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Post by mrstabby on Feb 8, 2024 14:08:43 GMT
Haven't seen a review of it so far, here we go.
First things first, I got a lemon, so keep that in mind. I will get a new one and will let you know about it. It has a loose guard and grip, the blade does not move itself but it does not feel secure. I can see no way to fix this unfortunately.
It is the first saber I own, keep that in mind as well!
I have been hunting for lighter sabers (don't say it, I know), it was either this Cav Officer or the 1850 Staff&Field, I like the look of this one better (A 1796LC is comming soon I hope). The 1850S&F supposedly is also a tiny bit heavier.
It is the cheapest they offer besides the 1860, it seems all the confederate stuff is cheaper than the union, but I really bought it because I liked it the best from afar.
It's 170€ right now, the 1850S&F is around 220€, the 1796LC is around 300€ as I am writing this, I bought it at "black friday" for 120€.
It came in a pretty good cardboard box (although the guuard had poked some dents, it wasn't all the way through), with a flyer from Relics.com about quality... First thing I really noticed was the smell, the grease they use on the sabers smells like a very old truck/tractor engine. Second thing was that the liners covering the inside of the scabbard were not glued in, someone forgot to pull off the film on one side of the adghesive tape. Then I noticed the whole sword not being solid, "Oh well, at least I can get a feel for it" I thought.
Measurements: Total length: 95,2cm/37,5" Blade length: 81,2cm/32" Grip (leather): 12cm/4,7" Grip incl. pommel: 14cm/5,5" Grip diameter: 36x26mm tapering to 33x25mm Weight: 950g/2,1# PoB: 15,5cm/6,1" Width at guard: 29,4mm Width at 5cm/2" from tip: 20,8mm Thickness at guard: 4,56mm Thickness at 5cm/2" from tip: 3,2mm >WDC< Just a fast pendulum measurement, could be off by a bit, but it's definately ballpark there with the inertia compared to other swords I own. EDIT:
Even though it was drenched in that foul-smelling grease, it had a lot of tiny rust spots. The Pictures aren't very good, sorry.
I am not commenting much about the look of the sword, I know nothing about what is or isn't wrong about it, I am letting others do my work (if you would be so kind). The blade is fairly straight (almost no curvature before the last third, but it also isn't bent also very little rippling) and rather stiff, the etching is darker that I would have guessed from the pictures. The felt stopper om the guard is soaked in that vile grease, so I will replace it on my future sword. The false edge is around 21cm/8,2" long. The scabbard is blued with the brass fittings staying put via set screw.
On the inside should be that plastic liner.
The grip is relatively big and the twisted wire definately feels like it could rub when extensivley used. All the brass is lacquered with a thin film of transparent paint.
It isn't a light sword, but it feels lively, pretty easy to let the momentum carry on, not too hard to stop or change direction. It feels similar to my NiuWeiDao but the grip is better for me on the saber. Tip control is very good for me, though the blade might be a tiny bit too long - I should have bought the 1850S&F, shouldn't I?
Again, I am too new to sabers to say what's good or bad about it, I'd say it's a good saber for the price, when everything is solid..... Unfortunately, even though it is a saber like any other Windlass saber made to be "battle ready" you can't get it sharpened from many sellers because it has the etching which woould definately get some scratches (the same story for the 1850S&F), so if you want it as a sharp, you will have to do it yourself, both true and false edge are a little under 1mm thick as it is.
EDIT: If anybody has the 1850 Staff&Field or the 1860LC, could you maybe give me the measurements of the grips? I have heard the 1860LC has a tiny grip. For the 1850S&F I would also be interested in weight and PoB. I need to know if the buyers-remorse-demon is right...
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AndiTheBarvarian
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Feb 8, 2024 14:37:58 GMT
With a weight of 950 g it can't handle too badly Never try an Windlass 1860 Union Officers, it's really bad. My experience is that all saber replicas get much better with a thicker wrapped grip, even my 1796 LC, which has a very ergonomic shaped grip. Also try some oz magnets as weight at the blade base, it makes also a difference.
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Post by mrstabby on Feb 8, 2024 15:07:02 GMT
With a weight of 950 g it can't handle too badly Never try an Windlass 1860 Union Officers, it's really bad. My experience is that all saber replicas get much better with a thicker wrapped grip, even my 1796 LC, which has a very ergonomic shaped grip. Also try some oz magnets as weight at the blade base, it makes also a difference. Sharpening would likely remove 5-10g and lower the PoB a bit. EDIT: Nah, it feels good, I like it, but I can't really say how it stacks up to others.
There are 2 1860, the LC and the Officer. I could have confused the two to be honest, IDK. Thanks for the warning, anything specific about it bad or just all of it? Is the Officer the one with the bad grip? Do you have any idea how the "Nashville Plow" is? It also looks good, but the grip turned me off a bit, I don't know why exactly. Also seems to have a further out PoB, still am interested.
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Feb 8, 2024 15:51:36 GMT
The Union Officer is very crowbaresque. Not much distal taper, flat fullers, blade heavy. It handles worse than my Cold Steel "1860" (1840), which is longer. Of course it's a good cutter, due to the heavy blade, but no fun to handle. The grip isn't very bad but can be made much better for an a bit better handling. You'll see a good handling cavalry (!) saber with the 1796 LC, my Windlass 1906 is another similar good replica, but discontinued. Both have much distal taper and deep fullers. I don't own the Windlass 1860 Trooper, but the distal taper is less than on the 1906. My most agile saber is my also discontinued Cold Steel US Marines NCO saber, an lighter infantry saber, a grandson of the 1850. The Windlass 1850 looks interesting.
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Post by mrstabby on Feb 8, 2024 21:19:21 GMT
There seem to be 2 Staff and Field sabers, union and confederate, with the union having more distal taper (6-4mm vs 4-3mm) and the confederate being lighter, I didn't find any offerings for it though, else I'd have gotten the confederate Staff and Field. Seems like the Windlass confederate sabers are lighter than their union counterparts for the most part. According to KoA and others, the 1860 Union Officer also has a 6-4mm distal taper, more than many others, and a PoB of 16cm/6,5", but I would not be surprised if all of that was actually not right. Mean to say it actually looks pretty good on paper, so I appreciate the warning.
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AndiTheBarvarian
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Feb 9, 2024 10:32:36 GMT
In doubt lighter is better than just mediocre distal taper. I bought the Windlass fantasy saber Sword of Ezio which has not really a remarkable distal taper but weights just around 2 lb. A bit like a thin (4 mm) katana blade. It handles fine and is fun to swing. I have a few tactical katana without much distal taper but the lighter ones handle well too. My Union Officers is much heavier and the 6 - 4 mm distal taper doesn't help at all. My CS "1860" has a similar weight, is longer but with more distal taper (8 mm - ?) and deeper fullers. It handles a bit better than the Officers, dunno, somehow more fun to move. I looked up former posts of mine, I found the Officers grip terrible, probably too thin.
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Post by mrstabby on Mar 15, 2024 20:57:06 GMT
So, I got my 1796. (added the WDC measurement above -- not 100% finished, can't find the nodes) The 1796 has a noticeably lighter hilt (to the point where it feels like you hold onto nothing), but they feel pretty similar in weight and swiftness everywhere else. The Conf. Officer feels different in the blade, probably because it is stiffer and straight, but not heavier. I don't like the thin spot on the grip of the 1796, a few rounds of leather or tape will fix this. The 1796 definately feels choppier, kind of like a machete. The blade wavers a lot more than the Conf Officers does, especially on the thin part with the false edge. It looks like it is straight and tight (it does have a ring to it but most of the vibration when you flick it gets translated into one big wave on the blade), all except the small point of the guard above the blade, it is off, pointing to the left when holding it. What I really hate about it is the scabbard, there is just no way not to damage the edge when drawing it, I will definately have to put some inserts into the steel scabbard to remedy this. It's less problematic on the Conf Officer because it's straighter. I like the balance of the Conf Officer better, the 1796 feels weird somehow with so little mass in the hand. Not bad just weird and not as wrong as the CS Cutlass machete - I added 55g in automotive rim weights to the CS' grip and now it feels about right. I expected the 1796 to be really floppy (from some reviews), but it's not, only the last 30cm or so are more flexible compared to my other swords. It cuts OK, I am not really into it yet. It also came sharp but had a lot of edge damage thanks to the scabbard. Both sabers say they are 1080 not the usual 1065 - I have no way to test this.
So if the 1796 is a good saber and it feels pretty similar to the Confederate Cavalry Officer, then the Conf Officer is probably also good...
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AndiTheBarvarian
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Mar 15, 2024 22:22:08 GMT
The Windlass 1796 LC is a good saber. Drawing from the scabbard sounds terribly but I don't feel it dulling the edge. I'm pressing the spine to the scabbard when drawing, perhaps this helps. "Blade heavy" is a wrong term for it, rather "hilt light". Your Confed saber is lightweight and the lack of distal taper probably balanced with the hilt. This seems to work as long as the whole thing isn't heavy, like the Union Officers.
As said before, my 1906 handles as well with a little bit more weight over all, but better balanced due to the heavier hilt.
Windlass offers now a ANXI Hussars saber with 2lb 4oz.
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Post by mrstabby on Mar 16, 2024 9:07:50 GMT
I definately get dulling on the last 15-20cm before the tip, and if I go pressing the spine it, the false edge gets it. The screws holding in the mouth also have some metal standing up from boring the holes, I can see that there is a nice valley cut in it, so the blade definately contacts there, and furter in I can see a shiny line in the rust covering the inside. It is enough dulling so the sword can no longer cut bottles or paper after 3-5 sheath-unsheath cycles and there is a lot of glinting. That is unless I am really careful holding it sideways. Of course it still will be sharp enough to cut up a person, but if I sharpen the sword to my liking, I want it to stay that sharp... So for now it stays in the nude.
The ANXI is very new, hadn't seen it before. But it looks to be heavier than I like.
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Post by izzy on Mar 18, 2024 17:37:32 GMT
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Post by mrstabby on Apr 16, 2024 16:01:24 GMT
Who, what, where, and sometimes why?So, I got my second one. This one feels tight, rings like a gong. So far so good, but it feels totally different.
old new
Length: 95,2cm/37,5" 95,7cm/37,7" Blade: 81,2cm/32" 81,2cm/32" Grip-inside: 8,3-10,6cm/3,2-4,3" 8,3-10,6cm/3,2-4,3" (leather grip is shorter on top) Grip- all: 14cm/5,5" 14,5cm/5,7" Weight: 950g/2,1lbs 947g/2,1lbs PoB: 15,5cm/6,1" 14,5cm/5,7" False edge: 21cm/8,3" 19cm/7,5" Width@guard: 29,39mm/1,15" 29,74mm/1,17" 5cm/2" from tip: 20,8mm /0,82" 20,3mm/0,8" Tickness@guard: 4,56mm 4,88mm 5cm/2" from tip: 3,2mm 2,9mm I know it's metric, gotta do it fast. Will come back to edit. Does not look like much, right? It feels soo much faster and the WDC seems to agree: Hilt rotational inertia is almost identical, but on the blade it went from 1126 down to 919. My guess? That minimally stronger distal taper. Blade mass fraction index went from 29 to 23, so the blade feels A LOT lighter though the all over weight is the same, does not compute...
I knew there were differences, but never have I felt so much of a difference. Was the first one a real bad egg and everyone involved had a bad day? I have no idea, but I'm a happy camper, lighter means better for my ligaments. It's gonna lose a few g from sharpening, so it's going to be a pretty nimble sharp.
I have seen a few Gale Wind, they might be a few cm/mm/g different but feel pretty much the same. Windlass are almost spot on in every aspect but feel so different.
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AndiTheBarvarian
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Apr 16, 2024 16:47:55 GMT
I remember similar differences between the same saber/sword replicas from other members. I recently bought some soft lead stripes, made for fishing I think. I'm going to make experiments with them, how adding some weight to different places at the hilt affects the handling. I had good results with magnets.
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Post by mrstabby on Apr 16, 2024 17:12:57 GMT
I found tire weights to work well. Adding 2% of the over all mass to the pommel, the PoB will move by about 0,8% of the total length. So for my CS Cutlass adding 50g (6,6%) lowered the PoB by around 2cm (2,8% of all over length), for my Hanwei Arming sword adding 50g (4,5%) lowered the PoB by 1,5cm (1,5%), making both a lot more nimble but slightly heavier. The further towards the guard you add the weight, the lower the return. I plan on creating some stainless steel disks to add to the Hanwei, the 50g in tire weights are just a test how much I need. And they are holding on quite tightly, so you can actually use the sword like this. On the CS I just plan painting and epoxying a pommel shape from it. Also, you can get tungsten powder which you can add to epoxy, this way you could mold something as heavy or heavier than steel into any shape.
I wonder what to do about the wire on the Grip of the saber, it is quite rough on the hands, but the grip can't get thicker, so, what could I do? Would polishing help? Or maybe UV epoxy to fill the grooves.
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