|
Post by mrcool99 on Jul 1, 2024 18:07:27 GMT
I purchased the Windlass Battlecry Maldon Viking sword from a very well known vendor in the UK and kept it in storage for over two years.
After this time I used fine sandpaper to remove the black finish, and noticed a large crack in the blade at the edge. After attempting to cut with it, the blade suffered a total failure and broke in two.
The vendor is refusing to address this in any way and accused me of having caused the crack through sanding the black-coated finish off the sword.
Does anyone have advice or opinions regarding this?
Thank you
|
|
|
Post by mrstabby on Jul 1, 2024 18:48:50 GMT
Sorry to hear. Unfortunately very late, it does not surprise me the vendor does not want to deal with it. You have to check the swords as you get them, although EU law says within 2 years the seller has to do some limited guarantee - I am guessing UK took on the same customer protection laws, but could have changed them. I have had my problems with Windlass, small defects, but never a crack like that fortunately. You could try talking to Windlass themselves. Can you describe the crack, was it covered by the paint or did it show through a bit? I cant imagine it would appear during storage, so it HAS to be a manufacturing defect. Good luck to you, maybe Windlass will show goodwill, but the seller is in the clear after two years.
I would like to see some photos of the break, but if not there are some things to look at, grain size and black spots. If there are dark spots at the break, it happened during forging or heat treat. If all is silvery grain, it happened recently, rust means it happened between heat treat and a while ago, black means forging defect AFIAK.
|
|
|
Post by mrcool99 on Jul 1, 2024 20:12:25 GMT
Sorry to hear. Unfortunately very late, it does not surprise me the vendor does not want to deal with it. You have to check the swords as you get them, although EU law says within 2 years the seller has to do some limited guarantee - I am guessing UK took on the same customer protection laws, but could have changed them. I have had my problems with Windlass, small defects, but never a crack like that fortunately. You could try talking to Windlass themselves. Can you describe the crack, was it covered by the paint or did it show through a bit? I cant imagine it would appear during storage, so it HAS to be a manufacturing defect. Good luck to you, maybe Windlass will show goodwill, but the seller is in the clear after two years.
I would like to see some photos of the break, but if not there are some things to look at, grain size and black spots. If there are dark spots at the break, it happened during forging or heat treat. If all is silvery grain, it happened recently, rust means it happened between heat treat and a while ago, black means forging defect AFIAK.
Yeah unfortunately the black finish is quite heavy and concealed the break rather well until it was removed. I can for sure get pictures of the broken section! And yeah i dont suppose it's possible that it cracked during storage ![:(](//storage.forums.net/forum/images/smiley/sad.png)
|
|
|
Post by mrstabby on Jul 4, 2024 14:18:35 GMT
Sorry to hear. Unfortunately very late, it does not surprise me the vendor does not want to deal with it. You have to check the swords as you get them, although EU law says within 2 years the seller has to do some limited guarantee - I am guessing UK took on the same customer protection laws, but could have changed them. I have had my problems with Windlass, small defects, but never a crack like that fortunately. You could try talking to Windlass themselves. Can you describe the crack, was it covered by the paint or did it show through a bit? I cant imagine it would appear during storage, so it HAS to be a manufacturing defect. Good luck to you, maybe Windlass will show goodwill, but the seller is in the clear after two years.
I would like to see some photos of the break, but if not there are some things to look at, grain size and black spots. If there are dark spots at the break, it happened during forging or heat treat. If all is silvery grain, it happened recently, rust means it happened between heat treat and a while ago, black means forging defect AFIAK.
Yeah unfortunately the black finish is quite heavy and concealed the break rather well until it was removed. I can for sure get pictures of the broken section! And yeah i dont suppose it's possible that it cracked during storage ![:(](//storage.forums.net/forum/images/smiley/sad.png) Are you going to ask windlass?
Also where did it break? Maybe you could at least make a short(er) sword and/or dagger.
|
|
|
Post by mrcool99 on Jul 4, 2024 15:53:19 GMT
Yeah unfortunately the black finish is quite heavy and concealed the break rather well until it was removed. I can for sure get pictures of the broken section! And yeah i dont suppose it's possible that it cracked during storage ![:(](//storage.forums.net/forum/images/smiley/sad.png) Are you going to ask windlass?
Also where did it break? Maybe you could at least make a short(er) sword and/or dagger.
the left side is where it was cracked and it's black as you mentioned.
I sent the picture to the vendor and they say they're talking to windlass, they also asked me for any other examples i've heard of regarding the battlecry series being defective.
It broke about 2/3rds of the way up so i suppose thats possible though i dont think i have that kind of skill
|
|
|
Post by mrstabby on Jul 4, 2024 16:17:07 GMT
Yeah, that looks like a crack formed from the edge early on during manufacturing. I have seen a video from Matthew Jensen where a Battlecry Viking sword broke at the guard, but that was not due to a crack (still didn't take much). Other than that I haven't seen a critical failure or crack
My XIV though does have a small forging defect as well. Does not go through.
|
|
|
Post by mrcool99 on Jul 5, 2024 11:23:45 GMT
Yeah, that looks like a crack formed from the edge early on during manufacturing. I have seen a video from Matthew Jensen where a Battlecry Viking sword broke at the guard, but that was not due to a crack (still didn't take much). Other than that I haven't seen a critical failure or crack
My XIV though does have a small forging defect as well. Does not go through.
I’ve sent them the Matthew Jensen video link too, I don’t know if they’ll do anything about it for me but I’m pretty disappointed
|
|
|
Post by mrstabby on Jul 5, 2024 11:48:55 GMT
Crap like this can happen unfortunately. Underneath the black paint it's harder to see (I find this so weird that they use paint on the battlecry series), in the end you'll find quality control issues with every manufacturer. I am sure things would have been more in your favour if it had happened within a year. I wonder if the sword ring was different, like you can tell if a ceramic or glass has a crack because it won't ring as clearly. Although I guess the only way would have been to cut something because of the paint occluding the crack.
What did you try to cut? I am guessing it didn't take much.
|
|
|
Post by mrcool99 on Jul 7, 2024 3:36:05 GMT
Crap like this can happen unfortunately. Underneath the black paint it's harder to see (I find this so weird that they use paint on the battlecry series), in the end you'll find quality control issues with every manufacturer. I am sure things would have been more in your favour if it had happened within a year. I wonder if the sword ring was different, like you can tell if a ceramic or glass has a crack because it won't ring as clearly. Although I guess the only way would have been to cut something because of the paint occluding the crack.
What did you try to cut? I am guessing it didn't take much.
I cut into some rotten wood from an old bench, i didn't hit it particularly hard or anything and yeah it didn't take much. Seems like the crack was gonna cause that with any kind of use tbh
|
|
|
Post by mrstabby on Jul 7, 2024 11:39:18 GMT
I had a knife that had a hairline crack from the factory, and it broke with a slight flick of the wrist onto wood. The black spot is (guessing) at least 5mm deep, that's over 10% of the width. It for sure would have broken at any harder target or bad cut.
|
|
izzy
Member
14 Day Ban - Politics
Posts: 418
|
Post by izzy on Jul 10, 2024 15:12:38 GMT
IN the USA there is a claim the sword is covered for the life of the original owner: www.knifecountryusa.com/store/manufacturer/warranty/2226/windlass.htmlThey have a U.K. site as well, but going through the seller like you did ( who buys more swords than you or I) gives you more power to influence the outcome: www.windlasssword.com/contactusI can't find Squat on the U.K. warranty ( or the Indian website), but I don't see why you should be any different than USA purchasers. Best not to talk about hitting even rotten wood, and hope you have a pic of the crack pre-break.
|
|
|
Post by mrstabby on Jul 10, 2024 15:57:55 GMT
Some sellers do say there is a lifelong guarantee, but most don't explicitly state such a thing. Probably not necessary since a bad blade will probably break pretty soon and many people don't use the swords anyways.
I'd say it depends how hard mrcool99 hit the log. But I'd either say you tried to cut a bottle or tapped the blade on some wood to test it, not a full force hit. I am pretty sure the blade would have split if you had let it fall onto wood or plastic. 2/3rd of the blade is a pretty big lever on such a substantial crack.
|
|
izzy
Member
14 Day Ban - Politics
Posts: 418
|
Post by izzy on Jul 11, 2024 17:14:41 GMT
Some sellers do say there is a lifelong guarantee, but most don't explicitly state such a thing. Probably not necessary since a bad blade will probably break pretty soon and many people don't use the swords anyways. I'd say it depends how hard mrcool99 hit the log. But I'd either say you tried to cut a bottle or tapped the blade on some wood to test it, not a full force hit. I am pretty sure the blade would have split if you had let it fall onto wood or plastic. 2/3rd of the blade is a pretty big lever on such a substantial crack. I just don't want him to give Windlass an excuse to say "abuse warranty voided".
No doubt a big crack is utter rubbish and would have given way no matter what was hit. Hopefully the OP gets a replacement.
|
|
|
Post by eastman on Jul 18, 2024 1:05:04 GMT
Cracked Windlass blades are becoming more common
My most recent KoA order was for a Musketeer Main Gauche, which I wanted sharpened. At some point between QC and sharpening it was discovered that there was a crack in the blade and that was the last one in stock.
|
|