Valiant Armoury Malatesta
Dec 18, 2016 4:47:09 GMT
Post by tea on Dec 18, 2016 4:47:09 GMT
Introduction
I fell in love with this sword the first time I saw it online. Long before Peter Jackson adapted Lord of the Rings to the silver screen, I was a huge Tolkien fan. I read Lord of the Rings so many times, I had it practically memorized. As soon as I saw Valiant Armoury's Malatesta, I was immediately reminded of what I always imagined Gandalf's sword Glamdring to be like. Right away, I wanted this sword.
Thanks to my most generous Mother-in-Law, I was able to get my Glamdring for my half century birthday - about 40 years after I first read LOTR. I went with Antique Green for the scabbard and Oxblood for the handle and harness as a tip to my Welsh ancestry.
Historical overview
The Malatesta is not based on any historical examples but is a historically probable sword. Previous versions of the Malatesta have different blades, but the current version has a Type XVIa blade with a well defined fuller that runs about 2/3 of the length of the blade, reminiscent of a Type XIIa. As mentioned in previous reviews of this model, it is named after the Malatesta family, which was a powerful military household in Northern Italy during the 13th thru 16th Centuries. I could imagine a sword like this being carried by the great Owain Glyndwr or a Welsh mercenary returned from campaigns in Italy to join in Glyndwr's rebellion in the early 1400s.
Full Disclosure
I am not affiliated in anyway with Valiant Armoury and bought this sword with money that my Mother-in-Law gave me for my 50th birthday.
Initial Impressions
I arrived home from my daughter's recital yesterday evening to find a brown box waiting for me on my doorstep.
My initial impressions:
Aesthetically, this sword is gorgeous and is even better looking than the photos on Valiant Armoury's Web site. It is also incredibly light and nimble in the hand. Even though it is a tad heavier than my Viking Era sword, it feels much lighter for some reason.
Statistics
Blade Length: 33 3/4" (1/4" shorter than the advertised specs) with a well defined fuller running 21 5/8" and a diamond cross section for the final 12"
Blade Width: 1 7/8" at the guard, 1 1/4" at the terminus of the fuller, 3/4" at 2" from the tip.
Distal Taper: 6mm at the guard, 3mm at the terminus of the fuller, 2mm at 2" from the tip.
Handle Length: 8 7/8" including the scent stopper pommel, 6 3/4" just the leather wrapped grip
Overall Length: 43 1/4"
Guard Width: 8 1/2"
POB: 5"
Weight: 2.8lbs (0.1lb lighter than the advertised specs)
Components
The Blade: 1060 high carbon spring steel
The Handle: Leather wrapped with Oxblood finish over a wood core. A bit of the die came off on my hands yesterday when I was first handling it, but not so much today.
The Guard: mild steel lightly upswept with a trefoil design on the ends.
The Pommel: Mild steel scent stopper with hex nut. It feels a little bit on the skinny side at the "neck" of the scent stopper, but is over all very well done.
The Scabbard: Leather wrapped wood core with Antique Green finish. Exceptionally well done. Really stunning.
Handling Characteristics
This sword is remarkably light and lively in the hand. Even one handed, it handles extremely well.
Test Cutting
I went out to the ranch today with my daughter and dogs to get some exercise and to see if I could get lucky and possibly bag a hog or two. I say "get lucky," because with an 11 year old and two frisky dogs walking through the woods with me, we'd have had to get lucky to see anything. Saw lots of deer and hog sign, but no deer or hogs.
I took my Malatesta with me to test out on a 40gal plastic drum that we have by my small hunting cabin. A couple of the previous Malatesta reviews speculated that the tip flexed too much for the sword to thrust well through hard targets, so I wanted to put it to the test. I only had a couple of small water bottles in the cabin to use for cutting, as I forgot to bring any more targets with me (I save up my old milk jugs for cutting).
The first bottle I cut one handed and took the top cleanly off. I tried to cut the same bottle again, but about half of the water had spilled out and I ended up batting it away instead. The second bottle I cut with two handed. As for the thrusting, one handed I managed to get a bit of penetration. I think if I had exercised better technique that I would have been able to get better penetration, though. Using two hands, I was able to easily pierce the 40gal barrel. I'm not sure how well this is representative of a "hard" target, but this sword handled the test media with no problem at all.
Conclusions
Excellent value for money. This is a great sword.
Pros
- very well balanced, quick and nimble
- nice leather grip
- beautiful blade with nice straight fuller
- beautiful scabbard and harness
- paper cutting sharp edge straight out of the box
Cons
- a little bit shorter than advertised. As Sonny states on his Web site, though, since these are hand made swords, slight variations in specs can be expected.
- the "neck" of the scent stopper pommel is a little on the skinny side for my taste
- the sword belt is a bit on the skinny side for my taste, too, but overall good quality and value as part of the package deal.
The Bottom Line
I would highly recommend this sword.
I fell in love with this sword the first time I saw it online. Long before Peter Jackson adapted Lord of the Rings to the silver screen, I was a huge Tolkien fan. I read Lord of the Rings so many times, I had it practically memorized. As soon as I saw Valiant Armoury's Malatesta, I was immediately reminded of what I always imagined Gandalf's sword Glamdring to be like. Right away, I wanted this sword.
Thanks to my most generous Mother-in-Law, I was able to get my Glamdring for my half century birthday - about 40 years after I first read LOTR. I went with Antique Green for the scabbard and Oxblood for the handle and harness as a tip to my Welsh ancestry.
Historical overview
The Malatesta is not based on any historical examples but is a historically probable sword. Previous versions of the Malatesta have different blades, but the current version has a Type XVIa blade with a well defined fuller that runs about 2/3 of the length of the blade, reminiscent of a Type XIIa. As mentioned in previous reviews of this model, it is named after the Malatesta family, which was a powerful military household in Northern Italy during the 13th thru 16th Centuries. I could imagine a sword like this being carried by the great Owain Glyndwr or a Welsh mercenary returned from campaigns in Italy to join in Glyndwr's rebellion in the early 1400s.
Full Disclosure
I am not affiliated in anyway with Valiant Armoury and bought this sword with money that my Mother-in-Law gave me for my 50th birthday.
Initial Impressions
I arrived home from my daughter's recital yesterday evening to find a brown box waiting for me on my doorstep.
My initial impressions:
Aesthetically, this sword is gorgeous and is even better looking than the photos on Valiant Armoury's Web site. It is also incredibly light and nimble in the hand. Even though it is a tad heavier than my Viking Era sword, it feels much lighter for some reason.
Statistics
Blade Length: 33 3/4" (1/4" shorter than the advertised specs) with a well defined fuller running 21 5/8" and a diamond cross section for the final 12"
Blade Width: 1 7/8" at the guard, 1 1/4" at the terminus of the fuller, 3/4" at 2" from the tip.
Distal Taper: 6mm at the guard, 3mm at the terminus of the fuller, 2mm at 2" from the tip.
Handle Length: 8 7/8" including the scent stopper pommel, 6 3/4" just the leather wrapped grip
Overall Length: 43 1/4"
Guard Width: 8 1/2"
POB: 5"
Weight: 2.8lbs (0.1lb lighter than the advertised specs)
Components
The Blade: 1060 high carbon spring steel
The Handle: Leather wrapped with Oxblood finish over a wood core. A bit of the die came off on my hands yesterday when I was first handling it, but not so much today.
The Guard: mild steel lightly upswept with a trefoil design on the ends.
The Pommel: Mild steel scent stopper with hex nut. It feels a little bit on the skinny side at the "neck" of the scent stopper, but is over all very well done.
The Scabbard: Leather wrapped wood core with Antique Green finish. Exceptionally well done. Really stunning.
Handling Characteristics
This sword is remarkably light and lively in the hand. Even one handed, it handles extremely well.
Test Cutting
I went out to the ranch today with my daughter and dogs to get some exercise and to see if I could get lucky and possibly bag a hog or two. I say "get lucky," because with an 11 year old and two frisky dogs walking through the woods with me, we'd have had to get lucky to see anything. Saw lots of deer and hog sign, but no deer or hogs.
I took my Malatesta with me to test out on a 40gal plastic drum that we have by my small hunting cabin. A couple of the previous Malatesta reviews speculated that the tip flexed too much for the sword to thrust well through hard targets, so I wanted to put it to the test. I only had a couple of small water bottles in the cabin to use for cutting, as I forgot to bring any more targets with me (I save up my old milk jugs for cutting).
The first bottle I cut one handed and took the top cleanly off. I tried to cut the same bottle again, but about half of the water had spilled out and I ended up batting it away instead. The second bottle I cut with two handed. As for the thrusting, one handed I managed to get a bit of penetration. I think if I had exercised better technique that I would have been able to get better penetration, though. Using two hands, I was able to easily pierce the 40gal barrel. I'm not sure how well this is representative of a "hard" target, but this sword handled the test media with no problem at all.
Conclusions
Excellent value for money. This is a great sword.
Pros
- very well balanced, quick and nimble
- nice leather grip
- beautiful blade with nice straight fuller
- beautiful scabbard and harness
- paper cutting sharp edge straight out of the box
Cons
- a little bit shorter than advertised. As Sonny states on his Web site, though, since these are hand made swords, slight variations in specs can be expected.
- the "neck" of the scent stopper pommel is a little on the skinny side for my taste
- the sword belt is a bit on the skinny side for my taste, too, but overall good quality and value as part of the package deal.
The Bottom Line
I would highly recommend this sword.