I am in the market for a good sparring sword and am considering the Liechtenauer from the Albion Maestro Line. I want something to compare it too but am having a little difficulty finding other swords to match with Albion's functionality, quality at their price of $444.

Can someone offer any sugesstions on alternative sparing swords or enlighten me on the subject?

Thanks,
Allen

Allen

My personal opinion is that you are not going to find anything better than Albion's blunts.

There is one other nice option coming out soon, from CAS/Hanwei of all people. Check this thread: http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t=87105

M.

I am of the same opinion regarding the superiority of the Albion blunts. They are excellent.

However, others like the Fechterspiel sword by Arms and Armor. More information on it can be found here, and a review of it on myArmoury here.

Hope that helps!

As a owner of an Albion Meyer, I find it superior to all of the other longsword blunts available. The Liechtenauer is also very good, though I thought it a little too heavy for my own personal tastes. The current line of CAS blunts are fine and at the $100 range a good buy. I bought one to use while waiting for my Meyer to arrive (1 1/2 months if I recall). The new 'Tinker' CAS line looks very impressive though not as good as the Albion trainers. I wonder where the price point will lie with them. The Arms and Armor Fechtswords are also beautiful and around $450. One of my training partners has ones that he adores, and it does have a slight reach advantage on my Meyer. His blade is a little too flexible for my taste and after a few month of use has a pretty noticeable flex to one side, while my Meyer which has had a lot more abuse does not. I believe this to be thanks to the fuller on the Meyer which the A&A model lacks.
I hope that helps.
Cheers,
Jon

Hi Allen,

Colin F. submitted a very helpful review here:
Forum Index > Historical Arms Talk > The Albion Liecthenauer: A Review
I'd like to join others here and encourage you to look very closely at the Liechtenhauer. I love mine.

Good hunting!

Speaking of CAS, anyone actually have experience with their practical line they have now? Do they have the hollow pommel issue? Durability issues? I need to replace my blunt soon (I got mine used over 10 years ago...it's not safe to use anymore as the steel feels like it's about to break) as these look promising. If I had the money, I would get an albion, or maybe even a blunt valiant practical line...but I'm pretty broke right now. If these are crap, I'll just have to save up and get a valiant practical blunt I guess.

I have the practical knightly, it's not too bad I don't think.

M.

At present...using aCAS/Hanwei Practical hand & a half....if your on a limited budget...kinda hard to beat for the price.

In the $250 range I recommend you take a look at the Alchem longsword blunts. The swords are made to order. They have thick sandwich tangs, siderings and a flexible blade. I have a review up on the following webpage.

http://mysite.verizon.net/tsafa1/rapier/alchemlongsword.html

Darkwood Armory http://www.darkwoodarmory.com/plongswords.shtml makes lightweight (- 2 lbs.) longsword trainers with either long handles for "German" style or shorter handles for "Italian" style handling.

Scott Wilson believes that the lighter blades yield greater safety.

They do handle quicker than my Albion Meyer or A&A Spada da Zhogo http://www.arms-n-armor.com/train206.html.

I am not so sure that the safety argument is valid in cutting strikes but the Darkwoods handle beautifully and, so far, hold up to beatings from the heavier A&A and Albion swords. The Darkwood blades are quite flexable and would be safer in the thrust than the iron bar stiff A&A or the pretty darn stiff Meyer.

You may observe that the higher priced swords have better fit and finish than the Darkwoods. Since Scott hand grinds his blades and manufactures them to a price point, some non functional details may suffer in comparison with the higher priced weapons.

Mike

[quote="Colin F."][quote="R D Moore"]Hi Allen,

Why thank you! Just as a short update since I wrote that, I have used it for at least two hours every week, through various seminars and against an even greater range of swords, and it still does not have a serious dent/chip or scratch.
Of course it has light surface scratches from contact work, but nothing that is unusual!


The pleasure is mine. Thank you for posting it.

Cheers,

Ron