Posts: 1,903 Location: Toronto
Fri 09 Aug, 2013 12:39 pm
Thanks guys for your comments. Here are my thoughts.
In a word, this is a magnificent weapon. It's hard to convey the visual presence of this weapon in words or pictures. It seems to draw the eye and dominate everything around it. This is something I did not expect or appreciate until it arrived. I think this results from both the overall proportions and certain details, like the double fullers, wide cross, and 'futuristic' (although historically accurate) pommel. Now I know why Craig used terms like 'moody SOB' to describe it.
In terms of historical accuracy - well I can take the blame for any emerging errors in the research, because A&A have followed my specs admirably. The only modification I can spot from my specs is that the pommel is a bit higher and more narrow - but that is not wrong. It resembles more the original sword that inspired this project, as drawn in
SAC.
The execution: practically flawless. The underlying geometry of the piece is all very even and well defined.The fit and finish is outstanding. I mean, if you search you can find tiny inflections here and there, but in the same order of magnitude as what one finds in e.g., an Albion museum line piece. Craig wanted to do a fancier grip, but I did not want to go overboard because there is enough visual detail in the steel. The pommel has a very cool shape, but the blade! Well, first of all, they did a great job on the wide flat lenticular cross section of the second half. The
distal taper is complex - the blade edges start fairly thick and chisel-like but then narrow in a curvilinear fashion, resulting in the very thin blade further along. However, the central ridge that divides the two fullers retains its thickness pretty much the whole length, likely providing some extra stiffness.
The result is some complex mass distribution, which is good, because yes boys and girls, this is a heavy sword. Its not a wrist breaker (I've had some of those that were lighter but had poor mass distribution). But it is a challenge. Its interesting to compare to another challenging sword I bought last year - Albion's St. Maurice. That sword is lighter, but is balanced more toward the blade with much less concentration of mass near the hilt. So in a way they are opposites. They both can be mastered, but in different ways. The cross-hatched overwrap and angular pins on the handle of the current sword help a lot by firmly securing the grip, although gloves would help (my hands are softer than they used to be). Also the pommel helps to support the weight of the blade against the hand in certain positions, as with other short-handled swords in the Brazil nut family.
So this sword's handling would not be for everyone, but consider this: some of the swords in this historical family were even bigger and appear to be much heavier. For example, one pictured in Aleksić's book has a blade 2.5" longer, starts the same width but with less
profile taper, and does not appear to have room for 2 hands. There must have been some very big/strong/well practiced men wielding these weapons. Conversely, you would not want to get hit by these swords, even with mail protection. The optimal striking point is just past the fullers, but anywhere beyond provides a very focused, thin, but heavy edge - optimal for cutting impact.
I said I would compare this to Albion's Tritonia and this came up again (no accident that I crossed them above): both very fine XIIIb swords. The Albion is in fact a bit easier to handle. The reason comes down to blade mass. The beast's blade is just a bit longer, a bit wider (not at start or finish, but at the middle because its profile is more linear), and a bit thicker (at least along the central ridge, and comparing to the longer fuller of the Albion). Taking the cube of these small increases results in greater volume, ergo, greater mass. But they do have a lot in common in terms of basic
blade geometry and handling properties, as one would expect. I must say again though, that the A&A sword is very impressive in terms of its visual presence and complex geometry.
In short - Wow! What a sword. I've sometimes perhaps pushed A&A out of its comfort zone - which might tend to be later period swords with diamond section blades. This is an extreme case. If there were any doubts about whether A&A could pull off a sword like this and match or even exceed the best out there in the competition, let those doubts be laid to rest right here
Congratulations Craig and Team - really a marvelous job!
JD (Doug) Crawford