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Post by ring61 on Jun 1, 2022 18:53:00 GMT
Finally I got a 1867 cavalry officers sabre after a long search. The overall condition is very good. Now I have noticed that the blade is very blunt and also the tip. Are they usually never sharpened or did someone ground off the sharp edge with a power tool? There are some flat spots.
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Post by jimmythedonut on Jun 1, 2022 19:07:51 GMT
Sharpening, at least in other countries, was a near ritualistic action taken immediately prior to military action. As Switzerland has not seen active combat since the Napoleonic Wars, and the WWI/WWII mobilizations were done when the 1896/02 and the 1899 patterns of Sword were used instead, it is likely the 1867 pattern never even saw a service sharpen. I have 1 (with 2 on the way) and none of them have either a nice polished-sharpened edge nor the telltale thin filemarks indicating a field sharpen. I wouldn't be concerned at all.
As for the slightly rounded tip, I would attribute that to general handling over the 150+ year of the sword's life, entirely possible it took a slight fall or hard impact but even for that, it is a pretty nice tip you have, I wouldn't worry about that either and you can easily put a nice spear point on that again without any trouble.
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Post by ring61 on Jun 1, 2022 19:32:58 GMT
I have another question: My sabre weights 771 grams. 26grams less than the one from markus313. Shouldn't be the PoB closer to the guard when the sword is lighter? His has a PoB of 14.8cm but mine has 17cm off the guard. Is that normal? Does mine have a lighter hilt? The measurements of the blade are more or less the same.
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Post by pellius on Jun 1, 2022 19:38:01 GMT
Ring:
Congratulations on getting such a nice saber - one of my all-time favorites!
As Jimmy said, I wouldn’t worry too much about the blunt edge. To my knowledge, they weren’t procedurally blunted for decommissioning.
Jimmy:
“..I have 1 (with 2 on the way)..”
😮
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AndiTheBarvarian
Member
"Lord of the Memes"
Bavarianbarbarian - Semper Semprini
Posts: 10,308
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Jun 1, 2022 19:38:04 GMT
Less mass on the hilt side from the PoB.
Could be a lighter hilt and/or lighter blade base.
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Post by pellius on Jun 1, 2022 19:51:47 GMT
Andi may be right.
Maybe check your blade’s width and thickness at the base and along its length. If your blade is thinner and narrower throughout, it would weigh a little less including at the tang. A thinner tang might move the PoB farther out.
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Post by ring61 on Jun 1, 2022 20:05:54 GMT
My Tang is 7.1mm. Does it affect handling? For me, it handles still very well. I think it could be an advantage because it gives the light blade more percussive power.
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Post by jimmythedonut on Jun 1, 2022 20:59:51 GMT
Ring: Congratulations on getting such a nice saber - one of my all-time favorites! As Jimmy said, I wouldn’t worry too much about the blunt edge. To my knowledge, they weren’t procedurally blunted for decommissioning. Jimmy: “..I have 1 (with 2 on the way)..” 😮 We are waiting...and waiting. My friend used to be much more responsive but he has a grand total of 21 swords belonging to me. At this point I need to send him boxes, have him weigh them so I can properly calculate a label, but this is key, I need to literally be on the phone with him or something the day we do this so he can drop them off since the label is date-specific. I really don't think he is playing any funny games, or at least that was not the initial plan, but still when I go a month without hearing from him, it worries me. If he keeps not responding I may send him a physical letter and at worst may have to contact the German police and ask "I don't want to get him in trouble but can you like...knock on his door and politely ask him to get in touch with me?" Barring that if any of you in Europe would like a free trip to Hamburg to go shake him down for me I wouldn't turn that down either lol. (I still plan on selling at least 1 of the 2 as a fundraiser for further imports from Switzerland) |
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AndiTheBarvarian
Member
"Lord of the Memes"
Bavarianbarbarian - Semper Semprini
Posts: 10,308
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Jun 1, 2022 21:00:08 GMT
I think no, to affect the PoB it needs a some mm thinner tang.
Probably the hilt is lighter on your saber.
Theoretically the foible side of the blade could have more mass than on Marcus' saber but then the whole weight of your saber would be higher.
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Post by jimmythedonut on Jun 1, 2022 21:09:14 GMT
My Tang is 7.1mm. Does it affect handling? For me, it handles still very well. I think it could be an advantage because it gives the light blade more percussive power. I think you would need to take into account the overall taper, the smaller the number at the front, the less of a change towards the tip generally. If it starts bigger at the base and tapers to the same final width it will, generally, feel more lively in the hand. For example, the Swiss 1896/02 starts around 6mm and has much less change from base to tip and feels less lively even if shorter and lighter technically (or at least around the same weight, I've no desire to dig through my closet to find my 2 example) I just measured my ordonnanz 1867 offiziersabel (fun fact, per Swiss regulations the modifier term is for UNMOUNTED officers IE the 1867 cavalry sabre is just referred to as the 1867 officers sabre, with the infantry being the 1867 dismounted officer's sabre, something entirely pointless that I nevertheless find interesting) again and it's right around 8mm at the base and ~800 grams which is right around the 810g weight Griffwaffen shows (and I can easily believe my system of weighing swords accounts for a ~+/-20g variance). Yours does seem to be a bit light, do you have a scabbard with yours? Would be interesting to compare the scabbard ring placement/possible date makers marks if there to compare when it was made to see if there was any general trend towards slightly lighter 1867s as we inch closer to the 1890s. |
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