Venetian Bastard Sword - Christian Fletcher Chimera line
Jan 7, 2011 20:36:24 GMT
Post by TomK on Jan 7, 2011 20:36:24 GMT
Zach Luna was kind enough to send his most prize Venetian Bastard sword over to my place for a sort of winter "sword camp." in this review I will outline my impressions of the sword and have a light hearted look at some of the things we did at "sword camp". I'm going to keep this light since Zach already wrote up a surperb review of this sword on the old site: sbgswordforum.proboards.com/inde ... e=1#278132
First things first young "Vinny" reported to the camp nurse for vital signs and health inspection. here's the nurse's report:
Vinny:
Blood Type: Oakeshott XVIIIc
Pommel Type: V1
Guard Style: 9
Weight: 3 lb 2 oz (my scale disagrees with Zach and Christian)
Overall length: 43 1/2"
Blade length: 34"
Blade width at cross: 2"
Handle length: 6" (with another 1.5" from the pommel shape)
Center of Balance: 4"
HILT:
Grip: solid, well done with quality leather and a barely visible seam. the style of Vinny's grip is one we haven't seen before, should make for an interesting dance class.
Assembly: good and tight producing a nice harmonic note when the blade is plucked or tapped.
Tang: left uninspected due to the nature of Vinny's permanent assembly but he has good genetics so we trust his tang is healthy and strong.
Cross Guard: stong sturdy, health, and elegant. no problems here.
Pommel: A well made solid piece. Vinny is a little self-conscious about the rough mold lines he has on his pommel but we assured him that while some people may find them unattractive, most people will see that it adds some old-world charm and even those people who don't like it can rest assured it is cosmetic only.
BLADE:
Just as we were starting to examine Vinny's blade one of our permanent campers walked into the office with a note and since he was related to Vinny, I asked 1557v (Little V) to join the exame so we could take some comparison photos.
family resemblance is strong in these cousins, and they immediately hit it off as friends in spite of Vinny staring a little bit too much at his cousins "tatoos"
both of their blades start out the same width and contour in a very similar fashion except that from about 1/2 to 2/3 the way down the blade Vinny stretches out and takes on his longer and slightly more lanky look. distal taper is very similar too and provides Vinny with a very stiff but still light and agile blade with enough flex and give to absorb shock well.
Point: both are acute, reinforced, and needle sharp. 1557v's is slightly broader but both are attractive and very functional
Vinny's blade shows some unexpected markings that almost resemble hamon. it is thought that this may be a by product of the maker's polishing process but the markings in Vinny's case are much darker and more pronounced than we have seen previously.
after some further discussion with Gus, we still consider this mark to be cosmetic. Gus has seen this mark before and can only say that there may be something going on in the crystal structure to produce the mark but there has been no evidence that whatever it may be has any effect on the blade in any way. the swords Gus has made in the past with heavy marks like this perform in every way like those without. some of life's mysteries are yet unanswered.
Clothing: Vinny packed well for this trip and came with a well made scabbard and suspension from Valiant Armory.
Alergies: none. Vinny's pommel and cross guard are of stainles steel and therefor highly resistant to corrosion. Vinny exibits no negative reaction or alergy to tatami grass.
after getting his clean bill of health, little V took Vinny to meet the other campers.
first they met with all of Vinny and Little V's ATrim relatives
then he met the foreign exchange students
this gathering was a little stiff an nervous at first
but Vinny's charm and winning personality soon had them all relaxed and they became very relaxed and comfortable with each other.
in fact Vinny was so well accepted by the exchange kids that he was invited to participate in a foreign language seminar with them. the report on this evet has not been finished yet.
DANCE CLASS:
ah the heart of sword camp! Vinny attended many dance practices, grip studies, and balance seminars while here at camp. the most striking aspect of Vinny's handling is in his grip. the rectangular cross section with raised central ridge really feels very different than anything else I've handled. the grip pretty much forces a correct handshake grip for the upper hand or when used with one hand. it reminded me of those triangular rubber attachments schools used to give kids to force them to hold their pencils properly, but for a sword. using this sword in a single hand took a little adjustment for me since Vinny didn't like to slide around from hammer to handshake and slip pommel like I normally do. no, vinny wanted to be in handshake all the time. the ridge the between the forward boxy section and rearward roundish section really gives a single hand good purchase to put snap into swings. when used in two hands the grip shape encourages the top hand thumb to be place on the guard and a little bit onto the blade. can be seen in many of the old fechtbuchs and can be rather awkward with some grips. I had a hard time getting Zwerchaus and Krumphaus to work properly with Vinny because of his grip shape. I thought a lot about this and I think the reason is I rotate my grip slightly when I do those cuts but Vinny's grip keeps you in the same line all the time. I'm still not sure if I was just doing something wrong or if the grip was designed in such a way that those techniques are unnatural. in the end I decided that it was a Venetian grip and therefor Italian so it only makes sense that I should use Fiore style fencing with this sword. sadly I know even less of Fiore than Lichtenauer so that really wasn't an option for me.
Vinny weighed in at just a little over 3 pounds. either Luna has been feeding him junk food and he put on a little wieght (milk jugs? might as well eat nothing but cheese puffs!) or his and/or Christian's scale reads slightly differently than mine. all the same though this is a nicely handy weight for a sword of this size. Vinny posses both power and quickness in either one or two hands; a true bastard sword.
Vinny's cutting power was pretty impressive despite not being all that sharp. I consider Vinny to have a good historical sharp edge. it is sharp enough to cut paper but not so sharp that one can't hold the blade with no fear. this is probably the level of sharpness on many historical swords as they were used in their heyday. just like the 1557, Vinny is a good cutter. I'd say Vinny has slightly more potential than Little V which means that Vinny is an excellent cutter. it may not seem as impressive for a bastard sword to cut so well but that just points out how surprisingly good the 1557 is because it can keep up with a good cutting longsword/bastard sword. by the time the rain let up enough for me to cut tatami it got cold. when I came out to get my tatami out of the can I saok them in I noticed that half an inch of ice had formed on top of the can. the top 2-3 inches of the mats were soft frozen. the main body of the mats was not too frozen so I decided to cut.
Full disclosure: it is no secret I am partial to ATrim swords, but it is only because they are so darned good. I recieved nothing for doing this review other than the pleasure of meeting a new sword and getting to cut with it.
conclusions
this sword posseses many positive qualities and very few negative ones. if this sword is in your price range and fits the type and style you are looking for, then I highly reccomend it. the cast furniture has some minor rough spots and the grip will probably take some getting used to especially if you study German Longsword but these are pretty small things to pick on. this sword is quite a prize at just under 600$