I should add that this sword now belongs to one of my fellow Schola Gladiatoria instructors and I'm very happy it went to him. I cannot keep all the swords, after all, and this sword is exactly his kind of sword.
Yes, 18 inches is of course useful for combat, just as a knife is. As a sword, such a short blade would usually be only for a back-up weapon (with a spear or missile weapon as primary) or used with a shield.
In terms of breath and precision of expertise and proliferation of content, I think Dwarf... had it right. But you might say the inrange 2gacm match type content could be analogous to Easton's fight camp stuff.
Cheers! I've made a quick research on the hungarian side of the internet: these swords were made to replace the M1845/50 sabres and the M1824 pallash. The Monarchy wanted to speed up and make the production cheaper ((Austro-Hungary prepared for a war against France - never fought (not in France - there were fights in northern Itally, won by the french) because Prussia canceled the treaty with Austro-Hungary)) . That why: 1. the handguard was cast and symmetrical 2. the blade was also cast(!!) - a solingen pattent adopted in the late 50th- and simplified => the reason for the asymmetrical blade 3. the normal soldiers sabre had a solid guard, the officers sabre had a guard with holes 4. the 60/61 pattern sabres had a bronse bladeneck reinforcement (means the sword in the video is a 1858M hungarian hussar/ulan officers sabre) 5. there were 3 types of this sword: long (92 cm) for the austrian cavalry, middle (84 cm) for the hungarian hussars and light (same blade but smaller handguard and shorter tang) for the ulans (were not issued to troops, they were equiped with 84 cm long hussar sabres) 6. about 140,000 were produced, 115,000 were issued to troops 7. they were used mostly in Italy 8. they were produced by Jung&Jurmann in Austria; by Peter Daniel Lünneschloss (Germany); A.&E. Höller (Germany), Schnitzler und Kirschbaum (Germany) 8. There were used similar swords in Baden and Würtenberg (Germany), but they had no ears and rivets on the side of the grip. Because of the poor performance of the blades (lots of blades were broken in combat), they were sold in the early `60 to the USA and were used in the Civil War (actually it is easier to find an M1858/60/61 in the USA then in Europe). The asymmetriacal blade design was also cancelled because of its poor cutting performance (the blade tended to deviate sideways under cutting and could be stuck and/or broken) P.S.: Sorry for my grammar...:(
An unadvised burglar comes into the house at night. Trips. Falls. Assuming they survive, they leave straight to the hospital quite embarassed and with a scarcely believable story to tell...
Why though? The picture that comes to me is that Matt had all his cutlasses out, indulging in an admiration orgy of them, and then his mind performed an involuntary side-association to other classifications of curved swords, and this particularly distinctive example sprang unbidden to mind, and he felt utterly compelled to explore its asymmetrical loveliness in greater detail, and hence this video, and the unseen and almost unacknowledged pile of cutlasses lying mute and forlorn out of view, like one night stands the day after.
Khanclansith Mostly when people type "LOL" they just mean "I found that to be humorous." This time, however, I actually laughed out loud. So LOL, indeed.
At times I wonder if the Cold Steel prototype labs brings Lynn the owner in and asked people to lift the prototype and then try to lift Lynn and if it is easier to lift the prototype it gets a pass.
I just imagine him having a big, messy pile of swords on the floor behind the camera. The reality is probably a bit tidier, but that's what I like to imagine.
The actual reason was ease of production. Only hollow-grinding one side made the blade much cheaper. It was probably made by Solingen - most Austrian blades were done by them during that period, and they were not cheap. A nice thing about the reinforced edges of the hand guard made it likely that an enemy blade glancing off it would 'jump' over that bump, and due to that most likely not hit the hand, allowing the guard to be narrower than one with straight edges. Usually pretty square on the inside, they had a pretty good chance of temporarily catching and binding a slower blow.
Thank you for this video (I'm Austrian BTW). I thought what truly made this blade Austrian is the broadsword style double edge tip. My guess about the fuller: half the manifacturing costs of a fuller on both sides. Both should have allmost the same stability, but you'll safe time if you do it just once.
@Edi, I second you on the cost explication. Having the fuller only on one side makes the forging easier, and you save much time on the grinding/polishing work. Only the quenching would be a bit more tricky. And it would make about zero difference practically. A bold but clever move from the Austrians.
MadNumForce You should see what the Germans did with assault rifles. They considered the rotating bolt system (StGew44; the inspiration of the AK47) as to complicated to massproduce under poor conditions and came up with a roller locked system, which required less fancy milling was easier to maintain and repair. Then they noticed that it could be used as a delayed blowback (no hole in the barrel; no piston and gas-tube) and the roller delayed blowback from the G3 was born (actually there were three rifles before that, but two were more prototypes). I can't stop wondering how weapon technology changed from 1900 to 1960. It's like centuries of innovation prior. Heck, I still met a relative who was a little girl when planes were introduced and sabres became obsolete...
Just to be pedantic, the STG44 actually uses a tilting bolt, which is already easier to manufacture in poor conditions than a rotating bolt. If you're interested in firearms, I very strongly advise you to check Forgotten Weapons youtube channel. It's an ever increasing bottomless goldmine.
Fight Review - I am curious what you think of the capture of Blackbeard's ship by the English Captain Maynard. The English captain expecting a deck fight trained his sailors with rapiers to go up against the cutlasses of the pirates. The actual battle was quite long, over 45 minutes. Ultimately the pirates lost. 1. What do you think of the surprise factor? The English trained against cutlasses, obviously the pirates did not expect rapiers. 2. I have read that the pirates used cutlasses with a hacking motion, whereas the point control of the rapier used more the wrist. Thus the pirates were exhausted by trying to use their shorter cutlasses with their wrists. Remember it was a long fight. 3. I have often thought that size of the rapier might be a be a huge in the close quarters of a ship to ship deck fight. 4. Blackbeard was a very large man. He was wounded over 20 times. (including five gunshots) Does the rapier tend to wound someone to death rather than hack them like a cutlass. The Austrian Saber is very interesting. Sorry to get off subject.
I hypothesize the reason for putting the fuller on one side rather than the other is because when cutting from a right hand and generally rightwards down chop your cut may vary from one direction to another and not be a straight line. And one direction more than the other because of body mechanics etc. They said "OK, sword will make cuts go this way or that depending on shift of weight. From way sword is generally used, which direction are cutting mistakes most made? OK, put the fuller on the side that fixes the problem." Also, if you are right handed and hold that sword in front of you, with the point slightly right and out, like some high guard or forward engaging ones (can't remember technical names ATM...), the fuller would be on the "top" side for right handers. If you want to hold something like that, you'd want it to be heavier at the "bottom" rather than the top. Also, if the other guy is right handed, then the side with the extra metal on it will take more of the hits. Just my guess, I hope someone else can figure better.
I've heard of certain Japanese swords doing something similar with asymmetrical edge geometries; having a VERY acutely ground edge on one side of the blade and then a more robust geometry on the other flat of the blade. Look at the edge geometry of the Katakiriha tanto here; upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Tanto_blade_styles.svg Could be similar? Were you able to look and check the depth of the angles of edges or was it actually flat on one side like a wood cutter's chisel? That might be an experiment in sharpness as well.
I don't know if it is relevant but I've been working on some farming sickles lately for a HEMA experiment and I've found a lot of them have one flat side and one fullered side. i dont know why that is either, but perhaps they are for a similar reason?
Alright now you have to make a video one day where you just show off the mess of swords and other various weapons you have lying about. Your back wall is always neat and tidy. But I suspect that is just all for the camera.
chisel grinds were used as they cut "cleaner" they have a tendency to not get hung up or stuck as easily,most chisel ground knives were used for joint seperation on game and for heavy cutting like coconuts Someone probably got stuck on ribs and wanted a better heavy material cutter
the asymmetrical blade is not a thing to reduce production cost. it is based on the hackmesser or other chopping knvies hunters and game wardens used in central europe, many of these are chisel gorund and fullered on one side like a japanese nata.. this allow stakes to be cut tmiber split and springy undergrowth to be cut with es.e. liek some philipino and indonesian big knvies and parangs are too. these became the pioneers swords of the 18th and 19th century which were exceptionally popular in austrian and central european nations.. these single beveled single fullered small chopping swords inspired some weird austrian sabres.. oddly japanese had katanas like this as well. it was nothing more than fashion influenced by a compleately different tool that functioned well in its task where as these didnt.
My saber looks really old but it has a name on it and paterns the cast calvary but i think my sabre is kinda....officer kind or something like that but who cares i got it :D
Always wondered if there was such thing as a one sided fuller. I guess if it works then it's fine but I can't think of any engineering advantage it would have over a traditional one.
Matt, is it also a possibility that pierced guards are intended to catch the point of an opponent's blade? Tertiary to the primary goal of weight reduction and secondary of aesthetics? I could see it keeping a hit on the guard from sliding off to hit the side or leading leg.
a single fuller would affect the cut dynamics of the sword in a similar way a chisel cuts into wood, I would believe. Could this have some sort of practicality for a horse rider?
Would having a thin solid sheet and either fluting or adding roping do the same think as having it thicker metal but with holes? The fluting or roping would make it harder to dent?
would it be easier to just grind out the fuller on one side? Were the mass produced enough for that to be a consideration? Do we find the flat side being decorated?
Is the single fuller deeper or wider than the fuller that would usually be found on sabres of this period? In other words does it act like having two smaller fullers, like other fullered blades just all on the one side rather than on both sides of the blade?
Perhaps because the blade is so wide they didn't also want to make it thick enough that weight might be an issue. Could be why it's on the shorter side as well. Maybe even why it has such a large fuller on the one side that it does.
I would not be remotely surprised if the asymmetric fuller was based around manufacturing streamlining more than any direct functionality of the blade itself. When you break down the geometry and physics of a blade then the difference between having two smaller fullers, one on each side, or one larger/deeper one on only one side is rather minimal in the grand scheme of things. It would introduce some torque into the system, but that's got to be rather hard detect in any practical tests of it, and would be greatly dwarfed by any torque being applied by something along the lines of your opponent jerking about because you just smacked them with a big sharp piece of steel.
+RealLuckless I suppose that would depend on the manufacturing method, but when it comes to the actual smithing it may take less time to make a fuller on both sides. Longer to grind i'd imagine though
I wonder if it wasn't so much a design choice as a manufacturing choice. Maybe it would be easier and/or cheaper to fuller the blade on one side then do a flat grind on the other. Might cut a few steps out of the process of making the blade.
Love every part of your review of it!!! MORE in the future please, if possible! :D Also I have been looking forward what you would say about this type (specificaly this type of blade construction) for very long! This flat on one side, fuller on the other is really typical for the blades manufatured for use by Austrian cavalry forces during the era 1848+ (basicaly second half of 19th century) - even some light cavalry very curved blades (hussars) - this was for heavy cavalry I think (cuirassiers or dragoons) - one possible answer as to why except lowering the cost, could that have something to do with the service sharpening/maintenance (simplifying) of what is chiseled ground blade?
I know next to nothing about the aesthetics of blades, but I saw this thing & immediately thought, "What a monster!!" the minute you raised it up in front of the camera. From an engineering POV it's just so solid!!
I really like the look of that sword! Could the chisel grind be to help sharpening while on campaign? How much does it weigh? I think my heaviest blade is either my tulwar or my 1889 sergeant's sword, does it handle like either of those?
Matt, this is a really beautiful sabre! Does the flat side have an edge bevel? A single bevel edge is less maintenance to resharpen, by my way of thinking. Are these hard to find? Looks like a wonderful addition to my wee collection..
Hi, Does the hilt allow air flow via the piecing, thus making it easier (a lot) to maintain point in a cavalry actions. (Is it decreasing wobble that air resistance from a complete hilt might present)
This is a freaking awesome sword ! It looks very intimidating , a true fighting weapon . The blade is definitely suitable for slashing and cutting but it has a spear point so was this sword designed as a compromise ?
Just watched the episode on Austro-Hungarian pistols on "The Great War" channel, and then this! Matt, do you know "The Great War"? It would be really cool if you could collaborate with them to cover swords and lances of WWI.
How wide is the spine of the blade? Is it narrower, wider or just about the same as others of like vintage? My first impression of the fuller is what a great idea. Pure speculation on my part is someone wanted the saber to be with in certain specs. Given the blade width a fuller on both sides might make the blade weak. It follows to a military mind placing a fuller on one side of the blade reaches the weight and strength goal. Please keep us posted on your discoveries into the nature of this blade. Thanks for the video.
The left-handed are too, for that matter. Lefties against lefties tend to result in somewhat awkward and clumsy matches if they don't have enough prior experience. As lefties are pretty uncommon, this is often the case.
anyone learning to fence should ideally seek out left handed people to spar, for experience, and to remove the disadvantage the left handed people tend to have against them by getting used to it.
Does service sharpened just mean that they where supplied blunt and then sharpened? Or would they be additionally sharpened for battle, and service sharp is somewhere in between? Great video and awesome saber!
Yes, across most developed nations in the 19th century swords were supplied blunt and only sharpened to go to war. If a sword is sharpened, it usually means it went to war. Most antique swords have not been sharpened.
Ok. So I assume then that certain models, for example those produced in relation to the Napoleonic or Crimean Wars, are more commonly found sharp then?
