I have a friend looking to purchase a two-handed sword for test cutting. He is currently looking at a Lutel English Two-Hander, it is 150 cm overall with a 110 cm blade. I am just wondering if anyone has tried this particular model? I have searched the forums and it seems no-one has brought anything up about this model yet. It seems that Lutel makes very good quality pieces, however, this piece seems unusually cheap, making me slightly suspicious.

You can find it at the bottom of the "Two Handed Swords" section in the Lutel catalog.

For reference purposes, it's this one:

[ Linked Image ]

I suspect the cost may be a bit lower than some others because the sword in question does not look particularly complex. although I'm not familiar with it, I would be surprised if its not up to their normal product standard.

I have a Lutel Zweihander. The quality is good. They don't usually sharpen their swords from what I understand. Expect a secondary bevel. My zweihander is sharpened, it has a secondary bevel, but the nice thing about the bevel is that yhey take the time to round of the bevel so that it smooothly flows into the edge.

Thanks for the replies, my friend definitely will be looking into getting this sword. Personally, I am thinking of ordering Lutel's Two-Handed Saber. However, I must admit, some of Pavel Moc's stuff also looks very good, like their hand and a half Embleton model. I am still trying to decide which one to get.

Flip a coin and decide how long you can stand to wait. Either route there is going to be some delay. Lutel is good about posting where they are in their work list on their website. Probably have to contact Moc directly to get an idea.

First of all, I must say that I am a big fan of LUTEL and Pavel Moc, owing and using their blunt swords for steel to steel training. I have Moc's Embleton and Durer, both are very good training devices.

Last February I participated in six-hour cutting seminar held at Guy Windsor's salle in Helsinki. There was a lot of sharp weapons available for test cutting, e.g. Albion Crecy and Agincourt, several custom weapons by JT Pälikkö, Arms& Armor Katzbalger and Milanese rapier and some sharp czech swords. We had enough time and wet mats and I used the opportunity to cut with everything I was alowed to (some custom swords worth 2500 euro or more were not offered to ordinary students).

My experience: Best cutters proved Albion swords and custom blades. A&A swords worked fine, although neither katzbalger nor rapier are designed for cutting. Czech swords failed.

Now I completely agree with Peter Johnsson, who once wrote in a thread of this forum that a sharpened blunt sword is not the same thing as a sword MADE sharp, I am talking about my favorite czech swords now, gentelmen.

My message: DON'T SAVE ON SWORDS. I have ordered Albion Maximillian from Albion Europe..

Angus Trim swords are well respected for cutting ability, his blades are based more on established perfomance parameters than exactly re-creating historical designs. Some collectors prefer a more historical look but for performance for dollar I think they are hard to beat.
A blunt sword will usually have a fairly thick edge that requires a drastic secondary bevel to acheive a decently sharp edge, unless one is willing to sharpen along the whole width of the main bevel, which amounts to re-grinding the blade.
A good cutting sword for soft to moderate targets, in my opinion, should have the main bevel ground until the edge is no more than .020", before sharpening. This pretty much requires that the blade be hard enough to support this thin material through the stresses of cutting, or you end up with a folded or rolled edge. Opinions on this will vary a great deal and not all original cutting swords have the same geometry anyway, so there is plenty of room for interpretation.

ATrim's stock seems to move pretty fast so you would probably have to contact him directly to get current availibility and pricing. His swords may be a bit above your price range new, it may be worth watching the second hand market if you are particularly interested in one, they do pop up frequently.
Unfortunately under 300$ limits your choices quite a bit and puts you into the "hit and miss" quality range. I would suggest doing as much research as you can before buying since some of the lower priced swords are satisfactory for cutting but I think many more are not. Given some of the quality-related issues that I have read about on the forums recently (some of which have involved serious injuries to the users/bystanders), I am reluctant to make a reccomendation beyond doing your homework and being careful no matter what you get. An ounce of prevention is worth a lot more than a pound of cure when it comes to "playing" with sharp swords.

I did look at Angus Trim, but he doesn't seem to list the prices for most of his stuff, which means I am not sure about which models are cheapest. I am currently looking for a good mid-range sword don't want to go much beyond $300 U.S. Ideally, I want to stay around $250.[/quote]

Please, learn from my mistakes. If you by a 250$ sword now, you will buy another, worth 350$ in six month and finally get a really good sword cost 750$ in a year, but then you already have 600$ invested in blades you don't want. If swordsmanship is really important thing in your life, you most certainly can save the sum needed to buy a decent sword. I believe you can afford an Albion squire line or an A.Trim.

I have a sharp Embleton for you, if you still want it, but with no return.

If you want a Lutel now, contact Art Elwell of www.a-work-of-art.net. He normally has some lutels in stock.