MRL Bec de Corbin on closeout

[Das Bill]

So MRL has their bec de corbin on closeout for $99. Seeing as I barely missed out on the A&A one, I decided to pick this one up. My only fear is that the haft will be a piece of junk: I had an older design from them years ago, and Bob Busch broke it by swinging it and accidentally hitting the ground. It practically exploded, and the langets warped. I'd never seen anything happen like that: It really looked like someone put a low level explosive inside of it the way the pieces flew everywhere.

But I'm going to take the risk, since the price is so low... I could always rehaft it if necessary. I've been meaning to get a new poleax for teaching purposes (as opposed to using the rubber headed one), and I won't feel bad about filing away the points on this inexpensive one.


http://www.museumreplicas.com/museumreplicas/detail.aspx?ID=800

[Christian Tobler]

Let us know how that works out Bill.

And, for God's sake man, don't hit the ground with it while *I'm* around.

C

[Sir Edward]

I'm sure we could rig up an explosive charge if you ever decide to recreate that event. A couple of M60's or something should do it.

[Sir Wolf]

i'd like to see that one up close. i saw there older version a few years back and wasn't 100% happy with it.  I have the Lutel version and am very happy with it.

[Das Bill]

Got the bec de corbin. It isn't bad, for a hundred bucks. Nothing to write home to ma' about or anything, but not bad. The shaft is way better than the earlier one: It's really thick. Almost too thick, but considering my past experience, I'll accept that. The hammer head looks a little modern, though the beak and the blade look really good. The langets have modern-looking flat head screws attaching them, but I can get over that. If I were doing living history, I could replace them, but for WMA demonstration, they'll be fine.

Handling wise, its okay. The balance is a little sluggish... I think a slightly longer haft would fix this, but its not a really big deal. Sturdiness remains to be seen, but if its on par with the current Windlass swords, then I'll be content with it.