1881 Shashka Saber

Specifications

"Very good handling because of distal taper, best European sabre in handling among the modern reproductions that I have. Fit and finish is very good and what may seem like a plastic handle and plastic looking scabbard are actually heavily lacquered wood, I don't know if this is historically accurate for these Russian military issue Shashkas, but it is attractive. One criticisms is that the very shiny and slick lacquered handle makes the Shashka handle very slippery and is not good for a secure grip on the sword: This makes using the wrist strap very needed to keep a secure grip on the sabre if using it for test cutting. To use the wrist strap I found that the best way for me is to first loop the strap on the wrist behind the hand, to grip the strap with thumb and fore finger tightly together and then have both sides of the strap over the back of the hand, and then grip the handle and strap together. This makes the grip secure from slipping forward onto the sharp blade. On a personal note, even though the lacquered finish is extremely attractive and well done, I sanded it off and covered and glued a thin black leather cover over the grip which improved the secure handling and one's grip on the sabre handle by 100%. The blade came paper cutting sharp and some very light honing by hand with a white fine ceramic hone made the blade scary paper cutting sharp. Fit blade to scabbard is near perfect with my Shashka. I gave the Shashka a rating of 5 after I did some modifications to the handle, before the modifications I would still give it a 5 if one doesn't intend to do any cutting with it, or do safe solo sabre training, but for usability it would be a 4 out of 5 due to the " Wet bar of soap " feel of the original very attractive lacquered finish." - Jean (5/5)