How good is this REAL MASTERSWORD? Legend of Zelda

Shadowversed Greetings, I'm Shad, and I've had a nostalgic love for the Master Sword ever since I played to death Zelda Ocarina of Time, but it's not a perfect sword by any means. Yet still, my nostalgic love, I've always wondered what the Master Sword would be like in real life. You would want to change some of the design because, like I said, the original does have problems, yet there are elements that I really like. In fact, I have a little short that's coming out pretty soon that points out the worst design element on the Master Sword in my opinion. And interestingly enough, that design element is addressed in this functional Master Sword. Now, this one is called the Deluxe Master Sword. This is actually a really interesting sword, so we're going to put this one to the test, analyze the design changes, and see how functional it really is. And there are things to like and things to dislike. Let's have some fun. So this Master Sword is actually quite an accurate replica to the version that we see in many games, and it highlights some of the issues. The hilt would just be way too heavy because of how thick it is. This functional Master Sword has addressed that by making it much, much thinner, removing this annoying rondel disc thingy. The blade is interesting. It's nowhere near as broad as the actual Master Sword, and it's shorter, yet this blade is 1070 carbon steel. It's no joke. So this is a very serious, functional, high carbon steel blade, and it's sharp. My goodness, is this thing sharp. Having said that though, the weight is an interesting issue. The blade on this is most definitely an arming sword, one-handed sword length blade, though it's a bit chunky. And so as a result, it's on the heavier end. Let's find out exactly how heavy it is. Official This comes in at 1.7 kilos. For me, this is way too heavy for a one-handed sword, unless it was particularly balanced really well. This sword is also 1.7 kilos, yet the blade profile kind of justifies it. It's thinner and therefore a bit broader, which can assist in cutting performance, and the weight distribution is much just nicer with this one, which makes it easier to use in one hand. And it's also, it's a bit longer as well, not by a large amount, and so you can switch between one to two-handed use quite easily. Now having said that, in the realms of a two-handed sword, 1.7 is still heavy, but it's more acceptable. And what's interesting about this Deluxe Master Sword, it comes with a much longer handle, and I'm a bit divided on that, because for the weight, this, you want two hands on this thing, it's a very short blade for the weight. We've seen it before, okay. Yet the Master Sword, traditionally, is supposed to be a one-handed sword. Now having said that, it's clearly long enough to use two hands. The thing is though, I've never seen Link two-hand the Master Sword. Have you? Guys? Anyone? Though it's long enough to get two hands on this thing, it's traditionally a one-handed weapon. So we want to test both. We want to see how functional this is in one hand, and in two. But honestly, in two, I mean, it's heavy, but it's more manageable. Far more manageable. In regards to the adaptation of the Master Sword design, the shape of the sword, especially the crossguard, I actually really like. I really like what they've done here with the crossguard. It keeps the traditional shape, got rid of useless elements like the weird rondel-suba thing underneath. The pommel is not as an iconic thing, so I don't mind that they change that. The blade, I think they could have gone thinner and wider to match the Master Sword, or even just longer. I think you could get away with a longer blade. I don't mind the ricasso. This is solid brass, and as a result, adds a lot to the weight. Where this sword is getting a lot, most of the weight, is this chunky brass crossguard and pommel. And so even though they've toned it down from the original design, I think they could half this in width, and it would still be strong enough to stop a lot of sword strikes. And so they could take off a lot of weight. It would be more functional as a result, and not weaker either. And so I think that's a bit of a flaw in the adaptation of this design. I should mention the scabbard. It's solid wood with leather. There is a leather wrap over top. And these designs, this is thick leather. Yeah, cut out thick leather. Stucks to it. It makes it a bit uncomfortable to grasp, and the stitching is a bit rough. But honestly, like, I don't hate it. It's a nice chunky wooden scabbard, and I think it does the job. But now, let's take a look and see how well it cuts. Because one of the biggest compliments about this sword, is how serious this blade is. 1070 high carbon, it is sharp. And so, let's go have some fun. Interestingly enough, the design of the crossguard, especially this ricasso section, has a nice little cavity for you to finger the guard, just like that. Which is a historical thing. It was done. Not everyone did it. It's a personal preference. Just gives you a little bit more point control, and I kind of like it. Gets you at the leverage. So, uh, this thing is sharp. Let's see how it goes. All right, Tyranth, come and have a go. In fact, I want to see what you can do with this one-handed. So, horizontal cuts are my easiest cuts, personally. I have the most trouble with horizontal ones. With this sword, they were not. Yeah, I couldn't get a horizontal one, and you couldn't. There can be usually up to three possible reasons. One, sharpness of the edge. That's not a problem. This is sharp. Two, weather. It is damp today, and even the humidity can affect pool noodle, you know. Yeah, but with an edge like that, it should be able to laser through. And so, the last thing that it could affect is actually the geometry of the blade. And this thing, it doesn't look like it even has much of a distal taper, which contributes it to being so heavy. It does have a, what is it, a convex blade profile, meaning it gets thicker in the middle. This, something like this, has a much more narrower blade profile, and as such. Yeah, look how deep that cuts in now. So, this just feels like nothing, especially with a sharpened blade. Slices through. Contrast it to this. Same kind of pressure, and I'm getting stuck. I'm actually getting, and now it's gripping, and it's not wanting to go through nearly as easy. And it's not because this isn't sharp. This is actually, this is sharper than this. It's actually sharper than a lot of the blades we have in our armory, but I think it's just down to the blade profile. But this is actually a really interesting point of reference, because you, this is sharper, right? But it's cutting worse because of the geometry of the blade. You can have a sharper sword that cuts worse than a blunt one, all down to, that's really significant in regards to sword analysis. So, I'm going to have one more go with the pool noodles. I'm going to see if I can get a horizontal cut. Good luck. Good luck, Tyrone. It does not want to do that. We're missing a pool noodle. There should be a pool noodle here. So, there's still some good cuts in there. So, the geometry isn't ruining it. It just makes it a bit more difficult. Well, it's interesting, because usually with a pool noodle, and our particular setup here, upwards cuts are the ones where we have a bit of trouble with, just because this usually just flies off. With this, I was able to do upwards cuts. Not too much trouble, but not a single horizontal cut. I don't think I've ever not been able to do a horizontal cut. Alrighty. So, what are your overall thoughts on this sword? Because you're a fan of the Zelda series and Master Sword. Loosely. So, I would like a thicker blade. I think this blade's a little bit too small and a little bit too short. Yeah. But apart from that, the blade itself, not bad. I think, like, my favorite part is just they got the shape of the cross guard pretty good. And look, I think they could have done it better, make it thinner, reduce the weight. But in terms of a functional Master Sword that you can buy, it's one of the only ones out there. And it's not terrible, but there are problems with it. Now, there's a little bit of variance, because on the product pages for these, it shows you a nice brass. Yes, that's right. Contrasting hilt with this blue. This one has been blued, I think, to try and match the blue hilt of the Master Sword. But it just doesn't look as good. I like the brass one. This is an easy fix. We can just grab a scourer and, you know, fix this up. But you might just get one, if you buy one, that comes like this. If they do that, that's not good. Okay. You should get what you pay for. This was sent to us, and so we didn't make a preference. And so, I expect most good sword retailers will give you an option to have a brass or blued cross guard and pommel. And the one that they show on the website is brass. And one thing to add is this actually has an attachment method of a screw down the bottom of the pommel. This usually isn't the case. I think the Honshu is the other one we have that does that. I like it. There's a number of swords that do have like allen keys. I like that because it means you can retighten the hilt. So that's a bonus. I agree with this, but most people would usually expect something to be peened or something like that. Just be aware this one does have a big screw in the pommel. Because there is another kind of caveat to mention if it does have this connection. It can sometimes make a weak point on the connection between the screw and the pommel. Case in point, this one. This was the weak point for the Honshu. I think it's the single-handed broadsword. And we did snap the pommel off because of that weak connection. But I like the sword so much, especially the blade, that I re-welded it together, reinforced it, and now it's stronger than ever. Because the tang has to come down to a small point which has a thread on it. The original one actually had kind of holes in that connection point, because I found it when it snapped, where now there's no holes and it's really solid and goes all the way through. So I'm not sure if they have that on this, but it's just a potential warning. To add one thing, we are pushing them beyond their limits. Yes, we are. Well, Mike, I was abusively testing this to the extreme for the point of seeing where what its breaking point was. And I found that if you're using it under normal condition, usually it should be fine. For this sort of stuff? Yeah, that should be the case with this one. But there's only one way to find out. So I'm going to get Tyrant to do some stress testing for this. Yeah. And we'll see what happens. So this is our wood test. This is a brutal test for swords. We don't usually do it for everything, but when we do reviews, we'd like to do it. Now, this is not normal sword operation. We're not supposed to be doing this, but it's a good test to really see what these things are made of. Now, keep in mind, the most important part of this test is not what we do to the wood, but what the wood does to our sword. And this has a wicked sharp edge. So first, I'll do one hand and then I'll do two hand and we'll see if there's any damage. Well, if I'm being honest, that actually performed really well against wood. I think it has to do with the blade profile, which we mentioned before with the pool noodles. Whereas something with a pool noodle, it makes it harder to cut through. With something like wood, it seems to be splitting it. It will kill. Chad. Chad, Chad, Chad, Chad, Chad, Chad. I have, uh, done some stress testing. It survives. Yeah, I guess. Uh, I am a little concerned about things, you know, if you want to hear this. Yeah. I'm not really a fan of that. Well, hang on. What is it? Is something sounding loose? I think it's the blade hitting all these different little components. That's interesting. Do it again. Yeah. I get it. I think you're right because it doesn't feel loose. It's solid. It held up. Yeah. You can, uh, yeah, I'll take this one. Have fun. I do like that one. Honestly, look, it's a bit of a mixed bag. To my knowledge, no functional master swords you can buy. There might be one or two, but I haven't seen. This is one of the ones out there. And for the price, you're getting a really good high quality steel blade for the price. There are some custom, like, you know, personally made functional master swords you can see online, but finding something that is affordable with a serious steel blade. This is actually good quality for the money. I do think with some issues, but Hey, look, thank you for watching this video. Thank you for United Cutlery for sending this sword for review. And it's been really fun to have on hand with our Zelda videos. So hope to see you on the next video here on Shadowversity. Until that time. Farewell.