LK Chen Striking Eagle
Apr 29, 2020 0:00:00 GMT
Post by mrbadexample on Apr 29, 2020 0:00:00 GMT
Introduction
Bear with me on this one, guys. I know things are weird for everybody, but I’ve been trying to write this while teaching elementary special education remotely and homeschooling my exceedingly rambunctious 6-year old. It’s a testament to this sword that I am writing up a long review. Photos to come later.
I have always been intrigued by large swords, but normally when I get the chance to handle one I think to myself, “Self, it’s not like you have to clear streets as part of being a bodyguard. Why not just use one of your spears or that dane axe?” I guess what I had been longing for was something like a big, rapier/spear hybrid that could still hold its own as a cutter. For years I assumed that that was just not a thing, but then I saw a review for an LK Chen dao that aroused my interest and got me to poking around on their website. When I saw the stats for the Striking Eagle I was intrigued, and when I saw the videos that show how it is used I was hooked.
Historical overview
Admittedly, ancient Chinese weaponry is not my area of expertise. I will rely a lot on the ad copy from LK Chen here.
From the LK Chen description: “Striking Eagle is model after the design of 2,000+ year old Chu double hand swords excavated during the 1950-1980 from tombs dating back 315 - 221 BC of the ancient Kingdom of Chu. We adopt the length of the longest Jian ever excavated in China, discovered in 1983 from the tomb of King Zhao Mo (D. 122 BC).”
From the limited research I have done since ordering the sword (a great way to pass the time while waiting for delivery), the Striking Eagle is a very close match to the artifact on which it is based. The non-ferrous components of the original are fairly well preserved and look identical to the fittings used on the Striking Eagle.
Full Disclosure
I am in no way affiliated with LK Chen Swords, and I paid full price for this sword.
Initial Impressions
Ordering from LK Chen was easy, and customer service was great throughout. They kept me up to date with pictures of the sword throughout the construction process. After the sword shipped I received a tracking number, and when I had difficulty following the progress on my end, KK kept me up to date with tracking until I sorted things with the post office on my end.
The sword arrived in many layers of cardboard, bubble wrap, and yellow packing tape. It looked like somebody had handled it roughly (drop kicked it) in transit, but there were no noticeable issues when I freed it from the packing materials. More on that later.
First inspection after wiping off the generous packing oil showed a well-polished blade with a visible, interesting pattern. There were some faint grinding marks remnants in a few places near the edge, but nothing horrible. The bronze fittings were flawless and tight. The scabbard was smooth and evenly finished, and the grip wrap was tight, even the white over-wrap.
My initial impression with the sword in hand was a delighted surprise. I knew I had ordered it based on those unusual stats, but my previous experience has still conditioned me to expect a certain thing when picking up a big sword. The Striking Eagle defies all of those expectations. Yes, it is big. But it is also surprisingly narrow, light, well balanced, and responsive. As far as blades I am familiar with, It most brings to mind transitional rapiers in the early development of the smallsword or maybe the Albion Gallowglass. But it is almost 5’ long. If you are like me, that will make you giddy. My wife eventually had to make me put it down so we could eat dinner. Apparently swords aren’t welcome at the dinner table.
Statistics
I don’t have calipers or an accurate scale. The length of my sword does not deviate significantly from the stats listed on the LK Chen website:
Blade only weight: 850 g (1 lb. 13.98 oz)
Sword only weight: approx. 1134 g (2 lb. 8 oz)
Blade length: 106.5 cm (42") Tang length: 41.5 cm (16.3")
Total length: (148 cm - 4' 10.26")
Width at hand guard: 30 mm, Width at tip: 18 mm
Thickness: 7 mm - 2.5 mm at the tip
POB: approx. 16.5 cm (6.5") from hand guard
The Blade
The blade is awesome.
As briefly described above, the blade of the Striking Eagle is beautiful. The steel has the sort of darker luster that I prefer and is polished just short of a mirror finish. The double fullers are attractive and well-executed. The flats are even on both sides, and the tip is symmetrical. There is no visible secondary bevel. The overall cross-section when looking at the edge is lenticular with the central ridge between the fuller meeting the arc that would connect the flats.
A bit of rippling is evident when sighting down the blade, but it is far less pronounced than what is typical on, say, an average Windlass blade in my experience and consistent with what I expect from forged pieces.
The blade has a good amount of flex, and it does sag ever so slightly under its own weight when held parallel to the ground. Again, not surprising from a blade of this size, and not at all what I would consider “whippy.” It does not affect my cutting or point control.
My only real issue with the blade was the sharpness out of the box. From other reviews of LK Chen products, I was expecting a very sharp edge. The edge on my sword was just short of paper cutting sharp. When sighting down the edge, I could see the slimmest glint indicating that the bevels did not quite meet, something to the tune of ⅙ of a millimeter. There was no secondary bevel. There is an even transition from the outer edge of the fuller to the cutting edge that exhibits a good amount of “niku.” This is a great foundational edge geometry, and it was not hard for me to get the edge up to paper-cutting. Sadly, this has resulted in temporary scratches, but I’ve already been able to polish a small section back to the original finish. The rest of it will get there eventually, and now I don’t have worries about marring the finish as an excuse to be lazy instead of cutting.
In short, it’s a great blade.
The Grip
The grip is a good size for my medium-ish hands. It is wrapped with black silk (I think) cord, and then there is an over-wrap of white rope. This grip provides plenty of traction. I’m impressed by how well it is holding together through use without the over-wrap shifting at all. The overall shape is a significantly flattened oval. Determining edge alignment without looking is not a problem.
The hilt feels great, but that white over-wrap is a bit odd to my eyes. Also, the white cord gets dirty pretty quickly. Not a big issue for me, but if you want to keep the bright contrast between black and white pristine, you will need to be careful about handling it without gloves.
The Guard
The guard is a minimal affair that does a good job keeping the wielder’s hands off the blade. It is cast from bronze and left with an attractive, non-reflective finish. All of the edges and corners look crisp but are nicely rounded and deburred. No hot spots. The fit on mine is very tight with no wiggle.
The Pommel
Not much to say here. This is more of a bronze end cap than a pommel. It is simple and comfortable to hold when using a grip with the hands widely spaced. The finish on mine is uniform, and the fit is tight.
The Scabbard
Having a scabbard at all for such a big sword is a serious bonus, and this is a nice one to boot. It is made of thin, stained wood with, I think, bronze hardware. The finish on all of it is uniform and attractive. The scabbard is quite slim with a crisp, diamond cross section, and it is obvious that a good amount of work went into carving it. There is no gap between the langets and the mouth of the scabbard. Now, remember that drop kicking of the package I noted in the initial impressions? I am pretty sure that is the source of the small crack on one side starting at the mouth and extending down about three inches. When I put the scabbard back in the packaging, the crack lined up with the damaged area of the packaging.
Fortunately this was an easy fix with some wood glue and steel wool. The folks at LK Chen were horrified to hear about it, and I hear that they are sending their swords with extra packaging now. I’m sure this is an issue created in the shipping process as the sword made its way to me, but I’ve been impressed by how much KK wanted to make it right.
Handling Characteristics
One word: nimble. This sword is fast and responsive. I can accurately drive the point into things with a one handed lunge from the pommel. I expect I look like a lunatic using a 5’ sword as a foil, but it’s still fun. You can still feel the power in the cut, but recovery is quick. I really enjoy dry handling this sword.
Test Cutting
I like cutting with it too. My targets are limited at the moment. We don’t drink bottled water, and I’m hesitant to go scavenging for used bottles right now. I do have some milk jugs, but you can cut those with harsh language. That leaves me with the neighbor’s bamboo hedge and a few hard plastic bottles. I cut bamboo and bottles with it before sharpening the edge to paper-cutting sharp, and just bamboo after. It worked well regardless.
The Striking Eagle goes through bamboo, even thick bamboo, like a lightsaber. For the two harder plastic bottles, I cut the first about a third of the way through before I sent it flying across the yard. The second bottle was a clean cut. The only difference was my technique.
I’m not surprised that my sharpening did not make an obvious difference on bamboo, but I am more confident now that cuts would be effective on targets covered with light clothing.
Conclusions
It’s an awesome sword.
Pros
Great handling
Attractive package (blade, grip, fittings, scabbard)
Affordable
Excellent customer service
Cons
Not quite paper-cutting sharp
The Bottom Line
I highly recommend the Striking Eagle. It is an awesome sword that provides a lot of value for the price. If one of the other offerings is more to your taste, go for it. I also highly recommend LK Chen Swords based on their excellent customer service. If I haven’t ordered a Flying Phoenix to keep the Striking Eagle company by the end of the year, I’ll be surprised.
Bear with me on this one, guys. I know things are weird for everybody, but I’ve been trying to write this while teaching elementary special education remotely and homeschooling my exceedingly rambunctious 6-year old. It’s a testament to this sword that I am writing up a long review. Photos to come later.
I have always been intrigued by large swords, but normally when I get the chance to handle one I think to myself, “Self, it’s not like you have to clear streets as part of being a bodyguard. Why not just use one of your spears or that dane axe?” I guess what I had been longing for was something like a big, rapier/spear hybrid that could still hold its own as a cutter. For years I assumed that that was just not a thing, but then I saw a review for an LK Chen dao that aroused my interest and got me to poking around on their website. When I saw the stats for the Striking Eagle I was intrigued, and when I saw the videos that show how it is used I was hooked.
Historical overview
Admittedly, ancient Chinese weaponry is not my area of expertise. I will rely a lot on the ad copy from LK Chen here.
From the LK Chen description: “Striking Eagle is model after the design of 2,000+ year old Chu double hand swords excavated during the 1950-1980 from tombs dating back 315 - 221 BC of the ancient Kingdom of Chu. We adopt the length of the longest Jian ever excavated in China, discovered in 1983 from the tomb of King Zhao Mo (D. 122 BC).”
From the limited research I have done since ordering the sword (a great way to pass the time while waiting for delivery), the Striking Eagle is a very close match to the artifact on which it is based. The non-ferrous components of the original are fairly well preserved and look identical to the fittings used on the Striking Eagle.
Full Disclosure
I am in no way affiliated with LK Chen Swords, and I paid full price for this sword.
Initial Impressions
Ordering from LK Chen was easy, and customer service was great throughout. They kept me up to date with pictures of the sword throughout the construction process. After the sword shipped I received a tracking number, and when I had difficulty following the progress on my end, KK kept me up to date with tracking until I sorted things with the post office on my end.
The sword arrived in many layers of cardboard, bubble wrap, and yellow packing tape. It looked like somebody had handled it roughly (drop kicked it) in transit, but there were no noticeable issues when I freed it from the packing materials. More on that later.
First inspection after wiping off the generous packing oil showed a well-polished blade with a visible, interesting pattern. There were some faint grinding marks remnants in a few places near the edge, but nothing horrible. The bronze fittings were flawless and tight. The scabbard was smooth and evenly finished, and the grip wrap was tight, even the white over-wrap.
My initial impression with the sword in hand was a delighted surprise. I knew I had ordered it based on those unusual stats, but my previous experience has still conditioned me to expect a certain thing when picking up a big sword. The Striking Eagle defies all of those expectations. Yes, it is big. But it is also surprisingly narrow, light, well balanced, and responsive. As far as blades I am familiar with, It most brings to mind transitional rapiers in the early development of the smallsword or maybe the Albion Gallowglass. But it is almost 5’ long. If you are like me, that will make you giddy. My wife eventually had to make me put it down so we could eat dinner. Apparently swords aren’t welcome at the dinner table.
Statistics
I don’t have calipers or an accurate scale. The length of my sword does not deviate significantly from the stats listed on the LK Chen website:
Blade only weight: 850 g (1 lb. 13.98 oz)
Sword only weight: approx. 1134 g (2 lb. 8 oz)
Blade length: 106.5 cm (42") Tang length: 41.5 cm (16.3")
Total length: (148 cm - 4' 10.26")
Width at hand guard: 30 mm, Width at tip: 18 mm
Thickness: 7 mm - 2.5 mm at the tip
POB: approx. 16.5 cm (6.5") from hand guard
The Blade
The blade is awesome.
As briefly described above, the blade of the Striking Eagle is beautiful. The steel has the sort of darker luster that I prefer and is polished just short of a mirror finish. The double fullers are attractive and well-executed. The flats are even on both sides, and the tip is symmetrical. There is no visible secondary bevel. The overall cross-section when looking at the edge is lenticular with the central ridge between the fuller meeting the arc that would connect the flats.
A bit of rippling is evident when sighting down the blade, but it is far less pronounced than what is typical on, say, an average Windlass blade in my experience and consistent with what I expect from forged pieces.
The blade has a good amount of flex, and it does sag ever so slightly under its own weight when held parallel to the ground. Again, not surprising from a blade of this size, and not at all what I would consider “whippy.” It does not affect my cutting or point control.
My only real issue with the blade was the sharpness out of the box. From other reviews of LK Chen products, I was expecting a very sharp edge. The edge on my sword was just short of paper cutting sharp. When sighting down the edge, I could see the slimmest glint indicating that the bevels did not quite meet, something to the tune of ⅙ of a millimeter. There was no secondary bevel. There is an even transition from the outer edge of the fuller to the cutting edge that exhibits a good amount of “niku.” This is a great foundational edge geometry, and it was not hard for me to get the edge up to paper-cutting. Sadly, this has resulted in temporary scratches, but I’ve already been able to polish a small section back to the original finish. The rest of it will get there eventually, and now I don’t have worries about marring the finish as an excuse to be lazy instead of cutting.
In short, it’s a great blade.
The Grip
The grip is a good size for my medium-ish hands. It is wrapped with black silk (I think) cord, and then there is an over-wrap of white rope. This grip provides plenty of traction. I’m impressed by how well it is holding together through use without the over-wrap shifting at all. The overall shape is a significantly flattened oval. Determining edge alignment without looking is not a problem.
The hilt feels great, but that white over-wrap is a bit odd to my eyes. Also, the white cord gets dirty pretty quickly. Not a big issue for me, but if you want to keep the bright contrast between black and white pristine, you will need to be careful about handling it without gloves.
The Guard
The guard is a minimal affair that does a good job keeping the wielder’s hands off the blade. It is cast from bronze and left with an attractive, non-reflective finish. All of the edges and corners look crisp but are nicely rounded and deburred. No hot spots. The fit on mine is very tight with no wiggle.
The Pommel
Not much to say here. This is more of a bronze end cap than a pommel. It is simple and comfortable to hold when using a grip with the hands widely spaced. The finish on mine is uniform, and the fit is tight.
The Scabbard
Having a scabbard at all for such a big sword is a serious bonus, and this is a nice one to boot. It is made of thin, stained wood with, I think, bronze hardware. The finish on all of it is uniform and attractive. The scabbard is quite slim with a crisp, diamond cross section, and it is obvious that a good amount of work went into carving it. There is no gap between the langets and the mouth of the scabbard. Now, remember that drop kicking of the package I noted in the initial impressions? I am pretty sure that is the source of the small crack on one side starting at the mouth and extending down about three inches. When I put the scabbard back in the packaging, the crack lined up with the damaged area of the packaging.
Fortunately this was an easy fix with some wood glue and steel wool. The folks at LK Chen were horrified to hear about it, and I hear that they are sending their swords with extra packaging now. I’m sure this is an issue created in the shipping process as the sword made its way to me, but I’ve been impressed by how much KK wanted to make it right.
Handling Characteristics
One word: nimble. This sword is fast and responsive. I can accurately drive the point into things with a one handed lunge from the pommel. I expect I look like a lunatic using a 5’ sword as a foil, but it’s still fun. You can still feel the power in the cut, but recovery is quick. I really enjoy dry handling this sword.
Test Cutting
I like cutting with it too. My targets are limited at the moment. We don’t drink bottled water, and I’m hesitant to go scavenging for used bottles right now. I do have some milk jugs, but you can cut those with harsh language. That leaves me with the neighbor’s bamboo hedge and a few hard plastic bottles. I cut bamboo and bottles with it before sharpening the edge to paper-cutting sharp, and just bamboo after. It worked well regardless.
The Striking Eagle goes through bamboo, even thick bamboo, like a lightsaber. For the two harder plastic bottles, I cut the first about a third of the way through before I sent it flying across the yard. The second bottle was a clean cut. The only difference was my technique.
I’m not surprised that my sharpening did not make an obvious difference on bamboo, but I am more confident now that cuts would be effective on targets covered with light clothing.
Conclusions
It’s an awesome sword.
Pros
Great handling
Attractive package (blade, grip, fittings, scabbard)
Affordable
Excellent customer service
Cons
Not quite paper-cutting sharp
The Bottom Line
I highly recommend the Striking Eagle. It is an awesome sword that provides a lot of value for the price. If one of the other offerings is more to your taste, go for it. I also highly recommend LK Chen Swords based on their excellent customer service. If I haven’t ordered a Flying Phoenix to keep the Striking Eagle company by the end of the year, I’ll be surprised.