As I have not seen many reviews of this sword on the web, I wanted to add my own experience with this sword and with Reliks.
Full Disclosure
I am new to sword ownership and this is the first sword I ordered after months of lurking and learning. Like the OP, I am interested in history, the Middle Ages, historical and fantasy fiction, etc and swords have always held an interest. I have no test cutting experience and am just beginning my collection so I might miss some things that a more experienced collector might key in on. Purchased with my own funds direct from Reliks.com at $US380 plus shipping.
I wound up returning the first sword (explained below) and swapping it for a 2nd example
Introduction
I wanted my first purchase to be something that, to me, is iconic: a single hander of approx. Oakeshott Type XII type. I also considered a number of other Xa/XI blades that might have hilt furnishings more in line with later 12th Century or newer styles. As I do not have any significant experience, I did not want to purchase a sharp, but did want to purchase something functional that could be sharpened at a later date. While I could afford something more elaborate, I wanted something that was available without a major wait. I almost pulled the trigger on VA Noble as they were soon to begin a production run, but at 27" of blade, it just seemed a touch short. I prolly made a mistake, but oh well. I spent a ridiculous amount of time looking at the offerings from CAS Iberia, Windlass, Darksword, Reliks, MRL, some Czech foundries, etc. In the end, I thought the Windlass and Hanwei's to be just too plain or utilitarian and the scabbards to be a detraction. I leaned towards a Museum Replicas Build Your Own, the Darksword Crusader Sword, and the Reliks Sword of Courage. In the end, I think the overall look of the Reliks sword and the fact that it appeared to have a lenticular shape confirmed in the OP's review (compared to the pronounced central ridges in the images of the MRL and Darksword examples I was looking at).
Initial Impressions
Came in a box padded with paper strips, with the sword and scabbard plastic wrapped separately along with a black fabric bag and an envelope containing a biz card and care and feeding instructions. Box is touch flimsy as it had a whole punched in it during transit, but nothing was impacted in the box.
Blade was shrink wrapped on either end and a plastic blade tip protector was on it. Belt wrapped around scabbard and secured with rubber bands. After unwrapping all looked fine upon first look. Took it down to my workbench for cleaning and measuring
Statistics
I will list the stats for both swords as a comparison.
| Sword 1 | Sword 2 |
Mass w/ Scabbard | 1604.8g | 1601.6g |
Weight w/Scabbard | 3.538lb | 3.53lb |
Mass of Sword | 1126.3g | 1118.9g |
Weight of Sword | 2.484lb | 2.467lb |
OAL
| 37-3/4" / 946.15mm | 37-15/16" / 947.74mm |
Blade Length | 30-3/4" / 781.05mm | 30-13/16" / 781.05mm |
POB | ~4.5" / 114.3mm | ~4.5" / 114.3mm |
Fuller Length Side 1 | 23.5" / 596.9mm | 23-5/16" / 592.14mm |
Fuller Length Side 2 | 23.375" / 593.73mm | 23-1/8" / 587.38mm |
Guard Thickness at Blade center | 3/8" / 9.53mm | 3/8" / 9.53mm |
Guard Width | 8" / 203.2mm | 7-7/8" / 200.03mm |
Grip Length | 4.25" / 107.95mm | 4.25" / 107.95mm |
Grip Width at Guard | 1-3/8" / 34.93mm | 1-3/8" / 34.93mm
|
Grip Width Max | 1- 5/8" / 41.23mm | 1-11/16" / 41.28mm |
Grip Width at Pommel | 1" / 25.4mm | 1" / 25.4mm |
Grip Max Thickness | 7/8" / 22.22mm | 7/8" / 22.22mm |
Pommel Length (milled flat where it joins hilt) | 1-7/8" / 47.63mm | 1-7/8" / 47.63mm |
Pommel Width | 2" / 50.8mm | 2" / 50.8mm |
Pommel Thickness | 1.15" / 29.21mm | 1.137" / 28.88mm |
Blade width at Base | 1.9" / 48.26mm | 1.879" / 47.73mm |
Blade Thickness at Base | .175" / 4.45mm | .168" / 4.27mm |
Blade Width at 1/4 Length | 1.714" / 43.54mm | 1.68" / 42.67mm |
Blade Thickness at 1/4 Length | .171" / 4.34mm | .166" / 4.22mm |
Blade Width at 1/3 Length | 1.64" / 41.66mm
| 1.6" / 40.64mm |
Blade Thickness at 1/3 Length | .175" / 4.45mm | .1645" / 4.18mm |
Blade Width at 1/2 Length
| 1.5" / 38.1mm | 1.485" / 37.03mm |
Blade Thickness at 1/2 Length | .1645 / 4.18mm | .154" /3.91mm |
Blade Width at 2/3 Length | 1.32" / 33.53mm | 1.2825" / 32.56mm |
Blade Thickness at 2/3 Length | .146" / 3.71mm | .1395" / 3.54mm |
Blade Width at 3/4 Length | 1.248" / 31.7mm | 1.175" / 29.85mm
|
Blade Thickness at 3/4 Length | .188" 4.78mm | .147" / 3.43mm |
Blade Width Before Curve of Tip (4-5/8" from Tip Sword 1; 4-5/16" from Tip Sword 2) | 1.092" / 27.74mm | 1.072" / 27.22mm |
Blade Thickness Before Curve of Tip | .138" / 3.51mm | .1285" / 3.26mm |
Blade Width 2" from Tip
| .889" / 22.58mm | .804" / 20.42mm |
Blade Thickness 2" from Tip | .114" / 2.9mm | .1165" / 2.96mm |
Blade Width 1" from Tip | .628" / 15.95mm | .5885" / 14.95mm |
Blade Thickness 1" from Tip | .099" / 2.5mm | .0935" / 2.37 |
Components
Scabbard
In both cases the scabbards arrived undamaged. They are wood core scabbards with a leather wrap in a chocolate brown with a well applied wrap with a nice straight sewn seam in the rear. Chapes are simple smooth and shiny chrome metal. In both cases, as the OP said, the leather is a dry and a little chalky. The belts are stiff and probably a bit brittle and not of a high grade leather. I'd probably apply a new belt if I were to wear this sword, but I also plan to try to make my own scabbard. The first scabbard was nice and snug with almost no rattle when shaken in the plane of the blade edges at the belt connection. The second scabbard, unfortunately, rattles like a maraca. Both held the blade when tipped upside down, but the second one begins to fall out after a couple beats. The blade is a bit thinner and narrower, so this makes sense on a production scabbard not fitted to a particular sword. It is certainly attractive enough for display and is more appealing than the Windlass or Hanwei scabbards.
Pommel
Pommel is basically a Type J (minus the peen block commonly seen on J's), with hollow ground chamfer from the larger 2" diameter central circle to the smaller circular face. In both cases, I found the polishing to be uneven, with light catching polish marks not quite making it all the way around the chamfers (so imagine, if the peen is noon, two swirling polish marks that end at about 4 and 8 o'clock on both sides) and obvious horizontal polish marks across both of the smaller circular faces of the pommel. The latter was more obvious on the 2nd sword. No big deal, really, I just note that it was something that caught my attention both times.
Peen on the first sword was pretty nice, with no hammer marks and polished/ground quite close to the pommel. Unfortunately, the edges were a bit thin and when I was cleaning it, a little bit of the peen flaked off, exposing a pit in the pommel. Peen on the 2nd sword is not quite as nice and there is one strike mark in the pommel. Again, fairly minor.
Grip
The leather grip is well applied with good transitions from the pommel and to the guard. Seam is straight and fairly smooth. Grip thickness is about the same from pommel to guard, but width varies from 1-3/8" at the guard and swells out to 1-5/8" before tapering to 1" at the pommel. Nice
GuardThe style 2 crossguard is well formed and finished in both swords. Nicely rounded edges with no hotspots on the grip. They were well machined and polished on both swords, but there was a little pitting present in a couple spots on the first sword. As expected in a sword of this price point, there is a gap between the opening of the guard and the blade. Nothing too extreme.
The only issues I had on the 2nd sword were:
1) the quillon ends were twisted out of plane by a few degrees. Everything looked square and perpendicular where the guard met the blade...but the quillon ends themselves seem to have been twisted (both ends in the same orientation) a few degrees...perhaps when forged? Again, no big deal and barely noticeable without great scrutiny
2) a little bit of black epoxy was proud of the guard gap....just a little, nothing major.
All the hilt furnishings were tight and rattle free.
Blade
Both blades were well formed, with straight, crisp fullers. On both blades the fullers ended pretty closely aligned on both sides of the blade. Again, both blades were blunt, but the edges were straight, crisp, and smooth. The polish on the first blade was a bit more matte than that of the 2nd blade, which was a bit closer to mirror, but still satin.
I had 2 main issues with the first sword:
1) there was noticeable pitting near the tip of the blade on one side. It was a little orange, so looked like active rust, but may even have been pitting from the original forging that did not get polished out.
2) the polish at the base of the blade was very very different than the rest of the blade.
I wrote to Reliks to report the above and to ask about a replacement. Jamie, at Reliks, suggested that if I was comfortable with it, I could polish out the blemish and see how it turned out. If I was still unsatisfied, they would arrange a replacement. I used a green scotchbrite pad and was able to remove most of the pitting, but the resultant finish was very different than the rest of the blade. Used a little Flitz and it was still quite noticeable...a spot that looked noticeably different at the end of the blade (and I couldn't unsee it). I decided to take Jamie up on the offer of an exchange. I was being nitpicky, but felt that I shouldn't have to compromise on the blade at this price point.
I shipped the entire package back by USPS to Canada and Jamie replaced the sword and credited back the USPS costs I had paid to get it to their shop.
The second blade came in perfect condition. A couple mm narrower and a little thinner and a bit shinier than the first. I've got to be a bit more careful with the calipers in the future as I scuffed the blade up a bit here and there taking measurements. Again, I did notice that, close to the guard, the finish of the blade is a bit rougher (though barely noticeable compared to the first blade). For some reason, in the final polishing steps, it must be difficult to get close the guard?
Both swords flexed well about 2/3 from the base and returned to true. Not whippy or floppy. The edges are smooth and straight and this sword could easily be sharpened, I believe.
Handling CharacteristicsThe second sword, though very similar in weight, with the same POB, seemed to feel even better in the hand than the first one. Again, I am no sword handling expert and I'm dealing with a shoulder injury atm so I was not doing anything vigorous, but it felt pleasant, relatively agile, and controlled. While I am 5'11" and over 200, my hands are a bit small (short of finger) and the grip might be a touch wide or maybe I am not totally in love with the swelling/tapering grip profile
Conclusions
I felt I was taking a bit of a risk with this Reliks in house product. Not much out there for quality reviews (the OP's helped me to decide to try it), though I knew they had a reputation as a good shop from which to purchase other swords. I was pleased with the decision overall. They were easy to order from, shipped promptly, communicated (both pre- and post-sale) promptly and were easy to work with to iron out an issue with their own in house brand. I can only say good things about the purchase side of things.
Aside from the issue with the blade pitting, irregular polish at the base of the blade, and a little flake of the pommel peen flaking off, the first sword was very good. Tight fitting scabbard with almost no rattle, well finished and applied hilt furniture. The replacement blade came in perfectly, but there were a couple other minor blemishes on the pommel and guard and a noisy scabbard. The second sword even felt better in the hand.
The scabbard is pretty handsome as compared to others in the $300-$400 range.
I did give Reliks feedback on the couple of issues I saw on both blades w/r to the polish at the base of the blade and the irregular swirls and horizontal marks on the pommel. Honestly, I am pretty sure I can clear those up either with a scotchbrite or steel wool rubbed in a circular motion on the flat face of the pommel disc and running it around the chamfer.
Pros
- Decent quality, attractive scabbard for the price range
- Attractive design
- straight, crisp fullers
- Good overall fit and finish
- Decent distal taper
Cons
Give a brief list of the aspects of the sword that you believed were the most negative, for example:
- inconsistent polish on pommel
- inconsistent polish at base of blade
- Dry/stiff leather on scabbard belt
The Bottom Line
I like it and I am happy with the purchase. Would I recommend it to a connoisseur on a Albion or greater budget...no, but for someone looking for a solid lower mid-tier first blade, sure. Based on my experience, I would also be happy to purchase from Reliks again, too. Later edit: The sword was manufactured for Reliks by OTC, per an email from Reliks.