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Post by gruggier on Jan 9, 2021 23:46:03 GMT
Oh I was just wondering what your plan was to test. You do what you want. I cant wait to hear your opinion after your done.
Thanks.
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Jan 21, 2021 4:21:02 GMT
I just received the Grosse Messer. It'll be a little while before the review's up but I wanted to share some initial thoughts.
It's pretty heavy. Maybe 3.5-4lbs (scale weight TBD). The balance is far forward and it is a very aggressive chopper. Thanks to the long grip, starting and stopping it is not too bad, but it carries a ton of inertia in the cut. Works best when flowed like a montante.
About 1/8" thick spine with no easily discerned distal taper. The fuller looks better in person. Saber grind bevel with a secondary bevel edge that is fairly steep but clean and even. Acceptable sharpness.
Extremely comfortable and functional grip. Not as soft as Hogue rubber but not rigid.
Solid stainless fittings that appear milled from bar stock instead of cast. Sturdy so far and very functional.
Sheath quality decent, sheath design poor for functionality.
This sword is a poor choice for a duel, but would be a surprisingly good choice for lopping zombie heads left and right. Some will hate it for perceived crowbarness but while brutish, it gets up to cutting speed without trouble and cuts hard. Meant for a very decisive simple hew on the angle of your choice, not meisterhau or feints.
Assuming it holds up to cutting, which I think it will, a good buy if you're buying it for the right reasons. A bad buy if you want a sword that handles like a historical messer.
The ring is on the left. That's typically wrong for guarding the outside line if you're a righty but you can slip your thumb up through it for a thumb-to-flat grip and it doesn't get in the way.
There's screws holding the grip but it looks like the pommel has to come off to get the grip off. Unsure if the pommel screws off. I will get you all a tang picture even if I have to break it.
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AndiTheBarvarian
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Bavarianbarbarian - Semper Semprini
Posts: 9,819
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Jan 21, 2021 6:27:47 GMT
On my Boshin kat the screws in the grip are very very soft metal, easy to ruin the nuts. I unscrewed mine but the rest of the grip was completely epoxied. Could not screw off the pommel. I wouldn't do it again, it's useless and nuts are in bad form now.
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Post by gruggier on Jan 21, 2021 17:03:24 GMT
Very Exciting! I wonder if the ring can be moved to the proper side if the handles etc. are removed. Worth 250 bucks???
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Jan 21, 2021 17:18:54 GMT
Very Exciting! I wonder if the ring can be moved to the proper side if the handles etc. are removed. Worth 250 bucks??? Probably can't move the ring. You can accept it or cut it off, which wouldn't be hard. Build quality seems pretty good, biggest retraction from value is lack of distal taper and the sheath. $250 is fair, but you need to want a big brute chopper tactical sword. Ronin Katana's Euro #10 and their new messer model will cost about the same and be far closer to historical swords in handling. Don't even think about buying this to bubba it into a more traditional sword.
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Post by gruggier on Jan 21, 2021 18:28:35 GMT
Very Exciting! I wonder if the ring can be moved to the proper side if the handles etc. are removed. Worth 250 bucks??? Probably can't move the ring. You can accept it or cut it off, which wouldn't be hard. Build quality seems pretty good, biggest retraction from value is lack of distal taper and the sheath. $250 is fair, but you need to want a big brute chopper tactical sword. Ronin Katana's Euro #10 and their new messer model will cost about the same and be far closer to historical swords in handling. Don't even think about buying this to bubba it into a more traditional sword. Looking forward to the review.
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Jan 23, 2021 1:23:18 GMT
Slightly updated specs - the grosse messer is almost exactly 4 lbs, has a 7" point of balance and a 4mm spine. That is a lot, just like it sounds, but FWIW I can't stop picking it up and dry handling it every time I walk by because it's that fun to sling the weight around. I need to travel quite far to my testing site to do the review and that might be a while, thanks for your patience.
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Post by randomnobody on Jan 27, 2021 9:45:48 GMT
Wow, that heavy, but that thin?
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Jan 27, 2021 15:01:17 GMT
Wow, that heavy, but that thin? Yes, it's quite wide and has a saber grind.
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Jan 27, 2021 15:03:38 GMT
How is the temper dose it pass a file test? How do you mean, exactly? The only file test I do is to see if the blade will skate one after quenching and prior to tempering, which can't be done with the finished sword.
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Post by L Driggers (fallen) on Jan 28, 2021 0:26:26 GMT
How is the temper dose it pass a file test? I'm left handed so the ring thing is not a issue. There's isn't a proper finished blade out there that will pass a file test. If it will skate a file it's way to hard and will break. Also just how would you sharpen it.
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Feb 8, 2021 5:00:58 GMT
I'm editing the video review now. That takes a while, so here's a still frame.
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Post by gruggier on Feb 10, 2021 0:33:18 GMT
I'm editing the video review now. That takes a while, so here's a still frame. Bad ass!
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Feb 10, 2021 1:25:56 GMT
And it's done.
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Post by pellius on Feb 10, 2021 2:24:42 GMT
Great review
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Post by demonskull on Feb 10, 2021 3:10:44 GMT
Nice review, are you going to reassemble and repair the grip ?
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Post by Adventurer'sBlade on Feb 10, 2021 3:29:36 GMT
Nice review, are you going to reassemble and repair the grip ? I will use a little epoxy when I reseat the guard to help prevent rattle, then put the grip back on. I'll just sand off the cut slag and fill the gap with epoxy before wrapping the grip in cloth tape to hide the cut line. It's a shame to hide the nice grip texture but the sword will live to cut again.
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