Buyer Beware: Stay away from Motu's Historical Line
TL:DR up front: Cheap quality fittings, D guard cracked on the 2nd day of usage. Waiting for Motu to do something regarding their warranty, but ~~they are extremely slow to communicate.~~ hey they actually emailed me within 24 hours this time, they'll see if their manufacturers can redo the guard in a better steel.
https://imgur.com/a/Yi9wIS7
So I've gotten to handle the Motu M2 sabres and they seemed like solid blades, but I didn't NEED another bell guard sabre at the time.. When looking at grabbing blades for other projects, I noticed they had a fun little Stirrup Sabre in stock.
https://en.inmotu-shop.com/products/infanteriesabel-ungarisch-19-jahrhundert#stamped-main-widget
On paper, fun little stirrup hilt, extremely light at 600 g, be nice for technique work, lighter sparring right?
**The GOOD**
It handles wonderfully. At 600 g, and a truly wonderful distal taper it flexes well, while keeping stiffness in the forte
**The BAD**
Oh boy. At about 180 euro over the base blade, and 300 euro total, I wasn't expecting say, Sigi quality on the fittings but it literally looks like they took the fittings from a cheap wall hanger and slapped in their blade.
The blade itself had some rough marks, nothing I can't polish out or get dented out with usage anyway, but perhaps I expected a touch more finesse on something at this price.
https://i.imgur.com/9FeCca5.jpeg
The backstrap and hilt seem oddly aligned, asymmetrical almost. There's actually a small gap that's hard to see in these photos between the backstrpa and the leather handle itself. Again, nothing that actually stops me from using it, but I expected a better finish on something that's almost $500 CAD. Not to mention the whole setup is kind of slippery with the kind of metal they used.
https://i.imgur.com/rFwtbyQ.jpeg
Finally, the most important thing, the damned guard took a massive crack at somepoint during the 2nd day of sparring/technique work. I wasn't fighting Messer or anything either, just other sabres, and there's a hairline crack I can get my fingernail under, runs under about halfway through the guard now.
https://i.imgur.com/IlrXstf.jpeg
**CONCLUSION**
Could I still use this? In theory yes, but honestly if it already cracked wtih light work, I don't feel like digging metal shards out of my glove.
For the price, I could've just bought the blade and jury-rigged it to any of my spare parts lying around, heck could've gotten two of them. I know enough blacksmiths as well that they would be happy to do a simple stirrup easily enough. The fittings quality really drags down the entire blade, which is a shame this is one of the nicer sabre blades I've been able to handle, especially for the price. Hopefully Motu contacts me soon with a return, because this is very disappointing. EDIT: hey they actually emailed me within 24 hours this time, they'll see if their manufacturers can redo the guard in a better steel.