Landsknecht Emporium $330 Karl and $500 Gottfried Messer Review and Destruction

[@dlatrexswords]

Oh man, my breath caught a bit when I saw Gottfried in the title alongside "destruction"! Great overview of this pair of messers; LE does awesome very historically accurate work. Sad to see the Karl go, but I do appreciate you showing everyone exactly how far these blades can be pushed before failure. Cheers!

[@abelbabel8484]

Regarding the Karl bending, I've seen one break after minimal sparring use. Helsinki Longsword Open 2024 used LE for their Messer competition and saw half a dozen blades break; LE have acknowledged in correspondence they had a recent bad batch. They seem to have fixed the issue since, but some faulty ones may still be out there.

[@kevinc3751]

Great review. I really like the new plastic outdoor chair destruction test. The sweet ringing and cleaving through on each swing was pretty awesome.

[@ajwall1]

So glad you're reviewing the Karl, I've been tempted to get it for years but really wanted more info before taking the plunge

[@CreativeUsernameHere-r1k]

LE really makes an authentic feeling and looking work, They are decorated and nice but have that touch of european medieval imperfections that are charming but don't harm the weapon.

[@TGWBALH]

Thanks for making a review! Always good to see that. And always nice to see Landskneckt Emporium swords - a couple of them are definitely on my list to buy. The Adorian especially looks great, I think. Gottfried and Gustav look great too though :)

[@Matthew_Jensen]

Gottfried and Gustav and some of the best looking blades.

[@messerlittle6166]

Really glad you reviewed these. Thank you!

[@FiliiMartis]

If you just want a quintessential messer, clip point and all, get the Gottfried. You won't go wrong with it. If you know why you want a straight bladed messer, get the Karl. At 14:14, boy do the blade details pop in black and white; keep doing that in future videos. 👍

[@tobiasniemann8946]

Good review. I have 3 blades from Landsknecht Emporium and i love all of them. Greetings from Germany

[@Matthew_Jensen]

Thanks for watching!

[@kaoskronostyche9939]

Hi Matthew. Nice to see you again and a very nice change to see a couple of European swords. I like Messers - they really strike me aesthetically. Another thorough review. The music was slightly annoying this time. Can I provide prices? Euro 275 is CAN $410; U$ 300 for the Karl plus shipping from Europe. Thanks for the review. Cheers!

[@bentrieschmann]

The cut you could remember is called Zwerkhau in longsword and Entrusthau in Messer, same cut as what you did either way.

[@zacantale]

Weird, when I ordered my karl I didn’t see an option for a false edge. Definitely would have went for that option if I did. Thanks for the review

[@zacantale]

Ah just read the description lol

[@FiliiMartis]

@@zacantale Lol indeed!😅😇

[@WhatIfBrigade]

As a beginner to backyard cutting, I appreciate Landsknecht Emporium leaving a few marks on the swords so they aren't all my fault. 🤣

[@savagesauzage2256]

this is what ive been waitin FOR fianlly someone that really shows how much abuse things can take

[@rF-Phenom]

The tempering issues are slightly concerning as its not something that can be found without pushing the sword quite hard, which would LE warranty and replace it if you smacked it sideways on a tree to test the temper? If yes, then ok. If no, then thats an issue. Some more consistency there would be nice. I can over look some of the flaws in finish work for them being around the 400-500 range though. Some time with sandpaper and fine files could dress some of those issues up. Very nice review, thank you

[@Matthew_Jensen]

For what it is worth I have slapped a half dozen or so LE swords on that stand the Karl was the only one that took a bend. I am not sure if they would cover it or not but if you sent a picture of it taking a bend while still being in generally good shape I would guess they would do right.

[@landsknechtemporium6616]

As you might have seen on the video it took quite some effort to push the blade to failure, even is we ourselves suspect that the heat-treatment of this particular blade wasn't as perfect as it could have been. While intentionally hitting a stand with the flat of blade is not really the intended use, accidents happen and you might hit your stand not how you intended. That's why we handle each warranty claim individually. We'reot adhereing to a set of rules but inspecting each failed item individually. Wether the warranty claim is deemed to be valid is determined by many factors. If we see obvious signs of a material failure or production issue, the warranty will be provided. If there's no obvious reason, we'll be looking for more subtle clues, as well going into a deeper discussion with the customer about how the product was used, what circumstances under did the product fail. However if the product is intentionally pushed to its limit, that is a whole other conversation.

[@bentrieschmann]

My Gottfried, with knucklebow but no pommel, is excellent but it is the heavy sparing blade. I would love to have one that is sharp. Now, the blunt back blade has some rough edges that has given me some pretty bad pressure cuts from halfswording when training with it. That is my only complaint.

[@1337blackone]

personally i find swords like these absolutely beautiful above what id call sterile swords that have oddly perfect lack of perfection. however my albion sparring swords are beautifully weathered from years of use

[@freestatefellow]

These look great! Do you happen to know which variety of wood you got on these models?

[@landsknechtemporium6616]

The karl has our standard beech panels, while the Gottfried has nice, dark walnut ones. With walnut there's quite some variety in the same plank of wood, from deep almost chocolate brown parts to some very pale, almost grey-ish ones.

[@ashtoncarn5803]

I do recall hearing that they had issues with steel quality a time ago, maybe that had something to do with the karl bending.

[@landsknechtemporium6616]

The Karl featuring in this video is quite an old piece, the issue with our steel shipment earlier this year surely has no connection in this case :) Heat-treatment is tricky business which will be affected by very minor differences in the material - both chemically and structurally - as well as by the heat-treatment process. Until we're able to build up our own facility for that, the only thing we can do is thouroughly check each blade that arrives back from our heat treatment partner and make multiple quallity inspections during production. Still the Karl was intentionally pushed to failure and if we only take into account the abuse seen on the final video, it took a hearthy amount of abuse before the blade bent :)

[@ashtoncarn5803]

​@@landsknechtemporium6616 I had no idea it was a much older piece, thank you for shedding light on the matter

[@antj8680]

Hey guys and girls. This is unrelated with Mathew's video but I could use some advice. I recently bought a Praying Mantis by Hanwei and when I swing it, I can feel a slight creek at the bottom of the handle where my left hand sits. I've tried knocking the mekugi out but they are stuck solid for some reason... are there any safety issues if there's a creek or is it OK?

[@malachilaws3023]

I dont know if you’ve ever played the game or know what im talking about, but the gottfried looks almost identical to Neros red queen sword from Devil May Cry 4

[@danielhallinan6740]

Yes it has a handle and a blade.

[@santosknives6278]

Definitely bad heat treatment or steel deffect on the Karl, that cross section looks terrible, harder edges with bigger grain structure in the middle, strange to say the least

[@landsknechtemporium6616]

What we can see on the photos isn't really a bad heat-treatment, but it is strange nontheless. The middle section shows what we'd expect from this material at the given hardness - it has a nice grain structure and some visible stretching from before the material failed due to fatigue. The outer layer however almost looks as if the blade had been carburized or shell-hardened, neither of which it is supposed to be. Really interesting phenomenon that will give us something to think about when we have some time to spare.

[@santosknives6278]

@@landsknechtemporium6616 Hey, thanks for the answer, glad to see you guys out here looking out for your blades. Definitely and interesting phenomenon on this piece of steel, would be good to know what might have happened. As long as my future Gottfried is as good as Mathews everythings is ok! haha

[@notanotherswordreviewchann4901]

Just not a Messer guy