United Cutlery Museum Collection Glamdring Review
Aug 27, 2012 11:27:34 GMT
Post by jimmiroquai on Aug 27, 2012 11:27:34 GMT
Introduction
Peter Lyon's Glamdring is, hands down, my favorite sword. The first sword (or SLO) i ever bought was a cheap pakistani repro glamdring...not being satisfied with the cheap quality, i then bought a UC regular edition Glamdring...Only then did i find this forum and only then was i educated on the difference between these SLOs and real swords. Since finding this forum i've bought 3 more real swords that had good reviews...but i still wanted a functional Glamdring...then i came across the Museum Collection Glamdring while browsing. Supposedly. it was made of tempered high carbon spring steel and advertised as full tang and fully functional...and there was a seller on ebay giving it away at only 399USD. But I found only sparse conflicting reviews and i wasn't ready to spend that much on a sword with unverified qualities...But as luck would have it, i won one on auction for less than 300USD...275 to be exact.
Cheap enough for me to buy and cheap enough for me to not feel bad about taking it apart....so here is my SBG review of the United Cutlery Museum Collection Glamdring #471 of 1000...
Historical overview
N/A
Full Disclosure
i have no financial ties to UC or any other sword manufacturer
Initial Impressions
The MC Glamdring sold by Redford Films do not come with the COA nor the wooden display case. Thinking that these were all second hand, i was surprised to find a UC labelled and sealed white box inside the shipping box...Inside was the beautiful sword, slightly oiled, wrapped in plastic, supported by styrofoam blocks. Everything looked brand new.
Dry handling, the sword was very blade heavy and would tire me out a LOT sooner than my HT Longsword. But man, did it look lovely in my hands...right, let's get to it!
Statistics
Blade Length: 35 1/2"
Handle Length (including pommed): 11"
Overall Length: 47 1/2"
POB (Point of Balance): about 5" from the guard
COP (Center of Percussion): how does one measure this?
Weight: approx 4 pounds on the bathroom scale
The Blade
The blade as most of you know is an elegant leaf shape...it has a satin finish and seems to be coated with some sort of acrylic varnish (there was a small glob of clear stuff at the junction of the cross and blade). The blade is magnetic. I could bend it over my head (i was wearing a helmet and using gloves) around 3-4" from midline and it always returned true. Although after the flex test there were small cracks in the varnish in some areas. The fuller is straight. There is practically no distal taper except at the last 3". The edge was not sharp, it had maybe a 0.5mm flat edge and a large secondary bevel. The tang portion was sufficiently beefy with slightly rounded shoulders. The threaded end goes only about an inch into the pommel though...
The Handle
Here's the weird part...the handle is made of some none ferrous metal. I was really worried at first but it was not as brittle as i thought it would be. I had to hammer it back in using the edge of a flat head screw driver and there were barely any nicks. The handle is a very very tight fit into both the guard and pommel...but is hollow and has almost no contact with the tang...
The Guard
I don't know if any of your have heard this peculiarity of the MC Glamdring already but the runes have been misplaced...the elvish sentences on the sides have been switched. According to Kit Rae, they based it of a prop sword from sent to them by Weta..which inadvertently had the engravings switched...LOL.
Anyway, because i got it so cheap, instead of being outraged, i find that quirk to be somewhat charming.
The guard is some non-ferrous casting, plated in genuine silver and is adorned with real sapphires. It did hold up to some abuse though. I had to use a hammer to get it off the blade. It was such a tight fit.
The Pommel
The pommel was also some non-ferrous metal...it had an extension which went underneath the grip. The most worrying thing is that the threaded tang goes in only about an inch into the pommel (including the extension). It was really tough to get it off though. Aside from being "locktighted " to the threads, it was a tight fit under the grip.
The Scabbard
The MC Glamdring doesn't come with a scabbard, but it fits the regular edition UC scabbard well.
Handling Characteristics
As said earlier, this is a blade heavy sword. This is because of the lack of a distal taper and the inherent design of a leaf blade i guess. It can be wielded one handed, fingering the guard, for thrusting and short time slashing. The blade was stiff and not at all whippy. The ideal way to handle it would be with two hands, with one gripping the pommel...though with how the pommel is constructed with this sword, that might not be a very good idea.
Test Cutting (if applicable)
It would be too much work for me to make a functional cutting edge but it can be done...so no test cutting done
Conclusions
So, to answer the question...how functional is the Museum Collection Glamdring...well it can be, but not very. I mean, the blade is functional, has a good temper, is supposedly high carbon spring steel...but when you take into consideration the hilt furniture and how the pommel is attached...could be kinda iffy. But i don't know..maybe because everything is such a tight friction fit, maybe the hilt can handle some stress, even without the grip touching the tang? Maybe i could have iron/steel alloy parts cast, make a wood core grip, and weld the new steel or iron pommel in place...but still i'd have to hope the threaded part doesn't snap off. If ever i did give it a proper edge, i would probably use it for very light cutting. But against tougher targets like tatami or other swords...i wouldn't risk it.
Pros
-Beautiful leaf blade
-good temper
-beautiful aesthetics and tasteful antiquing
-limited editon
-got it cheap
Cons
- hilt materials and construction iffy
- no distal taper
- runes switched around
The Bottom Line
Still...$275 for a Limited edition Museum Collection Glamdring? Even knowing what i now know, i'd still buy it.
Peter Lyon's Glamdring is, hands down, my favorite sword. The first sword (or SLO) i ever bought was a cheap pakistani repro glamdring...not being satisfied with the cheap quality, i then bought a UC regular edition Glamdring...Only then did i find this forum and only then was i educated on the difference between these SLOs and real swords. Since finding this forum i've bought 3 more real swords that had good reviews...but i still wanted a functional Glamdring...then i came across the Museum Collection Glamdring while browsing. Supposedly. it was made of tempered high carbon spring steel and advertised as full tang and fully functional...and there was a seller on ebay giving it away at only 399USD. But I found only sparse conflicting reviews and i wasn't ready to spend that much on a sword with unverified qualities...But as luck would have it, i won one on auction for less than 300USD...275 to be exact.
Cheap enough for me to buy and cheap enough for me to not feel bad about taking it apart....so here is my SBG review of the United Cutlery Museum Collection Glamdring #471 of 1000...Historical overview
N/A
Full Disclosure
i have no financial ties to UC or any other sword manufacturer
Initial Impressions
The MC Glamdring sold by Redford Films do not come with the COA nor the wooden display case. Thinking that these were all second hand, i was surprised to find a UC labelled and sealed white box inside the shipping box...Inside was the beautiful sword, slightly oiled, wrapped in plastic, supported by styrofoam blocks. Everything looked brand new.
Dry handling, the sword was very blade heavy and would tire me out a LOT sooner than my HT Longsword. But man, did it look lovely in my hands...right, let's get to it!
Statistics
Blade Length: 35 1/2"
Handle Length (including pommed): 11"
Overall Length: 47 1/2"
POB (Point of Balance): about 5" from the guard
COP (Center of Percussion): how does one measure this?
Weight: approx 4 pounds on the bathroom scale
The Blade
The blade as most of you know is an elegant leaf shape...it has a satin finish and seems to be coated with some sort of acrylic varnish (there was a small glob of clear stuff at the junction of the cross and blade). The blade is magnetic. I could bend it over my head (i was wearing a helmet and using gloves) around 3-4" from midline and it always returned true. Although after the flex test there were small cracks in the varnish in some areas. The fuller is straight. There is practically no distal taper except at the last 3". The edge was not sharp, it had maybe a 0.5mm flat edge and a large secondary bevel. The tang portion was sufficiently beefy with slightly rounded shoulders. The threaded end goes only about an inch into the pommel though...
The Handle
Here's the weird part...the handle is made of some none ferrous metal. I was really worried at first but it was not as brittle as i thought it would be. I had to hammer it back in using the edge of a flat head screw driver and there were barely any nicks. The handle is a very very tight fit into both the guard and pommel...but is hollow and has almost no contact with the tang...
The Guard
I don't know if any of your have heard this peculiarity of the MC Glamdring already but the runes have been misplaced...the elvish sentences on the sides have been switched. According to Kit Rae, they based it of a prop sword from sent to them by Weta..which inadvertently had the engravings switched...LOL.
Anyway, because i got it so cheap, instead of being outraged, i find that quirk to be somewhat charming.
The guard is some non-ferrous casting, plated in genuine silver and is adorned with real sapphires. It did hold up to some abuse though. I had to use a hammer to get it off the blade. It was such a tight fit.
The Pommel
The pommel was also some non-ferrous metal...it had an extension which went underneath the grip. The most worrying thing is that the threaded tang goes in only about an inch into the pommel (including the extension). It was really tough to get it off though. Aside from being "locktighted " to the threads, it was a tight fit under the grip.
The Scabbard
The MC Glamdring doesn't come with a scabbard, but it fits the regular edition UC scabbard well.
Handling Characteristics
As said earlier, this is a blade heavy sword. This is because of the lack of a distal taper and the inherent design of a leaf blade i guess. It can be wielded one handed, fingering the guard, for thrusting and short time slashing. The blade was stiff and not at all whippy. The ideal way to handle it would be with two hands, with one gripping the pommel...though with how the pommel is constructed with this sword, that might not be a very good idea.
Test Cutting (if applicable)
It would be too much work for me to make a functional cutting edge but it can be done...so no test cutting done
Conclusions
So, to answer the question...how functional is the Museum Collection Glamdring...well it can be, but not very. I mean, the blade is functional, has a good temper, is supposedly high carbon spring steel...but when you take into consideration the hilt furniture and how the pommel is attached...could be kinda iffy. But i don't know..maybe because everything is such a tight friction fit, maybe the hilt can handle some stress, even without the grip touching the tang? Maybe i could have iron/steel alloy parts cast, make a wood core grip, and weld the new steel or iron pommel in place...but still i'd have to hope the threaded part doesn't snap off. If ever i did give it a proper edge, i would probably use it for very light cutting. But against tougher targets like tatami or other swords...i wouldn't risk it.
Pros
-Beautiful leaf blade
-good temper
-beautiful aesthetics and tasteful antiquing
-limited editon
-got it cheap
Cons
- hilt materials and construction iffy
- no distal taper
- runes switched around
The Bottom Line
Still...$275 for a Limited edition Museum Collection Glamdring? Even knowing what i now know, i'd still buy it.
