Does anyone know anything about these damascus blade blanks?

T

TroyO

Joined
Mar 20, 2001
Messages
71
http://www.by-the-sword.com/miscweapons.html


I saw these at www.by-the-sword.com, and was particularly interested in the medieval damascus blade. (One of the katana's in shira-saya would be nice too... but I'm trying to keep it down to one blade at a time. ;-)

Anyone heard of or seen one of these? If the steel and shaping isn't crap it sounds like a fun project to make all the fittings.

So whaddya think, $350 for a damascus sword blade too good to be true?

Thanks for any input!
 
Hi Troy,

I've seen those things at By-the-sword.
(BTW, a reputable bunch to deal with.)

I haven't seen any of them first hand though.

The price alone is enough to tell you that they're made in India. (No american would work that cheap.)

That doesn't mean it's "bad" but it's no guarantee of quality either.

The only way to know for sure is for someone to buy one, build it, and work it hard enough to find out if it's solid or if it's junk.

Wanna be the first?
:D
(Somebody's got to!)
 
Hmmm, I might just have to do that. I will call them and see what type of return policies they have, and if I can inspect and return it (It it proves inferior) for the price of shipping I will probably make that my next project. Never laid out that much for a blade before, so I would have be fairly impressed to go for it.

Right now I am mounting and making all the fitting for a KC Waki. I'm not sure what the interest levels in this forum is for "home improvement" postings VS complete swords, but if there is any interest I can post pics and answer questions about how I did what.
 
I don't know what the official "By-the-sword" policy says, but I know from both observation and personal experience that they're very easy to get along with.

I ordered a sword from them once, a Hanwei Pappenheimer... I used it a couple weeks, and the hilt broke.
I called them up, explained that it had broken during a duel and that I wanted to know if I could get it repaired or replaced.

They replaced it.

I was out the return shipping costs but other than that, no problem and I'm still using the replacement sword almost three years and maybe 1000 duels later. (It's about ready for the blade to go though.)

I've also had a few guys in my sword group return things to BTS. They've all had good/no-hassle experiences.

I suspect, that as long as you don't do anything like try to chop a concrete block in half, that they'd be reasonable with you if the need should arise. If you get it and just don't like it, I'm pretty sure they'll let you return it.
 
Looking at the cavalry sword and the medieval sword blades, I noted a VERY sharp angle where the blade narrows down to the tang. As I understand it, this sharp angle creates a weak point that is a stress fracture just waiting to happen. Again, as I understand it, the proper way to make the transition from blade to tang in a sword is to taper it. If my understanding is wrong, please correct me, but that is my understanding.
 
I'ts hard to tell much of anything from the pics. The juncture between tang and blade doesn't have to be a wide radius, so it could just be hard to see in the pics they have. (I have made a few knives, I usually go with about a 1/8" or so radius, and so far so good, might go a bit bigger for a sword.) Hmm, my KC Baselard is similar in tang style to this one, it has held up OK aside from (IMHO) a too soft temper. (It nicks easy.)

In any case, it's an easy enough matter to radius it out if needed. Judging by the way the tangs are designed, they at least knew enough not to use a rat-tail! ;-) Besides, cleaning up and leveling of the blade/guard area is something I would expect to do on any blade, knife or sword.

I have been trying to make myself wait on this, my credit card is gasping for air already! Once I get done with the Wak I get the feeling it's going to happen. I will take detailed pics and post a review of what I find when I do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top