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Post by zabazagobo on May 7, 2019 20:21:43 GMT
So I bought the CS scimitar to test out sabre techniques. It was terrible. Returned it right away. I should have taken pictures in hindsight, but I didn't want my lens to shatter as it was without a doubt the most horrendous looking sword I have every laid eyes on in person. The riveted steel guard looks incredibly tacky in person, like a cheap plastic toy. The grip is far too fat to grip comfortably. On the plus side, the scabbard was very well fitted to the sword and drawing the blade edge-up, as with a katana, was surprisingly smooth and very easy to do.
The sword's balance was completely off. The handle weight was probably close to 1/3 of the total mass of the sword (possibly even more), as the blade was rather thin. While the curved blade was rather nice and true to a scimitar geometry, the balance was so incredibly off that it felt clunky in the hand. By comparison I could swing a katana weighing 2 lb. 10 oz easier than this sword, and it was 2 lb 8 oz sabre. That there is the problem, as despite the thin and agile blade, the handle brings the weight spec up so much that it has very awkward handling and ruins the flow of the weapon. Attempting sabre drills in the Hutton fashion met with comical results to the point where I switched to a lightweight katana (both Hanwei Orchid and a kanmuri-otoshi zukrui by Huawei) and had much better results. Which is asinine as a single handed sabre should by no means be significantly sluggish and unresponsive in comparison to a hand and a half sabre (or in this case, katana).
The one thing I will note positively about the sword, however, was the grip bulb. The bulb at the end of the grip provided a phenomenal anchor if, like me, you tend to accentuate your grip with your bottom three fingers while allowing your thumb and index finger to flex. Exact opposite mechanics of a thumb ring grip. It worked very well to this purpose, but the overall grip was far too wide and fairly uncomfortable to use for any length of time surpassing, say all of 15/20 minutes. The bulb mechanic was eye-opening, however, and I will be scouting for an alternative to this model, but how the sword felt in motion was just completely bad.
So, unfortunately, I'm posting this as a p.s.a. to stay away from this particular model as it looks awful in person (very, very cheap) and does not handle well at all. Sorry I didn't nab any pics but frankly it just wasn't worth the time.
To clarify, the sword in question was the version with the rosewood handle, not the black and gold model that's generally well received.
So anyways, just a quick mini-review/rant about a sword that was quite possibly the worst handling and looking sword I have ever seen in person. Stay away, everyone.
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Post by randomnobody on May 7, 2019 20:48:41 GMT
Oh, that thing. Ew. I couldn't get past the..."aesthetics" of it long enough to consider it as a potential interest.
Not surprised to hear it's a disappointment.
As for the "bulb," as you call it, I find myself drawn to what I call "beak" but may also be called "hook" pommels, like on shashka, khybers, or even the "ears" on yataghan. Really locks the hand in and gives a great feeling of security when swinging about. Never gotten to try a scimitar/shamshir, though.
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Post by elbrittania39 on May 7, 2019 23:32:37 GMT
>2.8 sound saber
Theres a part of the problem. A saber like that shouldnt exceed 2 pounds imo
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christain
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Post by christain on May 8, 2019 1:08:42 GMT
The guard does look rather 'plastic-ey-ish', doesn't it. Reminds me of the toy plastic 'pirate swords' you see at Walmart around Halloween.
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Post by leviathansteak on May 8, 2019 1:44:57 GMT
The guard does look rather 'plastic-ey-ish', doesn't it. Reminds me of the toy plastic 'pirate swords' you see at Walmart around Halloween. Ha you're right. Theres probably enough steel in that guard to make another sword lol
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on May 8, 2019 2:59:23 GMT
I had an eye on that one. Thanks.
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Post by zabazagobo on May 9, 2019 7:55:24 GMT
randomnobody yeah, "that...thing". Ew doesn't begin to describe it seeing it in person. Thought it might be a case of 'looks better in person', but just the opposite. At least it introduced me to this style of grip/pommel which I absolutely love. Will be looking at other options with this feature, really is conducive towards generating force with the swing based on how I grip
elbrittania39 & leviathansteak yup, swords' unwieldy due to how ridiculously overbuilt the guard/handle is. Seriously kills the flow and the grip was so dang fat that it stresses your hand
christain Exactly! That's immediately what I thought as soon as i got it out of the wrapping. It looks exactly like a cheap toy, which isn't a nice finding. If they had designed the guard differently (smaller, less thick, no awful riveting or whatever one wants to call it) and thinned out the grip this one could have been nice.
pgandy Happy it was useful information. Unfortunately this one's no good, so glad I saved you the trouble
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pgandy
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Post by pgandy on May 9, 2019 13:32:59 GMT
elbrittania39 & leviathansteak yup, swords' unwieldy due to how ridiculously overbuilt the guard/handle is. Seriously kills the flow and the grip was so dang fat that it stresses your hand
One other thing that you alerted me to was the overbuilt grip. I had also been eyeing Unviersal’s Shamshir USS185 since they’ve started using 1055 steel. The grip is of my favourite construction, wood scales riveted to a visible tang. But on closer examination the grip as it approaches the bulb appears unduly thick. CS and Universal’s design keep sending me back to Windlass with their somewhat fragile wood grip.
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LeMal
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Post by LeMal on May 9, 2019 14:59:55 GMT
If the blade has promise but the guard and grip are the main problem this sounds like a job for Jimbo Curry!
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Post by zabazagobo on May 9, 2019 20:45:21 GMT
elbrittania39 & leviathansteak yup, swords' unwieldy due to how ridiculously overbuilt the guard/handle is. Seriously kills the flow and the grip was so dang fat that it stresses your hand
One other thing that you alerted me to was the overbuilt grip. I had also been eyeing Unviersal’s Shamshir USS185 since they’ve started using 1055 steel. The grip is of my favourite construction, wood scales riveted to a visible tang. But on closer examination the grip as it approaches the bulb appears unduly thick. CS and Universal’s design keep sending me back to Windlass with their somewhat fragile wood grip. I've also been considering the Universal Swords shamshir, and like the looks of it (design, specs and blade-wise) the best. The reason I'm ambivalent about purchasing one is there's some noticeable gaps around the guard (blade side filled with a noticeable epoxy) that I'm skeptical about how well it'd hold up, especially hearing reports of a number of issues with Universal Swords hilt assembly. It's a very attractive piece, but I'm just nervous given how visible the gaps are in KoA's photos. The new design of the guard on the C.S. shamshir looks really bad to my eye. Way too busy with muddy details, would be much better if it were simple and clean.
The Windlass handle stories have deterred me from ever checking it out, as has the finish on the guard. Skallagrim had the right of it in his video review when he mentioned how it looks sort of odd
And so the hunt for a good shamshir/scimitar continues. Maybe I'll end up trying the Universal Swords, or maybe I'll just move on to other things until something special catches my eye.
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Post by zabazagobo on May 9, 2019 20:49:14 GMT
If the blade has promise but the guard and grip are the main problem this sounds like a job for Jimbo Curry! True, but redoing the hilt would significantly surpass the price of the sword itself. For me, it's better to look at another sword, after all as interested in sabres as I am I'm even more interested in sideswords and jian.
I should also mention that while the blade had a really nice amount of curve, there was something about it which made me doubt how well it could cut. Like the sword didn't have enough 'oomph' or something to that effect with the width and thickness of the blade. Just not sure if it's an appropriate representation of an Arabic or Turkish cavalry sabre.
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Post by William Swiger on May 10, 2019 1:17:19 GMT
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Post by zabazagobo on May 10, 2019 6:48:24 GMT
Would you be willing to post a pic or two of the guard? My main hangup with this model is that the guard looks kind of silly in the stock photos. If it's better in person, consider me sold.
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Post by William Swiger on May 10, 2019 10:48:35 GMT
Will get some later after work. At first, I did not like the pictures either but it is not too bling.
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Post by William Swiger on May 10, 2019 22:09:49 GMT
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Post by zabazagobo on May 10, 2019 22:30:52 GMT
Wow! That looks much better than the stock images. Thanks for sharing, completely changes my mind about the design for the better
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2019 0:02:42 GMT
One of the factors among all these are the tang construction and the overall mass distribution. Add in the variance we seem to be getting from India, I can see it being a real crap shoot. The aesthetics of the first posted reminds my of my impression when I bought one of the backsword morts. Cheez-whiz but the sword overall still works for me but it definitely kept me from going with their big rapier, in similar pewter-ish looks. So sad A lump is a lump and possibly not suited to then go galumph galumphing here is Paul Southren's impressions of the old shamshir from quite some time ago www.sword-buyers-guide.com/shamshir.html
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Post by zabazagobo on May 11, 2019 3:30:45 GMT
One of the factors among all these are the tang construction and the overall mass distribution. Add in the variance we seem to be getting from India, I can see it being a real crap shoot. The aesthetics of the first posted reminds my of my impression when I bought one of the backsword morts. Cheez-whiz but the sword overall still works for me but it definitely kept me from going with their big rapier, in similar pewter-ish looks. So sad A lump is a lump and possibly not suited to then go galumph galumphing here is Paul Southren's impressions of the old shamshir from quite some time ago www.sword-buyers-guide.com/shamshir.htmlVery true. I've read this particular hilt is a little less prone to breaking than the Windlass at least. So that counts for something, although the handle construction does kind of concern me as for overall longevity.
Blade reportedly (as in Paul's review) seems to perform well, and it's allegedly pretty well balanced. As long as the guard doesn't weigh half a pound it might be okay.
That lump poem was something else haha
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AndiTheBarvarian
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on May 11, 2019 3:34:02 GMT
From what I've seen the CS blades at least have a better mass distribution than their windlass counterparts because the blades are forged or grinded as sharps with less material. My CS "1860" = 1840 HC handles very similar to my Windlass 1860 Officers.
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Post by Jordan Williams on May 11, 2019 5:53:58 GMT
From what I've seen the CS blades at least have a better mass distribution than their windlass counterparts because the blades are forged or grinded as sharps with less material. My CS "1860" = 1840 HC handles very similar to my Windlass 1860 Officers. The CS 1860 is actually the Windlass 1840 but sharp.
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