Ultimate Lord of the Rings showdown: UC Museum Collection Glamdring UC1425 Vs. Darksword-Armory Sage

Welcome back. Today we're going to do a review that I think is going to end up being one of the most popular and reviews with some of the most sought-after information. And that review is going to be about both of these puppies at the same time. So what we have here is the United Cutlery Glamdring Museum Collection edition. And here we have Dark Sword Armory's Sage, which is their obviously based on their version and based on the Glamdring. So I've been wanting to do this review for a while, comparing these two swords. A while ago I posted one review specifically about Sage, and at the time I didn't even have the museum collection yet. So now that I do, I wanted to take the time to do a more proper comparison of these two beautiful swords. In my opinion, some of the absolute best and most beautiful swords available on the market. Sure, you have a couple companies maybe making some slightly tighter tolerances on their swords or slightly fancier options out there, but you're also paying thousands more for those particular swords. So especially for the price range, I think two of your absolute best swords available for what they are. So let's get into it. So we'll kind of compare. We'll go back and back and forth for this whole video. Obviously two very similarly sized swords. Let's take them out of the scabbards. United Cutlery there, and then the Sage. So really similar size overall. If I put them next to each other, almost exactly the same length. Overall you've got 48 and a half inches on Sage and on the Darksword one, and about an inch shorter overall on United Cutlery. The blades are identical. They're the exact same length and width. 36 inches on both blades, about two inches, almost exactly two inches at the at the hilt here. So same size blade, you just get an extra inch out of Darksword Armory's version. Both have a fuller going almost the entire length, almost the exact same length on both. United Cutlery's version, you just have it a little different design up at the hilt, but otherwise, yeah, similar design on the fullers all the way down. Let's see, hilt on both of them, it's about 10 inches wide, almost exactly the same on that, different design, but about the same size. As far as weight goes, this guy is going to be slightly lighter at about three pounds seven ounces for Darksword Armory's, and Glamdring United Cutlery is coming in right around four pounds, so slightly heavier. But in the hand, honestly, they feel almost exactly the same. I think they're both weighted beautifully, so yeah, even though technically United Cutlery is slightly heavier, I don't even notice the difference at all, ironically. Darksword Armory is using a 5160 spring steel. It's kind of their typical steel, and United Cutlery, they didn't say exactly which steel they used, but it also is a spring steel, not just a high carbon, but it is allegedly a spring steel. So yeah, basically, more or less the same steels used, or at least really similar. Darksword Armory using a classic kind of mild steel for the hilt and pommel. United Cutlery probably couldn't even be considered a mild steel. It's definitely a cast steel. Reading some other reviews about it, people that have dismantled this sword, they say it's a pretty good casting, they feel like. I have not tested, I haven't pounded on it, tried to bend it or anything like that, of course. But yeah, it's a cast steel. Hopefully, it seems like maybe at least a pretty good casting. United Cutlery version is coated in silver. The hilt and pommel are coated in silver, so they say. You can't really tell that much as far as I can see. Get a good close-up there. But yeah, they say it's coated in silver, just the hilt and pommel. It is an actual, allegedly, an actual sapphire there on the hilt. So that's a cool, fun bonus. Of course, Sage doesn't have any of that going on there. Yeah, so pretty good with that. Let's see, general impressions. I think both swords are amazing. As I said, I am totally happy with both these swords overall. Both have their downfalls, but they're both beautiful. And they're two of my absolute favorite swords in my entire collection, by far. I will say, as far as general impressions go, United Cutlery version is, I actually like their blade a little bit more. So they're about the same steel, but United Cutlery is, it's less floppy. They both have a good spring to them, but if you swing it around, United Cutlery is actually more wielding, less floppy. So hate to say it, Dark Sword, but I think United Cutlery made their blade a little nicer. So you'll see with Sage, I can't really show it, but it's a little bit more floppy right where it gets thin. So they both come to about the same thickness here, same width of a blade at the narrow point, but Dark Sword is a lot floppier. When you're throwing it around, you can really feel it bend a little bit more. And actually, during some testing with it, I actually did bend Sage too far that it did not fully bend back on its own, and I had to manually bend it back. Not a problem, I didn't hurt it, but yeah, it did come a little out of true when I was throwing it around testing it. So yeah. Anyway, what else here? Hilt construction, I always touch on that. Yeah, Dark Sword's usual, really good hilt construction. Tolerances are okay. That's always one of my issues with them. There is that bit of a gap in there. Not the end of the world. Their handles are always nice and tight. This one's no different. Give you a good close up here. The pommel is peened on this guy. So it goes all the way through, not threaded at all, goes through the pommel completely, and then it's peened on the end, which just means hammered over. They get it good and hot, and they hammer it over. So it's kind of blended in with the end of the pommel there. Hilt construction there. United Cutlery, their pommel is going to be threaded on. It's just threaded. Supposedly it goes about an inch in there, not too far into the pommel, but good enough, I think. So threaded in there. The tolerances are actually tighter on this guy, the hilt tolerances. You can get a good look in there. But of course, that's a fully cast design, so they can make the tolerances a little bit tighter than if you're forging the stuff outright from scratch. So yeah, again, beautiful overall there, good tight tolerances, good construction. Just a little bit more machine made, easier to have those tight tolerances. Scabbards. Dark Sword Armory's usual construction. Beautiful, really, really nice. They chose brown for this one. It's one of the things that confused me. Why would you not go with a blue to somewhat match the actual version? So they went with brown. That's cool. It's beautiful. It's my only scabbard that I have in this kind of brown. So that's nice. The United Cutlery version, this is beautiful, beautiful blue. I don't even like blue, but this is beautiful. It matches the perfectly, and it's got some beautiful fittings here. Just really nice. They're cast fittings, but they made the seams disappear pretty well. I got rid of those pretty solidly and cleaning it up. So I'm pretty happy with that guy overall. So prices, if we talk that, and that's kind of an interesting spot for these guys. So prices. Sage is going to be, depending if you get it sharpened, get it with a scabbard, it starts at $500 and goes up to about $630 for the whole shebang if you get it sharpened with the scabbard. Again, you're getting Dark Sword Armory's sharpening, which is only so good. Anyway, compared to United Cutlery's version here, you can get this guy, boy, it varies so much. Anywhere from, I actually just saw it, somebody just sold one of these for scabbard and sword for $500, and that is an absolute steal. So $500, that's the absolute lowest I've seen it. I almost wonder if it's even real because that's so low. Upwards for the whole shebang, I've seen it go as high as $2,000, no problem. I personally paid $1,200 for the sword and about $500 for the scabbard. So yeah, $1,700 out the door for me to have this sword and scabbard, and I was totally fine paying that because that's usually what they go for. So $500 for the sword and scabbard, that's pretty unheard of and unreal. So yeah, good. Great for the person that ended up with that if it's actually a real one. I don't know how that would be possible, but yeah, so quite a difference. They have the potential to be probably similar, but they often end up being significantly more for any color, and that's because they stopped making these forever ago. They came out when the movies were popular, and they've been discontinued for a really, really long time now, and they're just floating around on eBay or some of the sword forums. Sometimes they pop up, people looking to get rid of them. Yeah, so anyway, that's roughly what we're looking at there. So, issues. I already discussed one issue with the Darksword Armory. It's too floppy, that's my biggest issue with it, and their sharpness of the blade. Again, not very sharp. I paid to have this one sharpened, and it came just as sharp as the United Cutlery blade that is not considered sharp, really. So, same sharpness. United Cutlery doesn't really consider theirs sharp, and Darksword considers theirs very sharp. So, no, same sharpness. Both are just kind of a false edge, not really sharp at all. My other issue is, big issue, is the United Cutlery handle, and this is a point of big debate with this guy. Again, I haven't taken this apart, but I've read enough reviews about it. Supposedly, this is just a hollow plastic handle covered in leather. It's real leather, but it's a hollow plastic handle. A beautiful, full, thick tang going all the way through there, so that's great. But a lot of people question whether this guy will be strong enough if you actually try to use it for anything. You know, going into battle with your United Cutlery Glamdring, and the handle might not hold up, and therefore the whole sword might not hold up, since the theory is the tang is not supported inside that handle. So, even though it's a full tang, and it's a carbon blade, if it doesn't have the right support through that handle, maybe it won't hold up under some conditions. So, that's the debate. But yeah, again, the steel could be debatable. People are saying it's a pretty good steel that they used for it. It's a good casting. I can't attest to that. But yeah, definitely that hollow handle could be debatable. I've heard some people talking about unscrewing it, and then filling it with an epoxy, or something like that, letting it harden, so you have then a totally solid handle. That could be one way to fix that if you're really looking to use your Glamdring. Because yeah, the blade can definitely, I would say, can definitely handle the use. It would just be the handle that's in question. So, that's them. Overall rating here. If we take Dark Swords first, I'm giving this an 8 out of 10. It's going to lose, I'm taking one point away for the hilt tolerance and the sharpness. That's pretty much just the usual with their swords. They're always going to lose a point for that. I mean, they're a good company. They can get these tolerances, these hilt tolerances, tighter. So, I'm not sure why they're not doing it. So, they're losing a point for that. And the other big spot this guy's losing a point for me is that floppy blade. Again, throwing this around, waving it around, it's just got too much, it's too floppy of a blade. They went slightly too thin on the material. Right there. And it's, yeah, too floppy. You know your cutleries. I also gave it an 8 out of 10. So, ironically, you have a one fully functional modern replica of Glamdring and the commercially made United Cutlery version, and I'm giving them both the same score, ironically. So, to me that's saying a lot. I mean, this is a good copy to me if it's going to get as good of a score as the Dark Sword. So, what is this losing points for? I'm only taking, I am taking two points away, I said, but I'm only taking them away for the handle construction. Yeah, not sure why they did that. Just make a nice, solid, solid wood core handle, and then you solve all the potential issues with this sword. So, yeah, two points taken away for the handle construction of Glamdring, but otherwise it's beautiful. It's tight tolerances. It's an incredible construction, that real sapphire, solid hilt and pommel, incredible blade. Yeah, really incredible. So, 8 out of 10 for that guy. Pretty, pretty solid on both. So, the last question I always touch on, would I take them into battle? So, Dark Sword, I would, knowing that I might bend it eventually, I'd still take it into battle. It's going to hold up regardless, you know, either way, the rest of it will hold up and I doubt I'm going to break the blade. It might just get a little bent. Glamdring, you know, United Cutlery's version, I'm going to be a little hesitant with that, just with that handle construction. I'm willing to give it a try, but if my life is staked on it, I'm not sure I'm going to, it's not going to be my one go-to choice. So, Sage, at least I trust in battle. It might get a little bent. United Cutlery's version, I'm not going to trust it, unfortunately. Are they worth the money? The other big question I'd like to finish with. I will say a big yes, hands down for both these swords. They are worth every penny. Sage coming in about, said 600 overall, worth every penny of that for what you're getting. And Glamdring, United Cutlery, Museum Collection, whether you're paying 500 or 2,000, I'd even say 2,500. If you want this sword, you know what you're looking for, you know what you're getting. It's worth every penny of what you pay for this guy if you can get one. They're not available anymore. They pop up just a couple of times a year, whether it's eBay or the other blade sites. So yeah, I think get them, get it if you can. Pick it up, pick it up when you can find it, whatever you got to pay, just get it done, make it happen. You'll be happy you did. If, again, if you're like me and you decided you just needed this sword, then it's going to be worth what you pay for it. Eventually, you're not going to be able to get them much at all. So pick it up when you can for what you can. Yeah, so that's all I've got for you. Hope you enjoyed this review. Please let me know if you want to see any more still shots of these, close-ups, if you want to know anything else specific about them. Since I've got both of them here, it's a great kind of rare opportunity for you to compare them and, you know, get to know about them. So please, please let me know if I can answer any other questions for you about these beauties. Thank you. See you next time.