[J.D. Crawford]

The beast pounced onto my doorstep two days ago. Here are some pictures - words will follow.

[J.D. Crawford]

More pictures...................................................................................

[Kai Lawson]

I'd just like to say that I'm green with envy over your fantastic collection. Congrats on another extra-fine addition!

[Roger Hooper]

That really is a fine, delicious piece. Blade, guard, grip, and pommel all flow together very nicely. I like it even better than the Tritonia that you pictured with it.

How does it feel in your hand?

[J.D. Crawford]

Thanks guys for your comments. Here are my thoughts.

In a word, this is a magnificent weapon. It's hard to convey the visual presence of this weapon in words or pictures. It seems to draw the eye and dominate everything around it. This is something I did not expect or appreciate until it arrived. I think this results from both the overall proportions and certain details, like the double fullers, wide cross, and 'futuristic' (although historically accurate) pommel. Now I know why Craig used terms like 'moody SOB' to describe it.

In terms of historical accuracy - well I can take the blame for any emerging errors in the research, because A&A have followed my specs admirably. The only modification I can spot from my specs is that the pommel is a bit higher and more narrow - but that is not wrong. It resembles more the original sword that inspired this project, as drawn in SAC.

The execution: practically flawless. The underlying geometry of the piece is all very even and well defined.The fit and finish is outstanding. I mean, if you search you can find tiny inflections here and there, but in the same order of magnitude as what one finds in e.g., an Albion museum line piece. Craig wanted to do a fancier grip, but I did not want to go overboard because there is enough visual detail in the steel. The pommel has a very cool shape, but the blade! Well, first of all, they did a great job on the wide flat lenticular cross section of the second half. The distal taper is complex - the blade edges start fairly thick and chisel-like but then narrow in a curvilinear fashion, resulting in the very thin blade further along. However, the central ridge that divides the two fullers retains its thickness pretty much the whole length, likely providing some extra stiffness.

The result is some complex mass distribution, which is good, because yes boys and girls, this is a heavy sword. Its not a wrist breaker (I've had some of those that were lighter but had poor mass distribution). But it is a challenge. Its interesting to compare to another challenging sword I bought last year - Albion's St. Maurice. That sword is lighter, but is balanced more toward the blade with much less concentration of mass near the hilt. So in a way they are opposites. They both can be mastered, but in different ways. The cross-hatched overwrap and angular pins on the handle of the current sword help a lot by firmly securing the grip, although gloves would help (my hands are softer than they used to be). Also the pommel helps to support the weight of the blade against the hand in certain positions, as with other short-handled swords in the Brazil nut family.

So this sword's handling would not be for everyone, but consider this: some of the swords in this historical family were even bigger and appear to be much heavier. For example, one pictured in Aleksić's book has a blade 2.5" longer, starts the same width but with less profile taper, and does not appear to have room for 2 hands. There must have been some very big/strong/well practiced men wielding these weapons. Conversely, you would not want to get hit by these swords, even with mail protection. The optimal striking point is just past the fullers, but anywhere beyond provides a very focused, thin, but heavy edge - optimal for cutting impact.

I said I would compare this to Albion's Tritonia and this came up again (no accident that I crossed them above): both very fine XIIIb swords. The Albion is in fact a bit easier to handle. The reason comes down to blade mass. The beast's blade is just a bit longer, a bit wider (not at start or finish, but at the middle because its profile is more linear), and a bit thicker (at least along the central ridge, and comparing to the longer fuller of the Albion). Taking the cube of these small increases results in greater volume, ergo, greater mass. But they do have a lot in common in terms of basic blade geometry and handling properties, as one would expect. I must say again though, that the A&A sword is very impressive in terms of its visual presence and complex geometry.

In short - Wow! What a sword. I've sometimes perhaps pushed A&A out of its comfort zone - which might tend to be later period swords with diamond section blades. This is an extreme case. If there were any doubts about whether A&A could pull off a sword like this and match or even exceed the best out there in the competition, let those doubts be laid to rest right here

Congratulations Craig and Team - really a marvelous job!

JD (Doug) Crawford

[Patrick Kelly]

Did you break into my house and lay that on my table?

Looks like a beautiful addition to your collection. Now that we have a sense of scale with the other swords, it's even bigger than imagined.

[Nathan Robinson]

Doug, that's a fantastic write-up. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and photos.

[Roger Hooper]

A&A should update their Custom Page -

They must have several years of great stuff that they could document, including of course, the Sexy Beast. If people could see the custom things that they've made, I bet they would want to go custom with A&A themselves.

[Craig Johnson]

Hi Doug

We are very happy your sword turned out to be what you where looking for. The real challenge when working on these types of orders is to get all the numbers, ideas and expectations to find that spot of happy coexistence in the world of the physical. Sometimes its impossible, but here we where able to track down and discover the answer with some creative and very finessed adjustments.

It can be tough when you're looking at a piece and think well that's got to be close and then you spec it out and your size is nearly there but you have way more weight then you thought. Sometimes that is when you set it down and think a bit before going on. When the belt is on the blade you do not want to be unsure about what the objective is.

As to Rogers comment yes its a bunch of stuff, several being yours, and I hope to start adding some things very soon.

Craig

[J.D. Crawford]

[Bryan Heff]

What a sword! What a collection you have there as well. Thanks for taking such great pictures. As impressive as large Great Swords or true two-handers are, there is something even MORE impressive, I think, in these "over sized" single-handers like your XIIIb there.

Fantastic.

[Matthew G.M. Korenkiewicz]

I've been following along here because I truly enjoy " seeing " a project evolve
from one stage to another and finally to completion. Very entertaining as well as
informative thread ( specially regarding the work done by A&A ) ...

Great sword, great SWORDS, combined with excellent photographs makes
for an impressive expose ! B-)

Sidenote : I had an Albion St. Maurice for a time, and could only imagine a giant
of a man wielding it with a semblance of comfort and effectiveness ...

[J.D. Crawford]

[Jean Thibodeau]