Hello,

About 11 months ago I comissioned a replica of a Swiss Saber from Andrzej Mikiciak. He will start making it soon and I want to provide him with as much resources as possible. This includes measurments, photos etc.

I know that some fellow forum members already posess swiss asabers in their collection and would like to know their opinions, do they find the grip leng sufficient, is it heavy/unwieldy etc.

Any source reccomendations are welcome as well.

Thanks!

I had my Swiss Saber created from a extant historical piece in The Wallace Collection. I chose a maker, Arms & Armor of Minnesota to create my piece. I chose them because I trust their experience and knowledge of historical swords.

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I provided the museum's accession number and a link to the sword on their web site. I also found photos of the piece and included those. That's the extent of my research. At no time did they ask me for measurements, details, or other particulars about these types of swords. They're the experts on this type of thing, not me.

While I do not expect a maker to have intimate knowledge of every single extant sword out there, I do expect an experienced sword maker to be able to interpret the data available to them, couch it in the context of their knowledge of the subject of antique swords, identify problems and make educated decisions on the rest. I also expect an experienced maker to have contacts within large museums, collections, and other institutions to call upon in cases needing more information on the details of antiques.

I've seen many experiences where makers ask customers to provide all the details and do all the research. This is faulty, in my opinion, because customers are not experienced with the subject and don't know what exactly to look for, let alone interpret the data the same way as a maker needs. Some overzealous customers even try to provide very detailed specs such as an exact weight, distal taper percentages, center of percussion and center of gravity, etc. More often than not, all this leads to terrible projects as far as I'm concerned.

My general advice not necessarily specific to you: Pick a maker who is experienced with the type of thing you want created and let rely on that expertise.

I've made my own version of this, using that style of hilt on a long sabre blade - which was not made to the same profile. I was curious as to how it performed as an alternative to the more conventional longswords used in HEMA.

I liked the level of hand protection it provided, but if I made another, I would lengthen the grip, as my rear hand was left a bit short of comfortable grip. Otherwise, it was a pleasure to fight with.

Two caveats as regards HEMA use: the complexity of the hilt makes it more susceptible to damage (welds can crack with sustained impact), and it may not be allowable as a longsword in some tournaments.

I chose Andrzej Mikiciak as the maker because he, while not very know is by far one of the best sabermakes out there. I don't want to provide specific the information because as you said the maker knows best but I belive that getting them as much information as possible will allow them to get a better point of reference. It will also be sharp so no sparring with this one. The maker is also very familliar with sabers but afaik he never did a two handed one and it will be one his biggest projects.

Also, I wonder how you find the grip Nathan, do you think it could use a bit more leverage considering the blade lenght?

Here is another topic that touches upon some of the things I mentioned:

How much research for a custom order?