AndiTheBarvarian
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"Lord of the Memes"
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Mar 4, 2019 8:25:38 GMT
Zombie Tools 2015 D'Capitan Short Review: Bought it with my own money! Is it a short saber or long pointy cutlass, that's the question. Tactical or post-apocalyptical style. Made of 5160 spring steel. Lenght: 86 cm Blade from highest point of guard: 69,5 cm Weight: 1053 g PoB: 12 cm from highest point of guard. Blade thickness: At guard: 6,3 mm 1/2 Blade: 6,3 mm 3/4 Blade: 5,5 mm 5 cm before tip: 4 mm Distal taper only in the upper third of the blade.  The whole swords is sturdy looking and feels very solid. Blade, handle/tang and D-guard are obviously cut out of a 1/4" steel plate. The blade has no fuller, after a few cm from guard the blade gets an asymetric diamond cross section with a longer part to the edge. The sword has some weight and power in the move but handles well, no sharpened crowbar, due to a bit distal and profile taper and the diamond cross section. My CS Cutlass Machete is only a very little bit more nimble. The blade has a dark grey marble looking coating and a well grinded secondary bevel.  The handle has aluminium slabs and a leather wrap. Mean knuckle-duster D-guard.  The handle is very comfortable to hold and allows many different grips, hammer, saber, thumb, pistol, terza.  It came with a stiff Kydex sheath, a leather sheath is available.  The opening of the sheath has two hooks that hold the sword.  No cutting yet. Pros: Sturdy tough cutlass. Handling ok. Very comfortable handle. Cons: You have to like the style (I do). Ready for the Zombie Acopalypse!  |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2019 11:21:55 GMT
Kewl!
A good size for close quarters, or apt cutting (still, watch out for those ceiling fans). Definitely a step up from the Ritter dussack. The grip looks comfy enough but personally hate these leather wraps. This appears to share the overall concept of ZT. Built to take a licking and keep on ticking. I've a number of sabres with under 30" blades and one infantry sword with a blade length similar to your sword but broader with a fuller. The trade offs in cross sections not so unusual. There were cuttoe roughly this size and profile but fullered, which would lend to lighter use and weight.
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Post by elbrittania39 on Mar 4, 2019 15:20:08 GMT
Thanks for the review! Cool piece. I really like the overall shape, and I've waffled over the years on what I think of the ZT finish. I think I'd have to see it in person to make up my mind.
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Post by William Swiger on Mar 5, 2019 17:16:56 GMT
I had one but sold it. Not because of anything negative but just making space. It reminded me some of the sabers Jody made in the past.
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AndiTheBarvarian
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"Lord of the Memes"
Bavarianbarbarian - Semper Semprini
Posts: 10,317
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Mar 24, 2019 15:23:02 GMT
Update:
I found Skallagrim's review on YouTube:
He's right all in all.
Especially the coating is not very durable.
I found some scratches from my calipers.
I carefully polished them out but the coating faded a little bit.
But the sword itself is tough as nails.
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Hank
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cultivating a vigourous spirit
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Post by Hank on Jan 10, 2020 21:02:00 GMT
I have this sword also.
It is very stout and takes a strong hit to observe any spring in the 5160. Of course, it could use a diet for optimal use with Roworth/Angelo style military sabre but it is built for a dystopian future where targets/obstacles are harder than the historical ones. The profile kind of reminds me of the 1741 pattern British infantry hangers except that the knuckle bow is flat with no flaring guard at front - and, of course, the blade geometry differences mentioned above. In that sense, it seems like the dystopian future of an 18th century design. While it handles decently, it is blade heavy like most 18th/19th century miltary sabres but it is not the historical 800-900 grams - like the op said, 1053 grams.
I like it - probably a sword in my collection that I would take to the hills if all hell broke loose (and I was not expecting to duel with someone who knew what they were doing); although for that scenario, something more bushcrafty might make more sense.
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AndiTheBarvarian
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"Lord of the Memes"
Bavarianbarbarian - Semper Semprini
Posts: 10,317
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Jan 10, 2020 21:29:01 GMT
I made a thicker and more ergonomic formed grip with two additional wraps of grip band and it handles much better now. I can apply the power of hand and arm muscles better and it feels a few oz. lighter this way.  |
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Hank
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cultivating a vigourous spirit
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Post by Hank on Jan 12, 2020 5:59:24 GMT
I made a thicker and more ergonomic formed grip with two additional wraps of grip band and it handles much better now. I can apply the power of hand and arm muscles better and it feels a few oz. lighter this way. Thanks for the tip. Once this becomes a working sword, I now know an easy mod.
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Post by pellius on Jan 12, 2020 14:35:16 GMT
Thank you for a good review.
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Hank
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cultivating a vigourous spirit
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Post by Hank on Jan 15, 2020 16:25:22 GMT
I made a thicker and more ergonomic formed grip with two additional wraps of grip band and it handles much better now. I can apply the power of hand and arm muscles better and it feels a few oz. lighter this way. Thanks for the tip. Once this becomes a working sword, I now know an easy mod.
I can strain my wrist with the weight of this sword (1053g) - or maybe my form is just lousy. Strengthening my arm/wrist will help but I now see that you built the wrap up so that it kind-of looks like the grips on a 1796 LCS or an 1803 Infantry Officers Pattern. Maybe they did that grip for a reason. |
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Post by Jordan Williams on Jan 15, 2020 16:29:24 GMT
Thanks for the tip. Once this becomes a working sword, I now know an easy mod.
I can strain my wrist with the weight of this sword (1053g) - or maybe my form is just lousy. Strengthening my arm/wrist will help but I now see that you built the wrap up so that it kind-of looks like the grips on a 1796 LCS or an 1803 Infantry Officers Pattern. Maybe they did that grip for a reason. Could also be the weight distribution. ZT probably doesn't put as much weight into engineering a well behaved blade than they do into making a very durable blade. |
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AndiTheBarvarian
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"Lord of the Memes"
Bavarianbarbarian - Semper Semprini
Posts: 10,317
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Jan 15, 2020 17:41:30 GMT
Indeed the do a few things for a better mass distribution, not big distal taper but the transitions in the cross section to reduce mass towards the tip.
Otherwise the ZT's would be really hard to handle.
I train with 5 kg dumbbells - wrist moves too - and can handle an Atlantean (half way at least), that helps.
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