Royal Armouries 15th century two-handed sword - IX.1787
Apr 8, 2024 3:27:31 GMT
Post by cptraph on Apr 8, 2024 3:27:31 GMT
I have recently bought this sword:
shop.royalarmouries.org/products/royal-armouries-english-15th-century-two-handed-sword
and I wanted to share my experience.
Disclaimer: I am not a professional sword user, just an amateur hobbist, and I bought this sword with my own money. I am not affiliated with anyone in the industry. I am also pretty bad in photography so please forgive me poor pictures quality. Also English is not my primary language so please forgive me any errors that might occur.
This is one of the swords made by Windlass Steelcrafts in cooperation with Royal Armouries and Matt Easton, which are exact copies of historical swords that are held in Royal Armouries museums. They are the most expensive swords offered by Windlass.
Statistics of my copy of Royal Armouries 15th century two-handed sword:
Overall length: 58 and 6/16 inch (it's 58" on Royal Armouries website);
Blade length: 45 and 2/16 inch (it's 45" on Royal Armouries website);
Guard: 11-3/8" wide (the same as description on Royal Armouries website);
Blade width at ricasso: 1 and 14/16 inch (it's 2" on Royal Armouries website);
Distal taper: 0,3" at guard - 0,14" an inch from the tip and 0,04" at the very tip (it's 11/32" (0,343in) thick at guard and 11/64" (0,171in) at the tip according to Royal Armouries website);
Weight: 4lb 12,5 oz (it's 4 lb 10 oz on Royal Armouries website);
Blade thickness: 0,24mm at the very edge;
Point of balance: exactly at 5 inches from the crossguard;
Center of Percussion is 70cm (27 9/16in) from the crossguard;
The sword comes blunt, unless You order it sharpened (depends on the store). The shop in Germany I used has pretty bad sharpening service so I ordered mine blunt with intent to sharpen it at my local blade sharpening service.
The dimensions of my copy more or less resembled the size of the original. In my opinion these discrepancies are absolutely acceptable, considering it's a hand-made replica. It came blunt - however You should know that it's not as blunt as other Windlass swords are sold. It's only 0,24 mm at the edge, which means that when sharpened it can be frighteningly sharp. Such thickness of an edge means that You can actually cut with it being blunt. Considering that the base of an edge decides how efficient cutter a blade is, and considering that a base of the edge around 0.2mm thick makes a kitchen knife extremely sharp, this sword when sharpened would be an even more terrifying weapon.
Handling Characteristics
This sword is heavy, however You have to bear in mind that it's a real two-handed sword - You are not supposed to use it one-handed. And You will not be able to, unless You are a 7', 400 pounds of muscle giant. It is possible to make one-handed thrusts with it however. On the other hand, with point of balance at 5 inches from the crossguard, it's pretty nimble for such a huge blade. Still, don't expect to be able to change direction of the cut quickly - once You put it in motion, it will stay in motion. It's a terrifying weapon with enormous reach. I would never like to face anyone armed with it.
Finish
It will get sour here.
My copy of this sword was dissapointing. The worst thing was that one side of the blade was really badly warped, there was a huge wave easily visible when You looked at it along the edge of the blade. Considering that even Matt Easton himself mentioned in one of his videos that it's unaccaptable even for cheap swords - that was a big disappointment. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take a photo that would show it so You have to believe my word for it.
Blade itself looks nice and has satin finish.
All over the pommel and crossguard there were many tool marks visible. I understand that it's a replica and I personally don't need a laboratory quality of Albion swords. However, here it was a bit too much.
Rippling was the worst of all my Windlass swords and it's surprising, because I bought a few of my Windlass swords for less than 100 $... I am not sure if it can be seen on the picture:
Handle was fine, cord marks on leather clear and nice, although the "ending" of leather wrap was clearly felt.
Even the metal part of the sheath had some weird scratches straight out of the box:
Conclusions
Pros:
- Accurate historical dimensions and balance;
- Impressive look;
- Quite nimble for a two-handed sword;
Cons:
- Poor fit and finish;
- Very expensive (MSRP is 850 pounds which now is around 1060$);
Unfortunately I ended up returning my copy of this sword.
After this experience I don't think Windlass is capable of producing high quality swords. It was a big dissapointment because there are not many two-handed swords of this type on the market and I was really waiting for it.