My all silver Bane finally came in yesterday. Of course, I was at work when they tried to deliver it, so I had to go pick it up this morning.
Dat toblerone
As this is my first (new) saber, I got home and immediately opened her up to see what was inside.
The contents were: 1 All silver Bane, 1 32" Infinity Edge v4 blade, a covertec wheel and screw, a charger, and the (I assume) standard Saberforge paperwork.
Crappy headphones not included.
Man oh man, the feel of this saber! The finger grooves on the claw combined with the curve of the hilt makes it fit my hand like it was tailor fitted. After having played with it for a bit now, I can definitely see why people say curved hilts are primarily for one handed use. While you can certainly get both hands on this hilt, with the 32" blade, one handed swinging/spinning is a joy. Though I wouldn't call the process graceful, mainly because this morning was the first time I've had a "fighting saber" in my hand since I was in high school. (By way of explanation, some friends and I used to get together every Friday and fight with the hasbro sabers that came out with the Special Edition OT.) Some of the fancier spinning stuff is probably out of the question due to the claw running the full length of the hilt, though.
Someone a while back asked about the balance on this saber, and this seems like a good time to address that, as I said I would. I'm between 5'9" and 5'11" depending on what gas station I'm leaving, and admittedly a bit soggy around the midsection. With the 32" blade, however, the balance on the Bane is, in my opinion,
perfect. Finger testing puts the point of balance right at the end of the top emitter prongs, which is exactly where you'd want it to be. Single handed swinging is, as stated, lively and smooth. Two-handed use actually feels a little
more awkward to me; it just feels like your fingers have to be too bunched up to really be comfortable. Though, a quick two-handed strike following up a string of single-hand attacks would certainly make a fine punctuation to a volley.
So yes, the Bane, at least for me, after some practice, will make a very capable single-handed dueler. I see now why a classical fencer like Dooku went for a curved hilt.
The 12W Blood Orange is positively beautiful in this saber. And
bright. Even fresh out of the box, without charging, I put the blade in and fired her off (because..
come on), and had to turn my head a bit because of the amount of light it put off. The Infinity Edge blade carries the light beautifully, and there honestly isn't as much brightness loss near the tip of the blade as I was expecting. Compared to the 6W green module in the Fury my household recently purchased her on the forums from JediRabbi, the 12W module is intensely brighter. I can only imagine the sun-like radiance of a 12W+.
To demonstrate what I mean, here is a corny mirror shot, where I forgot to turn the flash off on my camera first. Even with the flash, the glow of the blade is obvious, and this was
before any charging.
That X-wing pilot almost lost an S-foil.
And here is another, with the flash off, in my fairly dim bedroom.
And for a final comparison, here is the same saber, shot with the same camera, in the same mirror,
after being charged for a few hours.
As you can see, a full battery makes a difference! So always charge those new sabers until the light turns green, young apprentices!
All in all, I am beyond happy with this saber purchase. Saberforge has done an incredible job of making a curved hilt that is both elegant and slightly savage. The emitter prongs and claw bring to mind the jaws of some bizarre alien predator (perhaps some kind of deep sea fish with a massive underbite
), while the curves and grooves of the hilt speak of a design mindful of comfort and usability.
One last thing I want to mention is that even though my Bane is all-silver, there does seem to be a slight hue difference between the emitter/pommel and the grip. Whether it is due to a material difference, or merely caused by being almost constantly handled since it came off the charger, the grip section of the hilt appears, to the naked eye, at least, to be ever so slightly darker than the fittings. I wouldn't go so far as to call it "Weathered", but it may get there in time.
The color difference doesn't really show well under camera flash, though.
As far as the process of buying goes: Saberforge's staff was top notch throughout the entire process, from responding to my panicked messages where I had forgotten to tell them certain option choices earlier on (like the blade length and which sound font to install), to a couple weeks ago when I asked them for an updated shipping ETA, the customer service people I spoke to were
always courteous and prompt.
All in all, I give both the saber and the Forge it came from a 10 out of 10. Definitely looking forward to repeating the customer experience when the ASP system rolls out and I can build my Jinsu Razor. But until then, the Bane has more than enough class to keep me occupied.
The face of a satisfied customer who sucks at taking selfies
Until next time!