Valiant Armory Zombie Slayer Review WITH VIDEOS
Oct 30, 2011 20:30:26 GMT
Post by Madax132 on Oct 30, 2011 20:30:26 GMT
For those interested videos of cutting with this sword should be uploaded Friday evening or Saturday. Keep in mind while reading the fit and finish portion of the review that I bought this second hand from someone who has never used it for cutting, how well he/she has taken care of it I do not know for sure.
First Impressions
This blade has a very unique profile to it with a thick rectangular ricasso before the blade starts and crafted out of one piece of steel. The blade is very long and slim with noticeable distal taper. It is an odd but not at all bad looking sword that looks just as unique in person as it does in pictures. It certainly fits the type of sword I imagine a zombie slayer having, if I hadn't heard the name I would have though vampire hunter but that's neither here nor there. Though if it came down to it I'd think it'd do the job quite well.
Here is a picture of it on my rack of my other real swords (unfortunately I still have many SLO's laying around)
From top to bottom
Ryansword $100 katana, not sure which model exactly but the blade is 27 in and 39 in overall for comparison.
VA Zombie Slayer
DarkSword Guardian
DarkSword Two handed Gothic with the fish tail pommel
As you can see the VA is a slim and long sword at 45 inches
The Blade
I'm not sure what profile the blade is but like I said it's long and slim. Not very pointy but it it certainly stiff enough to give a good thrust. You can tell the blade is machined when you compare it to a DarkSword Armory sword, some might like that where as others may not as these say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The handle.
The Para-cord appears much greener with the flash of the camera on it than it appears to me. I'd say it is a greenish gray but either way it looks pretty bad ass. It doesn't shift whatsoever and gives a very nice grip, I can't imagine losing my grip on this thing. The para-cord is not at all shoelacy as I've heard some people term other wrapped swords, it's quality stuff as far as I can tell. I don't have anything negative to say about the handle and wrap. Also the end of the handle ends in triangle that I'm sure could be a good bludgeon just due to it's shape.
Ricasso and guard.
Like I said the Ricasso and guard are thick, nothing else much to say.
Fit and Finish
As mentioned earlier I got this second hand so keep that in mind as I don't know completely how well it was taken care of. All things mentioned were seen under close inspection and are not immediately noticeable.
The part of the guard facing the blade has some black smudges on it, no idea what they are but I'm sure metal glo will get rid of it.
The tip had a cosmetic chip, it still pierces fine and the performance of the tip has not been effected as far as I can tell, It appears a piece of it flaked off for whatever reason, I could not get a good picture of it and like I said this was upon close inspection. This is all one piece of steel so all fittings are tight as you should hope they would be, like I said the para-cord is tight and not shifting and threaded through the hole near the pommel/triangle.
The scabbard.
As a comparison. . .
I have two new version DSA scabbards one for the guardian (normal) and one for the gothic (sword belt)
The guardian has the rain flaps and fit's a bit better as it doesn't move around compared to the gothic.
The Zombie Slayer scabbard has a cool bio hazard symbol molded into the leather
Back to the VA scabbard- The Zombie Slayer scabbard is more light weight than the DSA ones even taking size into account, I don't know why this is but I like the feel of it. The quality of the leather is similar and both are just about the same quality of leather though the leather on the VA seems to be stretched tighter which i like the feel of. Keep in mind both are black but the black version of the Zombie Slayer is VERY black, it's the color of pitch and personally I find it attractive. Compared to the DSA scabbards the polish on the metal of the steel tip is better and it has a more machined look it again some like it some don't. It has a little dot at the end of the metal tip which looks elegant but I'm not sure it fits the Zombie Slayer Theme.
Historical Accuracy
Disregard the last sentence of that paragraph above.
After getting plutonium from those libyans near the mall I hopped in my time machine and got a good specimen of a zombie slayers blade from the future, looks exactly the same. 5/5 for historical accuracy.
Limited Handling
The stats tell the store hear. 45.5, 2lb 10 oz, 6.5 in POB
This sword is a breeze to handle two handed and one handed isn't half bad, the closest thing to it is probably a good saber replica which I've gotten to handle a few of.
My Form is bad, I know it is bad, good sword though.
First Impressions
This blade has a very unique profile to it with a thick rectangular ricasso before the blade starts and crafted out of one piece of steel. The blade is very long and slim with noticeable distal taper. It is an odd but not at all bad looking sword that looks just as unique in person as it does in pictures. It certainly fits the type of sword I imagine a zombie slayer having, if I hadn't heard the name I would have though vampire hunter but that's neither here nor there. Though if it came down to it I'd think it'd do the job quite well.
Here is a picture of it on my rack of my other real swords (unfortunately I still have many SLO's laying around)
From top to bottom
Ryansword $100 katana, not sure which model exactly but the blade is 27 in and 39 in overall for comparison.
VA Zombie Slayer
DarkSword Guardian
DarkSword Two handed Gothic with the fish tail pommel
As you can see the VA is a slim and long sword at 45 inches
The Blade
I'm not sure what profile the blade is but like I said it's long and slim. Not very pointy but it it certainly stiff enough to give a good thrust. You can tell the blade is machined when you compare it to a DarkSword Armory sword, some might like that where as others may not as these say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The handle.
The Para-cord appears much greener with the flash of the camera on it than it appears to me. I'd say it is a greenish gray but either way it looks pretty bad ass. It doesn't shift whatsoever and gives a very nice grip, I can't imagine losing my grip on this thing. The para-cord is not at all shoelacy as I've heard some people term other wrapped swords, it's quality stuff as far as I can tell. I don't have anything negative to say about the handle and wrap. Also the end of the handle ends in triangle that I'm sure could be a good bludgeon just due to it's shape.
Ricasso and guard.
Like I said the Ricasso and guard are thick, nothing else much to say.
Fit and Finish
As mentioned earlier I got this second hand so keep that in mind as I don't know completely how well it was taken care of. All things mentioned were seen under close inspection and are not immediately noticeable.
The part of the guard facing the blade has some black smudges on it, no idea what they are but I'm sure metal glo will get rid of it.
The tip had a cosmetic chip, it still pierces fine and the performance of the tip has not been effected as far as I can tell, It appears a piece of it flaked off for whatever reason, I could not get a good picture of it and like I said this was upon close inspection. This is all one piece of steel so all fittings are tight as you should hope they would be, like I said the para-cord is tight and not shifting and threaded through the hole near the pommel/triangle.
The scabbard.
As a comparison. . .
I have two new version DSA scabbards one for the guardian (normal) and one for the gothic (sword belt)
The guardian has the rain flaps and fit's a bit better as it doesn't move around compared to the gothic.
The Zombie Slayer scabbard has a cool bio hazard symbol molded into the leather
Back to the VA scabbard- The Zombie Slayer scabbard is more light weight than the DSA ones even taking size into account, I don't know why this is but I like the feel of it. The quality of the leather is similar and both are just about the same quality of leather though the leather on the VA seems to be stretched tighter which i like the feel of. Keep in mind both are black but the black version of the Zombie Slayer is VERY black, it's the color of pitch and personally I find it attractive. Compared to the DSA scabbards the polish on the metal of the steel tip is better and it has a more machined look it again some like it some don't. It has a little dot at the end of the metal tip which looks elegant but I'm not sure it fits the Zombie Slayer Theme.
Historical Accuracy
Disregard the last sentence of that paragraph above.
After getting plutonium from those libyans near the mall I hopped in my time machine and got a good specimen of a zombie slayers blade from the future, looks exactly the same. 5/5 for historical accuracy.
Limited Handling
The stats tell the store hear. 45.5, 2lb 10 oz, 6.5 in POB
This sword is a breeze to handle two handed and one handed isn't half bad, the closest thing to it is probably a good saber replica which I've gotten to handle a few of.
My Form is bad, I know it is bad, good sword though.