Ritter Steel Trojan Sword Review
Feb 25, 2011 5:41:55 GMT
Post by Eric Gregersen on Feb 25, 2011 5:41:55 GMT
Introduction
This sword first caught my eye when I was looking for some good examples of leaf bladed swords. I first saw it on www.realarmorofgod.com which proclaimed that this sword was one of the best they had ever seen … … … but since I had seen a lot of swords of dubious quality on their website I decided to take my time considering this purchase.
There’s really not a lot of information out there about Ritter Steel. Even Paul has a post on his website telling a fellow forum member how the “jury is out on Ritter” because of their lack of popularity. I think this was part of what spurred me to buy the weapon.
After about 6 months of going back and forth I finally bit the bullet and purchased the leaf-bladed beauty on KoA for $160 - about $50 cheaper than the other site.
Historical overview
This is supposedly a Greek Trojan sword but I honestly don’t think it is very historically accurate. The leaf blade shape that I like so much flares just a little too much for any antiques that I’ve seen. While I find the wood and brass furniture very attractive I feel pretty certain that the Greeks were more into bronze than brass. I am no expert in this area, so please (if you are an expert) feel free to correct me if I am wrong. One of my friends (who is a bit of a history buff) mentioned that he thought it looked a bit like some of the Hellenic swords he saw from the Peloponnesian wars.
Initial Impressions
This sword (ordered from Kult of Athena) came in a big box with four other toys. As a result it didn’t have its own individual packaging but was wrapped in plastic and packaging paper – no big deal to me.
I had mulled over enough pictures of the sword to know what to expect and it didn’t disappoint. The aesthetics of brass and wood are just as appealing to me in person as they were in the pictures. By that same token, the sheath is just as ugly as the pictures make it out to be, but I’ve wanted to make my own sheath for some time so I don’t really care.
The sword seems to be very sturdy with no rattles or issues. I did however notice its weight. This sword is heavy. This is both the shortest and heaviest sword I own. I was also a little miffed about the poor finish on the blade, which I’ll go into more detail about later.
Finally, the thing wasn’t all that sharp right out of the box. I have since sharpened it myself, but straight out of the box it was only what I like to call “fake sharp,” aka, sharp enough to make your mother-in-law fuss at you but not sharp enough to cut you unless you really try.
Statistics
Blade Length: 25.5 inches
Handle Length: 4.75 inches (grip only)
Overall Length: 32 inches
Guard Width: 4.5 inches
POB (Point of Balance): 3.5 inches
COP (Center of Percussion): 18.5 inches
Weight: 4 pounds…
Components
The Blade
As I have said before, even though the leaf blade shape has more flare to it than is historically accurate I really like it. It is that flare that brings the CoP more towards the tip of the sword.
The picture below shows me holding the sword at its point of balance. You will also notice the small ricasso which is pointless from a functional perspective. I kinda dig it, I suppose. You will have to decide for yourself how you like it.
However…
Ritter steel needs to take some pride with the finishing touches of their blades. I like a blade with a little “character” but this crosses the line. You can tell that there was a lot of grinding done to shape the blade. Grinding isn’t bad, but what I don’t like is that they made no attempt to polish up the sword. Imagine trying to make something out of wood and only using a very rough sand paper – that’s what this looks like.
There is also a strong secondary bevel. A secondary bevel is to be expected on a sword at this price, but I don’t have to like it.
I think both of these elements are obvious in the picture below.
The Handle
The wood and brass handle is very aesthetically pleasing to me. I have no complaints about it. One thing of note however is that the handle is completely round, providing a wielder with no edge alignment. When I did some test cutting this did not bother me but it might bother some people.
The Guard
The guard is just what I expected and I like it. A picture is worth a thousand words so take a gander at the pics provided here and decide if you like it too.
The Pommel
There is good and bad to this pommel. I like the weight of it because it brings the CoB back to the hilt more. I even found it an attractive part of the sword right up until I took this picture…
It now looks like a doorknob to me every time a look at it. Argh! I suppose I shouldn’t have taken that picture for this review… then maybe I would have never noticed ;-)
The KoA site identifies this sword as a battle ready sword and describes the pommel as threaded. It fails to mention that there is also just a touch of epoxy on the pommel to make sure that it stays snug. It is not obvious, but I either like my swords peened or easily disassembled – not glued.
The Scabbard
Sigh. The one good thing about it is that it is very sturdy stiff leather but other than that it is ugly. I am going to make my own and I have also made a wall hanger for the sword. I plan on destroying or throwing away the one it came with.
Handling Characteristics
I am actually pretty darn pleased with how this thing handles. Considering the long list of pros and cons I have tallied up so far that discovery surprised me. When I hold it I feel like it would chop, slice, hack or stab with equal ease. The weight doesn’t even really bother me. I suppose that could be because of how short it is.
Describe the handling of the sword as well as possible. Try and find out how a sword of this type is "supposed" to handle - does this replica handle like that? Worse? Is it especially lighter or heavier? Be sure to mention what size you are; a sword that feels light to one person might be too heavy for another. Find out as much as you can about the historical sword it is based on, that will help you figure out how it is supposed to feel in hand.
Test Cutting
I did my first test cutting with this little beauty in the company of a good friend of mine that has almost zero experience with swords. I had already sharpened it at this point and neither of us had any problems with thrusting or cutting. This was definitely a surprise to the both of us.
My friend (the one with no experience) even got 4 clean cuts through a milk jug, shaving off a few inches each time until the milk jug was no more. I think the weight of the thing can actually work in its favor to help it pack a nice punch. After all, the laws of physics declare that force equals mass times acceleration…
Conclusions
Despite my complaints I really like this sword. As most of us know, KoA has a very nice return policy. If I wanted to return this one I would have no problems with packing it back up and shipping it off, but that is not the case. Would I take it into battle if I lived back in the day? Probably not – I have weapons that are both swifter and longer. Am I still happy I spent the money on it? You bet I am.
Pros
Solid construction.
Very astatically pleasing (to my eyes)
Good (but not superb) balance.
Cons
Not all that historically accurate.
Blade finish is not impressive.
Sheath is ugly.
Heavy.
The Bottom Line
Despite its flaws I really like the sword. Would you like it? Well, I’ve been pretty candid about the pros and cons of this weapon in the review. I suspect that a careful read of this review will give anyone considering this sword a good idea if its flaws outweigh the attractiveness of this piece or not.
This sword first caught my eye when I was looking for some good examples of leaf bladed swords. I first saw it on www.realarmorofgod.com which proclaimed that this sword was one of the best they had ever seen … … … but since I had seen a lot of swords of dubious quality on their website I decided to take my time considering this purchase.
There’s really not a lot of information out there about Ritter Steel. Even Paul has a post on his website telling a fellow forum member how the “jury is out on Ritter” because of their lack of popularity. I think this was part of what spurred me to buy the weapon.
After about 6 months of going back and forth I finally bit the bullet and purchased the leaf-bladed beauty on KoA for $160 - about $50 cheaper than the other site.
Historical overview
This is supposedly a Greek Trojan sword but I honestly don’t think it is very historically accurate. The leaf blade shape that I like so much flares just a little too much for any antiques that I’ve seen. While I find the wood and brass furniture very attractive I feel pretty certain that the Greeks were more into bronze than brass. I am no expert in this area, so please (if you are an expert) feel free to correct me if I am wrong. One of my friends (who is a bit of a history buff) mentioned that he thought it looked a bit like some of the Hellenic swords he saw from the Peloponnesian wars.
Initial Impressions
This sword (ordered from Kult of Athena) came in a big box with four other toys. As a result it didn’t have its own individual packaging but was wrapped in plastic and packaging paper – no big deal to me.
I had mulled over enough pictures of the sword to know what to expect and it didn’t disappoint. The aesthetics of brass and wood are just as appealing to me in person as they were in the pictures. By that same token, the sheath is just as ugly as the pictures make it out to be, but I’ve wanted to make my own sheath for some time so I don’t really care.
The sword seems to be very sturdy with no rattles or issues. I did however notice its weight. This sword is heavy. This is both the shortest and heaviest sword I own. I was also a little miffed about the poor finish on the blade, which I’ll go into more detail about later.
Finally, the thing wasn’t all that sharp right out of the box. I have since sharpened it myself, but straight out of the box it was only what I like to call “fake sharp,” aka, sharp enough to make your mother-in-law fuss at you but not sharp enough to cut you unless you really try.
Statistics
Blade Length: 25.5 inches
Handle Length: 4.75 inches (grip only)
Overall Length: 32 inches
Guard Width: 4.5 inches
POB (Point of Balance): 3.5 inches
COP (Center of Percussion): 18.5 inches
Weight: 4 pounds…
Components
The Blade
As I have said before, even though the leaf blade shape has more flare to it than is historically accurate I really like it. It is that flare that brings the CoP more towards the tip of the sword.
The picture below shows me holding the sword at its point of balance. You will also notice the small ricasso which is pointless from a functional perspective. I kinda dig it, I suppose. You will have to decide for yourself how you like it.
However…
Ritter steel needs to take some pride with the finishing touches of their blades. I like a blade with a little “character” but this crosses the line. You can tell that there was a lot of grinding done to shape the blade. Grinding isn’t bad, but what I don’t like is that they made no attempt to polish up the sword. Imagine trying to make something out of wood and only using a very rough sand paper – that’s what this looks like.
There is also a strong secondary bevel. A secondary bevel is to be expected on a sword at this price, but I don’t have to like it.
I think both of these elements are obvious in the picture below.
The Handle
The wood and brass handle is very aesthetically pleasing to me. I have no complaints about it. One thing of note however is that the handle is completely round, providing a wielder with no edge alignment. When I did some test cutting this did not bother me but it might bother some people.
The Guard
The guard is just what I expected and I like it. A picture is worth a thousand words so take a gander at the pics provided here and decide if you like it too.
The Pommel
There is good and bad to this pommel. I like the weight of it because it brings the CoB back to the hilt more. I even found it an attractive part of the sword right up until I took this picture…
It now looks like a doorknob to me every time a look at it. Argh! I suppose I shouldn’t have taken that picture for this review… then maybe I would have never noticed ;-)
The KoA site identifies this sword as a battle ready sword and describes the pommel as threaded. It fails to mention that there is also just a touch of epoxy on the pommel to make sure that it stays snug. It is not obvious, but I either like my swords peened or easily disassembled – not glued.
The Scabbard
Sigh. The one good thing about it is that it is very sturdy stiff leather but other than that it is ugly. I am going to make my own and I have also made a wall hanger for the sword. I plan on destroying or throwing away the one it came with.
Handling Characteristics
I am actually pretty darn pleased with how this thing handles. Considering the long list of pros and cons I have tallied up so far that discovery surprised me. When I hold it I feel like it would chop, slice, hack or stab with equal ease. The weight doesn’t even really bother me. I suppose that could be because of how short it is.
Describe the handling of the sword as well as possible. Try and find out how a sword of this type is "supposed" to handle - does this replica handle like that? Worse? Is it especially lighter or heavier? Be sure to mention what size you are; a sword that feels light to one person might be too heavy for another. Find out as much as you can about the historical sword it is based on, that will help you figure out how it is supposed to feel in hand.
Test Cutting
I did my first test cutting with this little beauty in the company of a good friend of mine that has almost zero experience with swords. I had already sharpened it at this point and neither of us had any problems with thrusting or cutting. This was definitely a surprise to the both of us.
My friend (the one with no experience) even got 4 clean cuts through a milk jug, shaving off a few inches each time until the milk jug was no more. I think the weight of the thing can actually work in its favor to help it pack a nice punch. After all, the laws of physics declare that force equals mass times acceleration…
Conclusions
Despite my complaints I really like this sword. As most of us know, KoA has a very nice return policy. If I wanted to return this one I would have no problems with packing it back up and shipping it off, but that is not the case. Would I take it into battle if I lived back in the day? Probably not – I have weapons that are both swifter and longer. Am I still happy I spent the money on it? You bet I am.
Pros
Solid construction.
Very astatically pleasing (to my eyes)
Good (but not superb) balance.
Cons
Not all that historically accurate.
Blade finish is not impressive.
Sheath is ugly.
Heavy.
The Bottom Line
Despite its flaws I really like the sword. Would you like it? Well, I’ve been pretty candid about the pros and cons of this weapon in the review. I suspect that a careful read of this review will give anyone considering this sword a good idea if its flaws outweigh the attractiveness of this piece or not.