WE's 1897 Infantry Officers Sword.
Jan 12, 2012 0:44:19 GMT
Post by the_antposse on Jan 12, 2012 0:44:19 GMT
Greetings all!
I offer my review of the British "1897 Infantry Officers Sword", manufactured by Weapon Edge of India, retailed by History Relics.
Disclosure
I am in no way associated with Weapon Edge or any of its representatives or vendors, this sword was purchased by me as a collectors item for my own purposes.
Introduction
I first became interested in this particular sword when browsing the SBG forum. I came across one of Dave Kelly's post and in it was a picture of one of these swords. I was very impressed with the looks of it with its well designed hand guard and its etched monarch's symbol on the front. So I did my due diligence in my search for the best price acording to my budget and quickly found that there were few retailers offering this model...at least within my budget limits, and an authentic version was out of the question for now. Finaly I settled on a repro offered by History Relics and went to the forum to see what everyone thought about HR. Well, there wasn't much that anyone could tell me so I decided to take the plunge.
Historical overview
In 1895, a new pierced steel hilt pattern sword was introduced, replacing the earlier Gothic hilt of the 1892 straight bladed sword with a three-quarter basket hilt. The new Pattern was short-lived due to the edge of the guard fraying uniforms, and in 1897 the final pattern was settled on, being simply the 1895 Pattern with the inner edge of the guard turned down, and the piercings becoming smaller.
The 1897 Pattern has remained unchanged from that day to this.
A slideshow of this sword from its arrival to nearly finished cleaning can be viewed here at this url. A total of 61 pic's in the slide with the last one being the tracking bill.
s1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc5 ... =slideshow
By the time of its introduction, the sword was of limited use on the battlefield against rapid-firing rifles, machine guns and long-range artillery. However, the new sword was regarded, when needed, as a very effective fighting weapon. Reports from Sudan, where it was used in close-quarters fighting during the Mahdist uprising, were positive.
Bernard Montgomery advanced with his 1897 Pattern drawn during a counteroffensive in the First World War. The actual sword he carried is exhibited in the Imperial War Museum, London.
The sword remains in production for ceremonial use to this day.
Initial Impressions
I ordered it on the 14th of Dec. 2011 late in the evening, the paypal payment went through on the 15th and I settled in for the wait which turned out to be 18 working days although in all fairness to History Relics it spent 5 days in transit and inspection. Finally it arrived on 10 Jan. 2012 and I forced myself to be patient as I photo'd the package before attacking. It really wasn't that easy...it arrived in a double wrapped cheesecloth very well stitched and then on to the almost bullet proof tape. It was very well packaged, in a double roll bubble wrap, surrounded by two layers of 1 inch thick styrofoam inside the 6" X 7" X 41" cardboard container.
Statistics
Blade length: 32.5"
Width @ Guard: 15/16ths"
Thickness @ Guard: 5/16ths"
Handle Length: Guard to tip of pommel 6"
Overall Length: 39.5"
W/Scabbard: 40.5"
Guard Width: 6"
POB (Point of Balance): 5 3/8" forward of guard
COP (Center of Percussion): @ handguard and 7" back from tip.
Weight: 2lbs. 2 oz's by my scale.
Components
It has a leather wrapped grip with 8 wraps of 4 strand, 2 center twisted, bronze colored wire which stop 1" below the pommel. The blade when extracted from the scabbard was covered with a thick coating of what appeared to be petroleum jelly, which took quite some time, so I quit and did my evaluation. The proved plug popped out during harmonic testing, so I super glued it back on, as you can probably tell in the pic's.
The vibrations during the harmonics test seem to be at the guard and about 7 inches back from the tip on this particular sword, not much vibration in grip. But being a newby I may not be doing this right.
Guard: Designed in 1897 to replace the Gothic style hilt of the earlier 1895 pattern, with the inner edge of the guard turned down, is a pierced steel hilt pattern with smaller piercing and is stamped with the reigning monarch's emblem.
Scabbard: The two ring steel scabbard is hand finished and nickel plated. W/Screwed mouth insert.
Blade: Has a deep wide fuller on both sides beginning 1 5/16" forward of guard and ends 17 3/4 " from end of tip, with scrolling and the reigning monarch's emblem on both sides. It is double edged from tip to 7" back from tip.
Pommel: A simple round 1/2" ball nut with a slight polished tool mark tells me that it is screwed on and polished.
Handling Characteristics[/b] For a man of my stature...69.5", it handles very well but I'm used to the old wrist breaker. Its a bit blade heavy but nothing unrecoverable like the U.S. 1840 Heavy Cavalry Sword. It is a deadly blade that can be weilded with authority and force either cutting or stabbing.
Test Cutting
It came unsharpened but I will eventually do that and will at that time do an update.
Conclusions
All in all, for the cost ($163.00 + free shipping) I am pleased with it. I have blades that are better polished but this one is reasonably well finished.
Pro's
Nice and tight, reasonably well balanced with just the right heft. Straight blade w/no bends L or R.
Con's
A bit too much petroluem jelly for protection, must now manage to remove it from scabbard. Any ideas?
I would recommend this sword, and the vendor to anyone with a little patience who would like an inexpensive
sword with its colorful history.
I offer my review of the British "1897 Infantry Officers Sword", manufactured by Weapon Edge of India, retailed by History Relics.
Disclosure
I am in no way associated with Weapon Edge or any of its representatives or vendors, this sword was purchased by me as a collectors item for my own purposes.
Introduction
I first became interested in this particular sword when browsing the SBG forum. I came across one of Dave Kelly's post and in it was a picture of one of these swords. I was very impressed with the looks of it with its well designed hand guard and its etched monarch's symbol on the front. So I did my due diligence in my search for the best price acording to my budget and quickly found that there were few retailers offering this model...at least within my budget limits, and an authentic version was out of the question for now. Finaly I settled on a repro offered by History Relics and went to the forum to see what everyone thought about HR. Well, there wasn't much that anyone could tell me so I decided to take the plunge.
Historical overview
In 1895, a new pierced steel hilt pattern sword was introduced, replacing the earlier Gothic hilt of the 1892 straight bladed sword with a three-quarter basket hilt. The new Pattern was short-lived due to the edge of the guard fraying uniforms, and in 1897 the final pattern was settled on, being simply the 1895 Pattern with the inner edge of the guard turned down, and the piercings becoming smaller.
The 1897 Pattern has remained unchanged from that day to this.
A slideshow of this sword from its arrival to nearly finished cleaning can be viewed here at this url. A total of 61 pic's in the slide with the last one being the tracking bill.
s1215.photobucket.com/albums/cc5 ... =slideshow
By the time of its introduction, the sword was of limited use on the battlefield against rapid-firing rifles, machine guns and long-range artillery. However, the new sword was regarded, when needed, as a very effective fighting weapon. Reports from Sudan, where it was used in close-quarters fighting during the Mahdist uprising, were positive.
Bernard Montgomery advanced with his 1897 Pattern drawn during a counteroffensive in the First World War. The actual sword he carried is exhibited in the Imperial War Museum, London.
The sword remains in production for ceremonial use to this day.
Initial Impressions
I ordered it on the 14th of Dec. 2011 late in the evening, the paypal payment went through on the 15th and I settled in for the wait which turned out to be 18 working days although in all fairness to History Relics it spent 5 days in transit and inspection. Finally it arrived on 10 Jan. 2012 and I forced myself to be patient as I photo'd the package before attacking. It really wasn't that easy...it arrived in a double wrapped cheesecloth very well stitched and then on to the almost bullet proof tape. It was very well packaged, in a double roll bubble wrap, surrounded by two layers of 1 inch thick styrofoam inside the 6" X 7" X 41" cardboard container.
Statistics
Blade length: 32.5"
Width @ Guard: 15/16ths"
Thickness @ Guard: 5/16ths"
Handle Length: Guard to tip of pommel 6"
Overall Length: 39.5"
W/Scabbard: 40.5"
Guard Width: 6"
POB (Point of Balance): 5 3/8" forward of guard
COP (Center of Percussion): @ handguard and 7" back from tip.
Weight: 2lbs. 2 oz's by my scale.
Components
It has a leather wrapped grip with 8 wraps of 4 strand, 2 center twisted, bronze colored wire which stop 1" below the pommel. The blade when extracted from the scabbard was covered with a thick coating of what appeared to be petroleum jelly, which took quite some time, so I quit and did my evaluation. The proved plug popped out during harmonic testing, so I super glued it back on, as you can probably tell in the pic's.
The vibrations during the harmonics test seem to be at the guard and about 7 inches back from the tip on this particular sword, not much vibration in grip. But being a newby I may not be doing this right.
Guard: Designed in 1897 to replace the Gothic style hilt of the earlier 1895 pattern, with the inner edge of the guard turned down, is a pierced steel hilt pattern with smaller piercing and is stamped with the reigning monarch's emblem.
Scabbard: The two ring steel scabbard is hand finished and nickel plated. W/Screwed mouth insert.
Blade: Has a deep wide fuller on both sides beginning 1 5/16" forward of guard and ends 17 3/4 " from end of tip, with scrolling and the reigning monarch's emblem on both sides. It is double edged from tip to 7" back from tip.
Pommel: A simple round 1/2" ball nut with a slight polished tool mark tells me that it is screwed on and polished.
Handling Characteristics[/b] For a man of my stature...69.5", it handles very well but I'm used to the old wrist breaker. Its a bit blade heavy but nothing unrecoverable like the U.S. 1840 Heavy Cavalry Sword. It is a deadly blade that can be weilded with authority and force either cutting or stabbing.
Test Cutting
It came unsharpened but I will eventually do that and will at that time do an update.
Conclusions
All in all, for the cost ($163.00 + free shipping) I am pleased with it. I have blades that are better polished but this one is reasonably well finished.
Pro's
Nice and tight, reasonably well balanced with just the right heft. Straight blade w/no bends L or R.
Con's
A bit too much petroluem jelly for protection, must now manage to remove it from scabbard. Any ideas?
I would recommend this sword, and the vendor to anyone with a little patience who would like an inexpensive
sword with its colorful history.