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Post by Madmartigen on May 17, 2019 17:07:13 GMT
Good to hear mpsmith, congrats! I am waiting for a VA sword myself (ordered October 2018), hoping for a good one too.
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Post by dlatona on May 21, 2019 15:57:41 GMT
For what it’s worth, I just received a sword from VA today (special edition Valor). I am pretty impressed with it. The leather quality is top notch quality. The only issue was some rust on the guard, which is odd, because the whole sword is covered in oil. It was easy to clean up with a gray scotchbrite pad. Don’t know if I was just lucky, but I was impressed at the price. --And I have to echo that comment on the high level of quality. I just received my VA Craftsman German Longsword on May 9th and am very impressed with the quality of blade, fittings and leather. I did have to adjust the suspension set-up a bit to make it work to my satisfaction. My background is with Christian Fletcher/Atrim longswords and Nosyuiaido (Swordstore) Katana. I will be submitting a review of the VA longsword as soon as there is time to take photos and measurements. I already sent Sonny a thank you email letting him know how happy I am with the quality. FWIW, I would recommend keep your sword order intact. I can vouch for the quality of my Craftsman sword, and would venture to guess that if you are not happy with what you receive, let Sonny know and he will make it right.
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Post by Darth Paunch on May 22, 2019 21:06:52 GMT
Pheww... thats good to hear. I still own three older VA swords, my blue Bristol, my Warder and a slightly customized Warsword, and theyre good. Four(!) other ones were sold through the last three years due to saber sharpened blades, bends and the typical pommel/guard/blade misalignments. I wanted to order so bad sometimes, but was really scared away by the letdowns and some stuff here.
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Post by Brendan Olszowy on May 25, 2019 10:14:06 GMT
Leather looks just fine to me. Maybe apply some dubbin / fat to it a few times over the upcoming weeks if you want it softer. Leather wrinkles; thats normal, especially for new leather which has probably only been greased once. The popular leather sheen products leave a plasticky finish which is probably not helping the impression too. A square peen, is that from a square hammer? Only way to get that is to have it hand filed and finished, which is usually attention beyond production swords which are made to a price.
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Post by othicx on May 1, 2020 16:00:15 GMT
I have 2 VA's currently, both are beautiful, one had a tempering issue that Sonny addressed for me, but I couldn't be happier with my swords. There are a few asthetic things that my old notices but that is very minor. The one swords peen doesn't completely cover the pommel hole, however this doesn't affect the sturdiness of the sword at all, it just looks odd. However that being said I didn't even notice it for the first year and a half lol. I just ordered a custom craftsman series sword, and to my knowledge it will be the first of the blade type and such (I could be way off on this though). Once it comes in I will share my thoughts on it for you all.
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Post by Arthur Dayne on Nov 9, 2020 22:20:00 GMT
VA Packages are generally good enough but they miss the mark if your expectations are high about details like guard/pommel alignment, blade geometry or fit etc. I have a VA Kriegsschwert, Templar, Malatesta and Special Edition War Sword & Scabbard/Belt package and generally the Swords are OK or Good enough while the Scabbard/Belts are GOOD or Great.
Of the 4 sword packages...
1 of them the Malatesta had issues annoying enough to complain to vendor about: 1st time the blade had a crack line near tip, 2nd replacement the new blade used same wooden hilt core and guard/pommel so fit was pretty loose and bad, have to tighten really hard to keep everything together. Tip is also kind of flimsy and looks overgrinded on one side. Barely usable.
The Templar for the most part was Good enough but the blade felt overly flexible and whippy when bumping the pommel, it will flop around for a while until you grab the pommel steady. Pommel has slight crookedness where it's not straight if you look closely, but overall a good sword and better than Entry Level offerings out there.
The leather & dye used for the grips seem to Fade White or peel off easily too, if you yse them often with bare hands the leather color fades and peels off.
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Post by simalyne on Nov 22, 2020 14:37:53 GMT
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