[Alen L]

A while ago, I did a quick review of one of marek's swords. Today, a package came for me with the sword I ordered (the previous one was wrong)

First thing, customer service. It was awesome, and wins a ton of points for Marek. He covered the expenses of sending and recieving the previous sword, and was most gentlemanly about it. The mails were answered promptly, (except for the 2 days that the mailbox was full), and the english was sevicable. So, this aspect was very much awesome.

Before i move onto the sword, one thing: there is no comparison between this one and the one I recieved before. e51 was a showy weapon, which was still quite wieldy. This one is a great weapon, which looks amazing to top it off.

So, the specs:

Lenght:

Total lenght: 128 cm
Blade lenght: 95 cm
Grip lenght: 31 cm

Weight: just over 2kg

Point of balance: 2 cm from guard

Handling:

As soon as I took the sword out of the box, I was of course compelled to do a couple of swings with it. Now this was a different kind of beast. The point control is awesome, the strikes flow nicely, stabs are accurate. It feels light and nimble, and very quick. Basically, everything i had hoped for. So, after some time of doing the happy dance and swinging it around, i went and took the measurments; and the weight of it honestly surprised me; so much so that I'll be sure to take it again. It definetely didn't feel that heavy. The nimbleness was explained with the extremely close point of balance. The blade, however, still has a very commanding presence. The flex is also pretty nice, just enough as not to make it too springy. The pommel will take a bit of getting used to, since it is quite sizable.

Fit And Finish:

This is an eye-catcher. It looks wonderfuly elegant, the ring adding to that look, though there are some toolarks here and there. The handle is leather-wrapped, with the seam on the side. Not much to say here, really, just take a look at the pictures.


http://img823.imageshack.us/i/img5289x.jpg/

http://img836.imageshack.us/i/img5288t.jpg/

http://img843.imageshack.us/i/img5287v.jpg/

http://img153.imageshack.us/i/img5290e.jpg/

Conclusion:

Even though this is only the inital impression and the sword has only been dry-handled, I am extremely happy with the purchase. Looks amazing, handles wonderfully, and it was cheap. The customer service was great, and Marek has definetely gained my trust, and i'm pretty sure i'll be buying from him regularly. For the previous sword, I said that I'd recommend it to reenactors, not so much practitioners of WMA. Now, this one, this one i would warmly recommend to both.

Well, that's it, i'll have to wait til Wednesday to really give it a go, and will update then.

[Alen L]

Right, so my first training with the sword.

Pretty soon after i started working with it, I started feeling the weight, and my arms got tired really quickly. The pommel is big, and my hands aren't, so that took some energy out of me as well. Point control was quite decent, though, and the sword was not really slow. Blade presence was good, and I definitely felt I control the sword, a.k.a. it does what I want it to do. After about half an hour of work, my arms really started aching, to the point where I couldn't hold the sword in the pflug or ochs for an extended period of time. At that point, I started questining the purchase a bit. It was a good sword, but the weight was a bit too much.

So, my arms got tired to the point where I couldn't really use them with strenght anymore. And, surprisingly, everything went up from there. I moved my hands in what seemed to be to be a slow, controlled manner, but the sword gained speed instead of loosing it. I could control the strikes better, and the absetzen got so much easier and more effective. The aching in my arms toned down, and at this point I was really, really satisfied with the purchase. Also, the small groove in the hilt of the sword is awesome, as it lets the thumb rest really comfortably during a zwerch or parrying with the flat.
The sword itself doesn't really need strenght to make good cuts, or act nicely; in fact, it punishes it. It does, however, reward a more relaxed style.

The pommel, though, still remained big.

Now, for those of you who are a bit of a geek: this sword is like Bob from Tekken, if Bob looked good; it's big, heavy, fast and agile. It sees I got my money's worth, and more. It can't really compare with the higher-end swords, but it can take on anything in its price range.

I'll keep you updated, which means that in about a month, I'll write some more stuff, after i really do get the hang of the sword. ^^

[Marik C.S.]

That's the problem with stats and facts.
The weight alone would make me shy away from this sword even though it is gorgeous, but 2kg mean nothing until you handled the blade, played with it for a while.

Thanks for the review, congratulation for such a nice piece of weaponry but also: Damn you, I hadn't looked onto Mareks swords until now and now that I have, I ask myself whether I need an other sword or not.
Anyone interested in buying one of his Schiavonas for me?