[Robert W Tucker]

Hello to everyone that reads this,
I am having trouble with a new sword that I just received from Albion, I purchased the Knight, and it is the first arming sword I have ever owned. I can tell it is really nice and it is extremely responsive but I have had issues with cutting practice, using water bottles mostly I could only successfully cut two of them in half, this is very strange to me because i am not a beginner to test cutting but i have never used smaller swords like this either weather it be a issue of angle and trajectory or a lack of force I am going to explore more today, but i thought maybe some of you might have shared experience with this sort of issue.
And I'm pretty sure its not the swords fault, it has to be the most beautiful and well balanced sword I have ever wield. Any help or comment would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Robert

[Jean Thibodeau]

Maybe a question of how cutting optimized swords are not always historically correct and a sword with a edge meant for actual combat might disappoint when cutting pool noodles, or water bottles because the edges are meant to be durable in combat as opposed to being as thin and sharp as possible.

All the test cutting seems to me becoming an activity in itself and the best cutters are going to be designed specifically for certain targets while more general purposed swords might seem lest effective against a difficult to cut light target.

I'm not an expert at cutting by any means but I did read recently some comments on a private Forum that historical swords and " modern performance swords " are two different things.

How sharp is sharp enough ? An edge that will take an arm off in period real combat doesn't even have to be able to cut paper and razor sharp edges tend to be fragile and not very durable edges i.e. sharper makes a cut easier but if the cut is already deadly with a relatively dull edge making it 10X sharper doesn't really make it 10X more effective.

Oh, your specific sword may be slightly duller than it might be or have dull spots and might be an issue or might not be a problem depending again on expectations.

Older Topics that might be useful:
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=2515
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=7358
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=1980

[Craig Peters]

Certain bottle shapes are more difficult to cut than others, and water bottles tend to fall into this category. A good way to compare is to try cutting a two litre pop bottle filled to the brim with water, versus a plastic four litre milk carton. You'll find that the latter is significantly easier to cut.

My guess is that the bottle shape is your problem. As a general piece of advice though, remember to keep descending, diagonal cuts fairly steep. This helps with more difficult cutting mediums, like the cardboard tubing used in carpet rolls.

[Vincent Le Chevalier]

If you are only used to cutting with a two-handed grip, maybe there is a technique issue as well. Power generation and edge alignment are not achieved in the exact same way when you have only one hand on the grip.

Perhaps change to easier targets and analyze the cuts. You might be able to troubleshoot a bit that way...

[Jared Smith]

I also own and cut with an Albion Knight. It was the first "sharp" sword that I bought.

The Knight should have no problem with cutting 2 liter plastic soda beverage bottles that are filled with water. If it is, I would be suspicious of technique, or possibly the edge it was given. I actually find 4 liter (1 gallon) milk jugs harder to cut with consistency than the soda bottles since alignment has to be maintained all of the way through the cut. If the alignment is good, you should be able to progressively cut the milk jug down to where there is less than 1/2" (12 mm) of it left resting on the support surface with water still standing in it. If my aim is good (case of luck for me to succeed), it's then possible to thrust the Knight's tip into that remaining half inch of the milk jug.

[Craig Peters]