I'm looking at ordering my first waster in the next few days, and have a few questions on the matter. First, I've noticed that the wasters by New Stirling Arms are endorsed by ARMA: do they have a significantly better ballance (or better balance at all) than wasters by Purpleheart?

Second, I have a Crecy on the way :D : how important is it for the characteristics of my waster to mimic those of the sword I intend to use (i.e. should I try for a waster with a wheel pommel and similar weight, length, and balance)?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

As far as balance goes, every wooden waster I've ever held feels blade heavy. Because of the properties of wood it is hard to make a waster with a historic profile and good balance. I have never handled anything from Stirling Arms but they do look really nice. I've been more loyal to Purpleheart. They are bit on the heavy side but holy crap are they durable. I even did a pell in once with a murder stroke with no sword damage. Purpleheart lets you customize your sword length, pommel, etc., so you can match your Crecy, but I'm afraid the balance beween the two won't be the same. Hopefully someone will post how the Stirling stuff handles and that will help you decide. I'm curious to know myself. Good luck.

Posted on the same minute. Wierd.

I will second NSA, very well balanced and really nice people. Also there is Raven Studios, [url]http://little-raven.com/RS/MA/ [/url]both these far exceed Purpleheart for balance IMHO and are also customizable. :)