Traditional Filipino Weapons Gladius
Jan 17, 2014 5:48:26 GMT
Post by Ninjadave89 on Jan 17, 2014 5:48:26 GMT
Traditional Filipino Weapons Gladius.
INTRODUCTION
The Roman gladius has always been my favourite sword, it is perfectly designed for the close quarters fighting style that the Romans used so well. My last gladius was the Albion Augustus that I reviewed a while back. That sword is very much at the top end of production gladii that are now available. As nice as the Augustus is, I really like to use a cheaper sword to do my backyard cutting, one that I don't mind beating up a bit! When I saw that Traditional Filipino Weapons had a Gladius I knew that sooner or later I would end up buying one, it was either this one or the KC Spatha which was out of stock at the time. I thought it would be a good idea to wait for some reviews on this gladius as I had not purchased anything from the company before, but no reviews have turned up so far. Nevertheless TFW seem to have a solid reputation for making high quality blades, so I purchased one just before Christmas and it got to me on 9th January. It was $330 plus $49 shipping.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
This is a pompeii type gladius characterised by its straight blade ending in a triangular point. There were many variations in gladius design throughout the Roman era, often depending on cultural or individual preferences but this style is generally known now as the pompeii. The TFW gladius is not really a historically accurate sword but more historically inspired.
FULL DISCLOSURE
I purchased this sword from Traditional Filipino Weapons with my own money and with no previous experience of the company or its products.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The very first thing I noticed after unpacking the sword (well packed by the way) was how much it felt like a weapon! It may sound stupid but some swords just don't give the impression that they could be taken into battle and survive whereas this sword definitely did. It has a good weight, more than I was expecting but still very manageable. Everything on the sword was rock solid and the blade was very sharp.
STATS
Blade length - 22 inches (56cm)
Overall length - 29.5 inches (75cm)
Blade width - just over 2 inches at guard and curiously slightly wider just before the point.
Grip length - 4 inches (10cm)
P.O.B - 5.5 inches from guard
Weight (without scabbard) - 1lbs 13oz
Weight (with scabbard) - 2lbs 9oz
BLADE
It is a blend of 5160 and D2 steel, I have no idea if this is good or bad as I have never heard of D2 being used on swords! It is nitrate treated and tempered to between 58 and 60 on the Rockwell hardness scale. This is a very high blade hardness and harder than any other western sword I have owned. At least it shouldn't need sharpening very often!
The blade has what looks like a hamon on the edges. I have tried to enhance one of the photos so it can be seen although it is very apparent in sunlight.
I think it looks great and definitely makes it stand out from all the other gladii that I own.
The blade is very well sharpened the entire length with the smallest secondary bevel you will likely ever see on a sword!
It wasn't noticeable until I was doing the stats for this review but the blade does seem to widen slightly just before the point. I don't know if this was intentional or not but some original Pompeii type gladii do have a similar feature so its a nice bonus. There is a good amount of distal taper, not too much but an appropriate amount for these types of swords. It can flex at the last third of the blade but it is quite difficult. As it would primarily be a thrusting sword anyway, this is about right and similar to other gladii I have used in the past.
HILT
The hilt is made up from layers of different hardwoods (I have no idea which ones) with darker woods for the guard and pommel. It has a brass guard plate and a brass spike on the pommel.
The grip is very circular and may cause some edge alignment issues but in my opinion it all looks very nice and makes a nice change from the standard hilts that you often see on Roman swords (even if it isn't historically accurate).
Now onto the big mystery. How is the blade held onto the hilt? There is no peen, no threaded nut and no rivets. The website simply says that it is a blade smiths secret and the hilts will never come loose! After doing a bit of research on historical Filipino sword making it seems that quite a few swords were held together just by a type of resin. I have to say that if this is the case it does worry me slightly, I would much rather have a good solid peen. But of course I don't know for sure if it is done this way, it may be something completely different nevertheless I would like to know.
SCABBARD
A very nice wood scabbard covered in leather and brass. The sword fits into the scabbard very well and I think each scabbard is made to fit each sword individually. It looks very well made and isn't far off being historically accurate. The leather does seem to mark quite easily but as long as it protects the sword I really don't mind.
HANDLING
It handles very well. It is not as fast as the Albion Augustus or Windlass Pompeii but to be fair it does have a longer blade than either of them. When you get it moving it does seem to have a bit too much forward balance for this type of sword but definitely not unwieldy. The grip is my main concern as it is a very smooth wood, and so it never really feels 100% secure in hand. I think it would be a good idea to give the grip a slightly rougher finish to make it more grippy. Other than that it is a very manageable and hard hitting sword. Just the kind of weapon that would be useful in all those zombie apocalypse/end of the world/slave rebellion scenarios.
CUTTING
I only had a short time to do some test cutting as its been raining here almost constantly for about a week.
The first thing I wanted to try was rolled newspaper. I started with just the one paper and the TFW gladius cut through it without much effort. I was very surprised that it managed to cut through the 3 inch roll as I had previously tried the same thickness with the Albion Augustus it could only just cut through with a lot of effort.
It had absolutely no problem with the plastic bottles (they are very easy to cut but still a lot of fun). The only problem was that the round handle was giving a few edge alignment issues as well as becoming a bit slippery.
CONCLUSIONS
Overall I really like this sword, the quality and attention to detail is fantastic and for the price I don't think there is another gladius that would come close. I have used many other production gladii and the TFW easily beats the Windlass, Gen2, Valiant Armoury (Actium) and Del Tin in regards to attention to detail and overall quality. So if your in the market for a very tough gladius and don't necessarily need something historically accurate you really can't go wrong with this one.
INTRODUCTION
The Roman gladius has always been my favourite sword, it is perfectly designed for the close quarters fighting style that the Romans used so well. My last gladius was the Albion Augustus that I reviewed a while back. That sword is very much at the top end of production gladii that are now available. As nice as the Augustus is, I really like to use a cheaper sword to do my backyard cutting, one that I don't mind beating up a bit! When I saw that Traditional Filipino Weapons had a Gladius I knew that sooner or later I would end up buying one, it was either this one or the KC Spatha which was out of stock at the time. I thought it would be a good idea to wait for some reviews on this gladius as I had not purchased anything from the company before, but no reviews have turned up so far. Nevertheless TFW seem to have a solid reputation for making high quality blades, so I purchased one just before Christmas and it got to me on 9th January. It was $330 plus $49 shipping.
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
This is a pompeii type gladius characterised by its straight blade ending in a triangular point. There were many variations in gladius design throughout the Roman era, often depending on cultural or individual preferences but this style is generally known now as the pompeii. The TFW gladius is not really a historically accurate sword but more historically inspired.
FULL DISCLOSURE
I purchased this sword from Traditional Filipino Weapons with my own money and with no previous experience of the company or its products.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The very first thing I noticed after unpacking the sword (well packed by the way) was how much it felt like a weapon! It may sound stupid but some swords just don't give the impression that they could be taken into battle and survive whereas this sword definitely did. It has a good weight, more than I was expecting but still very manageable. Everything on the sword was rock solid and the blade was very sharp.
STATS
Blade length - 22 inches (56cm)
Overall length - 29.5 inches (75cm)
Blade width - just over 2 inches at guard and curiously slightly wider just before the point.
Grip length - 4 inches (10cm)
P.O.B - 5.5 inches from guard
Weight (without scabbard) - 1lbs 13oz
Weight (with scabbard) - 2lbs 9oz
BLADE
It is a blend of 5160 and D2 steel, I have no idea if this is good or bad as I have never heard of D2 being used on swords! It is nitrate treated and tempered to between 58 and 60 on the Rockwell hardness scale. This is a very high blade hardness and harder than any other western sword I have owned. At least it shouldn't need sharpening very often!
The blade has what looks like a hamon on the edges. I have tried to enhance one of the photos so it can be seen although it is very apparent in sunlight.
I think it looks great and definitely makes it stand out from all the other gladii that I own.
The blade is very well sharpened the entire length with the smallest secondary bevel you will likely ever see on a sword!
It wasn't noticeable until I was doing the stats for this review but the blade does seem to widen slightly just before the point. I don't know if this was intentional or not but some original Pompeii type gladii do have a similar feature so its a nice bonus. There is a good amount of distal taper, not too much but an appropriate amount for these types of swords. It can flex at the last third of the blade but it is quite difficult. As it would primarily be a thrusting sword anyway, this is about right and similar to other gladii I have used in the past.
HILT
The hilt is made up from layers of different hardwoods (I have no idea which ones) with darker woods for the guard and pommel. It has a brass guard plate and a brass spike on the pommel.
The grip is very circular and may cause some edge alignment issues but in my opinion it all looks very nice and makes a nice change from the standard hilts that you often see on Roman swords (even if it isn't historically accurate).
Now onto the big mystery. How is the blade held onto the hilt? There is no peen, no threaded nut and no rivets. The website simply says that it is a blade smiths secret and the hilts will never come loose! After doing a bit of research on historical Filipino sword making it seems that quite a few swords were held together just by a type of resin. I have to say that if this is the case it does worry me slightly, I would much rather have a good solid peen. But of course I don't know for sure if it is done this way, it may be something completely different nevertheless I would like to know.
SCABBARD
A very nice wood scabbard covered in leather and brass. The sword fits into the scabbard very well and I think each scabbard is made to fit each sword individually. It looks very well made and isn't far off being historically accurate. The leather does seem to mark quite easily but as long as it protects the sword I really don't mind.
HANDLING
It handles very well. It is not as fast as the Albion Augustus or Windlass Pompeii but to be fair it does have a longer blade than either of them. When you get it moving it does seem to have a bit too much forward balance for this type of sword but definitely not unwieldy. The grip is my main concern as it is a very smooth wood, and so it never really feels 100% secure in hand. I think it would be a good idea to give the grip a slightly rougher finish to make it more grippy. Other than that it is a very manageable and hard hitting sword. Just the kind of weapon that would be useful in all those zombie apocalypse/end of the world/slave rebellion scenarios.
CUTTING
I only had a short time to do some test cutting as its been raining here almost constantly for about a week.
The first thing I wanted to try was rolled newspaper. I started with just the one paper and the TFW gladius cut through it without much effort. I was very surprised that it managed to cut through the 3 inch roll as I had previously tried the same thickness with the Albion Augustus it could only just cut through with a lot of effort.
It had absolutely no problem with the plastic bottles (they are very easy to cut but still a lot of fun). The only problem was that the round handle was giving a few edge alignment issues as well as becoming a bit slippery.
CONCLUSIONS
Overall I really like this sword, the quality and attention to detail is fantastic and for the price I don't think there is another gladius that would come close. I have used many other production gladii and the TFW easily beats the Windlass, Gen2, Valiant Armoury (Actium) and Del Tin in regards to attention to detail and overall quality. So if your in the market for a very tough gladius and don't necessarily need something historically accurate you really can't go wrong with this one.