We’ve put together a few options that allow you to build the safe sparring heavy sabre you’ve been dreaming of! Our goal is to make the most realistic handling sparring simulators available and we’ve checked all the of the boxes with the following options. All of these individual parts are based very closely to antiques in our collection, including blade curvature, weight, balance and overall design. We took a look at these historical examples and designed a comfortable and stable back strap system that works as a sort of one-size-fits-all approach. Let’s start with the guards! First, the 1821 pattern officers model, often referred to as the “Honeysuckle” guard. This ornate pierced guard gives great hand protection and can be made right and left handed as it is not symmetrical. This guard is made from .080 thick 4130 carbon steel and is heat-treated in house to be absolutely indestructible. Our second offering is something more of a generalist. The 1845 pattern seafarers guard. Examples of this guard are most commonly associated with cutlasses but they exist with full length sabre blades as well. A common secondary version of this guard is 1821 British heavy Trooper pattern; very similar in every way. The advantage of this guard is it’s simplicity, ambidexterity and excellent hand coverage. This guard is also made from .080 4130 and is heat-treated in house. We would be remiss in our duties as sword makers if we didn’t offer a 1796 pattern stirrup style guard. Our version of the tried and true 1796 pattern guard is made from 100 grade carbon steel and heat treated as well to offer a lifetime of reliability. Finally the classic, the 3 bar guard of which there are so many historical versions, it was hard to pick one as our pattern. Because I have a very clean extant example of the 1821 British light cavalry pattern in my collection, we went with that. My version is fairly light and more fragile than I would like so we patterned it and beefed it up a bit. Our version is made from thicker 100 grade alloy and heat treated in house as well. For our blade offerings, we went straight to the HEMA community and the result was clear; A light cavalry style blade, a heavy cavalry style blade and something with a yelman- a broadened blade tip. For our light offering we simply traced my 1821 pattern, simple, elegant and functional. For the heavy blade offering we took some averages on a few different 1796 pattern sabres affectionately called “wrist breakers” for their heft, specifically some less curved versions. Why less curved? Because unless you’re on horseback, the more deeply curved models don’t handle as well for on-foot combat. The result is a blade that has heft and presence but is more maneuverable for our sparring combat needs. We took this blade and added a yelman to it for additional presence for the yelman blade offering. We offer two finishes, bright and Black Oxide. Each of our blades is offered in an F3 and F4 flex. The F3 flex designation has a target flex weight of 9.5kg/19.8 lbs and the F4 flex designation has a target flex weight of 11kg/24.2 lbs. Please see the chart below for point of balance and total weight of combined parts.
