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Shane Allee
Industry Professional



Location: South Bend, IN
Joined: 29 Aug 2003

Posts: 506

PostPosted: Wed 14 Sep, 2005 10:53 pm    Post subject: MRL's new scimitar         Reply with quote

Has anyone picked one of these up or had a chance to look it over? It caught my eye when it first came out, but I always wondered about the tang on it. Does anyone know if it does extent into the bulb/pommel or if it is only supported by the wood?

Shane
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Michael G. Myers




Location: El Paso, Texas
Joined: 23 Aug 2003

Posts: 112

PostPosted: Sun 25 Sep, 2005 10:17 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Bump. 'Curious, myself.




Michael

"In the fight between you and the world, back the world." - Kafka

"Neither flesh, nor fowl, nor good red-herring..."
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Shane Allee
Industry Professional



Location: South Bend, IN
Joined: 29 Aug 2003

Posts: 506

PostPosted: Wed 05 Oct, 2005 12:46 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Wasn't really looking for it, but happened by a site that had good pictures of it from various angles.
http://www.reliks.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=2168&step=4

Pretty much answered my questions about it, don't see myself getting this one.

Shane
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Lee O'Hagan




Location: Northamptonshire,England
Joined: 30 Sep 2003
Likes: 6 pages

Posts: 529

PostPosted: Wed 05 Oct, 2005 3:18 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Big Grin
i was looking forward to maybe seeing these in the UK,at the reliks price it looks quite a good item,not ideal but maybe a nice entry level piece to this little produced type,i'm hard pressed to think of anyone doing these new apart from going custom,
dont get me wrong,it's not perfect ,i'd prefer maybe 2-3" longer and slightly thinner blade, do away with that particuler fuller,a plainer slightly less beefy guard would be nice,jmo, for the price if i could find one here to look at before buying might be a half decent purchase,thumbs up to them for putting one out,
but, i'd be surprised if they appear here at a similer cost,the windlass pieces i've seen over here are not alot less than del tin,maybe 20% difference
Q,
out of interest have del tin done a shamshir,whether with windlass back then or on their own,
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Hisham Gaballa





Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Reading list: 7 books

Posts: 508

PostPosted: Wed 05 Oct, 2005 3:19 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

It looks good to me. Judging by the style of the hilt its actually a 17th-19th century Ottoman shamshir. I've never actually seen an Ottoman sword with that type of decoration on the crossguard, but I'm sure Windlass have based it on a real sword. There is actually a real Ottoman shamshir circa 1800 on sale at Ebay at the moment, it is a beautiful piece, but it costs about 5 times as much, and there is still one day to go on the bidding...

You could say that Windlass' price is a bargain. Happy
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Lee O'Hagan




Location: Northamptonshire,England
Joined: 30 Sep 2003
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Posts: 529

PostPosted: Wed 05 Oct, 2005 3:29 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

would that be a sword from pcay on ebay,the seller has listed some very nice examples of shamshir,
if not appreciate a link for the eye candy,
cheers.
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Hisham Gaballa





Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Reading list: 7 books

Posts: 508

PostPosted: Wed 05 Oct, 2005 3:36 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Lee O'Hagan wrote:
would that be a sword from pcay on ebay,the seller has listed some very nice examples of shamshir,
if not appreciate a link for the eye candy,
cheers.


No, the seller is a mrsol79 from San Francisco. I just typed Shamshir into search and it came up. I've not provided a link as i'm not sure what the forum's policy is regarding unfinished ebay auctions. However it does look attractive despite the rather small pictures and rather poor photography. The seller did not provide a good photo of the blade. There does seem to be a fair amount of interest, it's had 21 bids so far. Happy

All this is deviating from the subject of the original post, which is not on Ebay and is a lot cheaper. Big Grin
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Aaron Schnatterly




Location: New Glarus, WI
Joined: 16 Feb 2005
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PostPosted: Wed 05 Oct, 2005 3:44 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Hisham Gaballa wrote:
I've not provided a link as i'm not sure what the forum's policy is regarding unfinished ebay auctions.


There's a thread in the "Off Topic" forum for just this type of thing located here: Ebay Finds.

-Aaron Schnatterly
_______________

Fortior Qui Se Vincit
(He is stronger who conquers himself.)
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Hisham Gaballa





Joined: 27 Jan 2005
Reading list: 7 books

Posts: 508

PostPosted: Wed 05 Oct, 2005 4:06 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Aaron Schnatterly wrote:
Hisham Gaballa wrote:
I've not provided a link as i'm not sure what the forum's policy is regarding unfinished ebay auctions.


There's a thread in the "Off Topic" forum for just this type of thing located here: Ebay Finds.


Thanks, I've added it to the end of that thread.
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Michael G. Myers




Location: El Paso, Texas
Joined: 23 Aug 2003

Posts: 112

PostPosted: Sun 09 Oct, 2005 9:30 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Shane Allee wrote:
Wasn't really looking for it, but happened by a site that had good pictures of it from various angles.
http://www.reliks.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=2168&step=4



Much thanks, Shane.



Michael

"In the fight between you and the world, back the world." - Kafka

"Neither flesh, nor fowl, nor good red-herring..."
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Stephen Hughes




Location: Grand Bend, Ontario
Joined: 30 Nov 2005

Posts: 22

PostPosted: Wed 30 Nov, 2005 8:15 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I've been to Reliks and handled that sword. It struck me as very awkward and unwieldy. I am no expert, especially when it comes to curved single-edged swords, but it seemed to me to be nothing more than a cleaver that would not recover quickly from a miss and was especially bad at lateral movement. The blade was thicker than most of the Middle Ages European swords and seemed very stiff. If I recall correctly the wooden grip is in the form of scales over the tang (though that detail is unclear in my memory).

Based on the swords I have handled at Reliks, it seems Windlass swords are still very much hit and miss. Some are quite decent though and I appreciate being able to go there and handle the thing in person before sinking all that money into it. I'll probably own several Windlass swords before investing in the more expensive swords that I cannot handle in person and can only know about from reviews on sites like this.
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John Cooksey




Location: NW Ark
Joined: 15 Nov 2003

Posts: 291

PostPosted: Wed 30 Nov, 2005 9:24 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

The wooden grip should be scales over the tang, in my opinion. With possibly a wire wrap over the lower half of the grip, next to the guard . . . . :-)
Haven't handled the Windlass piece, tho, so I can't comment on it.

I didn't surrender, but they took my horse and made him surrender.
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Stephen Hughes




Location: Grand Bend, Ontario
Joined: 30 Nov 2005

Posts: 22

PostPosted: Fri 02 Dec, 2005 6:15 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

It is an attractive sword, certainly, and outside of acquiring a British General Officer's sword from some place like militaryheritage.com or Wilkinson Sword, it seems hard to get one like this. It just... didn't feel right. Should have been easier to recover, and I cannot imagine doing a decent draw cut with it, or knocking a blade aside with the flat (but maybe they were not used that way).

I think the addition of a wire wrap such as you describe would probably improve the grip nicely, which might improve the overall feel of the blade. That is something that one can do at home, and it's not a very pricey piece... could be tempting in the future. The blade will still have too much mass, though.
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John Cooksey




Location: NW Ark
Joined: 15 Nov 2003

Posts: 291

PostPosted: Fri 02 Dec, 2005 7:24 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Stephen Hughes wrote:
It is an attractive sword, certainly, and outside of acquiring a British General Officer's sword from some place like militaryheritage.com or Wilkinson Sword, it seems hard to get one like this. It just... didn't feel right. Should have been easier to recover, and I cannot imagine doing a decent draw cut with it, or knocking a blade aside with the flat (but maybe they were not used that way).

I think the addition of a wire wrap such as you describe would probably improve the grip nicely, which might improve the overall feel of the blade. That is something that one can do at home, and it's not a very pricey piece... could be tempting in the future. The blade will still have too much mass, though.


Hmmmm . . . . .
I am always on the lookout for another reasonably priced shamshir or "Eastern" saber of decent quality.
I have an Armart saber (saif), which in many regards is quite nice. It *is* very quick and responsive, perhaps the best handling sword that I have owned. But, it *lacks* sufficent mass in the blade. The profile taper is just that it makes a very effective thrusting sword, and it is easy to get up to speed, but the combination of "poor" sharpening and lack of weight in the blade make cutting targets of any significant resistance almost impossible. It just "bounces".
It will cut small green branches, and does a passable job on water bottles, but it is in no way what I would define as a decent cutter (not even with draw cuts).
I wish these things were more widely available on the production market, because I'd like to have some decent standards of comparison (antiques are getting really, really pricey).

I didn't surrender, but they took my horse and made him surrender.
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