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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2008 20:03:59 GMT
Has anyone here written an review of the Hanwei Godfred Viking ? How durable are they . How historically acurate . I want a viking sword in the proper style for 8th century . It must be durable enough to use without coming apart .
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Post by swordboy bringer of chaos on Feb 19, 2008 20:09:38 GMT
try the gen2 8th century viking sword
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Post by YlliwCir on Feb 19, 2008 20:38:44 GMT
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Post by randomnobody on Feb 19, 2008 20:55:09 GMT
Well, I own one, and it's among my better swords.
It handles great for me, the blade is plenty stiff in the air, but flexes very well and is quite springy. No problems with sets here. The grain pattern, however it got there, looks good enough to me and the rest of the aesthetics are right where I'd want them. I went against the bad reviews on my Godfred because it fit exactly the image I felt a Viking-type sword for the typical Joe should fit, and at the time By the Sword was selling them for a mere $268.
It stands up to dry handling just fine, and again flexes quite well. I've cut many a cardboard box with it but nothing any heavier yet. Not so much as a nick or a scratch to report thus far. I don't know about the pommel or tang, though, as I have no intention of tearing it apart to find out. I'll try it out on a bottle or two when my SBG AT 1315 gets here.
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Post by YlliwCir on Feb 19, 2008 21:09:14 GMT
To be clear, I don't own one nor have I handled one. Some like Random like them, others have had problems. Still there are no perfect swords, any one can fail under enough stress. The best one can do is gather the available information and make their choice.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2008 4:40:51 GMT
I have seen that entry about the Hanwei failing . I am surprised this forum has not done a review on the Godfred . What I am looking for is a sword that is period correct for Lindisfarne raid . The Gen 2 8th C seems to have the out line and major proportions right but the fine details look missing . It looks unfinished .
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Post by swordboy bringer of chaos on Feb 20, 2008 5:35:35 GMT
theres a medly of windless steel viking blades and two or three gen2's
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Post by hotspur on Feb 24, 2008 23:32:11 GMT
Lordy, that takes me back. It should be noted that I have had a lot to say about the Godfred, both before and after that. A great deal of it positive. The hilt lives on with one of the replacement/bare blades that were made back in the days of yore. I'll likely never push it as hard, nor trust even the new ones completely but still consider it a nice overall package. I do not know how they lay these blades down but it is not by pattern welding in the traditional sense. I have a hunch they are using a rolling mill. Not one that I have seen in pictures has ever looked much different in the coarseness of grain revealed by the etchant. I would still be very wary of pushing these too hard. The thickness at the floors of the fuller is quite slim. Way back when (and about the time I bought mine) Gus Trim had evaluated one of the early ones. In conversation Chen Chou Po (Paul) it was mentioned they were never really meant for heavy use at all. You can read Gus' thoughts in the archive section of the boards at www.netsword.com I'd give you a direct link to the post but it has never worked as a direct link. Aaron Justice (of SFI tenure) polished one of these out quite a bit once and it was much more pleasing looking. It did smooth out the look quite a bit but you could still make out the coarseness. I still think this is one of the most favorably handling single handed production swords out there but it needs too be kept in context as a nice handing pretty first and a really fun light cutter second. These are not ones to be bashing against unyielding targets with the visual cop. Rather, they are wicked fast tip cutters and (as far as I know) are still only factory sharpened about seven or eight inches from the tip back. I did even sharpen the repacement blade back further but will never push it as hard as I had originally. I other words, I wouldn't make a habit of cutting up shield planks with one but it would certainly do a fair job on things as originally intended of swords from that time period. I know it has been written by vendors and manufacturers on these boards but will write my own caveat (yet again). Flex testing tells you nothing until it does cause damage and then it is too late. My original Godfred blade had been exactly as stated previously by someone else in this thread. Seemingly nicely springy and hard enough. Mine had seemed quite resilient at 30 degree flexes but that didn't mean it wasn't going to fail if pushed hard enough. Cheers Hotspur; I really do like how these handle
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Post by Jeff K. ( Jak) on Feb 25, 2008 17:23:37 GMT
i have posted a few times before on my godfred though never done a full review so ill make this one short and to the point....it is a light and fast little sword, well balanced and mine came razor sharp. I have done some hardcore cutting with mine and the blade has taken a slight set and the wood in the grip feels like it has split from some heavy impacts. Despite a very small movement in the grip, everything else (pommel and guard) are as tight as when i bought it The blade does not rattle a bit. I am very pleased with mine BUT i am more hesitant to do any heavy cutting with ine now after seeing and reading some reviews (pics of the blade snapping and stories of glued on pommels dropping off ) Gods help me and anyone near me if part of my blade comes off!!!! it would make a nasty wound. Speaking of the pommel, im not sure how they are attached exactly. They're not peened, im pretty sure its not a pommel nut (there is a round brass piece inlaid flush with the bottom of the pommel and i dont see how you would tighten that on as a nut), screw on pommel? maybe but i havent been able to budge mine. Only epoxy? i freakin hope not! Anyway mine has been a good sword and i am still happy with it and recommend it as long as your not gonna use it as a full on machete (I got lucky). Hotspurs thoughts above mirror my own so i hope youve got enough info. If not i can do a full review if ya want.
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Post by hotspur on Feb 25, 2008 19:54:01 GMT
Under the pretty brass cap is a nut on a 6mm threaded extension that is welded to a steel bar that is welded to the blade stub tang. The handle/grip is also attached/filled with an epoxy like glue. This pommel did not fall off, I twisted it off by hand (I'm a big boy) I was too lazy to dig out the glue around the nut and go look for a socket wrench that would fit down in there. The brass between the blade and the guard is just a thin piece and the only purpose I can see it serves is to make it a little easier to fudge the fit between the blade shoulders and guard. it is also possible they started using that to aid in glue retention when putting them together. both the grip and guard are a very loose fit without the glue (or I should say with the glue removed). The blade I refitted to the hilt components did not have the threaded extension welded on but was more than long enough. I slotted the pommel a bit to accept the width of the tang, which handily corresponded in size with the orfice/countersink where the nut used to seat. A combination of J.B. Weld and Peening now holds mine together. I also left the brass blade shim out of the equation and reshaped the shoulders a bit. Grips are one of the weak links for any sword and if the sword is going to be used as a hammer or axe, expect that to be one component likely to fail first. Considering the numbers of these swords out there, there have been only a handful of filures reported on the boards. Mine and another were definitely of the first batch. That they did go with a welded and threaded extension is probably part of the story of someone's pommel falling off but there was probably something more to that story as well. After a few tellls, a lot of these reports do reach some legendary or mythological level that may overstate any real problems. They do, though, make it apparent that stuff does happen. I still think these are fine light duty swords and if the price is reasonable (I had bought mine on sale, way back when) it is still a nice little package. They are not absolutelty historical but still nice handling swords. Cheers Hotspur; a search for Godfred on any of the forums will bring up the stories but make sure to read them all before jumping to conclusions
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2008 1:18:35 GMT
thats crazy i cant believe the blades the hollow ground in the middle like that ...lol more reason to get a dsa sword
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Post by Jeff K. ( Jak) on Feb 26, 2008 1:26:24 GMT
Hotspur, they must have changed the blade a bit on these...i noticed there is an inch or two of ricasso on yours where as the fuller runs right under the cross guard on mine....hopefully they changed the material they used/their tempering process as well also mine was sharpened upto an inch of the guard (not that you need it sharpened that far down the blade)
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Post by Jeff K. ( Jak) on Feb 26, 2008 1:27:28 GMT
thats crazy i cant believe the blades the hollow ground in the middle like that ...lol more reason to get a dsa sword thats not a hollow grind, its a fuller groove.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2008 2:12:38 GMT
Hotspur: that would make a really hot dagger if you just reshape the broken blade, heck you could make two of them.
Uh titan, you do realise that many swords, including most of the DSA swords have fullers right?
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Post by hotspur on Feb 26, 2008 4:51:32 GMT
Yes, the blade fullers were changed after the first batch. There is an old chat transcript with Paul Chen participating over at Net Sword where this comes up in the discussion for improvement (IIRC). The bare blades were also available from that first run. It may be that he halted midway through initial production and that is where the bare blades came from. I don't know when they started sharpening them full length but at least some of the fully fullered blades continued to come through sharpened only back several inches.
I would hope they spent some time tweaking QC after mine. I had communicated directly with Hanwei about this and had sent the pictures. Although, as I mentioned previously, I've seen quite a few since on the forums and none have shown much difference in the coarseness revealed by the etching. The picture does show how thin the floor of the fuller is though. Of others that have had their's apart, the tang construction is the same.
I had thought to possibly haft the pointy end as a lance but just continue to schlep the pieces with me to show and tells.
Cheers
Hotspur; They're not really suited for those of a beater frame of mind
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2008 7:15:46 GMT
I've seen a replacement blade for these swords selling for as little as $159. I thought about picking one up and building a viking sword around it with parts from viking-shield.com. Beautiful blade, but Hanwei's QC is alittle off at times.
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