Royal Navy 1804 Pattern Boarding Cutlass – Universal Swords
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Price range: $134.99 through $179.99
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- Every blade inspected before shipping
- Class
- Battle Ready
- Blade
- 1060-1065 High Carbon Steel
- Overall Length
- 34 1/4''
- Weight
- 3 lb 3 oz
- Brand
- Universal Swords
- Culture
- Pirate
- Era
- 19th Century
Overview
Royal Navy 1804 Pattern Boarding Cutlass - Universal Swords
The cutlass was the mainstay blade of the seaman short for close quarters combat, and thick-spined enough to hack man and rigging alike, the cutlass was a simple but savage weapon. The large guard protected the sailors hand from all manner of blades in a wild sea-melee. This Royal Navy 1804 pattern cutlass however, has one innovation that makes it a true tailor-made sea-blade; A cast-iron grip. The rapid fluctuations in temperature and humidity at sea wrought havoc on wooden grips an iron grip greatly extended the life of the cutlass, saving the state money and keeping the amount of action-ready blades in a ships armory to a maximum.
This reproduction from Universal Swords is based on an example used in the Battle of Lake Erie. The blade is made from tempered high carbon steel and the hilt is of antiqued cast-iron. It comes with a stiff leather scabbard with a brass belt hook.
Specifications
Every measurement that matters
- Brand
- Universal Swords
- Culture
- Pirate
- Era
- 19th Century
- Pommel
- Nut
- Overall Length
- 34 1/4''
- Blade Length
- 29''
- Blade
- 1060-1065 High Carbon Steel
- Weight
- 3 lb 3 oz
- Edge
- Unsharpened
- P.O.B.
- 5 5/8''
- Thickness
- 6.6 mm - 4.8 mm
- Width
- 35.1 mm
- Grip Length
- 4 3/4''
- Class
- Battle Ready
- Country of Origin
- India
- Type
- Cutlass
Reviews
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The Maker
Universal Swords
With origins going back to 1960, India’s Universal Swords has been making reproduction swords for decades. With an emphasis on military sabers, universal produces a number of designs not found elsewhere. As the official US distributor of Universal Swords, KOA will be expanding to stock their entire line over time.
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Pros:
It’s a great wall hanger which is primarily why I bought it. The hilt has a nice patina as if it came off a 19th century sailing ship. I ordered “Blemished Grade” and it’s hard to tell what they consider a blemish. There’s one small void in the casting of the grip and a very small chip out of the spine of the blade directly before the tang. It doesn’t seem that either would hamper function or durability. It’s solidly constructed and seems like it would take quite a beating if I were to put it to actual use. I also ordered the sharpening service. It’s not a razor blade, but I wouldn’t expect that on this type of sword. It’s plenty sharp and probably has a better edge than any of the real examples ever saw.
Cons:
First, a couple of nitpicks: the high polish of the blade kind of contrasts with the patina of the hilt. And I’m probably going to end up using the scabbard as scrap leather. It doesn’t fit well to the sword and will blacken your hands with even a gentle touch. But a little Scotch Brite and a month or two of benign neglect will take care of the blade finish. And the real swords were rarely issued with a scabbard anyway.
But the bigger issue is that the dimensions are a bit different than the specifications page indicates. The weight is exactly as advertised, but the spine of the blade measures 5mm from tip to tang. And I measure the point of balance at just over 7 inches. I understand that a cutlass was often used as a tool to cut rigging and such, but this sword is unwieldy even if the intended use was as a machete. According to some other sources, it seems that the surviving originals are a good half pound lighter and have a POB around 5″. So I suspect that the originals are a far more nimble weapon than this one.
Conclusion:
As a wall hanger, it certainly looks the part. Even a “blemished” example has excellent fit and finish. The sharpening, packaging, and shipping services provided by Kult of Athena were top notch. However, as a weapon, the weight and extreme forward balance make it unusable. I would order again since it makes a handsome display piece. But I’d probably skip the sharpening.
First let me say that this is a very authentic looking 1804. Universal doses a very good job replicating the appearance of their products. It would have been nice to see blade hallmarks reproduced on this example like they usually offer on their other reproductions, but it is still very nice piece. The patination on the hilt is a bit overdone (I had to give the hilt a thorough lime-juice rinse to get the brown stains from coming off on my hands) but it results in a very authentic looking hilt assembly (and yes, it really does look a lot like an old-fashioned pineapple grenade). The distal taper on the English cutlass (1804 and 1845 models) is not as distinctive as on the French equivalents (the M1833 for example) but they were distal tapered. This reproduction appears to hardly be distal tapered at all. Though the solid cast-iron grip offsets that somewhat, it still makes for a rather heavy and slow recovering weapon. This piece almost serves as the Wilkinson Lead -Cutters served, to strengthen the sword arm and produce very impressive chopping feats. Because after some light exercises with this reproduction I can pick up my original 1845 Royal Navy and it feels like a willow wand or a fly-fishing rod in my hands! The lead cutters were based on the 1845 rather than the 1804 models, and the 1804 was a larger, heaver weapon than the 1845, but still not quite as beefy as this replica is. No doubt this piece could sever lead bars or dressed sheep carcasses with a single blow, but an original with the distal taper has better agility and handling than this replica. That being said, it is still a very well-made, solidly built and aesthetically pleasing and accurate looking example of this iconic boarding cutlass.