First off; the fit and finish of the weapon is astounding. The grip is solid w/ no opening that I can see at the guard or pommel. The fuller tapering down to a diamond blade toward the tip is beautiful. I'm surprised how it's one of Albion's 'cheaper' pieces. The Zen like simplicity is just wonderful. I also like the oxblood grip, and generally think it looks better than black. I couldn't find any dings, sratches or surface rust and the seam on the grip is almost invisible. Even my family was pretty amazed at it (and they couldn't care less about swords). My dad thought it should be hanging in a museum someplace and said, "That's a real sword". :)
Swinging it around the Crecy feels (to me at least) very light. The balance is amazing in such that I can swing it and easily and quickly reverse direction. (I'm sure there's a formal name for that, but I don't know it). Two-handed, the weapon cuts air like a dream. To me, the sword feels much better when I'm wearing gloves. I have to grip the pommel when using it two-handed, but I just feel like I have more control over the weapon. I don't have the space to do proper cutting tests, although I did try it out on some cardboard. A sword like this doesn't deserve cardboard, so someday it's going to be put throught the proper paces w/ some tatami mats. When I did use it w/ cardboard, I only let the weight of the sword do all the work and didn't try to 'swing' or thrust. My Crecy is so sharp that when I gently pressed the point against a half-full garbage bag on the floor, it went through as opposed to just pushing the bag around. Same thing with a cardboard box. Just touching the point to the box will send it through. I took a similar box and just held the sword at waist level and let it drop onto the box. The sword cut like three inches w/ absolutely zero power behind it. It needs tatamis.
I really have nothing to compare it to, but the only other metal sword I own is a phoney-baloney katana that I still like for sentimental reasons. But when it is swung, the thing feels like you're swinging a crowbar. No finesse. It also feels much heavier than the Crecy.
The pics are pretty crappy, but it's the lighting of my apartment.
Anyhoo, I do want to thank all who gave me advice at myArmoury and for the site and it's wonderful sources of information. I'm grateful that I am able to go to a first rate company like Albion. They treated me very well. I will want to buy one of their campagin line scabbards sooner or later, to make carrying it from place to place much easier. I learned a lot at myArmoury and want to say thank you.
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