A review of Stefhan’s Katzbalger crosshilt

[DietrichUhl]

Stefhan’s work is solid as in Russan Tech solid. Granted it is painted black and I do not have access to an Xray to inspect the welds fully. However in fitting the cross hilt to my sword I used a 1 lb rubber mallet only because I could not find my 5 lb sledge. I trust the cross hilt welds and structure that much. The metal that forms the critical S shape is from rectangular barstock. This puppy is not going to break or bend or anything. It is a little like a bulldog being a bit squat and thick but that is due to the requirements of SCA safety standards and there is no way around that.

He sent along a proto pommel which I attached with a socketed brass wood screw found in the specialty drawers at Lowes. I think he showed the pommel online already. I was initially put off by the fact it was a round shaped unit. When I had it in hand I noticed immediately that it had a flower shape to the back section. It looks really good and deserves to be painted to bring out the ridges and pattern.

As soon as I assembled the sword and gripped it with my Windrose clamshell I fell utterly in love with this setup. The pommel seemed big right up until it was held by a clamshell, it balances the size of hand protection.

Stefhan should post pictures of his work on a cutting mat with a 1 inch grid using a flash to bring out the detail of his work. Stefhan has put his heart into this project trying to balance safety rules, look and price. He is an artist-engineer who is really trying to support the Landsknecht niche.

If you are looking for a Katzblager sword fitting at a good price know you will not find anything close this wonderful product. This is his entry level design and I think it will serve the needs of the Fighting Landsknechts.

I know he is prototyping a more expensive flashier twisted S tine with brass ends. Beyond that he also plans to build period sword baskets. I will end up with a collection of his work.
-Dietrich

Link to my Gallery of photos if you want zoom.
http://sca.uhlwolf.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1060&g2_page=1
Below are pictures for your review.

I put it on a 26 inch stick



Close up view. The wine red section is wood wrapped in leather.


Remember that Pommel? Here is a nice detail on it.


The next 3 shots are with me holding the sword. It will give some scale on the S tines and how they do not extent beyond the clamshell.




The size of the Pommel does balance out the size of your hand protection. Sorry for the fuzzy shot.

[Stefhan]

Thanks for the review. Hope you are enjoying useing it at the war!
Stefhan

[Gun]

I have a Hand & 1/2 ,double ringed, "german style" set of quillions. I have had them for over 10 yrs. During that period of time I have gone through 4 pieces of rattan in it. Most of the Atenveldt Landskneckts carry guards that Stephan has created over the years. ENJOY

[InsaneIrish]

I got to see this at Gulf Wars. Hi Dietrich!

It is NICE. VERY well balanced and looks good on the hip.

Once Stefan gets an oval pommel figured out I am SO buying a set.

If you like them, buy with confidence they are very well built.

[Stefhan]

InsaneIrish,
Thanks for the feed back!
E mail me on my Gmail account so i can get you on the list for the katz/pommel set. It will be a bit tell I get the style pommel I want to do for the katz set worked out.
Thanks
Stefhan

[InsaneIrish]

InsaneIrish,
Thanks for the feed back!
E mail me on my Gmail account so i can get you on the list for the katz/pommel set. It will be a bit tell I get the style pommel I want to do for the katz set worked out.
Thanks
Stefhan

yeah, I have an idea about the pommel. I will draw it up and shoot it to you and see if it would work.

[Gottfried]

Finally managed to get my Katzbalger put together and I love the look and feel.
I'm having one problem though by the fifth pelling session the S - qulions have started spinning like a top and I have to beat it back with a hammer any thought on what I have done wrong?

Gottfried

[Friedrich von Bayern]

Gottfried,

I am no expert.... You can put the center ring in a vice and squeeze it into an oval. What I did on mine was, using a small cut off disk on my Drimel tool, I ground a recess into the front and back of the hilt and the rattan and filled it with J B Weld. Smoothed it with a small sanding disk and then spray painted it.

Friedrich

[Stefhan]

Gottfried,
Glad you like them.
Here is a note I sent some one on mounting all my hilts with this socket and I will post it on my blog sight.... see below.
But in short the vice press to make the round oval works well.....
Friedrich,
Sounds like you just made a key like they use with fly wheels. The key, a small metal square or other shap fits into a grove on the shaft as well as a grove on the fly wheel. Good idea! The idea of pressing the socket out of round has been used for quite a few year with good results.
But your idea makes me think that a few spot welds on the inside of the socket would do as good a job. Not huge just enofe to grab the rattan when it is forced on. I will give it a try to see if that is a better fix for the problem.
Thanks!

So……
To start.
Take the rattan and chose your handle end.
At this point figure were you want the hilt to end up and mark it.
Size up the rattan to the socket to see how close the rattan fits or how much you need to remove.
Now shave the rattan to fit the rattan but not quiet. The socket should not fit at this point but have the rattan around a 1/16th “oversized. This of course is only really important right where you want the hilt. So if you are going to wrap the handle to increase the size or what not make it just able to slide the hilt to about 1â€

[Stefhan]

Friedrich,
Glad I read this post first.......as you were not talking about what I thought you where.. I figured out what you did with the JB weld in your post......but it gave me a good idea any way.....lol