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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2011 23:17:45 GMT
I was really looking forward to the atlantean sword by windlass. But now I learned it was a bust. As we all suspected, it was too good to be true as reviewed by joeydac. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7423Major bummer! So I just cancelled my preorder (hopefully just in time!). And now my dream of owning an atlantean is even further away. So what are my options now for a battle-ready atlantean that does not cost 3K? I know fableblades is one (by the way, anyone have an idea about their pricepoint?) Any others you know of? Thanks |
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Post by William Swiger on Nov 13, 2011 9:06:32 GMT
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Post by Dampiel on Nov 13, 2011 20:37:14 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 14, 2011 22:32:37 GMT
Thanks for the suggestions, however Jeffrey Robinson's swords are nearly the cost of Albions (the Antediluvian goes for $2700). Nothing more affordable I take it?
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Post by Elheru Aran on Nov 15, 2011 0:37:17 GMT
Not really. A lot of the cost is in the making of the fittings. The blade itself is a big chunk of steel, but that's easy enough to make and steel is cheap. The fittings, on the other hand, are highly detailed (when well made anyway) and have to be cast from bronze or brass; I suspect Windlass cut a lot of their costs by using pot-metal instead.
Now, if you wanted to really save money, you could take the Windlass blade, weld on a bigger tang and have someone re-heat-treat the blade, and then take some chunks of steel and carve out the fittings yourself... but that'd take even longer, I suspect, than carving waxes and casting them. There is just no good medium between cheap and expensive with the Conan pieces, unless Windlass does some serious work to improve the tangs on their swords... and even then the fittings wouldn't be that great...
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Sean (Shadowhowler)
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Post by Sean (Shadowhowler) on Nov 15, 2011 0:45:04 GMT
Sad to say there are no really affordable quality functional versions of the Conan swords... There hopefully will be a few of them in the project Greybeard is doing... using some moat blades from Albion and casting the fittings himself, the swords in the project fell in the 800 dollar range. Alas... that project has been very slow going... but I hold out hope.  |
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Nov 15, 2011 0:49:04 GMT
take the fittings off an SLO and have brenno or odinblades make the blade? o____O
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Post by ecovolo on Nov 15, 2011 0:53:02 GMT
I'm interested in seeing where this will go. I might be willing to put down about $500 if there is someone who can do better than Windlass . . . Almost forgot Scorpion. They've made their own takes on "Conan" movie swords before. Here's the mother's sword: traditionalarcherybows.com/handm ... _p106.html He's also done Subotai's sword and the katana Conan trains with early in the film. I'll bet he can make an Atlantean . . . ? --Edward |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2011 12:42:11 GMT
I second that! I too would probably be willing to put $500 if somebody can improve upon the Windlass versions. As far as I understand, it's just the fittings that are the issue. Would be awesome if someone is willing to step up to the plate... (John Greybeard, are you listening?)
I mean, the demand obviously seems to be there- I could even start a poll topic to confirm that.
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Nov 15, 2011 13:07:40 GMT
do it
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Post by John Greybeard on Nov 15, 2011 15:21:20 GMT
Hey Sean, I appreciate the hopeful observation. I'm going to let everybody in on the secret now.. I have actually placed all the Atlantean Warriors in a back-water eddy pool down in the Grand Canyon where they are in the process of eroding into their finished form... should only take another two or three eons to wrap 'em up...
OK, OK, I'm sorry about that... just want you all to know that it seems like its taking forever to me also... there are reasons - you've heard most of them, already. No excuses, just reasons. But your hope, Sean, is well founded. As slow as this is going - it is going forward.
All that being the case, as much as I'd like to jump in and provide an answer to the affordable Atlantean problem... I've got to finish up the first batch before I even suggest that I could be a source for more. I can cast the fittings, you've seen 'em... but I'm working with Albion Moat blades right now, and we all know that had these blades been finished out by Albion, they'ed be going for roughly three grand each. The Windlass blades don't appear to be worth re-fitting with quality furniture - the rat-tail looking tang disqualifies them from ever being "functional" IMHO, so what would be the point?
To start with, the blades, to be made correctly, are not an easy job - take a look at all that hollow grind, relatively complex profile... and then there's the funiture - casting, detailing, fitting them to the blade (check out those damn langettes - over 12 inches, per sword, to fit seamlessly to the blade...) involves a whole lot of work. work = time = $$$.
Its an old business saying, thats inescapable in its harsh truth: "There are three aspects to every product - time, cost and quality. You can have any two out of the three, but not all three." So - Fast and cheap = low quality (Windlass). Fast and quality = high price (Albion). Quality and good price = takes time. And thats where I'm at, right now.
Patience will be rewarded.
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Nov 15, 2011 15:33:52 GMT
Well put John. Sometimes the truth swallows hard. But you cant just miracle a functional Atlantean for $69.99 over night :mrgreen: lol
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Post by John Greybeard on Nov 15, 2011 15:44:17 GMT
Nope, not overnight, by a longshot... Thanks, Saito.
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Sean (Shadowhowler)
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Post by Sean (Shadowhowler) on Nov 15, 2011 16:44:11 GMT
I hear ya John...
As to the ideas of having fittings done to the windlass blade... I wouldn't be interested in something like that. To me, that would be coating a turd in gold... its still a turd. The vast majority of the cost of a project like this would be the detailed fittings... but I would not want to wrap those well made fittings around a crap blade... I'd rather pay a bit more for a quality blade and have an overall quality product.
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Post by John Greybeard on Nov 15, 2011 17:47:16 GMT
Exactly, Sean - if the fittings of the Atlantean impart a good bit of its soul, the heart of the sword is always the blade.
The Atlantean blade is a masterful piece of design and craftsmanship in of itself. And while there is a lot of work involved in successfully creating the guard and pommel; crafting an accurate and functional Atlantean blade also entails a lot of very skilled craftsmanship. I don't think that Windlass lacks the ability to do it - I think that somebody upstairs made a very bad call on investing the necessary time, funds, etc to do the job right.
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Post by Elheru Aran on Nov 15, 2011 18:31:36 GMT
Just to make sure I wasn't misunderstood--
When I said that making the blade was 'easy enough', I don't necessarily mean 'easy' as in 'any guy with an angle grinder could bang it out in a few hours'. I mean easy in comparison to making the bronze fittings and putting the whole sword together, if one is willing to sacrifice a few of the more intricate complexities of the Jody Samson design as I'm sure Windlass did. Following the JS design faithfully would be difficult and take quite a while; but that's part of the reason you pay ~2K, 3K for that.
As far as Windlass' version goes, I will just say this-- if the sword was designed with a true full tang, something Windlass is capable of and has no excuse for not doing, I'd have been able to accept the pot-metal fittings because at least it LOOKS like an Atlantean sword and could still cut safely if I really wanted to do that. It would not have been the same quality as an Albion or Banzai or Greybeard, but it would've done well enough for the price. Even if it meant throwing another hundred dollars on the price tag, I'd have bought a $400 Atlantean with pot-metal fittings and a full tang... but a $300 Atlantean with a rat-tail tang in addition to the cheap fittings? Sorry. No.
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Post by Sean (Shadowhowler) on Nov 15, 2011 19:50:19 GMT
I get ya Elheru and agree with you in spirit... but I would not pay 400 for a functional but crappy Conan replica myself. I would be less disgusted by it if it had a solid tang and was at least not dangerous... but I would still not be interested myself.
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Post by Elheru Aran on Nov 15, 2011 20:40:42 GMT
Fair enough. Would I take a quality version if I could? Sure. Will I accept a lower quality but still functional version for a lower price? Yes. Doesn't mean that I wouldn't rather have the better version, but I subscribe to the 'a sword in the hand is better than two in the shop' philosophy. If I decide later that I should get the better version, I can hopefully always shoot for that, and in the meantime, enjoy the crappy version until I can put the better one up on the wall in its place. I'm sure a good few people feel that way, although part of it is probably my own inexperience in the field of sword collection-- I've never handled an Albion or even seen one in person, for example. So I guess I'll just leave it at that...
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Nov 15, 2011 21:12:16 GMT
i agree elheru, IF it was functional, id overlook the pot metal fittings and down the road id be willing to pay for better fittings. But i wont put a set of 800-1000$ fittings on a 69$ Stainless rat tail SLO. Which IMHO the Windlass atlantean is NO better than. Non functional is non functional. an Almost functional blade is in the same tier as Not functional at all. in my book
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Post by Deleted on Nov 15, 2011 22:45:06 GMT
Thanks for the comments John.
I should have been able to guess Windlass would not produce a quality product-- they never replied to an email I sent a while back about the details of the Atlantean. I think it makes sense not to put more work into it as the design has some intrinsic flaws when it comes to being fully functional.
It looks like we will all have to be patient for the time being. Who knows, maybe I'll stumble into a cave and find a nice sword in the hands of a ancient king once sitting proudly on his throne.
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