Cold Steel Horseman's Basket Hilt Broadsword
Feb 9, 2008 17:51:32 GMT
Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2008 17:51:32 GMT
Review of Cold Steel Horseman’s Basket Hilt Broadsword
By Kristie C.
I bought this sword because it was offered in the holiday flyer for about 100 bucks cheaper than the usual price, which came to $200 plus shipping. Even direct from Cold Steel, I figured it was a good deal, so I went for it. Normally, I am not interested in this type of sword. The basket just doesn’t interest me that much. But I’ve always loved a nice, wide blade, and the triple fullers really sold me. I like a lot of diversity in my collection and this piece certainly adds some. Also, I had never tried Cold Steel before and though this a good first purchase from them.
It was a bear to unpack, that was for sure. First of all, it was in one of those boxes with the lid that slides off. It also had tamper proof tape wrapped all around it. Once the lid was off, the sword appeared to be securely wrapped. The only problems were that the pommel had punched through one end of the box but showed no damage. Also, The plastic piece stuck on the tip of the blade had come off and was rattling around in the box, but no damage done there, either. The blade itself was very well greased and wrapped in a long plastic bag. Both ends of the sword were secured by cardboard inserts, the whole of the hilt encompassed by the one at its end. And, of course, the nasty grease was all over the basket. It did its trick, though, because there was no sign of rust.
In initial handling I got the impression that it’s a solid sword. Part of that might be its weight. It feels pretty heavy, at least in my hands. I’m used to swords at least a half a pound lighter, and better balanced, so this is quite a difference.
Stats:
331/2” blade
393/4” overall
Weight 50.1 oz. = 3.13 lbs.
POB 5”
Design, Fit and Finish
Blade:
I had forgotten that Windlass makes the blades for Cold Steel but “Windlass, Made in India” is clearly stamped on it. This is why it came as no surprise that the blade was less than perfect. One of the fullers on one side appears to be slightly less wide than the others and wavers toward the edge of the blade just about an inch before it terminates. Also, there’re a few scuff marks or grind marks in several places. I can’t really complain, though. It’s sharpened from a point 131/2” down from the hilt and it is SHARP. Also, the blade has a very shiny finish which I normally don‘t like all that much but I think it suits this sword. Still looks pretty impressive, though, for all the minor flaws.
Grip:
The grip is one of the nicer features of the sword, I think. It’s a back ray skin wrapped in silver wire. It’s kind of a strange feeling in the hand, being used to leather grips, but from its roughness, it lends a very secure feel. It’s quite a thick handle, too. Looks great.
Pommel:
I would say the pommel has kind of an olive shape, with a nut on the end. It’s not overly shiny, probably less than the basket. It’s virtually flawless.
Guard:
Very interesting guard on this type of sword. There are a few scuffs on it but nothing overwhelmingly bad. Looks sturdy, like it could stop another blade with no problem. The basket is punched out of a nice thick steel. The detail and patterning is awesome. The ends of the longer pieces are riveted nicely I place. It’s nice and shiny, too, with few flaws. Looks better up close than in the pictures.
Scabbard:
Black, with silver fittings. Made of a sturdy, heavy leather. The chape actually came off within less than 24 hours but I easily glued it back on with a little airplane glue. It’s a tight fit on the blade and can be held upside down so that the sword doesn’t fall out. It’s stitched right down the back side. I think it’s actually one of the nicest of the scabbards I own. My only complaint is that when inserting the tip of the blade there appears to be some extra leather right there in the opening that provides some resistance. It doesn’t catch every time, though, so it’s less annoying than it could be.
TESTING:
Targets: plastic water bottles, plastic milk jugs
Cutting: Like I said, with a sword of this weight, I didn’t expect much out of it -- or, I should rather say, out of it with me wielding it. With the milk jugs I’d say it was pretty average. Being harder to control, it was hard to get a lot of cuts out of a jug but it cut pretty cleanly. Even when I didn’t come into the cut fast enough and the jug got batted off the stand, the blade left a nice, deep cut.
Water bottles are always a disappointment to me. With this sword I just mostly batted them around. I was able to cut the top off a couple of times, but trying to cut through the middle only smashed the bottle or batted it away. It just might be that I wasn’t able to get up enough momentum, though.
Thrusting: It’s a pretty good thruster. It turned out the water bottles were good targets for this, at least. Went right through with very little effort. And I would say it was actually easier to control than in the cut.
But here’s the bad news:
It was a flubbed cut at a milk jug that decided what I really though of the sword. I accidentally hit the stand with the tip, it made a scary-sounding ringing noise, and that’s when I noticed the pommel was loose! I immediately took it apart the rest of the way, eager to see the tang, and this is what I found:
The grip seems to be wrapped around a type of hard plastic that doesn’t budge at all. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that the nut was only threaded onto this much of the tang!! So this has me nervous and I honestly don’t know if I’d be confident using this sword to cut again because of it, even if I epoxied it on. For that matter, I don’t know if I’d buy from Cold Steel again. I took the plunge after a long time of consideration of the company and it looks like maybe I shouldn’t have! Lesson learned, I suppose.
Conclusion: So overall, I think it’s a pretty good cutter. In more capable hands, I think the sword would perform much better. It certainly is an attractive piece. But I’m mostly disappointed in it now because of my unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on how you look at it) discovery.
SBG Ratings:
Historical Accuracy 4/5 I have no idea if this is accurate, or not. Seems like I saw some discussion that it wasn’t. So I’ll rate it a bit lower out of lack of knowledge.
Fit and Finish 4/5 Finish is okay. It’s a cheap sword, what can I say? What I got was what was to be expected.
Handling 3/5 I guess the sword’s well balanced enough. Seems just a little unwieldy to me, but I’m sure it could be worse, as well.
Structural Integrity 2/5 Okay, this is where the rating suffers! It seemed like such a solid piece upon dry handling but I see now that that is not the case!
Value for Money 3/5 Well, it’s nice to look at but I don’t feel I made a wise decision in the purchase. I am glad it had quite a discount, but since it will now likely be downgraded to a show piece, I’m not sure I can justify it as a $200 wall hanger!
OVERALL 3.2/5
By Kristie C.
I bought this sword because it was offered in the holiday flyer for about 100 bucks cheaper than the usual price, which came to $200 plus shipping. Even direct from Cold Steel, I figured it was a good deal, so I went for it. Normally, I am not interested in this type of sword. The basket just doesn’t interest me that much. But I’ve always loved a nice, wide blade, and the triple fullers really sold me. I like a lot of diversity in my collection and this piece certainly adds some. Also, I had never tried Cold Steel before and though this a good first purchase from them.
It was a bear to unpack, that was for sure. First of all, it was in one of those boxes with the lid that slides off. It also had tamper proof tape wrapped all around it. Once the lid was off, the sword appeared to be securely wrapped. The only problems were that the pommel had punched through one end of the box but showed no damage. Also, The plastic piece stuck on the tip of the blade had come off and was rattling around in the box, but no damage done there, either. The blade itself was very well greased and wrapped in a long plastic bag. Both ends of the sword were secured by cardboard inserts, the whole of the hilt encompassed by the one at its end. And, of course, the nasty grease was all over the basket. It did its trick, though, because there was no sign of rust.
In initial handling I got the impression that it’s a solid sword. Part of that might be its weight. It feels pretty heavy, at least in my hands. I’m used to swords at least a half a pound lighter, and better balanced, so this is quite a difference.
Stats:
331/2” blade
393/4” overall
Weight 50.1 oz. = 3.13 lbs.
POB 5”
Design, Fit and Finish
Blade:
I had forgotten that Windlass makes the blades for Cold Steel but “Windlass, Made in India” is clearly stamped on it. This is why it came as no surprise that the blade was less than perfect. One of the fullers on one side appears to be slightly less wide than the others and wavers toward the edge of the blade just about an inch before it terminates. Also, there’re a few scuff marks or grind marks in several places. I can’t really complain, though. It’s sharpened from a point 131/2” down from the hilt and it is SHARP. Also, the blade has a very shiny finish which I normally don‘t like all that much but I think it suits this sword. Still looks pretty impressive, though, for all the minor flaws.
Grip:
The grip is one of the nicer features of the sword, I think. It’s a back ray skin wrapped in silver wire. It’s kind of a strange feeling in the hand, being used to leather grips, but from its roughness, it lends a very secure feel. It’s quite a thick handle, too. Looks great.
Pommel:
I would say the pommel has kind of an olive shape, with a nut on the end. It’s not overly shiny, probably less than the basket. It’s virtually flawless.
Guard:
Very interesting guard on this type of sword. There are a few scuffs on it but nothing overwhelmingly bad. Looks sturdy, like it could stop another blade with no problem. The basket is punched out of a nice thick steel. The detail and patterning is awesome. The ends of the longer pieces are riveted nicely I place. It’s nice and shiny, too, with few flaws. Looks better up close than in the pictures.
Scabbard:
Black, with silver fittings. Made of a sturdy, heavy leather. The chape actually came off within less than 24 hours but I easily glued it back on with a little airplane glue. It’s a tight fit on the blade and can be held upside down so that the sword doesn’t fall out. It’s stitched right down the back side. I think it’s actually one of the nicest of the scabbards I own. My only complaint is that when inserting the tip of the blade there appears to be some extra leather right there in the opening that provides some resistance. It doesn’t catch every time, though, so it’s less annoying than it could be.
TESTING:
Targets: plastic water bottles, plastic milk jugs
Cutting: Like I said, with a sword of this weight, I didn’t expect much out of it -- or, I should rather say, out of it with me wielding it. With the milk jugs I’d say it was pretty average. Being harder to control, it was hard to get a lot of cuts out of a jug but it cut pretty cleanly. Even when I didn’t come into the cut fast enough and the jug got batted off the stand, the blade left a nice, deep cut.
Water bottles are always a disappointment to me. With this sword I just mostly batted them around. I was able to cut the top off a couple of times, but trying to cut through the middle only smashed the bottle or batted it away. It just might be that I wasn’t able to get up enough momentum, though.
Thrusting: It’s a pretty good thruster. It turned out the water bottles were good targets for this, at least. Went right through with very little effort. And I would say it was actually easier to control than in the cut.
But here’s the bad news:
It was a flubbed cut at a milk jug that decided what I really though of the sword. I accidentally hit the stand with the tip, it made a scary-sounding ringing noise, and that’s when I noticed the pommel was loose! I immediately took it apart the rest of the way, eager to see the tang, and this is what I found:
The grip seems to be wrapped around a type of hard plastic that doesn’t budge at all. I couldn’t believe it when I saw that the nut was only threaded onto this much of the tang!! So this has me nervous and I honestly don’t know if I’d be confident using this sword to cut again because of it, even if I epoxied it on. For that matter, I don’t know if I’d buy from Cold Steel again. I took the plunge after a long time of consideration of the company and it looks like maybe I shouldn’t have! Lesson learned, I suppose.
Conclusion: So overall, I think it’s a pretty good cutter. In more capable hands, I think the sword would perform much better. It certainly is an attractive piece. But I’m mostly disappointed in it now because of my unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on how you look at it) discovery.
SBG Ratings:
Historical Accuracy 4/5 I have no idea if this is accurate, or not. Seems like I saw some discussion that it wasn’t. So I’ll rate it a bit lower out of lack of knowledge.
Fit and Finish 4/5 Finish is okay. It’s a cheap sword, what can I say? What I got was what was to be expected.
Handling 3/5 I guess the sword’s well balanced enough. Seems just a little unwieldy to me, but I’m sure it could be worse, as well.
Structural Integrity 2/5 Okay, this is where the rating suffers! It seemed like such a solid piece upon dry handling but I see now that that is not the case!
Value for Money 3/5 Well, it’s nice to look at but I don’t feel I made a wise decision in the purchase. I am glad it had quite a discount, but since it will now likely be downgraded to a show piece, I’m not sure I can justify it as a $200 wall hanger!
OVERALL 3.2/5