转贴美国刀友iacup对于汉威丁克中世纪剑的品鉴

汉威

转贴美国刀友iacup对于汉威丁克中世纪剑的品鉴

原文地址：http://sbgswordforum.proboards.c ... wordreviews&action=display&thread=10644

汉威

The CASHanwei Early Medieval Single Handed Sword designed by Tinker Pearce

This sword is a beauty and designed for sports. It's available in a blunt and a sharp version. This was one reason for me to choose this sword. I started to train sword-fencing and it is as hard to find a sparring partner when using a sharp sword as it is hard to do some cutting with a blunt blade. So the early medieval single handed sword (EMS) designed by Tinker Pearce seemed to be a good choice. Why they call it EARLY medieval I don't know as that would be the time about 600 AD - 900 AD (at least that's the meaning of 'Fr黨mittelalter' / early middle ages in Germany) and this sword-design is younger, but who cares. What made me order the sword finally was the announcement in the SBG e-zine that the sword wouldn't have a secondary-bevel.
At that time the EMS was presented in several online-shops, but it wasn't listed 'in stock' at the CASHanwei-site. As I live in Germany I decided to order at trainingsschwerter.de to keep the ordering and delivering simple. They offer the EMS for 285?+ shipping. Since the sword wasn't ready for shipping I arranged with trainingsschwerter.de to pay when they are ready to send the EMS.





History

The sword has no particular historical example and is designed as an Oakeshott type XII with a Type H pommel and a guard similar to style 6. This design makes for a typical medieval sword most people have in mind when thinking on a knightly sword. Besides type XII of the Oakeshott typology is the design to train sword fencing according to the I33 manual. This manual was written around the year 1300 AD presumably by the secretary of the bishop of W黵zburg. It describes the techniques of a monk called Luitger, who is teaching some scholars.




The sword shielded against any harm.

Arrival

Two months after ordering the EMS I could open a great box. The sword is delivered in the scabbard. It's fixated in the cardboard-box by some foam-elements and wrapped in plastic. After removing the plastic you can see oil shimmering on pommel and cross guard. On the pommel there are two scratches. After unsheathing the sword the blade shows a film of grease and no signs of rust. The polished hilt parts of the sword and the scabbard with the black leather look simple and noble. The scabbard fits the sword and nothing is loose or rattling. The first disappointing detail is the hexhead-nut. It looks as if the sword was taken down hundreds of times or put together with an improper tool. All parts fit and don't rattle.











The nut looks a little bit too worn out IMHO.


The Sword

blade length 79.8cm (31.42'')
handle length 16,0cm (6.30'')
length overall 97,0cm (38.19'')
cross guard width 17,0cm (6.70'')

POB at 13,0cm (5.12'') above the guard
COP at 2/3 of the blade

weight 1154g (2lbs 9oz)








The blade profile is slightly tapering.

The blade tapers in profile from hilt to point and is a type XII blade with a brushed finish. It has a fuller which extends below the guard into the tang and runs nearly ?of the blade. The fuller looks straight and even. The blade width at the guard is 5,5cm (2.17'') with the a fuller width of 1,6cm (0.6''). The blade width near the tip is 2,3cm (0,91''). The blade height is 0,59cm (0.232'') at the guard, 0,30cm (0.118'') at the and of the fuller and 0,22cm (0.087'') near the tip. I can't say if this creates an especially 'whippy' blade. It's easy to see the COP when you hit the pommel and the blade is definitely not as stiff as the Gen2 blades, which I could use to compare it with. The blade ends in an accentuated point. The blade-form above the fuller would be lenticular if there wasn't the second disappointment. - Against the announcement in the SBG e-zine this blade has a secondary bevel.
Astonishing for me is the fact that the opposing edges aren't of the same sharpness. At the cross guard the edges are blunt (nearly 0,1cm (0,04'') edge) and sharper down the blade. This progress isn't the same on both edges. I would describe the state of the blade as not totally unlike something like nearly sharp.









The fuller extends into the tang. The tangschoulders are rounded.




The edge near the guard.




The edge near COP.

The grip is of light wood (I hope it's hard enough), wrapped in cord and leather. It widens from 2,5cm (0.98'') at the pommel to 3,5cm (1.38'') at the guard. The height is about 1,7cm (0.67'') in the middle and 1,6cm (0.63'') the ends. The grip length is 10,7 cm (4.21''). It is of octagonal form. All in all it's a quite small grip.





Pommel and guard are polished, which creates together with the black leather a simple, noble and utilitarian look. - As you may guess right now I like this appearance very much.
The sword has a type H pommel. It is 5,5cm (2.17'') in diameter and has a height of 1,6cm (0.63''). The angles of the beveling lost a bit crispness by the polishing but I think it's totally O.K.. Two scratches on the Pommel escaped the polishing and are the only minor cosmetical faults.
To describe the style 6 guard I use the pictures below and some numbers. The guard height is 1,7cm (0.67'') in the middle and decreasing to the ends. The guard length is 1,4cm (0.55'') in the middle and 1,7cm (0.67'') at the ends. The minimum length near the grip is 1,0cm (0.39''). Polished as the pommel on the guard no scratches are to be found.








The scabbard has a wooden core and is wrapped in black leather. It has polished metal chape and throat. The metal throat has leather glued at the inside. As mentioned above sword and scabbard fit tightly. The sword is secured and it's easy to unsheathe the sword.














In the Field

As I am a novice my experience with the handling of swords is limited so I compare the handling of the EMS with following swords: Knights Templar Crusader / Gen2, Hand-And-A-Half / Gen2, Practical Viking / CASHanwei. It is a lightweight sword, what makes it easy to use it single-handed. The blade can be accelerated fast and stopped easily. It's a handy sword and the small handle isn't problematic in any way. (At least for me: height 1,74m ( 5ft 8.5'') not doing workouts regularly but doing some work [img]file:///C:\Users\ADMINI~1\AppData\Local\Temp\TempPic\2MV5{(~~67C`X%EY[R3_9}T.tmp[/img] )
The cutting was disappointing and I think that's not only because of my lacking skill. With the edge as delivered by CASHanwei I am able to cut Tetra-Paks. The cut isn't as clean as it should be. Plastic-bottles laugh at me when they fly away nearly unharmed. Thrusting is ridiculously (or better terrifyingly) easy with the EMS. In cutting the sword doesn't show any signs of 'whippyness'. After the first test-cutting some part of the leather has come of the handle. - Easy to fix but not to be expected.


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I'm no expert but I think this should be better.

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After the first test-cutting...

Conclusion

This sword is a beauty and can be a good piece of sports equipment with the bonus of available replacement-blades. The CASHanwei-edge is not sharp enough for cutting anything else than very light targets. - That was the reason for me to sharpen the blade with the accusharp tool. (As I have said above I am a novice so the 'no-brainer-method' seemed the right solution for me. Since the blade had already a secondary bevel I couldn't do too much harm to the blade-geometry anyway.) Now every plastic-bottle is in fear of the sword. Each good cut is accompanied by a singing blade. Heavier targets I haven't cut until now. The over all quality is not perfect but something you can work with. And after resharpening the blade cutting is real fun!
I would hesitate to buy this sword again. Valiant Armoury has a similar sword in blunt and sharp versions, so I would wait for further tests of both swords and decide anew.


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The top doesn't keep standing always but it always looks nice.


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Diagonal cut

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Bad technique and ugly cut but the bottom half is still standing.

Pros and Cons

Pros:
- handy sword
- good fittings
- fitting scabbard
- clean finish of the surfaces
- very affordable replacement blades available
Cons:
- lack of sharpness out of the box
- secondary bevel

The Tinker EMS is a beautiful piece of sports equipment but needs some personal work to do it's job.