[Rusty Thomas]

So Mr. Pikula is getting pretty close to being done with this sword for me. Working with him has been a pleasure and he has kept me well informed about the progress. I am having a hard time deciding on his latest question to me about this sword so I have come to ya'll for some advice. Here are the current stats of the sword as she is right now and a quote from Mr. Pikula about the question.

Length overall: 37.6"
Blade Length: 31.1"
Blade width at guard: 2.8"
Weight : 2lb 7oz
Point of balance: 6.5" forward of guard
Point of rotation and forward node: 21.5" forward of guard

This sword has more blade presence then the first one I made, not in a bad way, just in the way it feels at the end of a swing. I think it turned out pretty well, the guard still needs to be thinned out a little bit, but I think that it really fits the personality of the first one pretty well. If you don't mind me upping the weight by 4-5 oz, and would like the blade to have a more neutral balance, and be more lively in the hand, I could add some mass to the pommel. There isn't anything wrong or bulky with how the sword feels as of now, but I want to present you with the option of how you would like the sword to feel since that is part of the advantage of getting a custom sword made.

So that's the question. I don't have enough experience with the dynamic qualities of swords to say which one would be better or more appropriate for a sword of this type/time period. It is purely a cutting sword but I am leaning towards making it a little more lively in the hand. So what are your thoughts about it?

Just as a note about Mr. Pikula, I don't have the sword in hand yet, but from my experience dealing with him so far I would not hesitate to recommend him to anyone!

I have included some pics he sent me (hopefully). She is a beauty!!!!

[Jean Thibodeau]

Exciting to see the " Sister " sword in progress and it does look like an identical twin to mine, but even twins can be a little taller or shorter or a little heavier or lighter assuming they grow up in the same environment and have similar nutrition as they grow up.

I sort of like the handling of mine just about perfectly but can try to imagine it a with a little more presence or a little lest presence: Neither of which would be a bad thing but would have to be only very subtlety so in either direction if one wants the sword to be a " sister " sword.

As is, mine has less weight and presence than my Tritonia but it would need a lot more presence to match or exceed the presence of the Tritonia: The Tritonia handles well but would be more tiring but is certainly a good handling sword, if a little heavy ! One would tire faster with the Tritonia and it is easier to use if one is on the strong side.

On the other hand, the sister sword could be a little faster without it's presence being too low for it's type XIIIb ?

So one could add or subtract a few % in the feel of the handling and still have a sword respecting the nature of a type XIIIb, but too much presence would seriously slow it down, and too little presence take away some authority in the cut ?

Just my opinion: I think there is more room for this design to have a bit more presence, towards the Tritonia end of things, than have less presence: Sort of for example it could have a range of either 10% more presence versus having 5% less presence. ( Note: The percentages are just to illustrate my argument and are not meant to be actual numbers .... just a guess ).

So A) Do you want your sword to be fractionally more agile or B) Fractionally hit harder but a bit slower on recovery ? ( Fighting style here and the use of a shield for defence is a factor to consider ).

In any case if it ends up just like mine you can't really go wrong and if you are not sure what answer to give Michael I would just let him decide.