[Charles B McFadden]

I want the best swords I can get, I am leaning toward medieval Europe fashion, I like cruciform swords. I have done some research and these seem to be the popular sword makers.

Albion
Arms and Armor
Ollin
Valiant Armory
Del Tin
Windless
Lutel

I'm sure there are others, I don't know them all.

[Christopher B Lellis]

I own swords from several of them and all of them feel like sharpened steel bars compared to my Albions, but I may be spoiled by my selection of Albion swords because the ones I own are known to be quite fast and agile even for Albions.

Also the hilt furniture of Albions is the best and I'm not even going to pretend the others compare because they don't.
The leather work is tight and ergonomic and the shape of the grips give great edge alignment. Also the pommels don't dig in your hand or wrist like some others.

[Charles B McFadden]

Wow ok. Thanks. Doesn't seem to be a contest for you.

[Foster Day]

I own a few hanwei swords but the only ones I would recommend which i've got my hands on would be the two of their practical series I own (hand and a half and arming sword) which hold up very well in steel on steel. I haven't tried their tinker swords.
The general consensus I get however is that Albion makes the very best swords available.

[Christopher B Lellis]

[Ron Reimer]

Manning Imperial also make excellent fighting blades.

[Roger Hooper]

I assume that you are looking for the best regardless of price. Albion certainly makes the best Medieval swords. They put in the research in the quest for making swords as close as possible to the Medieval originals. They are also more concerned that anyone else in creating superior blade geometry.

Arms and Armor is a fairly close second. Their product, while still expensive, is significantly cheaper than Albion's. Also, if you run across an original that no makes a production version of, or have some dream design that isn't off the wall, they are the best and most accessible entity to do a custom sword for you.

[Christopher B Lellis]

[Joe Fults]

First three in your list produce a more researched product than the rest. Better is in the mind of the buyer but I think the first three vendors make nicer stuff. Stuff that feels more like originals. Looks more like originals. Performs more like originals. That said you pay for the differentiation. Its also worth noting that two of your first three options will do pretty much anything you ask them to do.

[Tim Lison]

Just hit the "links" button at the top of the page and look through the section titled "Swordsmiths and Distributors". It's a pretty comprehensive list of what is out there...

[Gerald Fa.]

[Taylor Ellis]

[Christopher B Lellis]

[Edward Lee]

Albion is definitely the top, but their price is debatable. Lutel is also very good, and it comes with a scabbard, which most higher end doesn't, and sometimes a custom scabbard can cost as much as the sword itself. I'm still trying to find a scabbard for my Del Tin sword.

[Ron Reimer]

I've never had any complaints about Manning Imperials quality and their axes are great, I have a couple of them .A friend of mine has the Maciejowski Glaive, its a very nice piece, well balanced and very fast in the hand. I got to play with, and fight against it at the Abbey Medieval Festival last month.

[Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz]

Something to consider, if it hasn't already been mentioned ...

Price. If you're thinking about a higher-end quality blade from Albion, for instance,
you owe it to yourself to contact a few custom sword-makers and get a price quote.

You may find that for a bit more, sometimes substantially more, sure, you can have
something made to your exact or historical tastes ...

[Bryan Heff]

I own 1 Albion Next Gen and 2 Albion Squire Lines. I also own 1 Arm and Armour sword. Then I have some Del Tin, Hanwei H/Ts and some Windlass pieces and an ATrim

My Albions are easily my favorites, with the A&A next. All I can say is my eyes were "opened" when I bought my Albion NG, its different than everything else in my collection, nearly perfect in my eyes. I have never touched any kind of antique sword so I can't say this is true based on experience, but everything about this NG feels right and looks right to me from a historical standpoint. It's what I imagine a medieval cruciform sword would be like. For me historical accuracy is very important, in looks and what I imagine would be feel and the Albion's and the A&A hit the mark for me.

So from my experience, and I am only speaking about me, Albion is tops.

[Chad Hanson]

I'm also going to put my vote in for Albion- I've never even handled custom swords that were better than theirs. I think the primary benefit with customs is that you have less compromise- i.e. you're getting 'exactly' what you want. Also, the Albions naturally lack a little in ornamentation as production swords usually do.

That being said, Arms & Armor also makes decent quality and Ollin and Valiant (the newer stuff) both look fairly good as well.

Since you said your primary interest is in medieval cruciform swords, I'd also mention that I'm going to be posting some Arms & Armor swords for sale in the forum either tonight or tomorrow. One of them is the St. Maurice, which seems right up your alley.

[Nathan Robinson]

Asking for the "best" of anything without context is a question I can't answer and I'd challenge others to ask additional questions before they present an answer.

I would need to ask this:

Best at what?

Swords are aimed at dozens and dozens of different types of customers and are intended for just as many purposes. One maker might be the perfect match for a customer demographic or intended purpose but may be completely off-target for another.

Windlass, for example, would be a perfect match to a customer looking to create a medieval-inspired costume on a budget whereas Albion would largely be a terrible match for that customer. In this case, Windlass would be on the "Best" list and Albion would not make the list.

Conversely, Albion would be a perfect match for a customer doing historically-accurate living history, whereas Windlass would largely be a terrible match for that same customer. In this case, Albion would be on the "Best" list and Windlass would not make the list.

It's all about context.

[Foong Chen Hong]

I am not sure about sharp sword beside Albion.

But I do know few sword smith in Europe forge durable realistic training longsword that last a long time and the price is decent too, they could make sharp sword in request I believe.

Regenyei Péter
Pavel Moc
Jan Chodkiewicz

Their sword can be seem used in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln94E9AGYTc