My willowy daughter is 5'7" and 115 lbs. She obviously doesn't have a lot of upper body strength. What swords might you recommend for such a person? I'm especially interested in Albion offerings. I have candidates in mind from looking over published specifications and site reviews, but will leave the question open without priming. Thanks.

Keith, welcome to the forums!

I would ask what your daughter wants a sword for? Will she be fencing, doing WMA, just dry handling practice, test cutting, etc.?

To be honest, I would recommend a lighter style of sword, such as a smallsword, arming sword, or riding sword. I can't think of an Albion that would really fit the type, but Arms and Armor makes a fine smallsword, as well as their German Raiper and Branch Sword. These types of swords are great thrusters, and don't require a lot of upper body strength to move them about. A and A's Irish Sword is also a very handy sword.

Is she going to wear the sword to events, festivals, Renaissance Faires, or living history events? Then you'll need to find appropriate scabbard/suspension gear. Albion makes great swords, and some a pretty light, but your choice should be more for what you want teh sword for, and not just who makes it. Hope this at least help you narrow your choices down. :)

Best Regards,

Please tell us what kind of sword in general that you are looking for. Since you are looking at Albion, that must mean that you aren't interested inrapiers or smallswords. Do you want a blunt Maestro or a sharpened edge? A single-hander or a longsword?

The Maestro I:33 is a good, light maneuverable single hand blunt - I think your daugher would like it.

For a sharp longsword - the Castellan. The 33 inch blade would be good for her height and the balance makes it very easy to wield two handed, and fairly well with one hand.

Call up Albion and talk to Mike Sigman. He should be able to steer you to the right model.

Doh - I forgot to specify usage. Yes, a rapier or small sword would be better suited for active bouting, but she has expressed interest for years over medieval items. Realistically, for her it will mostly be a conversation piece, a touchstone to historical studies and occasionally worn with costume. She will, however sometimes dry practice with it and slice the occasional pumpkin. It also, ummm, might be absconded by the Old Man from time to time for rather more robust usage... Additionally, I'll Real Soon Now (tm) be getting some I.33-esque wasters and bucklers for us to spar with, so a sharpie that could reasonably do studies along those lines would be preferred simply to have some level of confidence with a 'real' sword.

Thanks for welcome. You'll be 'seeing' more of me over time.

For I.33 work, allow me to recommend the Yeoman. Shorter sword, but packs a punch in a cut as well as having a nice tip for thrusting. Lovely sword and my personal favorite.

http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/ne...ypexiv.htm

Have you looked at the Arms and Armor website? Try the Henry V sword - http://www.arms-n-armor.com/sword075.html -

Sounds like you'll be needing a scabbard as well.

Like others have said, the culture and time period you aim for is going to be pretty decisive, as is intended use. That said, do you have any idea of what your daughter considers to be a manegable weight? I find this to be pretty subjective, myself.

Out of Albion's stuff, the Kern is listed as pretty light (1 lbs, 14 oz) and so is the Thegn (2 lbs.)

So-called dynamic weight (moment of inertia) would be more of a concern than static weight. Regarding a scabbard - I'm in SLC and have been to BrianK's place. That won't be a problem other than waiting time.

I know smaller women that can handle rapiers with full 40" blades. One key is working up to it (they started with 35s) and, as said before, proper sword balance. The other key is proper training and good technique to avoid overuse injuries.

The del Tin and Darkwood rapier trainer blades have more taper and better balance than the Zen Warrior blades of the same length.

personally, I'd say that you should'nt be looking at a simple weight issue.

my other half, for reference is of similar build (slightly heavier, but slightly taller). perfectly capable of using longsword for lichtenaur school, and comfortable with rapier using schlaeger bladed stuff.

what you need to be looking at is'nt the plain simple mass, but the placement of weight. surprisingly, a slightly heavier sword with greater mass in the hilt throwing the centre of gravity further into the hands is likely to be far more comfortable than a longsword that's lightened out to save weight. The strongest example of that being that my other half regularly uses an old czech reenactment sword which has a blade like a girder, a pommel which was probably made from a mercedes truck's axle bolts, and which could sit un-marked if an entire Warsaw Pact tank collumn rolled over it....

and it's significantly more comfortable in use than items weighing 3/4 of a pound less, because the weight balance works for it.

at the moment for personal use (hrm, that sounds like a drug... "no, officer, these 27 longswords are for personal use" :) ) I'm working on the wax sculpts for lost-wax bronzes to go onto one of Armourclass' superb diamond section unfullered longsword blades, specifically done with a subtly enlarged scent-stopper pommel (based off Wallace #A465), to shift the balance into the hand enough to accommodate a few disabilities I'm having to cope with, courtesy of a wrecked shoulder and RSI that's destroying my hands.

Now, I'm possibly in a minority around here in that I personally have never been very impressed with Albion's stuff for actual fighting practice (lovely sharps, but you'd be batshit crazy to use them for sparring...), and swear blind by Armourclass (even with thier glacial production time). So, I would say that trying everything, not just Albion's swords, that you can get your hands on, doing a bit of testing, and making sure she finds something which feels right to use is far more important to her finding the right comfort zone and exploiting that.

I'd also like to jump in and recommend perhaps one of the new Tinker/Hanwei swords. I don't know about their single handed swords, but the Tinker/Hanwei longsword is light and very fast for its size. Also at the price point of its cost is very good for a first sword to give to someone until they figure out what type of expensive swords they'd like to get. If I had go with a medieval sword gift that is the route I'd do.

One thing I regret is that I bought about four swords before I bought one I really liked and decided to keep. Sure I sold or gave away the others, but these days you have so many options (unlike when I started) that you should consider carefully. That would be my only useful form of advice.

Albion's NG Crecy is a really great all around longsword. It's only 3 pounds, feels light in the hand, and is forgiving in test cutting (in my limited experience). Also, if it's going to be equally important as a conversation piece, it is a very 'classic'-looking Medieval sword and is instantly recognizable as such. For one-handed pieces, I was very impressed with the Knight when I handled one a little while ago, I would have bought it if the Gallowglass hadn't caught my eye.

Between an Albion sword and a scabbard from Brian K, I'd say you have a very lucky daughter. :)

The Laird is another very nimble and controllable one-handed medieval sword from Albion. It shares the same blade as the Knight and the Caithness so these may handle similarly. Unfortunately I have not handled any of the other models mentioned so I can't make any really useful comparisons.

Out of my small collection of swords, my Del Tin Celtic long sword is by far my favorite.
http://www.kultofathena.com/product~item~DT20...+Sword.htm

It's light at under 2 pounds and though the balance point is farther out (7 1/8") it's a breeze to control because of it's low weight. I'm only 5'10" and only weigh about 135 pounds, so I'm definitely not the biggest guy around, top that off with sports induced artheritis in my wrists and you've got a guy who is all about light bladed swords.

Of course you could always go with the swords mentioned above, but I felt the Celtic deserved some credit.

Hi Keith

You're always welcome to come by with her and she can see for herself from my own collection what might best suit her.

Although they have longer blades, don't count out the Oakeshott or Chevalier. I haven't handled the Chevalier but if it is lighter than the Oakeshott which I have handled, and the Oakeshott's handling was beyond description, then the Chevalier must also be fantastic.

Otherwise another consideration would have to be the Prince.