Title says it all. Am looking to buy a first sword for purposes of admiration, slicing, swinging, learning etc...

I was ready to pull the trigger on either the Poitiers or Ringneck but now I don't know...the Alexandria is the first Albion to just "speak" to me ::)

Is a (nearly) 4 pound sword too much to learn basic handling skills wlth?

Thanks

If you want to learn basic handling skills, don't start with a sharp sword. You *will* make mistakes, and you don't want to hurt yourself.

To learn how to use a sword, start with a waster or a training blunt (such as Albion's Lichtenauer or Meyer, or such). A waster has the advantage of being *much* cheaper than an Albion.

Get the Alexandria if its the one that speaks to you. Once you know how to handle a blade without removing portions of your body, take it off the wall and go to town on those milk jugs/pool noodles/tatami mats/pig shoulders.

I would get the poiter, mainly because I handle one handed swords more than longswords. You probably won't cut yourself if you be more careful, I cut my finger on my first sword($20) because I was reckless. And besides that the sword was probably cursed so I kill it.

If you've never handled well made sharps, you may not really know what you're getting into. That said, the Alexandria will not disappoint. In any way. It may spoil you for other swords later on though...

That's great advice Eric! I should have said the Alexandria would be my first "real" sword as I have a long sword (that I hate) which is cheap, blunt, and unbalanced...it serves a purpose I guess but I don't think it has given me a feel for what a good sword is.

Here I'm wondering if a 4 pound "true" sword is going to leave me wishing for (another) smaller sword?--I'm really having a hard time imaging how a well balanced 3lb 11 ounce sword will handle or how fatiguing it might be.

Out of curiosity, would you guys classify the Albion Alexandria (and the Principe) as a "long sword" or a "great sword"? The length seems more consistent with long swords but the weight is closer to that of a great sword.

Longswords. Great swords are weapons of war with the weight further out for cleaving, and they are from an earlier time period. These have a balance point further back, and I'll bet the forward rotational node is right on the point for thrusting and winding.

The Alexandria was my first sword here is a detailed answer to your question:

For starters disregard a lot of what has been said above, some advice is good, the rest is just said out of ignorance (people who don't own the sword in question).

This sword was designed to do the work for you, let me elaborate, the sword turns very quickly after a cut, the more speed you put into the cut the stronger the spin the sword will want you to do after the cut has been made, the the key words here are "let it flow naturally". The more you fight this sword, aka try to cut and stop at a specific place with it, the more dangerous and cumbersome it becomes, its far to heavy with a small grip to let you do that, those are moves best reserved for swords with a long grip 20cm + or that are light with very short POBs ( example: brescia or svante ).

So lets recap a few points and add a few to help you both enjoy and be safe with this particular sword ( all swords are different keep that in mind and work differently, and this is in addition to trivial things like cut vs thrust, war sword or civilian sword etc...):

You want to swing the sword fast, but not strong, don't tighten yourself up when you use it, that's fighting it and you will pay the price.
Have one hand ever so slightly below the guard ( if you don't the guard will hit ur hand on impact of something! That is the problem with big long guards, the good point is added protection ofc), the other hand on the pommel, its very comfortable and easy to grip. If you have both hands on the grip what will happen is the turn will occur quicker after the cut, so much so, and so close to the body that you can cut yourself, so beware.
When you are cutting, always pass with your foot, this will put you out of harms way and help that natural flow of the turn occur. To not pass with the foot will be same as mentioned above "fighting" the swords natural mechanics.

As far as sharpness goes, this is really not a sharp sword, like it has been described on Albion's website its a chisel-like edge, if you have a chisel go fetch it and you will see what i mean, it almost seems blunt to be honest, but this is far from the truth this sword only cuts when it is moving at a speed and if the edge alignment is good if not perfect, so don't worry about that.

If you have more questions about the sword just ask me.

I will add the sword performance extremely well in 1 hand, even for prolonged sessions thanks to its turn time and small grip, you will have to work on endurance however ;).

Great information Hector. It will aid me when the Alexandria arrives :D

Interesting. Some stuff I read on this thread is good and I feel not so good, say for one, there is nothing stopping you from getting yourself a mean sharp sword, though I'd bet being that you want to swing it about, cut, thrust etc. that you would after having this sword, want to get something that won't hack yourself apart!
With my first sharp (and it wasn't that sharp) I was scared to really swing it about, but now after 4/5 years of actual learning I feel confident that I won't chop my calves off with a under cut!

So what I am getting at is treat a sharp sword as a loaded weapon and learn how to handle such a weapon before going hard core and chopping your calf muscle off, as many will have (I have and I know of others) who have struck their own leg while in practice..

Go slow
Learn fast

tchuss.

Correction I never said it was a firearm, using the term 'Loaded Weapon' is generally implied to such as a warning TO BE CAREFUL. Cheers.