Review - Castille Armory Rapier
Jul 4, 2019 1:26:10 GMT
Post by Jordan Williams on Jul 4, 2019 1:26:10 GMT
The rapier is a weapon I have always been interested in, but always somewhat scared off by by my allegiance to the cut and thrust ideals, and not really having seen rapier fencing nor experienced the advantages that the comprehensive hand guard, long blade, and balance offers over other sword styles. In the spring of 2018, I returned to my local (local here meaning 1.5 hours away, so local – ish?) HEMA club, and noticed that there was now a space in the room we practice in where my friend and two others were learning rapier. I spent one night doing longsword, had a short look at the rapierists, and decided that the rapier would be a good weapon to learn and make more sense to practice given my liking of single handed swords from the later (1600 to 1900) periods.
Enough guff, let’s get into the review.
Hilt – The clamshell guard is excellently and elegantly formed. The welds are barely visible, and there is no Windlass/Hanwei index finger injury points, where the finger rings create a hot spot. Instead the rings are made of square stock, that had fairly rounded edges. It is of durable make, and I do not expect it to break or deform at all, and have not seen any of this make that have. The rear quillon flares slightly towards the end, and has a nicely crimped accent at the terminus. I ordered for no frontal quillon. The knucklebow is very nicely shaped and comes to the pommel quite nicely.
Blade – The blade is of rectangular section for 4”, at which point it has tapered in profile and begins to form a diamond cross section. The base of the ricasso measures in at 3/4ths of an inch wide, and at three inches from the point measures in at 2/8ths of an inch wide. The balance point comes in at 3 and 1/8ths inches from the shell, and 6 inches from tang entering the guard. The point is extremely agile, and can be disengaged and quickly moved from target to target without being burdensome. One can use this rapier for many bouts on end and quickly become used to moving the weight without being too fatigued. It is not whippy like the Hanwei practicals, nor does it have so much weight in the blade that it needs a giant flipping birdcage of nickel plated thiccc bars of metal to balance out the blade. It is very well balanced, and neither element seems to outweigh the other, thought the blade is more tip heavy than the antique Spanish rapier I wrote about a while back which had a similar blade length.
Grip – Stock grip good. Good shape. I shaved mine down and put a traditional cord, leather, and wire wrap over it to improve grip though this may not be historical for the period.
Pommel – Nice! A ball of steel! Not much to say, it does it’s job well BUT the options seem a little pricy sometimes. However given you get to pick and choose what you have though I won’t complain too much. Plus I do not have workers to employ, nor business finances to conduct.
Sparring worth – I have used this on a usual and fairly heavy basis since I received it in early February/Late January. Since then I have pushed the blade far enough that the blade has taken sets when it strikes quite hard and flexes harshly and quickly. I believe this to be somewhat by design, for as I understand it the basic blade, which is the cheapest available, option is made from cheaper steel and with a less complex heat treat. The sets so far have only in the very distal end, last 10” or so. I have reset it quite a few times now, and no ill consequence has happened. So I think it has been designed to take a soft set as opposed to a harsh set which would snap the blade.
Price – My rapier has the cheapest options available, as I bought it on a fairly tight budget. The basic blade, clamshell hilt, and cheapest grip option, with the exception of the quillon option, wherein I wanted no bottom quillon which cost 5USD more than the norm. I opted for the 45” blade on the advise of my rapier instructor. This last option did not effect the price at all. The total cost was 324USD.
Was it worth it?
To me, yes, it is worth the cash I dropped on it. It is a great sparring and drilling tool, and has served me very well. It does get pricy when you add custom options or spring for more complex hilts, but with the long blade, great hand protection, and vary of options, I think it is a fairly fair value.
Photos will be in an album below when I upload them. I have customized mine by bluing the steel hilt components in my oven and wrapping the grip. I will someday kill my nemesis Zorro by throwing his pitiful toy blade away with a flick of my dagger, and in much the same tempo throw my rapier into his heart. Yeet.
Enough guff, let’s get into the review.
Hilt – The clamshell guard is excellently and elegantly formed. The welds are barely visible, and there is no Windlass/Hanwei index finger injury points, where the finger rings create a hot spot. Instead the rings are made of square stock, that had fairly rounded edges. It is of durable make, and I do not expect it to break or deform at all, and have not seen any of this make that have. The rear quillon flares slightly towards the end, and has a nicely crimped accent at the terminus. I ordered for no frontal quillon. The knucklebow is very nicely shaped and comes to the pommel quite nicely.
Blade – The blade is of rectangular section for 4”, at which point it has tapered in profile and begins to form a diamond cross section. The base of the ricasso measures in at 3/4ths of an inch wide, and at three inches from the point measures in at 2/8ths of an inch wide. The balance point comes in at 3 and 1/8ths inches from the shell, and 6 inches from tang entering the guard. The point is extremely agile, and can be disengaged and quickly moved from target to target without being burdensome. One can use this rapier for many bouts on end and quickly become used to moving the weight without being too fatigued. It is not whippy like the Hanwei practicals, nor does it have so much weight in the blade that it needs a giant flipping birdcage of nickel plated thiccc bars of metal to balance out the blade. It is very well balanced, and neither element seems to outweigh the other, thought the blade is more tip heavy than the antique Spanish rapier I wrote about a while back which had a similar blade length.
Grip – Stock grip good. Good shape. I shaved mine down and put a traditional cord, leather, and wire wrap over it to improve grip though this may not be historical for the period.
Pommel – Nice! A ball of steel! Not much to say, it does it’s job well BUT the options seem a little pricy sometimes. However given you get to pick and choose what you have though I won’t complain too much. Plus I do not have workers to employ, nor business finances to conduct.
Sparring worth – I have used this on a usual and fairly heavy basis since I received it in early February/Late January. Since then I have pushed the blade far enough that the blade has taken sets when it strikes quite hard and flexes harshly and quickly. I believe this to be somewhat by design, for as I understand it the basic blade, which is the cheapest available, option is made from cheaper steel and with a less complex heat treat. The sets so far have only in the very distal end, last 10” or so. I have reset it quite a few times now, and no ill consequence has happened. So I think it has been designed to take a soft set as opposed to a harsh set which would snap the blade.
Price – My rapier has the cheapest options available, as I bought it on a fairly tight budget. The basic blade, clamshell hilt, and cheapest grip option, with the exception of the quillon option, wherein I wanted no bottom quillon which cost 5USD more than the norm. I opted for the 45” blade on the advise of my rapier instructor. This last option did not effect the price at all. The total cost was 324USD.
Was it worth it?
To me, yes, it is worth the cash I dropped on it. It is a great sparring and drilling tool, and has served me very well. It does get pricy when you add custom options or spring for more complex hilts, but with the long blade, great hand protection, and vary of options, I think it is a fairly fair value.
Photos will be in an album below when I upload them. I have customized mine by bluing the steel hilt components in my oven and wrapping the grip. I will someday kill my nemesis Zorro by throwing his pitiful toy blade away with a flick of my dagger, and in much the same tempo throw my rapier into his heart. Yeet.