Movie Swords

F

FanBoy

Joined
Jan 10, 2002
Messages
2
I am an avid collector of movie stuff. I like to collect the movie swords and knives. I found a really cheap place for the Lord Of The Rings swords and was wondering if they are worth buying?

I found them here if anyone is interested.

www.shopthroughtheages.com
 
My post from the "Peter Lyon" thread below...

I actually had a chance to handle all three swords while in Toronto on business. First off I will say that both Glamdring and the Nazgul sword were overweight. They were both far too whippy this is especially true of the Nazgul sword. They points of balance are also off on both. Sting is really more like a long knife then a sword so I did not worry so much about weights and points of balance on that one. Having said that I will say that they are all rather attractive although certainly unusable.
 
If you want to get them for a collection,or display
they are ok. I do agree with most of the other posts
that they are definatly not functional.
 
The LOTR reproduction swords from United Cutlery are made to be functional but are basically collector grade movie reproductions. They are made with a "sharp" looking false edge that can be sharpened, but I would not go chopping a tree down with one.

The blades are 420J2 stainless with a tang that goes half way into the handle, a 5mm bar is welded to that, surrounded by a shock absorbing steel tube, and threaded into the pommel. All of this is tightly fitted into cast aluminum grips with leather wraps. This is actually stonger than the wood grip movie version. I know because I engineered the reproductions for United.

Kit Rae
Art Director
United Cutlery Corp.
 
Nasnandos,

We all know that the stainless steel are much more weak than carbon steel, and they were not capable to be used in serious uses like the tameshigiri practice, they can be pretty but more for decorative purpose, not functional by people that really need to practice a good nice real cut.

I would like you to comment what United Cutlery said in this new 420 J2 stainless steel models, the 3000 collection (katana, ninja and tanto). In the announcement they said (literally):

"is a master of high technology fighting and weaponry and their primary arm is the plasmium sword, a device constructed by highly disciplined weapon masters using an extremely secretive form of physics. It's virtually indesctructivle blade, charged by high energy ionized plasma, cuts through practically any material except another blade of its kind."

We all know that no sword is indesctructible, but the ones that suffer less damage are the high carbon steel ones (and obviously not the stainless steel ones), so in what this thing of "energy ionized plasma" turns the blade better? They do this only to sell ? Sorry, but I`d like to know if there is something that I missed...

DHB
 
Agreed on the "waste of steel" comment on most of these swords!

FanBoy: If you want some really amazing movie stuff..., The Master will soon be overseeing sword making for:

http://albionarmorers.com~~> Jody Samson :cool:

Enjoy...


"Hunters seek what they [WANT].., Seekers hunt what they [NEED]"
 
DHB, I was actually agreeing with the posts regarding the LOTR swords being primarily for collectors only, as are about 90% of the "production" swords being made today. Fanboy, a movie collector, asked what they were like and most of the comments were negative, so I responded to the quality and construction. They are not intended to be functional combat swords. They are simply exact reproductions of "movie props", as close (or better) as we could make them to the originals.

Regarding 420 stainless. It is an average quality steel used in 80-90% of all blades made and most production swords, not the best, not the worst. As most swords are for collectors, this is the most appropriate and economic steel. The best steels for functional swords are one of the wide variety of carbon steels, preferably forged, not stock removal. I own a few in my collection. Unfortunately, that is not what the mainstream market wants, but that is who United targets with their collectible swords. If you want "functional" from United you will have to turn to our sporting knives or our Harley-Davidson, Colt, or Fred Carter brands. They are some of the best in the industry.

Regarding the Samurai 3000 swords, forgive me, but I am not sure if you are joking or not. You don't rerally think that these swords are Samurai swords from the year 3000 and have "charged by high energy ionized plasma blades" as story on the box says do you? They are pure science fiction collectibles. They are about as far as you can get from a functional sword. The handles look like lightsabers! I'm assuming you saw some partial text in a catalog somewhere?

Kit Rae
Art Director
United Cutlery Corp.
 
Originally posted by Nasnandos

Regarding the Samurai 3000 swords, forgive me, but I am not sure if you are joking or not. You don't rerally think that these swords are Samurai swords from the year 3000 and have "charged by high energy ionized plasma blades" as story on the box says do you? They are pure science fiction collectibles. They are about as far as you can get from a functional sword. The handles look like lightsabers! I'm assuming you saw some partial text in a catalog somewhere?
Click to expand...

Dammit, I'll be right back, I've gotta go cancel an order...

:rolleyes:
 
I think that he is being straight with us. I find his posts both enlightening and funny, yes, funny. But, then, I never was tempted by any of their movie swords, althooouuugh, I sort of, kind of, really liked the Zorro smallsword, if the thing had only been made as a user rather than a wall-hanger. I used to go to the Saturday matinees to watch the Zorro serials and then there was the Disney TV show, which was the ONLY one that my father would let us watch on a school night, and that was due to his love of the old Douglas Fairbanks silent film. I finally saw it a few years ago, if you get the chance to see it, take it! It's a classic! Yes, I am a Zorro fan.
 
Originally posted by Nasnandos


If you want "functional" from United you will have to turn to our sporting knives or our Harley-Davidson, Colt, or Fred Carter brands. They are some of the best in the industry.



Compared to what?
Click to expand...
 
Well first of all, let me start with the definitively vague statement; There are movie swords, and then there are movie swords.

As Hugh Fuller pointed out, the "Mask of Zorro" Small Sword is actually a very elegant and functional design. The execution of that design however, dooms it forever to the realm of "Pretty to look at, but don't you dare swing it!"

Unfortunately, this is the case with almost all movie reproduction swords that I have ever seen.

The most well known case, is the "Highlander Katana."

This was such a poorly designed and ill-tempered (I mean that two ways.) "sword" that merely swinging the thing at full speed ONCE, placed the wielder and those nearby in the path of a potentially flying blade. The tang was/is so fragile it could snap under the weight of the blade. Impact against any object is not necessary to cause failure.

This is a clear-cut case of a Manufacturer being criminally negligent. I'll never for the life of me understand how those manufacturers managed to avoid being litigated out of existance.

Since the above situation is really not all that remarkable in the realm of "Movie Swords" my blanket recommendation where such "swords" are concerned is as follows;

<b>If you wish to purchase a reproduction of a "Movie Sword" please feel free to do so, but NEVER, EVER, under any circumstance attempt to wield it in any way. Doing so is placing yourself and others at great risk!</b>

Now...
Having said that, I'll clearly state that I have not as of yet handled nor examined any of the LOTR "swords."

<b>Quote from Kit Rae
The LOTR reproduction swords from United Cutlery are made to be functional but are basically collector grade movie reproductions. They are made with a "sharp" looking false edge that can be sharpened, but I would not go chopping a tree down with one.</b>

In the spirit of fairness, I make the following invitation to Kit Rae.

I offer to test and evaluate any such swords that he wishes to send to me.

Any such testing and evaluation will be reasonable, fair and comprehensive. All testing would be documented in detail.

I would subject such swords to test cutting appropriate to whatever style of sword is being tested, and where possible, tested in Live Blade dueling.

The results would be posted here, untainted by personal bias.

While I will make no promise of restitution in the event of breakage, I would not ask any sword to function outside of the limits of it's proposed design and all swords, in whatever condition would be promptly returned to Mr. Rae after the testing was completed.

This offer is, if you'll pardon the expression, a two edged sword.

If they excell, I will say so in gushing terms appropriate to the level of quality.
If the swords "pass muster" I will state so with no equivocation.
If they follow the trend of other "Movie Swords" that have gone before, I will say so in no uncertain terms.

I make this offer with an absolute refusal of any monetary or other compensation, I will not ask to buy the swords later at a reduced price, nor will I accept them as a gift. This disallows any opportunity of personal gain on my own, or Mr. Rae's part and thereby relieves both of us of any possibility of bias for financial gain.

Mr. Rae, if you're interested please email me and we can hammer out any pertinent details I have not touched upon in this post.
 
Ken, I must say that : Very well!!!
I think what you do as a moderator you should really do... And I should say that admired your idea a lot !!!

We all know that anyone that is going to try to sell a thing will try to elevate the qualities of their products, forgetting its limitations. But this could have a limit when it can cause damage to the people that saw this advertises, this can be considered a crime (when it can induce people without apropriate knowledge use such products). And only to explain, of course that anyone that is now participating in this forum can see that I was actually alerting naive people against companies that are only trying to sell any product with an incorrect advertise (or at any price), when I said:

LAST QUOTE (mine):

""I would like you to comment what United Cutlery said in this new 420 J2 stainless steel models, the 3000 collection (katana, ninja and tanto). In the announcement they said (literally):
"is a master of high technology fighting and weaponry and their primary arm is the plasmium sword, a device constructed by highly disciplined weapon masters using an extremely secretive form of physics. It's virtually indesctructivle blade, charged by high energy ionized plasma, cuts through practically any material except another blade of its kind.""

After all,there are people who believes in everything they see, and every company that sells anything should be responsible by what they advertise.

I also want to thank you (Ken), by showing that this companies do anythig to sell, like when they said that their products are functional (like you well reminded in your last thread) and to answer mine thread they change opinion and said it is not functional. Why are this people so confuse???

Once again, congratulations on your idea Ken Kook!!! You, besides a great iai master seems a really sensate person!!!
;) ;) ;)

PS.: Forgive by any kind of english error, I`m from Brazil and I´m trying to do my best in your language.
 
Originally posted by Nasnandos
If you want "functional" from United you will have to turn to our sporting knives or our Harley-Davidson, Colt, or Fred Carter brands. They are some of the best in the industry.

Kit Rae
Art Director
United Cutlery Corp.
Click to expand...

You're kidding, right? That's flea market and E-bay fodder.
 
I know most if not all movie replicas are crap, but is there anyone who makes replicas that are truely functional?

I mean a something like a hand forged "Highlander" dragon sword, or" Glamdring", maybe a "Blade" sword.

I like movie swords and knives, but the offerings are for the most part not just nonfuntional, but the fit and finish are bad enough to make you go blind.

I know there are smiths out there that make real swords, but is there anyone who makes movie reproductions for real?

Thanks

William
 
Will52100, the only truly functional movie sword replicas I know of are the Conan reproductions that are currently being offered. I can't think of the companies name right off hand that makes them, but they are supposed to be hand made and hammer forged, like the Sampson originals. I'll find the name and post it. They were several thousand dollars, if I recall correctly

Don, I'll put my Harley-Davidson HD42 Wolfhound (the titanium/ATS-34 version) or my Fred Carter FC6 titanium with its cryogenically treated edge against any production knife being made today. That must have been a very high end flea market you were shopping at!

DHB, you did not see those swords advertised that way in any United catalog. The Samurai 3000 swords are in the section clearly labeled "Fantasy Swords" in huge letters. The text also clearly states that they are "adult collectibles", not functional swords. Where is it that you saw these adverised as functional?

Out of curiosity, what do those of you who want a fully functional combat sword intend to do with them? The only popular use I have ever heard of is for stage combat, and the very small group of martial arts disciplines that use them for performance combats.
 
I am a iai do practicing, which is serious martial art, and require a real functional blade. I also am practicing the tameshigiri, which requires real swords, not the copies.

The problem is that some people that don`t have any preparation could go away and try to cut a tree or something like that, and hurt themselves. I am a physician here, and worked by 6 years in a E.R. here in Brazil, in my city called Curitiba, and I saw twice this kind of accident, once a boy of twelve, got the older brother replica (filipine one), and hit a tree some times, it broke and the blade fly to his foot and we had to sew him , happily he was then Ok, but it would never happened if this did not broke.

If anyone wants to know if the samurai 3000 sword advertise seems to be real is only to look in the internet swords stores and see the advertises to the sword, it sometimes can (not always) says it is fantasy, but it also says it is functional, so the people can think that it, in spite of beeing a replica, is really functional, and made like the boy I mentioned. I really did not care anything about the catalog of this fake swords, I was mention the advertises in the internet, what make the companies that sell and produce such items as accomplice in deceive naive people. The most of people that buy this stuff did not do this by cattalog but stores, and they only put the fake advertises. I saw some of them advertising and not showing the word fantasy, any company should preview that. And yes, very frequently is mentioned that they are functional.

The companies should be responsible by what they advertise.
 
Originally posted by Nasnandos
-Davidson HD42 Wolfhound (the titanium/ATS-34 version) or my Fred Carter FC6 titanium with its cryogenically treated edge against any production knife being made today. That must have been a very high end flea market you were shopping at!

Out of curiosity, what do those of you who want a fully functional combat sword intend to do with them? The only popular use I have ever heard of is for stage combat, and the very small group of martial arts disciplines that use them for performance combats.
Click to expand...

I'd put just about any company against United. Emerson, Cold Steel, Spyderco, CRKT, and Buck are the ones I have experience with. I had a Colt once, and it was so dull I could run the edge down my arm with no injury. If not for the point it could have been a trainer.

The last statement shows why you just don't get it. There are many martial arts that use live swords. The practitioners may be less in number than the students od McDojos, but they are not a small group. I do practice cutting like others here, and also want a live version of every weapon I train with. Some Filipino swords also make good tools. When martial arts weapons designers don't know how to use the weapons themselves, we get junk like 420J2 swords that break at the tang and fly out of the handle and the trash sold as "ninja" weapons in many catalogs.
 
The company selling the Conan swords (actually made by Jody Sampson and fully licensed) is Albion Armorer. www.albionarmorers.com. However be prepared for sticker shock, all that licensing doesn't come cheap. I'd love to know if they have actually sold one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top