My Review of Gen 2 Excalibur Sword
Oct 22, 2012 1:55:31 GMT
Post by William S on Oct 22, 2012 1:55:31 GMT
Hello All,
I am new to sword collecting but am very excited about my new Gen 2 Excalibur sword. It is my first functional sword ( and won't be my last). I got it used and it was kinda dirty. The brass was very dull and the blade was not coated with oil and had spots which look like rust spots but I'm not sure. I'm using Mother's metal polish to get them off which is working, but it'll take more time. The metal polish got the brass to a mirror finish! I did not get this sword because of the movie Excalibur. I think it looks nothing like the sword in the movie and I like it just as a King Arthur sword. I'm not a big fan of the sword from the movie but I do like the movie. - I know this sword has already been reviewed but I just want to talk about this sword because I really like it!
The Blade:
The blade is just over 33" long. The blade has a lot of weight to it but the POB is about 3" so it is very controllable. You can build up a lot of speed swinging it with just one hand but my accuracy is not very good yet (I've mangled my cutting stand which is just a plastic table right now so I didn't even scratch the blade but made some huge holes in the table). You can tell it's a handmade sword because of how the blade is not perfectly flat. You can see small indistinct waves as you look up at the blade while holding your head down by the guard. The blade tapers severely just after the hilt and more towards the tip. It is not wider at the hilt like the Excalibur movie sword. Also, The blade doesn't flex very easily, you really have to apply some force to get it to flex. When you hit the pommel with your hand the blade flops a little bit but stops pretty quick, I guess because of the thick blade it has.
I don't think this sword is very sharp. I can run my fingers across the blade without cutting myself. Although it cuts bottles flawlessly - even the small ones. I guess it is the weight of the sword. There are some areas on the blade edge where light does reflect so I will try and sharpen the blade some more. I have watched many videos on Youtube on doing that but I am afraid I will damage the blade. I don't need to completely redo the edge. I will not use an Accusharp and I am hesitant about using a belt sander. I probably will just use sandpaper but I don't know a technique where I can keep the bevel even. I need to practice on my non functional swords I guess.
The Hilt:
On pictures I've seen on the internet, they make the hilt look very small. That is not true. The blade and the handle are just huge and the hilt is a normal size but it is thick. The hilt is concave on the top and bottom. I have seen Excalibur sword by other manufacturers and they have it concave on only the blade side and I think it looks better but this sword holds more true to the Excalibur sword in the movie. This hilt is very heavy and I think that helps bring down the POB.
The Grip:
The grip is covered with a stainless steel wire. This is the reason you need a pair of gauntlets to swing this beast. (I have a pair of Gold's Gym weightlifting gloves because I don't have the funds yet for the gauntlets I want). The grip is thin at the top and wide in the middle and thins out a little bit towards the bottom.
The Pommel:
The pommel is threaded and for this sword I prefer that over the peened pommel. I've seen the peened version and I don't like how it looks. It holds true to the sword from the movie but I wish it were bigger, it just looks kinda small for the sword.
The Scabbard:
The scabbard is wood wrapped with leather. The leather on mine has some water damage on one side which I tried to fix with Mink oil. The rest of the leather is still a little dried out, but not as much. You can tell the leather is not very high quality but I'm just happy to have a wood core scabbard and not a leather one!
Overall:
This sword is meant to be a two handed sword (for me it's a three handed sword). There is a lot of room on the grip to get some really good cleaving leverage for bigger targets but you can also swing it real fast by holding it closer to the hilt for smaller targets. The Excalibur is a very versatile sword that if you're strong enough or familiar enough you can use it with one hand or two. This sword weighs about 5 pounds and is 46.5" long. It is a heavy sword but I want a sword that I can abuse, that is why I bought it!
Thanks,
William
I am new to sword collecting but am very excited about my new Gen 2 Excalibur sword. It is my first functional sword ( and won't be my last). I got it used and it was kinda dirty. The brass was very dull and the blade was not coated with oil and had spots which look like rust spots but I'm not sure. I'm using Mother's metal polish to get them off which is working, but it'll take more time. The metal polish got the brass to a mirror finish! I did not get this sword because of the movie Excalibur. I think it looks nothing like the sword in the movie and I like it just as a King Arthur sword. I'm not a big fan of the sword from the movie but I do like the movie. - I know this sword has already been reviewed but I just want to talk about this sword because I really like it!
The Blade:
The blade is just over 33" long. The blade has a lot of weight to it but the POB is about 3" so it is very controllable. You can build up a lot of speed swinging it with just one hand but my accuracy is not very good yet (I've mangled my cutting stand which is just a plastic table right now so I didn't even scratch the blade but made some huge holes in the table). You can tell it's a handmade sword because of how the blade is not perfectly flat. You can see small indistinct waves as you look up at the blade while holding your head down by the guard. The blade tapers severely just after the hilt and more towards the tip. It is not wider at the hilt like the Excalibur movie sword. Also, The blade doesn't flex very easily, you really have to apply some force to get it to flex. When you hit the pommel with your hand the blade flops a little bit but stops pretty quick, I guess because of the thick blade it has.
I don't think this sword is very sharp. I can run my fingers across the blade without cutting myself. Although it cuts bottles flawlessly - even the small ones. I guess it is the weight of the sword. There are some areas on the blade edge where light does reflect so I will try and sharpen the blade some more. I have watched many videos on Youtube on doing that but I am afraid I will damage the blade. I don't need to completely redo the edge. I will not use an Accusharp and I am hesitant about using a belt sander. I probably will just use sandpaper but I don't know a technique where I can keep the bevel even. I need to practice on my non functional swords I guess.
The Hilt:
On pictures I've seen on the internet, they make the hilt look very small. That is not true. The blade and the handle are just huge and the hilt is a normal size but it is thick. The hilt is concave on the top and bottom. I have seen Excalibur sword by other manufacturers and they have it concave on only the blade side and I think it looks better but this sword holds more true to the Excalibur sword in the movie. This hilt is very heavy and I think that helps bring down the POB.
The Grip:
The grip is covered with a stainless steel wire. This is the reason you need a pair of gauntlets to swing this beast. (I have a pair of Gold's Gym weightlifting gloves because I don't have the funds yet for the gauntlets I want). The grip is thin at the top and wide in the middle and thins out a little bit towards the bottom.
The Pommel:
The pommel is threaded and for this sword I prefer that over the peened pommel. I've seen the peened version and I don't like how it looks. It holds true to the sword from the movie but I wish it were bigger, it just looks kinda small for the sword.
The Scabbard:
The scabbard is wood wrapped with leather. The leather on mine has some water damage on one side which I tried to fix with Mink oil. The rest of the leather is still a little dried out, but not as much. You can tell the leather is not very high quality but I'm just happy to have a wood core scabbard and not a leather one!
Overall:
This sword is meant to be a two handed sword (for me it's a three handed sword). There is a lot of room on the grip to get some really good cleaving leverage for bigger targets but you can also swing it real fast by holding it closer to the hilt for smaller targets. The Excalibur is a very versatile sword that if you're strong enough or familiar enough you can use it with one hand or two. This sword weighs about 5 pounds and is 46.5" long. It is a heavy sword but I want a sword that I can abuse, that is why I bought it!
Thanks,
William