You guys who actively spar with blunt curved bladed sabers. What brand are you using that has been good? Seems plenty of people sell sharp sabers, but blunt ones are harder to find. Think roughly Napoleanic era, but that's flexible.

jiri konrdak is well beloved in central europe in the low-price segment.
quality is ok, matches the price at least. a bit heavy imho, but durable.
krondrak`s sabres
i do not own a sabre by him however, but a vikingsword.

I would ask on Matt Easton's Schola Gladiatoria boards. One of his main research interests is 19th century sabre styles. It really depends on the style of sabre you want to learn though.

Funny, I've just been searching for this myself, as I recently got to bout with some fantastic ones by Peter Regenyei:

http://regenyei.sg18.net/en_index.html

The sabres in question are pictured here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78752383@N03/

Jake Norwood bought a pair off of Mikael Widegren at Longpoint. He and I did some bouting with them last weekend while at NHSC, and I *loved* them. So I decided to get my own.

I've read good reviews of the Darkwood Armory duelling sabres, which are more along the lines of the Italian classical weapons. I haven't handled them myself, but if I understand correctly, they are lighter duelling weapons whereas the Regenyei ones are a little heavier and more akin to military models.

I'll double for Jiri Krondak's swords (Fabri Armorum). I visited him several months ago and had ordered from him before. Very pleasant to work with and also takes custom orders, but you have to be specific. He has plenty of models not on web pages, including Hutton-style saber and Napoleonic style sabers. The basic line is intended for hard bashing therefore finished somewhat roughly and a little heavier than expected, but lighter blades available.

Another good maker who offers sabers is Viktor Berbekucz http://www.berbekuczviktor.hu/angol/angol.html

Thanks everyone, I appreciate it.

Does anyone have experience with the Hanwei training sabres. How do they hold up.

Art of the Dueling Sabre (https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Art-of-the-Dueling-Sabre/219564354782848 but I think it is Christopher A. Holzman author/translator of http://shop.swordplaybooks.com/product.sc?pro...egoryId=15 ) has discussed producing a sabre https://www.facebook.com/questions/357242527681696/

For those that are FB free:

Quote:

We've been working on getting a really nice sabre blade into production based on my antiques and the specifications of Maestro Parise (which matches Radaelli's quite well). We have a couple of options, one of which would be made in the USA. Minimum order sizes are of course a problem. I'd like to take a show of hands or poll clicks on the number of blades you'd be interested in, realistically, at about $100.00 per blade - understanding that you'd have to order/pay in advance.

Quote:

The prior poll should not be construed as a pre-order, or reserving your place in line. I just want to get a sense of whether or not there is much real interest in this. I'll attach the blueprint we're looking at using (still subject to a little change) to this post. It is based on my antiques that are already pictured in the photos here, but with the base of the blade widened from 16mm to 20mm and blended into the blade. The $100.00/blade I've guestimated in the poll doesn't include shipping, which I'd imagine would add at least ten to fifteen dollars for the first blade, in the US. The idea at the moment is to be able to drop these blades into Hanwei Radaelli/Pecoraro/Hutton hilts, or even standard steel fencing sabre guards with a heavier pommel. If you've got thoughts or comments, please post them up. We'll all have to hang together, lest we hang separately and not get any results at all. If it looks like we've got enough real interest we'll figure out the next step, and make some sort of announcement here. If you're one of the people I've already discussed this with, and you've told me you're interested, please go ahead and still click a number on the poll below.

Just a thing to note: Chris is looking for more of a ‘dueling Sabre,’ the measurements he notes are close to the Darkwood, I think he wants a bit more robust but not by much, but he is trying to bring the price in at half of what Scott charges (Darkwoods are at $200 then you need to pay to mount it, and the tang is bigger than the Hanwei grips can accommodate.) These swords would not be in the same category as a ‘military sabre’ which will have an even more robust blade to what Chris is looking for. We really need swords for both Dueling and Military grade sabres, so hopefully we can make some progress soon.

I own both a Hutton and Pecoraro saber from Hanwei and have been fencing with them for almost two years. I've been very happy with them, considering the price! They've held up great and we really abuse them. I can think of some improvements, but for the price, they are great! I'm not sure when Hanwei will be back in business or how much these weapons will be when they start shipping again, but I've been very pleased with them all in all.

We work with these:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.238766459510430.73613.238755506178192&type=1

They are lovely, handle great, safe for sparring, and proving to be quite durable. The price depends on whether you want the lighter (170eur) or heavier (200eur) version, though the prices might go up rather soon. The big plus with these sabres is that they look fantastic, and the PoB and the weight aren't completely set, as they're made by hand.

Just a comment on the Hanwei Hutton's length - it is not necessarily too short, it very much depends what model of sword you are aiming to simulate. The Hanwei blade is 31 inches - that is one inch *longer* than many US civil war infantry officer's sabres and the French model 1855 they were based on (these generally vary between 29-31 inches in the blade), and only one inch shorter than the standard British infantry officer's sabres of 1822, 27, 45, 54, 95 and 97 (regulation blade length was 32.5 inches). If you add some sort of blunt to the point of the Hutton (as you should), then it is basically regulation British infantry sword length. Many other nationalities (eg. US, France or Sweden) actualy used slightly shorter blades.

If you are thinking of *cavalry* sabres then of course they are longer - 34 or 35 inches was standard in the US, Britain and France for most of the 19th century. But what Hutton. Waite, Burton etc are primarily talking about is not cavalry sabre fencing, but rather infantry sabre fencing.

I have been trying for a long time to get a reliable maker to copy my original British 1864 pattern gymnasium sabre, which is what officers actually were supposed to practice fencing with. It is the same size and weight as the real regulation sword. Peter Regenyei's swords look excellent (we use his longsword feders), though his current sabre models are based on the Swedish gymnasium sabre, which is not really my cup of tea. In the future maybe I'll try to get him to copy my 1864 sabre. The Hanwei Huttons are not nice, but they are cheap and they aren't awful. A simple improvement anybody can make to them is to add a safety tip of some kind, giving them more blade presence, and add some tennis grip tape to the handle, making them more like a real sword to hold.

Matt

Another option which I did is to contact a custom sword maker like Michael Tinker Pearce and have a match set of dueling sabers made for you.

Sadly not an option for me, having to recommend equipment for a whole class of students.