Hello All! I was thinking of buying Albion's Liechtenauer sword for theatrical reenactment. Does anyone own this sword that can give me some details of the handling characteristics? The major concern for me is if its too "whippy" when fighting with it. My instructor has the I:33 and it flexes quite a bit when doing medieval fighting.



Thanks,
Ben

I'd not call it whippy at all. It's considerably stiffer than the Hanwei Practicals and the Tinker blunts. It's not quite as stiff as the ATrim / Valiant I-Beams or A&A Zohgo di Spada, but it's defiantely not whippy. The Albion handles very well in my opinion, the overall durability is good, and edges proven to be quite durable - though the one I have used has developed a bit of rattle in the cross over the last couple years.

The only downside for some people is the $500 price tag, which some would consider to be a sizable investment in a training blunt; especially if you do alot of hard steel on steel sparring with it.

Thanks for the reply. I do not have trouble with price as I practice weekly and have productions several times a year. Also, with the life time warranty for loosening parts and manufacturer flaws, this is a very good deal of fine craftsmanship. Thanks. Anyone else have anything to add?

JE Sarge wrote:

I'd not call it whippy at all. It's considerably stiffer than the Hanwei Practicals and the Tinker blunts. It's not quite as stiff as the ATrim / Valiant I-Beams or A&A Zohgo di Spada, but it's defiantely not whippy. The Albion handles very well in my opinion, the overall durability is good, and edges proven to be quite durable - though the one I have used has developed a bit of rattle in the cross over the last couple years. The only downside for some people is the $500 price tag, which some would consider to be a sizable investment in a training blunt; especially if you do alot of hard steel on steel sparring with it.

Hello Ben,

We love ours.

My group has 7 in use. We have no problem with "whippiness" with ours as "whippiness" is a bad thing to a German longsword group.

Our style uses a lot of blade on blade action called winding/ winden that just sucks on a whippy blade. :wtf:

My personal Albion Liechtenauer is not quite 3 years old and I've done a lot of drills, demos and a small bit of free play in that time and it's still going strong...

except for a very slight "hint" of hilt rattle.

The first Liechtenauer in my group is over 3 years old, has no hilt rattle, handles well, and still looks good.

Cheers,

David

A second or third what the others said, mine his holding up perfectly, no rattle or looseness in guard or pommel and in spite of taking some hard hits over at least 3 or 4 years it take a 8X loupe to see the very light dimpling on the " edges ".

A little sanding maintenance and it looks almost new except for some light scratches on the finish.

Not whippy at all but a little lateral flex is for me an advantage in the bind as one can use it to advantage when compared to the rigidity of the blade when using the edge: I just think that one can use this flexibility to control the nature of the bind and in using fuhlen sensitivity to a hard or soft bind.

Excellent! My only concern was that with what I do, I do manly sweeping parrys with counters. I just didn't want to much wobble in the blade as moves to and fro.

Forgive my going a little off-topic, but does anyone have anything to say about the other Maestro longsword, the Grete sword, Epee de Guerre? It has been in production for awhile, but not much has been written about it.

The Epee De Guerre has been in production for about a year.

Maybe the WMAC isn't that interested in sparring with Grete Swords.

I had originally signed up for this sword when it was in pre-production, but got tired of waiting for it to be released and substituted a Maestro I:33 for it - nice sword, by the way.

I got to play with an Albion Liechtenauer at the Ashville Viking Festival in Ohio a year or so ago. I was very impressed with it! Dry handing was excellent, I thought. I remember it had a rather "fat" grip that took a little while to get used to (I'm used to a more narrow oval grip), but I figured that's typical with a practice model. I loved it. I think it would suit you very well for theatrical reenactment.

I own both the Albion Meyer and Liechtenauer . I mostly use the Meyer for sparring because my partner uses a Meyer and I tend to over power him in the bind with the heavier (by six ounces) Liechtenauer . Although when I am sparring someone I am unfamiliar with, I like the advantage that gives. After drilling extensively with both swords, the Liechtenauer has become my favorite of the two for several reasons:

1) It is DURABLE beyond all the hype and beyond my expectations. After a year of steel sparring, I feel like the sword can just blow through any comparable competitive product and not damage it. This is my personal opinion after seeing how my Liechtenauer has chewed through and damaged many lessor swords time and time again. It is just as functional and tight today as it was the day I took it out of the box.

2) It is SAFER because the tip is more rounded than comparable swords I have seen. I have gotten to where I don't want to spar against people with other brands because the tips on those swords are much pointier than my own and I just don't feel safe. I also believe it is safer because the edges are much thicker than most other blunts I have seen (except for the I beam). The thicker edge tends to spread out the force of the strike a little more than most blades reducing the chance of injury in my opinion.

3) It is FUNCTIONAL. Not only is it well balanced, but it's also a very good weight for me (not too heavy and not too light). The cross is also a good size also. Some crosses (like on the Meyer) are so big that you have to be careful because you can hit yourself in the head with them. After starting out with disc pommels I have found the round pommels on both Albions are a lot easier on my hands and more conducive to the techniques I practice.

In short the sword sings like a tuning fork when it strikes another sword. It just wants to fight!

Disclaimer: I am not compensated in any way by Albion for raving about their products (although I wouldn't turn them down if they offered :) ).

After having been hit by both the Albion Liechtenauer, and the Albion Meyer, my feeling is that the Meyer is safer for full-on fencing due to the thicker edges and lighter weight, but the Liechtenauer looks more like a sharp and thus is a better choice for stage or demos. And either works well for drills.