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Post by markus313 on May 6, 2020 8:21:20 GMT
Wow. Congrats. Exactly the type of sword I don’t like. Or hate. But the best of that. IYKWIM. Awesome choices with the options. Da*n, that basket. That blade. No way around that – an awesome, very impressive weapon.
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pgandy
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Senior Forumite
Posts: 10,296
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Post by pgandy on May 6, 2020 12:40:14 GMT
I like the hilt of yours far better than the one in Darkwood link. Glad that you got a blade that is stiff in your opinion. So many of the modern rapiers in my opinion lack this feature. Congratulations. It’s a beauty.
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Post by Sir Thorfinn on May 6, 2020 13:01:58 GMT
Beautiful sword. Sounds heavy, but my experience in fencing is about a thorough as my experience as an astronaut...
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harrybeck
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Posts: 999
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Post by harrybeck on May 6, 2020 16:33:07 GMT
If I can help with anything in historical fence, please ask.
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Post by howler on May 6, 2020 19:25:45 GMT
That sword can easily handle battlefield rigors. Btw, as I just mentioned on your other thread, it really is a 39 1/2" blade, not 37", a good thing because reach is a huge deal with rapier. Another fun task for you...picking out a nice, complimentary main gauche/offhand dagger which would make a formidable weapons system, a necessity (in my opinion) for heavy rapier.
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Post by howler on May 6, 2020 20:52:31 GMT
That sword can easily handle battlefield rigors. Btw, as I just mentioned on your other thread, it really is a 39 1/2" blade, not 37", a good thing because reach is a huge deal with rapier. Another fun task for you...picking out a nice, complimentary main gauche/offhand dagger which would make a formidable weapons system, a necessity (in my opinion) for heavy rapier. Yes this is the confusing part, I was not sure exactly to go with 39 1/2" or 37" when putting the blade length. I will update the area to indicate from the quillions length. Not your fault regarding the wildly confusing guard/quillion thing as I really do wish the manufacturers would break down the measurements and give all the numbers. Both POB and blade reach stats have to start at the fingers/quillons.
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Post by twin-rabbit on May 6, 2020 22:01:51 GMT
Well, they don't say the POB, but on the Darkwood website they do make a point to inform people that the listed blade lengths do include the ricasso.
Thank you for the review Brother man! I'm glad you did it.
You said you think the grip is a tad long at 4", and you think it would handle better a half inch shorter. As it happens, I have their economy hilt rapier with the bated blade, and my grip is exactly 3 1/2" lol. I think 3 1/2" is fine, but with a heavy blade like that, do you suppose you might push the POB out if you lost length in the grip, or not really? Would you have asked for a shorter grip if you had handled it first? And do you think they would accommodate?
Another difference I notice from mine is that you have a pommel nut. Whereas my pommel is threaded on the inside, no nut. That really is a cool looking hilt. It made something random pop into my head; idk if it would look good, but I wonder if you could get an unfinished hilt and send it off to someone to be color case hardened. Do you think you'll ever look into getting a scabbard? I don't know how one goes about that. It seems like the big names never make scabbards for their swords, which is a little disappointing if you want to carry it sometimes.
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Post by howler on May 6, 2020 22:18:01 GMT
Well, they don't say the POB, but on the Darkwood website they do make a point to inform people that the listed blade lengths do include the ricasso. Thank you for the review Brother man! I'm glad you did it. You said you think the grip is a tad long at 4", and you think it would handle better a half inch shorter. As it happens, I have their economy hilt rapier with the bated blade, and my grip is exactly 3 1/2" lol. I think 3 1/2" is fine, but with a heavy blade like that, do you suppose you might push the POB out if you lost length in the grip, or not really? Would you have asked for a shorter grip if you had handled it first? And do you think they would accommodate? Another difference I notice from mine is that you have a pommel nut. Whereas my pommel is threaded on the inside, no nut. That really is a cool looking hilt. It made something random pop into my head; idk if it would look good, but I wonder if you could get an unfinished hilt and send it off to someone to be color case hardened. Do you think you'll ever look into getting a scabbard? I don't know how one goes about that. It seems like the big names never make scabbards for their swords, which is a little disappointing if you want to carry it sometimes. It looks like the definition of ricasso is un-sharpened blade above guard or handle, so it would only apply to POB and overall reach if it specified handle/quuillion. I think guard is the big mistake because it may be inches way from hands/fingers, thus throwing off POB/reach measurements, so I'm hoping that blade reach is still 39 1/2". So confusing.
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Post by Jordan Williams on May 6, 2020 22:42:46 GMT
Quite difficult to achieve with such a complex guard due to the differing thicknesses and shapes.
Very nice rapier! You would surprised at how well these heavier rapiers fence, not in the modern sense of beating and thrusting off a beat, but in the sense of horrifically deadly parry - riposte and more complex work. Throw in a dagger and you can see why the rapier became such a popular weapon.
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Post by twin-rabbit on May 6, 2020 23:27:18 GMT
Well, they don't say the POB, but on the Darkwood website they do make a point to inform people that the listed blade lengths do include the ricasso. Thank you for the review Brother man! I'm glad you did it. You said you think the grip is a tad long at 4", and you think it would handle better a half inch shorter. As it happens, I have their economy hilt rapier with the bated blade, and my grip is exactly 3 1/2" lol. I think 3 1/2" is fine, but with a heavy blade like that, do you suppose you might push the POB out if you lost length in the grip, or not really? Would you have asked for a shorter grip if you had handled it first? And do you think they would accommodate? Another difference I notice from mine is that you have a pommel nut. Whereas my pommel is threaded on the inside, no nut. That really is a cool looking hilt. It made something random pop into my head; idk if it would look good, but I wonder if you could get an unfinished hilt and send it off to someone to be color case hardened. Do you think you'll ever look into getting a scabbard? I don't know how one goes about that. It seems like the big names never make scabbards for their swords, which is a little disappointing if you want to carry it sometimes. It looks like the definition of ricasso is un-sharpened blade above guard or handle, so it would only apply to POB and overall reach if it specified handle/quuillion. I think guard is the big mistake because it may be inches way from hands/fingers, thus throwing off POB/reach measurements, so I'm hoping that blade reach is still 39 1/2". So confusing. You are starting to confuse me. I'm not sure if I am misunderstanding something or if you are.. ??? Are you saying you don't know what a ricasso is, specifically in regard to rapiers? I was kind of under the impression that POB was always measured from the crossgaurd. I don't understand why you think the reach would be affected. Your hand is still holding the grip under the crossguard, and the blade length from there remains the same. It makes no meaningful difference in reach, whether you are fingering the guard (as you should be), or if you have an unnatural hammer grip on your rapier like one of those weirdos lol. And you do want some blade presence. If the point of balance was right in your grip, your opponent would very easily be able to push your blade around. You would not have much strength/leverage to parry. I think 4"-5" from the grip feels like an pretty good POB
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Post by howler on May 6, 2020 23:38:57 GMT
It looks like the definition of ricasso is un-sharpened blade above guard or handle, so it would only apply to POB and overall reach if it specified handle/quuillion. I think guard is the big mistake because it may be inches way from hands/fingers, thus throwing off POB/reach measurements, so I'm hoping that blade reach is still 39 1/2". So confusing. You are starting to confuse me. I'm not sure if I am misunderstanding something or if you are.. Are you saying you don't know what a ricasso is, specifically in regard to rapiers? I was kind of under the impression that POB was always measured from the crossgaurd. I don't understand why you think the reach would be affected. Your hand is still holding the grip under the crossguard, and the blade length from there remains the same. It makes no meaningful difference in reach, whether you are fingering the guard (as you should be), or if you have an unnatural hammer grip on your rapier like one of those weirdos lol. And you do want some blade presence. If the point of balance was right in your grip, your opponent would very easily be able to push your blade around. You would not have much strength/leverage to parry. I think 4"-5" from the grip feels like an pretty good POB And I don't blame you for being confused. I think we are on the same page. CROSS guard is just fine (or quillion area...wherever you hold fingers also works). The problem is when they measure POB from the guard (2 1/2" in front of cross guard/quillins) like on the Darkwood Armory and say the POB is 3"...when it is 5 1/2". Wherever the balance point is starting from fingers is the POB, so maybe that is the simplest way of understanding it.
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Post by twin-rabbit on May 6, 2020 23:56:41 GMT
Okay, I understand you now. Yes, we are on the same page. Except one thing- I don't see any place where Darkwood states a POB on their swords..
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Post by twin-rabbit on May 6, 2020 23:57:51 GMT
Yes this confusion was from my original mistake of measuring from the guard. AT 3 inch Pob. Ooh, I see. Now it makes sense
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Post by StevenJ on May 7, 2020 20:03:42 GMT
Wow, I own two Darkwoods a Pampemhiemer with a spada blade and a custom basket hilt. I am using their Spada blade, double fullered, on a Deepeka Sinclair hilt I bought off ebay. I used to own one of their economy rapiers and I always thought of buying a sharp blade to use for one of my rapier hilts from them. The amount of quality you get from them for the money is incredible, they are a great company and the only other swordsmith that compares to them for price and quality is Castlie Armory, also in the US. I personally would of gone for a shorter blade, 3.5 pounds is too much for a one handed sword for me, I could deal with 3 pounds. Minor quip though, beautiful rapier. Darkwood is amazing as a company.
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Post by twin-rabbit on May 12, 2020 1:51:07 GMT
What happened to the entire first half of this thread??? The other threads about this sword have also lost the first pages...
I've noticed this before on other threads, and other sword reviews also, where half or more of the conversation from the beginning is just gone.. Is everyone else experiencing this, or am I the only one seeing threads with half of the content mysteriously gone?
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Post by MOK on May 12, 2020 2:02:09 GMT
Users deleting their own posts. It's the flipside to there being no time limit on editing your posts - it's often extremely convenient, but can also lead to confusion like this.
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on May 12, 2020 2:48:08 GMT
I see Brother Nathaniel deleted all his posts. Sad! Perhaps he was pissed because he got no real reply to his latest monster fighting thread. It's clear he put much work in this to entertain us. But at least I was running out of ideas what to do in such situations except being killed.
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