Museum Replicas Arbedo
Oct 5, 2007 5:20:00 GMT
Post by ShooterMike on Oct 5, 2007 5:20:00 GMT
The Arbedo Sword
From Museum Replicas Ltd
From Museum Replicas Ltd
While this is a discontinued sword, I believe a few are still available from Reliks in Canada. This sword had the potential to be the perfect all-around medieval sword for me. It is supposed to be an Oakeshott Type XVIIIa (one of my two all-time favorite types of swords). However, the whole Type XVIII family has one salient characteristic...a definite pronounced diamond cross section with central rib, and many examples having hollow ground blades. Unfortunately, this is not in evidence in this particular offering from Windlass Steelcrafts. Perhaps that's why it has been discontinued?
When I unpacked this sword I was anticipating something special. But alas, I was quite disappointed by the sword I had such high hopes for. Not that this is not a beautiful sword. To my mind, the swords of the high middle ages have their own beauty based on clean lines, quick handling and brutal efficiency for their intended purpose. This one just fell a little short in the blade department. But more on that later.
The stats look like this:
Blade length: 31"
Hilt length: 9"
Overall: 38"
Guard Height: 8.3"
POB: 3.0" from base of guard
COP: 18.5" from the guard
Weight: 2.5 lbs.
DESIGN, FIT & FINISH
The Blade
As mentioned, the blade is sort of designed to be an Oakeshott Type XVIIIa. The late, great scholar of the medieval European sword described these as being the most common swords in use throughout the 1400s. They were designed to thrust well and also to cut with good effect.
The Arbedo is based directly on an antique known to Oakeshott fans as "Type XVIIIa.3" and it resides in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. However, XVIIIa.3 is no longer on display to the public and can only be seen in photographs now. I was quite disappointed when I was there as this was a major reason for visiting the museum. Here is one of the photos.
As you can see, this historic original has a much more pronounced diamond cross section, when compared to the Windlass offering.
The result is that the Windlass blade is VERY "whippy", as can be seen in the accompanying video. In fact, it is so whippy that it could not be used to successfully parry blows from another sword. I could best describe it as a "31-inch long, double-edged, tapered machete blade" since the degree of flexibility is so great that the sword can easily be bent at 90 degree angles with the fingertips.
While this sword did not come sharpened, the very thin cross section of the blade means the edge can't be very thick. Just a light bit of filing followed by a few strokes with the sharpening stone gave it a nice cutting edge. It won't cut paper, but with its thin edge profile it still cuts like a good machete...which is to say, very well.
The Grip
This grip is the typical Windlass affair of a leather-like covering over cord, wrapped around a wood core. At least it looks "leather-like" until you strip off the plastic-like coating. To my delight, I found a nice supple piece of leather that took customizing/upgrading very well.
I started by cutting the threads windlass uses to sew their grip covers. Then I trimmed the leather cover at the stitching holes. After that, I re-glued the cover and wrapped the grip with 4mm hemp twine. After drying and removing any excess dried glue, I feel the grip turned out very nice. All this really only took about 15-20 minutes of work, not including the time required for the glue to dry.
The Pommel
The pommel is one of the two nicest things about this sword. It just seems to be perfect. It is a classic wheel pommel with some attractive geometry to the bevel. And the tang is properly and very robustly peened to the back of the pommel.
The Guard
The size and shape of the guard is the other thing about this sword that I absolutely love. It just seems perfect for the sword. the fit is great, with no wobbling of play even after some heavy use and even a bit of abuse.
The Scabbard
Not much to say about the scabbard. It is the typical Windlass leather covered scabbard with well fitted steel chape and throat band. It seems to fit the sword well and holds it securely, thought it is not what I would call attractive.
TESTING
Cutting
The only things I cut with this sword were plastic bottles and an inadvertent cut into the wooden top of a cutting stand. While this sword is much too flimsy to do any type of thrusting whatsoever, it is a real surprise to cut with. It seems to excel on light to medium targets. The temper is obviously very good and the edge has held up well to a lot of significant use.
Here's a reworked video based on input from DarkIntruder. Definitely an improvement, and the song says it all...
Thrusting
Hmmm...as shown in the opening sequence of the video...just forget about any kind of thrusting usage from this sword. While this type is designed as a cut-and-thrust sword, it is so overly flexible that I couldn't get it to thrust through an old piece of leather!
CONCLUSION
The Arbedo is a light, fast hand-and-a-half sword that cuts very well. It can't be used to thrust at all, and that limits it to only 50% of the design's intended use. It is a very attractive sword. In fact, I thing it is still one of the most attractive swords I own. I have had a lot of fun with it cutting light targets. And if that is your goal, this is a nice choice
Ratings:
Historical Accuracy: 2/5
Fit and Finish: 3/5
Handling: 3/5
Structural Integrity: 1/5
Value for Money: 2/5
OVERALL: 2/5 (Fair)
I may be a little hard on the Arbedo, but as a historic Type XVIIIa cut-n-thrust sword designed for fighting opponents wearing plate armor...well, if an opponent in those circumstances was armed with this sword I would not feel very threatened. However, for an attractive sword and a fun cutter, the Arbedo is a nice choice.