can find much better Viking swords offered by other manufacturers. On the other hand, buying this on sale through their ebay auctions ($150us), I would say that is a pretty decent buy, whether you wish to make a project out of this or just beat it around your backyard.
The score:
Historical Accuracy: 3/5
Fit and Finish : 3/5
Structural Integrity: 3/5
Handling: 3/5
Value for Money: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
The makeover.
By cs76cs, shot with FinePix S9000 at 2007-08-07
As I stated before, I bought this as a project piece. I wanted to try my hand at a makeover, and I ‘m pretty happy with how it turned out, it’s not perfect, but it’s perfectly acceptable to me and it was a lot of fun to work on.
By cs76cs, shot with FinePix S9000 at 2007-08-07
I started out by disassembling the sword and working on the blade, I wanted to beef up the tang a bit so I cut about ¼” of steel away widening the tang, than I proceeded to sharpening, once that was done, I moved on to the guard. I sanded it on my belt sander to the shape i wanted than I added some decorative rings to the front and back, next I moved on to the handle. This took some time to do, I carved a new handle out of maple, I had a design in mind before I started but once I got going I cut a bit too deep with my dremmel and so I just let it go and ended up with a pretty strange design that u see in the photos. It wasn’t supposed to look like this, but I’m very pleased with the way it came out, it took about a week (working on it off and on after work) to carve and sand into the shape you see. I applied a Mahogany wood stain finish to it after it was completed. Than I cut the pummel down to match the handle. I added some dyed leather spacers to fill in the gaps.
By cs76cs, shot with FinePix S9000 at 2007-08-07
I moved on to the scabbard. As I mentioned before the scabbard was not very impressive, I started by trying to clean the rust off the steel fittings, as soon as I touched the top one with a rag, it just fell off in my hand, it wasn’t glued on very well at all, the bottom one on the other hand I couldn’t get off with a pair off pliers, go figure, it’s on very tight, so I just left it on and worked around it. I stripped the leather off and found the wood to be pretty thin in some spots, even to the point of seeing some holes at the top. Once I cleaned the glue residue and sanded the entire thing I carved some decorative crosses and stained it with the same Mahogany stain as the handle. When it was dry I applied some deer lace cord dyed Oxblood color for extra decorative finish. Not a bad job overall.
By cs76cs, shot with FinePix S9000 at 2007-08-07
By cs76cs, shot with FinePix S9000 at 2007-08-07
I’m pretty pleased with the way this entire project turned out, it’s not perfect, and I learned a few things in the process, but it was very enjoyable to work on and it looks pretty good…. I think so anyway.
By cs76cs, shot with FinePix S9000 at 2007-08-07
I would say that this sword makes a better buy as a project piece than anything else, it’s one of those things that gives you a great base to start from, and it’s something that you can turn into your own creation.
Thanku for reading.
Chris.