European Sword recommendations

forge is not always better than stock removal. forging can offer some advantage if doing right on right type of steel. however by forging it also means you have to give up the fine annealled quality coming out from steel mill. blade manufacturer usually do not have the technique level of the steel mill in both men(women) and equiptment.

and if you want a heirloom quality blade, i strongly suggest you get a custom ordered blade. the thickness of european swords keep me concerned for a long time.TOO THIN!!! a lot of modern day european sword are directly copyed from the museum pieces. for example, many viking blades i have seen have the thickness of 5~2.5mm from hilt to tip. but this thickness is the result of repeat sharpening, polishing and years of oxidizing. i personally assume the historical thickness of the sword would be a little bit higher when she was acctrully wielded in a shield wall. 6~3.5mm from hilt to tip for a norman/viking swords is more acceptable imo.
 
hammerfall said:
and if you want a heirloom quality blade, i strongly suggest you get a custom ordered blade. the thickness of european swords keep me concerned for a long time.TOO THIN!!!
a lot of modern day european sword are directly copyed from the museum pieces. for example, many viking blades i have seen have the thickness of 5~2.5mm from hilt to tip. but this thickness is the result of repeat sharpening, polishing and years of oxidizing. i personally assume the historical thickness of the sword would be a little bit higher when she was acctrully wielded in a shield wall. 6~3.5mm from hilt to tip for a norman/viking swords is more acceptable imo.
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This may be the case in some instances however there are plenty of European swords in museums and collections that show no signs of either oxidation or of having been sharpened to the point that they have been thinned out. The Sword of St. Maurice comes to mind as does say the Conyers Falchion, the Sword of Sancho IV and others.
 
hammerfall said:
forge is not always better than stock removal. forging can offer some advantage if doing right on right type of steel. however by forging it also means you have to give up the fine annealled quality coming out from steel mill. blade manufacturer usually do not have the technique level of the steel mill in both men(women) and equiptment.

and if you want a heirloom quality blade, i strongly suggest you get a custom ordered blade. the thickness of european swords keep me concerned for a long time.TOO THIN!!! a lot of modern day european sword are directly copyed from the museum pieces. for example, many viking blades i have seen have the thickness of 5~2.5mm from hilt to tip. but this thickness is the result of repeat sharpening, polishing and years of oxidizing. i personally assume the historical thickness of the sword would be a little bit higher when she was acctrully wielded in a shield wall. 6~3.5mm from hilt to tip for a norman/viking swords is more acceptable imo.
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There's one problem with a custom blade for me at the moment: I don't have the knowledge needed to properly spec out a blade that would fit my needs. The way I see it, if I buy a few high-end swords and find out what works best for me, I can use that knowledge to start writing up my "dream sword".
 
Well, it just doesn't get any better than albion. Swords are very difficult to build mainly due to the geometry which few understand like Albion. They are expensive but worth it and then some. Try the secondary market over at sword forum international you can pic up some good deels sometimes.
 
Triton said:
This may be the case in some instances however there are plenty of European swords in museums and collections that show no signs of either oxidation or of having been sharpened to the point that they have been thinned out. The Sword of St. Maurice comes to mind as does say the Conyers Falchion, the Sword of Sancho IV and others.
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i don't know how long will a sword with a 2.5mm blade survive in a brutal campaign. hitting on the steel reinforced shield edge is not unusual, the sword need to be resharpened and repaired constantly. a 2.5mm thickness won't have enough "meat" to last for a long campaign. and consider swords were expansive weapon and were intended to use pass generations, a too thin edge is hardly acceptable in this case.

also, my own experience tells me that too thin a blade is not strong enough to deliver effective thrust. even on the mail link or thick leather, it often flex instead of running through.
 
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acctrully, i really like the balance and feel of the thin european swords. the problem comes during the heavy impact, the thin blade often flex itself to absorb the energy instead of delivering the impact energy into the target.
 
hammerfall said:
i don't know how long will a sword with a 2.5mm blade survive in a brutal campaign. hitting on the steel reinforced shield edge is not unusual, the sword need to be resharpened and repaired constantly. a 2.5mm thickness won't have enough "meat" to last for a long campaign. and consider swords were expansive weapon and were intended to use pass generations, a too thin edge is hardly acceptable in this case.

also, my own experience tells me that too thin a blade is not strong enough to deliver effective thrust. even on the mail link or thick leather, it often flex instead of running through.
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I don't have any idea either since I've never seen a sword subjected to that sort of thing, I was merely pointing out that there are extant European swords that haven't been used up or sharpened to death and their dimensions are available.
 
Swords hold up very well if they are well made like anything else. Dents and dings could be repaired and even if broken in half it could be fixed by a good smith

Here is a video of the Albion Vinland sword subjected to destructive testing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2mDMS6-884
 
Well that vid convinced me; Albion it is. Now to go through my finances and see where I can start cutting back to get the cash for that beauty of a sword.
 
Ok... visited a local shop and found a blade that was Viking style that the shopkeeper said was a Paul Chen blade.... should I pass and stick with the Albion ( I want to go Albion, but instant gratifcation is whispering in my ear...)
 
If the Chen is what you want then go for it, you can always get an Albion later. If you have doubts about the Chen then the best I can do is refer you back to my original post.

FWIW, I ended up selling all of my lower-end swords (including at least one Paul Chen) to buy more Albions, once I figured out what I wanted.
 
Justin King said:
If the Chen is what you want then go for it, you can always get an Albion later. If you have doubts about the Chen then the best I can do is refer you back to my original post.

FWIW, I ended up selling all of my lower-end swords (including at least one Paul Chen) to buy more Albions, once I figured out what I wanted.
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I hear you. The Paul Chen was the nicest blade the guy had. Wasn't bad, but I've handled better swords. Just had a near lapse in discipline. I'm going to keep pinching pennies and stay focused on the goal.
 
I've gotten custom stuff out of arms and armour that wasn't much more expensive than albion if you do decide to go that route eventually.
 
What, no love for ATrim blades? They aren't the complete, finished package that many Albions are, but I've yet to see a difference in the "meat and potato's" that would disuade me from a purchase.

That said, at the moment I have a Hanwei Bastard hanging from the wall. It handles well, all things considered, and it was a good place to start in my sword collecting endeavours. For most things, I'd insist on saving for a quality product, but thanks to the veritable arms race to produce swords cheaply, you can find a lot of quality in the sub $500 range. Valiant armoury springs to mind, particularly if you enjoy breath taking sheath work. The Hanwei/Tinker Norman might be a good place to start so that you can peg what you'd really like moving forward with your collection. I'd hate to spend $850+ on a sword I could find faults with based strictly on personal preference. Call it a small investment today in order to save in the future.

Strictly in my opinion, of course.
 
Psychosis91 said:
What, no love for ATrim blades?
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Angus Trim has earned a certain reputation among those who have been in the sword market for a while. It would be worthwhile to do some research on the subject before doing business with him.

Edit: I did my own current research and in fairness I should add here that Gus has made efforts to rectify outstanding orders, which I was not aware of when I made the above comments. :foot: for not taking my own advice before tossing it out like that.
There has never been a problem with his product that I know of, I can say from personal experience that it performs as advertised.
 
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I'd go throught Tried and True armoury, all though I can't say I've heard much negativity surrouding the blades themselves. Then again, most of my knowledge base is derived from SBG, and no forum is an all inclusive source of information.

I apologize if I made a hasty recomendation, I just like what I see most of the time, particularly when I have blade in hand.
 
Justin King said:
Angus Trim has earned a certain reputation among those who have been in the sword market for a while. It would be worthwhile to do some research on the subject before doing business with him.
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Care to elaborate? It's been a few years since I was last actively involved in the online sword communities, but back when I was he had a stellar reputation.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Care to elaborate? It's been a few years since I was last actively involved in the online sword communities, but back when I was he had a stellar reputation.
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Nope. You could call him and ask him, if he hadn't gone to such lengths to make himself unreachable, his sales being handled by a seperate party. That alone speaks volumes.
 
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At this point, I'm pretty much locked-in on the Albion. I might pick up the Chen if I get a sudden pay raise or something, but right now I'm focusing on the main prize. I do appreciate the other suggestions, though. Helps me broaden my knowledge.
 
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