Defective Museum Replicas Limited Windlass Falchion

MRL offers sharpening service on all their swords so I don't think they could even use that excuse. Try what Aaron said.

Hmm, I can't tell for sure from those pictures (especially with the guard covering the tang), but it kind of looks like the shoulders of the tang were squared, which would create a stress point that definitely could have caused this failure. It could be a whole load of other things, though, that we can't really tell from the current pictures.

HAHAHAHA, I'm sorry, but the very first picture just made me chuckle.

I know I shouldn't laugh at something like this, but I'm assuming that no one was hurt when this happened (which is the first rule of laughing at misfortune, check to make sure no one got hurt)

But the first pic you posted would have brought me to tears if you would have added some floating ?'s among the picture. Almost as if saying, "This is not how a sword works, right?"

*dries eyes*

But seriously, this would fall into the "manufacturers defect" category. Kult of Athena lists this piece as "Battle Ready" and then defines that term in their "sword buying tips" as "for anyone who wants to use their sword, not merely display it"

So yes, contact the vendor you purchased it from and explain what had happened. If for some reason they won't offer a replacement or refund, then by all means warn us of said vendor and contact Windlass (MRL) and inform them of the situation.

Any company wanting to sell ANY more of these would want to make sure that you received a working one.

Btw, that is a lovely counter top you have there.

Keep us updated on how this pans out.

Exact same situation as Chuck. Please let us know if you just bought this and if it was the DOTD. Sooo... Chuck; which of us is going out to beat ours up a bit (I guess hitting on the spine with moderate force would be a good test; sheathed at first, I don't want a sharp blade flying back into me) and let the other know? I guess, since you are in tundra country and I'm in Las Vegas, I get to do the honors. I'll keep you posted.

What exactly do you mean by MRL and the vendor? In my case, it was indeed MRL's DOTD and so you guys might be in trouble. I thought it might not be such a bad deal for the ~$90 that I paid for it +$15 S&H. I've already contacted MRL about it, and they have yet to get back to me. Here's to hoping that they allow for a complete refund so I can just go buy a H/T instead...

Oh, and laughing is ok. Strangely enough, the blade fell straight down after it fell off (so nobody was hurt). I got a good laugh out of this myself. Perhaps if I don't get refund I can file down the last few inches and wrap with leather for a new handle and a shorter sword? I always did think it was a bit blade-heavy... Oh, and it's thick. You can't really see from these pictures, but the blade itself looks indestructible. I measure it to be almost exactly 0.4 cm thick at the spine. Despite this, it is still not very forgiving of bad form :?

Templar: That was some rather rigorous testing you put it through and while I admire your attention to safety, you might have mucked up the scabbard a bit by banging the sword around inside of it. It could be just some slight dings on the spine side of the scabbard, or you might have cracked it. Turn the scabbard upside down and if any chunks of wood fall out, then there was damage. Or, you could have broken the seam of the wood joint. Usually this isn't all that big of a deal. But if there is damage, just take some extra care while drawing the sword, or putting it back in.

As far as posting pics goes. Find yourself an image hosting site like Imageshack.com . Upload the pics and then view the pic info to get the URL. Then just copy the URL into a post, highlight it and click on the "Img" button along the top of the reply window. If you need any further assistance, feel free to PM me.

Andernerd: You know, when I saw the blade removed from the hilt, I thought the exact same thing. "Just turn it into a short falchion. Of course, I don't know that just wrapping the bottom part of the blade is a good idea. If you have the tools to do so, I would file the blade back to draw a tang out from the blade and then use the original furniture (ie pommel, grip and guard.) But, this process would be rather time consuming, but you'd have a wonderful sense of satisfaction when done.

As far as a matching scabbard, all you would have to do is take the original scabbard, measure the length of the blade, and then cut the scabbard about 2 inches longer then the blade. After that, roll back the leather a bit, cut the exposed wood and then roll the leather back to create a finished looking piece. I almost with this would have happened to me because I've been wanting to do a project like this here lately.

Templar, you got a +2 coming your way for assuaging my concerns over the Falchions structural integrity. I'm thinking the failed one must have been the exception rather than the rule.

Greg, the MRL Falchion scabbards have no wood in them, they are the simple Windlass stiff leather scabbards they have always been.

A good up close photo of the break in the tang taken to show the grain structure of the metal may give a clue as to what the problem was.

I got this reply from MRL:



Anyways... shall I assume that at this point my warranty is solid even if I do take apart the furniture? Because that's what held me back earlier.

That's a much better reply than I thought you'd get. I am glad to see MRL/Windlass standing by their products in a very personal way. Especially for one of the larger sword companies.