buyin' an affordable sword

[Paolo_Troiani]

i've received about 250$(yay!) so i thought if i could afford a pratical sword
can you help me deciding which?

[CalebChow]

For a waster, New Sterling Arms has pretty good wood swords.
I think they're kind of light, but they're otherwise great for practice.

For steel, unfortunately your options are limited to getting a cheap banger or spending $500 on a good steel blunt or sharp.

Your best option for blunt steel is the Albion Maestro Line Liechtenauer or Meyer, which I think are around $500 now.

The Liechtenauer is extremely good, but it does take a great amount of skill in control to use safely. The blade is weighty and it's overall not an incredibly light weapon, so an uncontrolled swing can easily destroy bones.
Tim Sheetz caught me across the fingers with a Liechtenauer a few months ago...there are still bumps under my skin from that day.

For something cheaper (I don't really recommend this, however):

Paul Chen Practical Hand-and-Half swords are good for just getting acquainted with steel on steel sparring/drills in my experience, but the faults in them are numerous.
Waaayyy too bottom heavy, point is too pointy, giganormous pommel that's bigger than a mace head, and the crossguard begins to rattle a tiny bit after just a few bouts. For the price ($100), it's easily among the best you can get, though. It can be awkward to use but the steel is strong and the hilt stays on well enough to not be a real problem of safety.
Long story short, it works. But you get what you pay for.

Basically anything else between those two price ranges have shaky reputations and I would not trust them for any real practice.

For a sharp, Albion swords are still a good bet but you won't find anything under $500. I highly recommend NOT getting a sharp for under that price.

New Sterling Arms Waster:
http://www.newstirlingarms.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=8

Albion Liechtenauer:
http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/maestro/sword-practice-liechtenauer.htm

Paul Chen Practical Hand and half:
http://www.kultofathena.com/product~item~PC2106~name~Hanwei+Practical+Hand+and+a+Half+Sword.htm

[Stacy Clifford]

Lutel makes excellent blunts, not quite as good as Albion but fairly close and a bit cheaper, especially if you don't have to ship it across the Atlantic. Mine handles beautifully and holds up well against the Albions, and everyone I know who's owned one has held a similar opinion. I would still recommend Albion first, but Lutel is a worthy alternative option considerably better than the Paul Chen.

[Roy Stewart]

I'm interested in Angus Trim's I beam trainers, and would appreciate any feedback. I'd prefer something heavier, but they are an attractive price.

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[Martin Wallgren]

There is also a maker called Pavel Moc who make useble blunts in the pricerange of 370-400 US dollars. don´t know if there is a retailer in US though.

http://www.swords.cz/enindex.html

Here is one of our swedish retailers webshop. I post it so you can look through the models. The prices are in SEK (Swedish Kronor) but if you divide by ten and take of 20% you get the aprox. price in Dollars.

http://www.nidingbane.se/shop/

[CalebSlagle]

Can anyone compare a cold steel hand and a half sharp to a windlass long sword sharp?

[Jonathan Newhall]

Honestly I've no idea, both are decently respectable low-end brands focusing on fairly manufactured (rather than hand forged) products. Neither would be "bad" in my opinion and what little research I've done on them, but I've also no idea which would be superior.

[Sal Bertucci]

Cold Steel's reproductions are unreasonably sharp to be historically accurate. Just FYI

[Jonathan Newhall]

Ah, yes, that's correct Sal. I've heard the same thing - they're all edged like razor blades which suits a katana (appears to be their original sword design, so that makes sense) much better than a longsword which is more sharp like a butcher's cleaver or axe than a proper knife.

[Jaron Bernstein]

i've received about 250$(yay!) so i thought if i could afford a pratical sword
can you help me deciding which?

You could get a good wooden waster now from Raven or New Stirling. If you want steel I would just keep saving until you get enough for a Lichtenaeur or Meyer.

[nathan featherstone]

any comments yet on the new albion Epée de Guerre???

[Sal Bertucci]

i liked it.

[Greg Coffman]

any comments yet on the new albion Epée de Guerre???

The Epée de Guerre is very nice. Even though the blade is heavier, I think it handles just as well as the Liechtenaur. I really like it's wheel pommel and wish I could get that on my Meyer.

[nathan featherstone]

im considering getting an albion soon with exchange rates being good but have a sword getting made now so have to be careful on my choice