Im part of a reenactment group that does historical/stage style fighting and I require a sword that is light, blunt, affordable and most of all...Durable.

I have two great blades (two hander and hand and a half ) from a local sword company called Badger Blades, but there a bit blade heavy and have a ton of burs on them >_<. I find myself hesitating my blows a lot.

Badger Blades were fine when I was using them for stage combat...but now iv been heavily involved in learning historical Fencing techniques, like Talhoffer and Sigmund Ringek.

I was considering getting a paul chen stage combat sword, but my only problem with those are that they don't have that "ting" sound and the cross guard becomes loose after a lot of use. Iv also looked into Albions Maestro line of swords as well.

So if anyone has any suggestions on what would work best would be greatly appreciated.

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Reece

There is really no such thing as "historical/stage" style fighting. Oil and water don't mix well. You are either doing stage fighting (acting) or you are following an interpretation of historical fighting. One sword will not serve well for both. For stage fighting with its heavy edge-on-edge slamming you won't get much mileage from the Albions, just another ton of gouges and burs. However, for historical fighting, espeically following an interpretation that does not include edge hacking, the Albions will serve you for years through heavy use.

Just my personal opinion,

Randall Pleasant
ARMA

ARMA Swords:

http://www.swords.pl/index.php5?page=IndexD&lang=en

Cheap and very tough.

A side note in case there is some confusion: The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts (ARMA) is not in any way associated with ARMA Swords.

Randall Pleasant
ARMA DFW

Hey Reece -

I just wanted to say "Hi" as we're basically neighbors and I haven't met you!

We have a Fechtschule here in Topeka, so if you'd like to come check out an Albion, or A&A, or ATrim, you are welcome to come by. http://greatplainsfechtschule.webs.com/index.htm

Jessica

PS - I would definitely not use Badger Blades for any blade-work, historical or stage. Or reenactment.