After seeing Rob Roy for the first time (yes, it's cold under those rocks on the moon) I have become interested in getting a basket hilt claymore. Armour Class is a bit expensive for me (plus the wait time). I just wanted to see if anyone could reccommend a good entry level BH. MRL baskets are not entry level, those are pretty low. I used to have their Culloden.

Check out this link,:
http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=1489

Basically? Cold Steel or Paul Chen/Hanwei are about it in your range....

I am in the process of writing a review for the baskethilt from Alchem Incorporated, a small operation in Ohio that makes some very good fencing blades.

Now, I didn't order mine from Alchem; I bought it from my fencing instructor, and he told me that the wait was roughly a few months (but this was some months ago that he ordered it, when the sword was new...things may have improved since then).

Basically, it's a baskethilt was a flexible and blunted sidesword blade and a somewhat conical pommel (which I'm not too crazy about). But for ~$160, it's quite nice. It balances very good, and feels very nice when swinging it about.

Here are some pictures:

---

 Attachment: 118.56 KB



 Attachment: 118.74 KB

Thanks for the replies. I'm leaning towards the Hanwei broadsword (2002). Raysking grip is the reason. I am used to heavier handling swords, does anyone know how much these blades weigh at? Their listed weights (over 5 pounds) are usually shipping weights, not the weight of the swords. There's no way my Godfred weighs 3lb 6oz as they have it listed.

I had an old MRL Culloden. That sword completely turned me off to basket hilts. If the Hanwei one weighs even slightly less than that one, I'll love it. Might even blue the hilt too.

The Armour Class Early Basket looks very nice too. My favorite is the Diamond, though that one is expensive. Double fullers... gotta get me some of that.

David Wilson wrote:

Aaron Justice wrote: Thanks for the replies. I'm leaning towards the Hanwei broadsword (2002). Raysking grip is the reason. I am used to heavier handling swords, does anyone know how much these blades weigh at? Their listed weights (over 5 pounds) are usually shipping weights, not the weight of the swords. There's no way my Godfred weighs 3lb 6oz as they have it listed. Yeah, that has to be the shipping weight. The Hanwei broadsword weighs about 3 lbs even, IIRC, based on my own observations.