I got confirmation from Swordier that the base model wrap isn't leather but instead it is essentially a heat shrink wrap piece of rubber (similar to how you would fix a leaking pipe). They offer customization options for other types of wraps but the price will go up. I haven't seen any examples of their wraps etc so if it bumps the price up tooo much you might consider your wrapping guy if you really like the sword.
Ah, so my impressions were right! Yeah, that's absolutely the first thing that could use to be to replaced on this sword, or customized if one wants to go that route with Swordier.
@@alientude Yeah, if you really really liked the sword then doing the upgrade might be worth it. Just not sure on cost. If it is alot, I know your wrapping friend is $150 for a longsword so you would need to compare cost. If you really loved the sword and they charged like 70-100$ for a leather or cord wrap I might just spend the little extra for the professional level wrapping. Might be overkill on a 200$ sword but I really love mine so I might consider it.
I'm glad to see more companies entering the Euro market in the budget range! As budget range is generally where I have to buy. I have no experience with sortir but I've had my eye on them is one of the up & coming companies. Glad to hear you only really had 2 issues for improvement one being not a huge issue the other easily addressed. Thanks
Great review, I really appreciate the extra effort you put into taking measurements and putting them on screen. Some of the huge channels don't even bother with this. Your cutting form seems to get better each time, good work ! ✌🏻
Yeah considering there's a ton of swords in the $2000. dollar range that you don't even get a scabbard with... Which I never understood frankly, you wouldn't buy a katana without a saya.. why are European sword enthusiast expected to just walk around with a sharp sword in their hand ? LOL
Great work. I look forward to more Swordier reviews. Their postage to Australia is much more reasonable than most so they are an appealing option for me. I wonder if some of their $279-$350 longswords have better taper.
I have the next review, the tameshigiri katana, that Swordier made, and also another longsword from them that will be reviewed at some point in the future
3:00 Rest assured that historically, if they could get the full scabbard decorated they would have, they were very fond of decorative stamping on leather. To us it looks mass produced, historicaly it would have been wet-dream levels of decorations. 4:43 funny thing is, that's the kind of stuff you'd get with swords back in the day too, even more so since the scabbard you'd buy would not always have been made for your specific sword, it was probably mass produced by an artisan only making scabbards and they just picked one that fitted the sword good enough to use.
Not all steel is magnetic. So for those who don't knowabout them: Austenitic stainless steels are generally non-magnetic steels. They are such because of their atomic-level microstructure which contains high amounts of nickel and chromium, making it largely non-magnetic. So called "Non-magnetic carbon steels" generally refers an "austenitic" stainless steel. I think some sword manufacturers use such steel for guards & pommels. I believe Hanwei/Paul Chen do on some of their Euro swords.
Right, I knew there was some types of stainless steel that didn't react to magnets, so no magnetic response is not a guarantee that something is not steel. But the opposite is true - if there's a magnetic response, it is definitely ferrous.
Yeah, the fittings are stainless steel. For most of their European style models, they use stainless steel for the pommel and cross guard. I think the one exception is the Dark Sister replica. The grip on this one is silicone. Alex mentioned such in the showcase video done about this sword.
Another great review! I was curious as SBG has begun to stock Swordier as a replacement for Ronin. Comparing the grip to the factory wrap on the CS H&H was pretty telling, and that was the first thing to go on my CS.
SBG dropped Ronin like a sack of potatoes once the clueless owner finally realized that Ronin had a long history of fishy business practices and subpar products, and was just using him. He had the wool pulled over his eyes for years and even helped stifle Ronin's competition on the forums because he thought the owner of Ronin Katana was a personal friend.
@@Intrepid_Explorer That's really disappointing. I like a few of their Euro models, but they're clunky a-historic things. Never did bother to pick up a Dojo Pro.
I took it out expecting it to be lackluster at best, but it surprised me. It shows what good (not great) sharpness and good overall edge geometry can do.
200$ is really cheap for a longsword. Wood scabbard, sharp, jazzed up a bit with some decoration. Which is really nice because most budget(and not so budget) longswords are extremely plain. That's all a matter of taste of course. Sword friend kingfisher reviewed their Templar great sword (I forget the exact name) and it was pretty cool looking. But heavy and unwieldy, he said Alex from swordier thanked him for being honest with his feed back and he said they would try to improve it. Kingfisher also ordered a custom longsword from Swordier, so I'm curious to see how that turns out. I would have to double check with kf but I think all in it cost around 600-700$cad. Don't quote me, but it was around that. If you want a custom made longsword on the cheap swordier might be the way to go. We'll see if they nail his specs and how well it turns out, but it seems promising. Kingfisher is fairly rough with his swords and he really likes swordiers 65mn cause it seems to hold up well. 🤘💀 great video as always kyle thanks
Seems like they could easily replace the fuller with a hexagonal cross section and use that same grind to create more distal taper, improving blade dynamics at the expense of stiffness. Alternatively (and more to my preference for the profile) they could extend the fuller up to just below the center of percussion. This also gives you a good point of reference when cutting targets.
I have a speed control extension.. and I can see that in just about every one of you slo mo shots.. you slightly are twisting the blade off of centerline and it kinda slaps the target sideways and really ripples a wave through the blade.. So I know you can feel that when it happens. I would do a lot more slow swings and really focus on creating muscle memory of the angle of the blade vs how it feels in your hand. You have to be visualizing which way the blade is facing, not just the trajectory of the swing... The reason why the type 18's are so much better cutters is partly because of this reason.. It's so wide that your mind intuitively visuals the angle of it a lot more readily. But really it's all in the handle-- you have to feel where that edge angle is at.. and if the handle isn't great, then it's going to make it much harder (as you said). But this is what I would be thinking about as you practice.. Those very subtle twisting angle adjustments
i bought the Fishtail pommel type XIV. its on par or a bit better than Darksword Armoury blades. main issue i had with swordier is the $150 shipping. Edit after checking again, they manage to make the shipping from China more reasonable of $85. still with me having to pay $150 usd shipping makes the total cost of $500 canadian worth it
I got confirmation from Swordier that the base model wrap isn't leather but instead it is essentially a heat shrink wrap piece of rubber (similar to how you would fix a leaking pipe). They offer customization options for other types of wraps but the price will go up. I haven't seen any examples of their wraps etc so if it bumps the price up tooo much you might consider your wrapping guy if you really like the sword.
Ah, so my impressions were right! Yeah, that's absolutely the first thing that could use to be to replaced on this sword, or customized if one wants to go that route with Swordier.
@@alientude Yeah, if you really really liked the sword then doing the upgrade might be worth it. Just not sure on cost. If it is alot, I know your wrapping friend is $150 for a longsword so you would need to compare cost. If you really loved the sword and they charged like 70-100$ for a leather or cord wrap I might just spend the little extra for the professional level wrapping. Might be overkill on a 200$ sword but I really love mine so I might consider it.
@By-The-Sword A really well-done leather wrap would definitely elevate the sword quite a bit, both in looks and handling.
I'm glad to see more companies entering the Euro market in the budget range! As budget range is generally where I have to buy. I have no experience with sortir but I've had my eye on them is one of the up & coming companies. Glad to hear you only really had 2 issues for improvement one being not a huge issue the other easily addressed.
Thanks
Been waiting for this review to drop after seeing their options on SBG, thanks for the review.
It's really nice to see a little extra decoration w/o having to spend a whole lot. Cuts pretty good too. All in all seems like a good buy.
Great review, I really appreciate the extra effort you put into taking measurements and putting them on screen. Some of the huge channels don't even bother with this. Your cutting form seems to get better each time, good work ! ✌🏻
Thanks! I'm always trying to improve my cutting!
Now I’m glad I’ve ordered a sword from them. The prices are great
Which model # did you chooe?
Nicely done!
I was just looking at this one as a possible purchase
Thanks! Hope you enjoy it if you decide to purchase.
Amazing how they added a WOOD core scabbard at that pricepoint
Yeah considering there's a ton of swords in the $2000. dollar range that you don't even get a scabbard with... Which I never understood frankly, you wouldn't buy a katana without a saya.. why are European sword enthusiast expected to just walk around with a sharp sword in their hand ? LOL
Great work. I look forward to more Swordier reviews. Their postage to Australia is much more reasonable than most so they are an appealing option for me. I wonder if some of their $279-$350 longswords have better taper.
I have the next review, the tameshigiri katana, that Swordier made, and also another longsword from them that will be reviewed at some point in the future
3:00 Rest assured that historically, if they could get the full scabbard decorated they would have, they were very fond of decorative stamping on leather. To us it looks mass produced, historicaly it would have been wet-dream levels of decorations.
4:43 funny thing is, that's the kind of stuff you'd get with swords back in the day too, even more so since the scabbard you'd buy would not always have been made for your specific sword, it was probably mass produced by an artisan only making scabbards and they just picked one that fitted the sword good enough to use.
Not all steel is magnetic.
So for those who don't knowabout them:
Austenitic stainless steels are generally non-magnetic steels. They are such because of their atomic-level microstructure which contains high amounts of nickel and chromium, making it largely non-magnetic.
So called "Non-magnetic carbon steels" generally refers an "austenitic" stainless steel.
I think some sword manufacturers use such steel for guards & pommels. I believe Hanwei/Paul Chen do on some of their Euro swords.
Right, I knew there was some types of stainless steel that didn't react to magnets, so no magnetic response is not a guarantee that something is not steel. But the opposite is true - if there's a magnetic response, it is definitely ferrous.
@alientude truth!
Omg ... This is sooo beautiful.
I think i must have
Yeah, the fittings are stainless steel. For most of their European style models, they use stainless steel for the pommel and cross guard. I think the one exception is the Dark Sister replica. The grip on this one is silicone. Alex mentioned such in the showcase video done about this sword.
I completely forgot to watch their video about this model. Doh!
Another great review! I was curious as SBG has begun to stock Swordier as a replacement for Ronin. Comparing the grip to the factory wrap on the CS H&H was pretty telling, and that was the first thing to go on my CS.
SBG dropped Ronin like a sack of potatoes once the clueless owner finally realized that Ronin had a long history of fishy business practices and subpar products, and was just using him. He had the wool pulled over his eyes for years and even helped stifle Ronin's competition on the forums because he thought the owner of Ronin Katana was a personal friend.
@@Intrepid_Explorer That's really disappointing. I like a few of their Euro models, but they're clunky a-historic things. Never did bother to pick up a Dojo Pro.
I'm surprised cutting went so well. I was not expecting the blade to perform as well as it did.
I took it out expecting it to be lackluster at best, but it surprised me. It shows what good (not great) sharpness and good overall edge geometry can do.
200$ is really cheap for a longsword. Wood scabbard, sharp, jazzed up a bit with some decoration. Which is really nice because most budget(and not so budget) longswords are extremely plain. That's all a matter of taste of course.
Sword friend kingfisher reviewed their Templar great sword (I forget the exact name) and it was pretty cool looking. But heavy and unwieldy, he said Alex from swordier thanked him for being honest with his feed back and he said they would try to improve it. Kingfisher also ordered a custom longsword from Swordier, so I'm curious to see how that turns out. I would have to double check with kf but I think all in it cost around 600-700$cad. Don't quote me, but it was around that.
If you want a custom made longsword on the cheap swordier might be the way to go. We'll see if they nail his specs and how well it turns out, but it seems promising. Kingfisher is fairly rough with his swords and he really likes swordiers 65mn cause it seems to hold up well.
🤘💀 great video as always kyle thanks
They've definitely been open to feedback from everything I've seen, which is great! I'm curious to see how Kingfisher's custom turns out.
Seems like they could easily replace the fuller with a hexagonal cross section and use that same grind to create more distal taper, improving blade dynamics at the expense of stiffness. Alternatively (and more to my preference for the profile) they could extend the fuller up to just below the center of percussion. This also gives you a good point of reference when cutting targets.
Awesome sauce. The 1030 is the only one they offer that look properly proportional, all others look too large and fantasy like.
On the website for a little more money the Damascus blade option is listed as lighter apparently
I have a speed control extension.. and I can see that in just about every one of you slo mo shots.. you slightly are twisting the blade off of centerline and it kinda slaps the target sideways and really ripples a wave through the blade.. So I know you can feel that when it happens. I would do a lot more slow swings and really focus on creating muscle memory of the angle of the blade vs how it feels in your hand. You have to be visualizing which way the blade is facing, not just the trajectory of the swing... The reason why the type 18's are so much better cutters is partly because of this reason.. It's so wide that your mind intuitively visuals the angle of it a lot more readily. But really it's all in the handle-- you have to feel where that edge angle is at.. and if the handle isn't great, then it's going to make it much harder (as you said). But this is what I would be thinking about as you practice.. Those very subtle twisting angle adjustments
This thing is beautiful, reminds me of the cold steel "italian longsword"
It definitely has some of the same design characteristics.
13:50 "Jian" is pronounced like the letters "G" and "N" together (assuming you're going for the Mandarin pronunciation).
Thank you. I suck at pronouncing languages I am not familiar with.
i bought the Fishtail pommel type XIV. its on par or a bit better than Darksword Armoury blades. main issue i had with swordier is the $150 shipping. Edit after checking again, they manage to make the shipping from China more reasonable of $85. still with me having to pay $150 usd shipping makes the total cost of $500 canadian worth it
My experience with Swordier is miles better than my experience with Darksword Armory. Not that it's a high bar to reach.
Isn't this just a windlass but slightly different?
I would probably buy this if it had a better grip.
Seems like it's already better than that $600 Darksword Armory longsword lol
Not a high bar to reach, but yeah, I'd definitely say so!
Friends don't let friends buy Darksword Armoury swords ...
👍