This new version of the Balaur Arms Kriegsmesser has been updated with a grip of high quality black walnut wood instead of a lacquered finish.
This Kriegsmesser takes its design cues from some surviving and finely embellished examples of Tyrolean messers that were once the in the hands of the Austrian Imperial family of the House of Habsburg at the end of the 15th century. While not as ostentatious as the museum pieces of the Imperial Household, this example retains the late Medieval Gothic styling of these examples to recreate a Kriegsmesser of status, one that would have belonged to a successful knight or mercenary or a nobleman of the Holy Roman Empire – someone with means and status to possess a stylistically refined example of the Messer to set them apart from humbler examples belonging to men at arms and the lower orders, yet still needing a very functional and powerful sword for war and campaign.
The large, saber-like blade is a hard-hitting cutter and a ferocious slicer; the spine of the blade is thick and reinforcing and the blade possesses significant distal taper to give it a refined balance and optimized cutting along the midsection and tip of the blade whilst retaining a thick blade base for strength. The long fuller trims down unneeded weight and a sharpened false edge along the tip trims the tip of the blade to minimize resistance as the blade slices into and through the target. The sword is balanced enough that it doesn’t feel heavy in a single hand, though the dimensions of the blade and hilt insist on the use of a second hand to truly bring the sword into its own.
The blade is forged from sharp and well-tempered GB 60Si2MnA High Carbon Manganese Spring Steel. The hilt has a guard of stainless steel; its nagel is a separate component which extends through the crossguard. The grip is of smoothly polished black walnut wood and the long pommel which doubles as the second half of the grip is of well-cast brass. The tang of the blade is triple copper-riveted directly to the wooden grip and then further secured with a wide peen over the brass pommel. The Kriegsmesser is matched with a wooden scabbard with a tight wrap of leather and a solid cast brass chape and locket.
immortalist (verified owner) –
This sword feels amazing in the hand, with point of balance less than 3″ below the guard. The blade has decent flex to it but it sails through tatami without any issues. Highly recommended!
Here’s some cutting that I did with the Kriegsmesser 2.0:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al9n0BPSgAI
alientude –
A ferocious cutter and extremely nimble sword. It came very sharp. There’s some bits that could use to be improved on the hilt, especially the rectangular block at the center of the guard biting into the fingers. I also wish the wood of the hilt wasn’t painted. But the sword definitely delivers in handling and cutting!
I did a full review on Youtube: https://youtu.be/z8nT4ngcxzY
Sir_Syan1 (verified owner) –
Wow. That was my immediate impression when I first picked up this sword. I had been waiting months to get my hands on this thing and now I finally have it and I am blown away by the quality of this sword.
I’ll start with the scabbard. It’s a nice wood core leather wrapped scabbard with a brass chape and locket. I will say it is hefty because of the brass and the thickness of the scabbard but that is no real issue. I do wish the retention on the sword was better, so it doesn’t slide out so easily but still not the biggest deal. It comes with the nice floral design etched into it too so it’s very pretty.
The handle is thus far one of the best handles I’ve handled on a sword. The wood section feels very comfortable to hold as does the brass section. I haven’t had any issues with the quillon block corners biting into my hand, so I think they have worked on chamfering the edges since alientude made his review. I also noticed they didn’t include the stripes of orange paint on the handle because of alientude’s review. At first, I thought I liked the look of the painted handle but now I see the appeal of no paint. It lets the wood speak for itself. It probably would’ve rubbed off after a while. I really like how Balaur Arms actually listens to reviews to try and improve their products. The quillons are beautiful and the nagel as well. The transition from the wood to the brass is smoothly done too. I couldn’t really feel any hotspots.
Now for the blade. This blade is absolutely beautiful. It comes with a sharpened false edge at the end which is cool to see. The blade has a good bit of flex to it with a center of percussion right at the end of the thick spine which is exactly where you want to be cutting. It has a smooth satin finish. Overall, just a very beautiful blade.
The handling is fantastic. I am completely amazed by how well this sword handles. It is completely usable in one hand but especially so in two. After handling this sword, I went through all my other swords to compare the handling and it’s not even close. This is the best handling sword I have used thus far. I wasn’t expecting this sword to be so comfortable to use in one hand. It is in my opinion perfectly balanced and is so much fun just to swing through the air. The large brass pommel acts as a large counterweight so it feels good in the hand. I think the balance is about 3 inches from the guard so it is definitely very responsive and not blade heavy. Cutting bottles with this sword was an absolute blast. It sang through bottles and I even got a zero-distance cut which I haven’t done before. I tried to use the false edge but I couldn’t really get any cuts with it. I think my technique needs some work haha. But overall an absolute pleasure to cut with.
100% I would recommend this sword to anyone. It was completely worth it getting it after months of waiting for it to come back in stock. Please do yourself a favor and buy this sword now while it’s in stock!!!