Big brother for a Renaissance side sword?
Jan 20, 2013 5:10:19 GMT
Post by Kilted Cossack on Jan 20, 2013 5:10:19 GMT
Gents:
I retain a more than residual affection for the 17th century, and can blame it on The Three Musketeers, the Vincent Price movie Witchfinder General, Henryk Sienkiwicz's Trilogy, and Micah Clarke, which probably explains why I like the Hanwei Renaissance Side Sword so much. (I had thought it was a discontinued model, since KOA no longer carried it, but Hanwei still has it available at edgefair.com.)
I'd swapped out the Hanwei blade for a VA AT303S blade (with a ground-in ricasso), but recently went back to the original configuration. It's a neat little sword. It pushes a lot of my ethnohistorical buttons. It's interesting (to me at least), what brought my attention back to the side sword was another Hanwei purchase, the Charlemagne saber (which IS discontinued). When I got my hands on the Charlemagne saber, and after I stopped being dazzled by its bling, the handling felt very familiar: a light cut and thrust blade with a close POB dictated by a fairly heavy pommel and a blade with pretty decent geometry, taper, and sharpness.
After some dry handling, I'm falling back in love with the side sword, and in the first flushes with the saber . . . and in each case, they leave me thinking, "I need something just like this, only with more gravitas." (Originally I thought, "Like this, with more ass.") With particularity, if the Hanwei Renaissance side sword strikes me as an entirely serviceable blade that flirts with the light side of the range. More for rousting about town than facing down a tercio, as it were.
So . . . what's a good big brother for the Hanwei side sword? Oddly enough I think Windlass might offer some of the best SBG-range solutions, with the Munich Town Guard and Thirty Years War swords (MRL still has the Thirty!). After that . . . a long step up to A&A? Hanwei Cromwell? Here's what I'm thinking of: a 30-36" straight cut and thrust blade mounted with a complex guard. Or do we say compound? Backsword or broadsword, as appropriate or available. Fencible, maybe a little more oriented to the cut? If the Hanwei side sword is 80/20 thrust/cut, maybe something more 70/30, or even 60/40?
Or do I cannibalize a Thirty Years War for the furniture, and mate it with a H/T bastard blade?
I retain a more than residual affection for the 17th century, and can blame it on The Three Musketeers, the Vincent Price movie Witchfinder General, Henryk Sienkiwicz's Trilogy, and Micah Clarke, which probably explains why I like the Hanwei Renaissance Side Sword so much. (I had thought it was a discontinued model, since KOA no longer carried it, but Hanwei still has it available at edgefair.com.)
I'd swapped out the Hanwei blade for a VA AT303S blade (with a ground-in ricasso), but recently went back to the original configuration. It's a neat little sword. It pushes a lot of my ethnohistorical buttons. It's interesting (to me at least), what brought my attention back to the side sword was another Hanwei purchase, the Charlemagne saber (which IS discontinued). When I got my hands on the Charlemagne saber, and after I stopped being dazzled by its bling, the handling felt very familiar: a light cut and thrust blade with a close POB dictated by a fairly heavy pommel and a blade with pretty decent geometry, taper, and sharpness.
After some dry handling, I'm falling back in love with the side sword, and in the first flushes with the saber . . . and in each case, they leave me thinking, "I need something just like this, only with more gravitas." (Originally I thought, "Like this, with more ass.") With particularity, if the Hanwei Renaissance side sword strikes me as an entirely serviceable blade that flirts with the light side of the range. More for rousting about town than facing down a tercio, as it were.
So . . . what's a good big brother for the Hanwei side sword? Oddly enough I think Windlass might offer some of the best SBG-range solutions, with the Munich Town Guard and Thirty Years War swords (MRL still has the Thirty!). After that . . . a long step up to A&A? Hanwei Cromwell? Here's what I'm thinking of: a 30-36" straight cut and thrust blade mounted with a complex guard. Or do we say compound? Backsword or broadsword, as appropriate or available. Fencible, maybe a little more oriented to the cut? If the Hanwei side sword is 80/20 thrust/cut, maybe something more 70/30, or even 60/40?
Or do I cannibalize a Thirty Years War for the furniture, and mate it with a H/T bastard blade?
I wouldn't say there were any difficulties involved in this. Just a whole lot of time spent cutting, filing and sanding (and yet more to come). A Dremel certainly helped to speed up parts of the process.
