Legendary Arms

They have a really very nice selection of War Between the States blades and other items. I really like some of the uniform trim items that they show that I have never seen elsewhere for prices at anything near their's, items such as the deluxe shoulder straps and the braided kepis. Their sabers, swords, and 19th Century military issue knives are also very nicely detailed and nicely finished, at least from the pictures. The weight cited for the 1840 Dragoon Saber, "Old Wristbreaker", must include the scabbard, as I have wielded one of the real ones and do not remember it as being some 6+ pounds. Heavy it was, indeed, hence the name, but it wasn't any 6+ pounds. It looks very nice, however, so my guess is that they are quoting the shipping weight. What I do wonder about their swords for the War Between the States period, and their reproduction 19th Century military issue knives as well, is who made them and where, and how they would stand up to any use. This I cannot tell.

One piece that really fascinates me is the 1840 Ames Naval Cutlass which is a sort of naval version of the 1840 Foot Artillery short sword. This, in turn, was a copy of the French artillery short sword of the 1820s or 1830s which their troops called the "Cabbage Chopper" and was patterned on some romantic idea of the Roman gladius. My brother has an original 1840 Ames Cutlass that a friend gave him in college and I have never seen a reproduction version offered before. The one that my brother has was siezed with the other arms, supplies, and the burned out hulk of the steam frigate, USS Merrimac, in the Norfolk Navy Yard when Virginia seceded in April, 1861. The Confederates used the Merrimac's hulk as the basis for the ironclad, CSS Virginia, as everyone knows. Like James Burke in his eccentric, but wonderful TV show, I love odd connections.

Their Medieval and Scottish blades seem to be from Windlass Steel and you would be better off looking at Museum Replicas for them, since MR is the retail sales outlet for Windlass and has a great customer returns policy. They need it because their quality control has been, up until quite recently, rather "iffy". I would not want to have to go through a middleman on that.
 
Frankly, I am worried that someone has spotted Atlata's success with old khuks and has decided to rip off Atlanta's sales materials as a tool to sell reproductions. These folks may have the real McCoy, but the story was that Atlanta and International did the deal and Atlanta would sell the khuks. Now this vendor pops up using the identical ad copy and descriptions as used by Atlanta. I sent an e-mail inquiry to Atlanta. Maybe I'll give them a call.
 
Atlanta Cutlery and Museum Replicas are both in the same place and owned by the same people, Windlass Steel. I do wonder a bit about who owns these folks, because they seem to have a good bit in common with Atlanta and with Museum Replicas. Most of the Bowie Knives that they sell are the same as those from Atlanta, for instance. "Verrrry interrresting!!", as Artie Johnson used to say.
 
Called Atlanta Cutlery. Operator gave me to her "boss," who reports that Legendary Arms is part of same "group." He says they are selling arms from the same cache.
 
Several years ago, I stopped at the AC store outside Atlanta. It's out-of-the-way, but it certainly wasn't fly-by-night. The girl behind the counter said she had worked there for 11 years. They had two very large warehouses and seemed to be doing a thriving business. Love their cataloge. I've never had a Windlass sword. Do they stand up to hard use? I'd love to get their Pirate's Cutlass, but I'm worried about the rat-tail tang issue. If it has one, I wouldn't trust it. I've had rat-tails come apart on me after just a couple of practice blows.
 
hre we go again, European swordsalways had "rat-tailed tangs" until industralisatio provided mass produced weaponswhich were manufactured
in the full tang style.This was to ease production, not improve the weapon.Correctly made, fitted and assembled the traditional stle sword is quite satisfactory.If a "rat-tail" tang breaks after only a few blows then either the weapon is sub-standard or the users technique (or target are inappropriate)Read some of Oakeshotts books for more details on consruction.
Phil
 
By rar tail, I mean a screw either welded on the end of the tang, or even forged as part of the blade. It's an inferior method of attaching the hilt. The true way was to have a hidden tang extend down through the entire hilt. The screw on pommell just doesn't hold well.
 
I appologize for asking this obvious question. I'm also interested in the cutlass. My question: are the Windlass Steelcraft swords good quality? Several years ago, I sent back an A.C. "Bowie" knife because the quality of fit of the guard to the blade was so sloppy. I was not impressed with the polished-over scratches on the blade much either. However, I must add that I usually end up hand-sanding most blades to get them to look "right."

I'm working on a wheel lock pistol, and I thought the cutlass might go with it nicely...
Any advice will be appreciated.

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