I like seeing the handmade products of smiths I've never heard of. Another great review. Great production values. You seem to have improved your lighting and I think the B&W works in exposing the features slightly differently. Your sound editing has improved so much. And, again, your methodical approach is greatly appreciated.
Cool sword, great video as always. Price seems somewhat extreme for this piece though, about 2500 more than I would be willing to personally pay for a piece with these specs. edit: are those (14:47) burn/scorch marks 2/3 up the blade just before the fuller ends? Almost looks like someone touched the blade with torch in that spot?
$4k is probably a reasonable price for the amount of time that must have went in to making the sword and scabbard without the usage of CNC machinery like Albion uses.
the wonky pommel and utilitarian lines are in my opinion much more authentic to the original examples. i think these swords are meant to be held and wielded with the pommel almost in the palm in the handshake grip . some viking sword grips had "grips" as short as 7cm making the handshake grip a necessity for all but a half grown boy . im sure you know of this method of handling this style of sword so apologies
This is amazing, Working with knives, onions and fire everyday, I already know how to flip to my precise amount of authority in the cut. Soul decision, tell the truth, did u or did u not use all of the demi, lol. Honestly though yes, there are many circumstances where a lesson must be learened yup. Left cheek, peal and pull, take that little piece of flesh. Yikes. Im crazy
Also, if ur training for it, the idea of the cut must be already processed and detention. Hold back when a new idea proceeds. Also, before this,.negotiate with yourself, its a judgmental steal,. When u need to change your mind in the last last, split second moment. Then yes. I bends my blade for truths. Hmm. Think about it. ❤
It depends on the blade. Historical ones or ones that have been reproduced in the same ways, nope, they won’t. There are though katana made with much more modern steels and ones that have more flex and spring to them, to be able to bounce back and not break or deform.
Any S5 katana would take that beating and WAY more than this blade will. Nothing special to note here, especially with how... uneven it is. 4k for this genuinely seems insane to me, so many european smiths will give you much better for way less.
I didnt state "TRADITIONAL MADE KATANA". . They Bend Fairly Easily, you can bend them back, but always weak at bend point. If you dont believe me, check out Matt's Katana tests on Traditioanal VS Monosteel.. ALSO Shadiversity debunks the Hollywood Katana...
@@MacA60230 I didnt state "TRADITIONAL MADE KATANA". . They Bend Fairly Easily, you can bend them back, but always weak at bend point. If you dont believe me, check out Matt's Katana tests on Traditioanal VS Monosteel.. ALSO Shadiversity debunks the Hollywood Katana...
I just watch your videos for entertainment. I’m not really a buyer or collector so don’t know the answer to this question at all. Where in a high quality sword purchase does $4000 get you? Is it towards the bottom, middle or top price range for a real custom sword vs a mass produced one? Thanks.
$4000 is very high. You can get a similar quality sword for under $1000. Any good sword is not mass produced. They have to be worked and shaped and hardened individually, by professional swordsmiths. That's why they're expensive. If you can spend $500-$1000 you can get a very nice sword. $250 for a lower end Cold Steel. Anything over $1000 and you're paying for aesthetics, craftsmanship, damascus steel, extra details like inlays and engravings, etc. Some of the very large swords can get to be about $2000 for a good one. One like the one in this video though, no more than ~$1000. That's why I clicked this video, I wanted to see what makes a sword worth $4k. I would only consider buying a sword like this if I were absolutely loaded. In both definitions of the term.
I like how this sword looks. I don't mind the fit and finish not being perfect. It's obviously hand made and it looks like it. Heat treating seems to be well done. But in my non expert opinion it really shouldn't be so floppy. There should be more distal taper and the flex should be in the tip half. Intentionally making it so floppy seems odd. But then again what do I know. 4k seems a lot but I understand where it comes from unlike the Atar katana.
While I understand the concern over the fit and finish issues (considering the price), one must remember that the sword is hand made. It's not a sterile machine ground piece. In my opinion, the symetry issues give the sword some character.
I have some appreciation for that. It is also worth noting the sword has been sharpened and that might have impacted it. I got to see KCs work at blade show 2024 and while I did not bring a caliper, they generally looked good.
I liked it for this reason as well. I don't think the price is too high either because of the character among other fun things. I like to imagine that back in the day nothing was perfect and if it was it was a wall hanger or jewelry. Just my 2 cents of rambling but I did enjoy the vid and sword so thankszzyou
I spent around $2700 on a sword, and I felt like a little bit of a ridiculous person for doing it. Spending $4K on a sword? No. I could never do that. EDIT: I also find it very worrisome that KC Lund’s website has nothing but “critical error” messages whenever anything other than the main webpage is clicked on.
@@johnshite4656 i spent 250$ on a sword and felt a bit ridiculous, but spending 900$ on a sword? NO I could never do that. Chinese make functional sword 80 dollwa
People need to stop demonising sag. It's not a bad thing per se. Modern reproductions that sag do so for the wrong reasons (flat piece of steel with bad weight distributions) and are thus bad swords. When I hold an antique that does that, it feels good in the hand, like the blade is faster as a result (I still have not internalised properly why I like it on them). It's actually a feel I want in Mortuary-hilt and Walloon-hilt broadswords, and in some Schiavonas and sideswords. The sag is more at the tip as well. I think that until we got to 1800s and later sabres, the sag was there on light one-handed infantry swords. Just to be clear, swords vary a lot, and I'm sure you can find ones that don't sag, so I'm just saying it was more prevalent than in later years or on single-edged curved blades. Looking at the video... $4000 is a hard sell and not for me. I think it rests on the blade-smith and his reputation more than the sword-object itself. The scabbard doesn't look that impressive to justify a lot, so let's take $500 off. The pattern welded sword is a big factor and they vary a lot. I know that there's more artistry for some in doing that than the sword itself. But I reject the idea that because it's hand made and not CNCed it's worth the money. It sounds like a fallacy, over-swinging the pendulum in a way. P.S. Matthew, I know you don't like Viking hilts and the like, but have you tried liking them? 😏
@@Matthew_Jensen albion bayeux is a very close design to this sword, except it has a better pommel and is not a damacus pattern. As a sword goes though it would be superior i believe.
@@CreativeUsernameHere-r1k historically accurate is highly subjective. There is a very wide range of blade dimensions within a ‘type’. I would wager that most historic examples were far thicker as they wouldnt have the advantage of modern steel to make such a thin blade survive any real use. Edit: more to add to this, being made with machines only produces a better quality sword. Its odd to me how historically people would pay for the best quality they could afford and if they were offered a period produced sword vs a modern produced one they would 10/10 times take the modern one. Yet modern people seem to (almost?) snob over flaws and imperfections and call it ‘historically accurate’. So modern steel and heat treat is ok, but modern precision and quality control is bad. Gotcha.
Just to give some insight here, since I am a blacksmith. Damascus pieces like this can take weeks to forge for this size, cost a decent amount for base materials (L6 especially) and always run a large risk of failing, regardless of skill. The chance of failure is much larger for sword length pieces as well. All of that is just making the billet. Forging and grinding the blade to shape takes days at this length, add a few days longer for heat treatment, polishing and etching. L6 is particularly finnicky with heat treatment and can make you start from square one. The guard and pommel have to be forged as well. This varies in time but can take around 6 hours without a press. Fitting it is the hardest part of that. Fitting the handle doesn’t take too long, just a few hours. I don’t do leatherwork so I can’t speak to that. All of that said, my point is: if you are a single person smithing shop, 4k+ is reasonable. For a multi-person shop, 3k+ is reasonable. You have to understand: doing it by hand has a workload magnitudes higher than running a CNC mill program on monosteel bars. The outcome from CNC is physically better, but lacks the same soul and workmanship that a handforged piece does. The time, experience, risk, knowledge and skill is why you would pay more.
Nice looking piece. The handle is a tad small for your hand. 4000? Maybe if it was polished and the fit and finish was a bit better and again the handle is too small. The pommel is crooked as well and the peen is rough. The fuller goes under the guard so there is a gap...again, fit and finish is not the best. Forge On!!!
All of that is true but in this case it was done with intent. The grip is small but historically accurate and fits the owner. Fullers often run through the tang on historical swords which this is not replicating exactly but is emulating. If those things were done in without reason then it might be different but in this case they were. Feature not a glitch kind of thing.
Why? Its expertly done. Has a palm side and a finger side and is exactly rightly assymetrical for a correct hold. Just like historical examples. These points just werent observed.
I like seeing the handmade products of smiths I've never heard of.
Another great review. Great production values. You seem to have improved your lighting and I think the B&W works in exposing the features slightly differently. Your sound editing has improved so much. And, again, your methodical approach is greatly appreciated.
"Dad, I need $4k for tuition. Can you help?"
"Um, no"
"Wait, what's that you're holding behind your back?"
"What, this? I don't know"
The sword from a Link to the Past, sweet!
Hey Matt, great review. Couple things, Sword Type is a Type Xa. It is sort of based on a original with a shorter blade, the St. Maurice of Turin.
Can confirm that Landon pushes his swords very hard, I can't think of anyone else that will buy a $3k+ sword and beat the snot out of it.
the only con for me is the price point personally. don’t mind the flex and unevenness
Cool sword, great video as always. Price seems somewhat extreme for this piece though, about 2500 more than I would be willing to personally pay for a piece with these specs.
edit: are those (14:47) burn/scorch marks 2/3 up the blade just before the fuller ends? Almost looks like someone touched the blade with torch in that spot?
I think it is more aggressively polished
$4k is probably a reasonable price for the amount of time that must have went in to making the sword and scabbard without the usage of CNC machinery like Albion uses.
His website, aside from the front page, is completely bork'd right now.
The sag indicates a spring temper which is pretty good on a pattern welded blade?
$4000!!! Really damn
Hey, I just got home from the Atlanta Blade show. One of the makers told me he saw you there. Any truth to that rumor?
True
-Mordhau : you move with the grace of a drunken peasant"
(Game reference btw)
What is that darker part on the blade? Is it just from using?
It is some oddness in the polish of the blade.
damascus I'm assuming. That's the pattern.
Link to his site doesn't seem to work
the wonky pommel and utilitarian lines are in my opinion much more authentic to the original examples. i think these swords are meant to be held and wielded with the pommel almost in the palm in the handshake grip . some viking sword grips had "grips" as short as 7cm making the handshake grip a necessity for all but a half grown boy . im sure you know of this method of handling this style of sword so apologies
This is amazing, Working with knives, onions and fire everyday, I already know how to flip to my precise amount of authority in the cut. Soul decision, tell the truth, did u or did u not use all of the demi, lol. Honestly though yes, there are many circumstances where a lesson must be learened yup. Left cheek, peal and pull, take that little piece of flesh. Yikes. Im crazy
Also, if ur training for it, the idea of the cut must be already processed and detention. Hold back when a new idea proceeds. Also, before this,.negotiate with yourself, its a judgmental steal,. When u need to change your mind in the last last, split second moment. Then yes. I bends my blade for truths. Hmm. Think about it. ❤
Matt: I think that NO KATANA could stand up to same things that these flexible European style blades can take?
It depends on the blade. Historical ones or ones that have been reproduced in the same ways, nope, they won’t. There are though katana made with much more modern steels and ones that have more flex and spring to them, to be able to bounce back and not break or deform.
Any S5 katana would take that beating and WAY more than this blade will. Nothing special to note here, especially with how... uneven it is. 4k for this genuinely seems insane to me, so many european smiths will give you much better for way less.
I didnt state "TRADITIONAL MADE KATANA". . They Bend Fairly Easily, you can bend them back, but always weak at bend point. If you dont believe me, check out Matt's Katana tests on Traditioanal VS Monosteel.. ALSO Shadiversity debunks the Hollywood Katana...
@@MacA60230 I didnt state "TRADITIONAL MADE KATANA". . They Bend Fairly Easily, you can bend them back, but always weak at bend point. If you dont believe me, check out Matt's Katana tests on Traditioanal VS Monosteel.. ALSO Shadiversity debunks the Hollywood Katana...
I just watch your videos for entertainment. I’m not really a buyer or collector so don’t know the answer to this question at all.
Where in a high quality sword purchase does $4000 get you? Is it towards the bottom, middle or top price range for a real custom sword vs a mass produced one? Thanks.
$4000 is very high. You can get a similar quality sword for under $1000. Any good sword is not mass produced. They have to be worked and shaped and hardened individually, by professional swordsmiths. That's why they're expensive. If you can spend $500-$1000 you can get a very nice sword. $250 for a lower end Cold Steel. Anything over $1000 and you're paying for aesthetics, craftsmanship, damascus steel, extra details like inlays and engravings, etc. Some of the very large swords can get to be about $2000 for a good one. One like the one in this video though, no more than ~$1000.
That's why I clicked this video, I wanted to see what makes a sword worth $4k. I would only consider buying a sword like this if I were absolutely loaded. In both definitions of the term.
😳🙏🏻🤯
I like how this sword looks. I don't mind the fit and finish not being perfect. It's obviously hand made and it looks like it. Heat treating seems to be well done.
But in my non expert opinion it really shouldn't be so floppy. There should be more distal taper and the flex should be in the tip half. Intentionally making it so floppy seems odd. But then again what do I know.
4k seems a lot but I understand where it comes from unlike the Atar katana.
👍
While I understand the concern over the fit and finish issues (considering the price), one must remember that the sword is hand made. It's not a sterile machine ground piece. In my opinion, the symetry issues give the sword some character.
I have some appreciation for that. It is also worth noting the sword has been sharpened and that might have impacted it. I got to see KCs work at blade show 2024 and while I did not bring a caliper, they generally looked good.
I liked it for this reason as well. I don't think the price is too high either because of the character among other fun things. I like to imagine that back in the day nothing was perfect and if it was it was a wall hanger or jewelry. Just my 2 cents of rambling but I did enjoy the vid and sword so thankszzyou
4000 dollars worth of character?
"I can't ask a fart not to smell." I don't know about the sword but that's a $4000 statement.
I spent around $2700 on a sword, and I felt like a little bit of a ridiculous person for doing it. Spending $4K on a sword? No. I could never do that.
EDIT: I also find it very worrisome that KC Lund’s website has nothing but “critical error” messages whenever anything other than the main webpage is clicked on.
I spent $900 on a sword and felt a bit ridiculous, but spending $2700 on a sword? No. I could never do that. Never mind the $4k.
@@johnshite4656 i spent 250$ on a sword and felt a bit ridiculous, but spending 900$ on a sword? NO I could never do that. Chinese make functional sword 80 dollwa
@@unafflictedgaming I love this thread. 😂🤣
People need to stop demonising sag. It's not a bad thing per se. Modern reproductions that sag do so for the wrong reasons (flat piece of steel with bad weight distributions) and are thus bad swords. When I hold an antique that does that, it feels good in the hand, like the blade is faster as a result (I still have not internalised properly why I like it on them). It's actually a feel I want in Mortuary-hilt and Walloon-hilt broadswords, and in some Schiavonas and sideswords. The sag is more at the tip as well. I think that until we got to 1800s and later sabres, the sag was there on light one-handed infantry swords. Just to be clear, swords vary a lot, and I'm sure you can find ones that don't sag, so I'm just saying it was more prevalent than in later years or on single-edged curved blades.
Looking at the video... $4000 is a hard sell and not for me. I think it rests on the blade-smith and his reputation more than the sword-object itself. The scabbard doesn't look that impressive to justify a lot, so let's take $500 off. The pattern welded sword is a big factor and they vary a lot. I know that there's more artistry for some in doing that than the sword itself. But I reject the idea that because it's hand made and not CNCed it's worth the money. It sounds like a fallacy, over-swinging the pendulum in a way.
P.S. Matthew, I know you don't like Viking hilts and the like, but have you tried liking them? 😏
Like you say,. That Pomel juat looks like its going to stab a guys wrist..
Thats why theyre not used in a "choke a chicken" grip. 😄
@AGermanFencer Sounds like you have much knowledge about Choking Chicken's. Any Chicken that crosses your path may get Choked....😃
@@candyshop84106 A friends coworker once choked a raccoon. True story.
@AGermanFencer Pie is Good
Tod cutler sells absolute junk for outrageous prices as well. I made the mistake. He sold me a bent kitchen knife and told me its authentic
Nah not worth $4k. $1k would be pushing it. ‘Hand made’ these days has become more of an excuse than it is a feature sadly.
What can you get for for 1k that does what this does?
@@Matthew_Jensen albion bayeux is a very close design to this sword, except it has a better pommel and is not a damacus pattern. As a sword goes though it would be superior i believe.
@@rfphenom7691 Albion is more machine made, this is closer to historical accuracy... still using modern grade steel
@@CreativeUsernameHere-r1k historically accurate is highly subjective. There is a very wide range of blade dimensions within a ‘type’. I would wager that most historic examples were far thicker as they wouldnt have the advantage of modern steel to make such a thin blade survive any real use.
Edit: more to add to this, being made with machines only produces a better quality sword. Its odd to me how historically people would pay for the best quality they could afford and if they were offered a period produced sword vs a modern produced one they would 10/10 times take the modern one. Yet modern people seem to (almost?) snob over flaws and imperfections and call it ‘historically accurate’.
So modern steel and heat treat is ok, but modern precision and quality control is bad. Gotcha.
Just to give some insight here, since I am a blacksmith. Damascus pieces like this can take weeks to forge for this size, cost a decent amount for base materials (L6 especially) and always run a large risk of failing, regardless of skill. The chance of failure is much larger for sword length pieces as well. All of that is just making the billet.
Forging and grinding the blade to shape takes days at this length, add a few days longer for heat treatment, polishing and etching. L6 is particularly finnicky with heat treatment and can make you start from square one.
The guard and pommel have to be forged as well. This varies in time but can take around 6 hours without a press. Fitting it is the hardest part of that.
Fitting the handle doesn’t take too long, just a few hours. I don’t do leatherwork so I can’t speak to that.
All of that said, my point is: if you are a single person smithing shop, 4k+ is reasonable. For a multi-person shop, 3k+ is reasonable.
You have to understand: doing it by hand has a workload magnitudes higher than running a CNC mill program on monosteel bars. The outcome from CNC is physically better, but lacks the same soul and workmanship that a handforged piece does. The time, experience, risk, knowledge and skill is why you would pay more.
Meh?
Wow, I wouldn't spend 400$ on this garbage much less $4000
Where could you do better for $400?
Nice looking piece. The handle is a tad small for your hand. 4000? Maybe if it was polished and the fit and finish was a bit better and again the handle is too small. The pommel is crooked as well and the peen is rough. The fuller goes under the guard so there is a gap...again, fit and finish is not the best.
Forge On!!!
All of that is true but in this case it was done with intent. The grip is small but historically accurate and fits the owner. Fullers often run through the tang on historical swords which this is not replicating exactly but is emulating. If those things were done in without reason then it might be different but in this case they were. Feature not a glitch kind of thing.
That pommel is unacceptable for 4 grand.
Why? Its expertly done. Has a palm side and a finger side and is exactly rightly assymetrical for a correct hold. Just like historical examples. These points just werent observed.
Pommel sucks. Bevels could be better, I expect a mirror polish edge and Damascus fittings for 4k.
Cant wait for destruction, stopped watching at 0:05
What are hoping to see in the first five seconds?
@@Matthew_Jensen destructive test lmao just kidding
@@Matthew_JensenHe was not expecting the skip of the stick of doom... but oh well it would be a shame to use this sword on it.