Good buy, or junk???

[Justin Copeland]

I am looking to buy my first waster, and I came across the one in the link below. Could anyone tell me if it is a good, practical practice weapon, or, if not, where I could find one???

Thank you

http://www.museumreplicas.com/webstore/ ... _hand.aspx

[Jaron Bernstein]

I am looking to buy my first waster, and I came across the one in the link below. Could anyone tell me if it is a good, practical practice weapon, or, if not, where I could find one???

Thank you

http://www.museumreplicas.com/webstore/ ... _hand.aspx

I would go with a New Stirling Arms or Raven.

[Neil Bockus]

In my own experience, the MRL wasters haven't been of very high quality. I've had two split their crossguards on me under pretty light training situations. Trying to repair with woodglue added weight and threw the balance off, so I'd be weary of that particular line of wasters.

[s_taillebois]

The cross on MRL is just pinned together with dowels. So these will tend to work loose. The pommel, is just glued onto a flat joint, without a dowel or other jointing.
The wood on the 'blade', sometimes a bit weak. So if need to use these, wrapping the blade, and around the crossing with some canvas helps the longevity.
MRL wasters, the main advantage, or the only one, is that their wasters are easy to get without too long of a delay. And if it's stolen upon delivery, not losing much.
MRL does make some good items, the wasters aren't really amongst them.

[Doug Marnick]

Justin,
I own this waster, although mine is not two-tone. I am very disappointed for three reasons.
1. Weight. It is way too light at 1lb 4 oz. I don't feel like I'm getting the best workout I can when practicing cuts. The lack of "heftiness" also makes a difference for me in bind/wind practice. Believe it or not, one pound makes a difference.
2. Soft Wood. Although this sounds like a problem for Viagra to solve, I know very little about wood quality/types. What I do know is this waster, if bumped into with a car key, will dent. Repeated contact with a quality waster will soon leave you with scalloped edges. BTW, I like how the ad says it can withstand abuse "even edge to edge". LOL
3. Durability. As stated by the above posts, this thing is fragile. I had to repair the crossguard on this piece as well as its companion short sword after little use. Oberhau + Kron = Half a crossguard remaining. This not even with sparring, this is from drills.
Overall, it depends on budget, as it did for me when I saw these Windlass Steelcraft wasters on eBay. Not only do I recommend spending the cash on a high quality waster, I advise not wasting your money on 4 feet of regret.
Hope this helps.