Cold Steel Dueling Saber

This is a beautiful weapon. It balances well, and looks great.

It's shiny...a glorified wall hanging letter opener. Not what I was hoping for at all. Cold Steel apparently isn't what it used to be. Thanks

This is a fine sword. Other reviewers have said so and I agree. The reason I give it four stars instead of five is the problem I have with the grip and hand guard. The grip is too long and the shell is way too big. I mean WAY too big. P.L. Overstreet could get his hand in there and he had baseball gloves for hands! The shell is like a section from a small water mellon. When I go back and look at the pictures everything looks good but when I picked the sword up for the first time I was disappointed by how out of proportion the area behind the hilt is to the blade. But the blade is beautiful and the sword is well worth the modest price I paid. In fact I wonder how on earth Cold Steel is able to produce such a work of art and get it to my front door for so little. I'll soon buy another sword from these good folks before they wake up and raise their prices.

I've been talking fencing lessons and was looking for a weapon other than my practice swords. This piece is a wonderful dueling weapon. Well put together. Beautiful. It feels great in my hand.

Sharp blade, very light compared to most other sabers. Has a very flexible steel.

I was really excited about this sword when it was first released about 3 years ago, but I'd rarely seen it in stock from a reputable source for a price I could afford at the time. Unfortunately also rare were reviews of this weapon. I suppose that's understandable. As a sharp blade, it's not exactly suitable for HEMA practice, and being so light and with the true edge only sharp along the foiable, of the blade, it's probably not that popular with tatami cutting enthusiasts either. But I think this sword is fantastic! It is light and quick, and just floats in the hand when holding it in a guard. It feels very much like the actual period dueling sabers I've been fortunate enough to hold. The center of balance is about 4 inches from the guard and the center of percussion falls right around where the blade etching/fuller end and the sharpened true edge begins. I was rather surprised to see that the spine of this sword had a good distal taper. I figured that might be one of the sacrifices made to keep the price point as low as it is. Even when I first picked it up and felt the balance and liveliness in the hand, I thought "OK...It FEELS like a distal taper, but I think they achieved that with it because it's so light to begin with and is only sharpened for the last 10-12 inches of the blade. Maybe they got that handling effect with the taper of the true edge?" Nope. A quick check with a set of calipers along the blade spine proves otherwise. The fit and finish are quite nice, and are head and shoulders above every other comparable weapon I've seen at this price point. It's not "Masterpiece" exquisite, but if that's what you're looking for, commission a one-off blade! This is not a hand-made heirloom piece. It's not meant to be! It's Cold Steel. It's meant to be used and trained with. It is quite beautifully crafted, but more importantly, it's solid. It's not a wall-hanger. Nothing rattles, and nothing's loose...Form follows function. Pretty enough to display in a glass case, but utilitarian enough to display it on a stand above the mantle, so it's within convenient reach should the need arise. The blade slides comfortably and silently into the scabbard, and the leather is tight enough to hold it in place even if you turn it upside down and shake it a bit. But when you grasp the grip and give a firm tug, the blade literally leaps from the scabbard... So, a nice bonus there, (come on... Utilitarianism aside, LOOK at this thing! If you're gonna do something, for God's sake, do it with some flair!) The only SMALL detail I don't care for is the grip. In a couple of the sparse reviews I've found for this sword, people have complained about the texture being uncomfortable. I don't particularly find it comfortable, but I don't find it particularly uncomfortable either. The textured ray skin on the originals this sword is based on varied a lot too. And honestly, if you're holding the sword in a lighter grip like this sword was designed for, rather than a "hammer" grip often employed the cavalry sword "cutting" crowd, it's fine. If it's that big a problem for you, you can always wear a glove. But it's not the comfort that's the issue for me. It's that the grip itself feels like plastic. It IS plastic, so that's not entirely surprising, but I've handled a few molded plastic "Synthetic Ray Skin" grips that I've preferred. I'd honestly have preferred a smaller synthetic grip covered with wire-wrapped leather. I think that would satisfy both my issue and the "Uncomfortable grip" reviewers. But that's a small SMALL issue that I have with this otherwise fantastic piece. Love it. -DGT