I am thinking of getting a steel backsword or at least a steel training weapon for backswording. There are numerous manufacturers, but usually their products are quite pricey.
Armour Class has maybe the best price-quality ratio. Their blunts are usually too short but you can get a longer blade if you want. Paul McDonald gave an slightly outrageous idea in swordforum: get a Hanwei backsword, not the blunt but sharp and blunt it. He said that they have several such swords in his school and they work well, blunting a sharp gives the sword slightly better balance and feel. He told to steer clear of Hanwei "practicals", those are, in his opinion, clunkers, bad balance and heavy.
Then there are sabers. Chevalier D'Auvergne makes many kind of historical french sabers. Guy, what is your opinion of using a saber in backsword training? I kind of like the idea.
(05-09-2009 06:21 PM)Pauli Vennervirta Wrote: [ -> ]He told to steer clear of Hanwei "practicals", those are, in his opinion, clunkers, bad balance and heavy.
I agree. I've handled a couple, and they're quite weird. The blade seems really super-hardened and dead with no flexibility at all. All blade contact feels jarring, like banging two bricks together. I guess that's why they seem to get loose in the hilt pretty fast.
Thanks Harri for information. I downloaded some pictures of Chevalier D'Auvergnes sabers. Click to open a bigger picture.
Model 1822
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Blade for 1822
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St Cyr
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Blade for St Cyr
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Price for these sabers is 340-360 euros. St Cyr blade costs 116 euros, model 1882 is 155 euros. Not too bad, considering you get also a sheath (if you buy a whole saber of course).
http://www.chevalierdauvergne.com/
I have a La Fontaine blade from them, that I am building to a cut&thrust sword when I get a suitable handguard.
I decided to order the 1882 (really a 1822) blade. Now to the hilt, what kind of hilt do I need? Function before form, so a simple stirrup hilt like in 1796 saber is out, because it does not give enough protection. What I had in mind is to make (or have it made) is the 1796 heavy cavalry sword handguard, like this:
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A bit bizarre to put a light cavalry blade to heavy cav guard, but so what
Do I need a backstrap? What is the function of backstrap, should I have it welded to the guard?
Got my Chev D'Au 1822 sabre blade yesterday. To me it looks like a good one. The taper is good, balance is of course dependant on the hilt parts I make but so far so good. I took the risk and did some bending experiments and the blade returned to true no problem. I have done some testing with the LaFontaine blade from the same factory, bashed a 2x4 with it, and the blade took no harm, so if this blade is of same guality I'm happy
Only thing I dont like in this blade is the tang. I plan to solve this problem by grinding the strong part of the tang a bit down the blade, like in the attached picture.
So, now to make those hilt parts.
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After eight long months of waiting I just received two basket-hilts from Armour Class. Both fitted with a 86cm blunt blade instead of the weirdly short default one. Very nice pieces.
My piece is the dragoon sword. It weighs about 1.2 kg and has the POB somewhere around 11cm from the hilt. The hilt looks great and really sturdy. It's quite a snug fit, but not too much.
My only nag is the blade. Generally it's very nice with well rounded edges and plenty of flexibility. But for some reason it's quite warped. The point is in the center line, but the blade takes quite a lot of twists and turns on the way. Never seen one like it. Don't know if it really matters performance-wise or not. That'll probably reveal itself after some use.
Can you post some pictures of the dragoon sword, please?
Took me long enough, but here you go. (Spot the cheerful angelic chap on the hilt
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AC Dragoon
Looks cheerfull. Makes me wonder why the 3/4 hilt? Is is for the salutes, so you dont bang yourself in the face with hilt?
Nice sword, allthough looking at it now I might lean towards the mortuary or early basket hilt.
(10-19-2009 10:00 PM)Pauli Vennervirta Wrote: [ -> ]Makes me wonder why the 3/4 hilt?
I don't know if this is the reason, but it certainly is easier to place your hand on the handle when you're drawing the weapon from your left side.