My knowledge is more on the armour-side, so now i need some tips. The best looking sword ive seen, especially the blade, is the Atrim 1592. Ive drooled over that one for over a year and now, finally, i got the founds to purchase it. But im not sure how historically accurate it is. I want a sword fitting a late 15th C scandinavian soldier. Im not looking to have a copy of an exact museum-peice, just dont want to be laughed at by sword-nerds at future re-enactments..;/

Links;
http://www.angustrimdirect.com/models/unamed_15/unamed_15.htm

http://www.myArmoury.com/review_at1592.html

I admit to no expertise, just great enthusiasm, but it looks appropriate to the period IMHO.

That is one fine sword. I think I need one.

Jan Downs

Angus Trim swords are not really historically accurate in appearance or hilt construction. They are designed to be modern swords that capture the handling of originals, as well as the generic appearance, but use threaded tangs and machined parts. If you wanted it for reenactment, you'd want to go through a custom cutler, such as www.christianfletcher.com , and have the hilt made differently (peened, fittings that don't look modern, etc.) Depending on how accurate you need to be for your group, you may also have to polish out the finish which shows evidence of powertools in the hand finishing.

I believe the blade design itself is a bit of a "plausible" design, not necessarly a truly "accurate" design. There are XVIIIe's in existence (otherwise we wouldn't have the classification), but I've never seen one quite like this. I hadn't even known of one with a fuller until doing that review and Nathan Robinson searched and found a picture in his massive library. Since you said it doesn't need to be an exact copy, I think you could get away with it provided once more that you have the hilt redone.

To add on to what Bill is saying, you'd specifically want to change the pommel shape as well as possibly looking into reshaping the area where the sharp of the blade meets the ricasso. In my admittedly limited experience, I've never quite seen one finished/ground like that.

Well, the Albion model has a similar blade-meets-ricasso section (at least it looks that way to me), but is lacking the fuller.

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To be close to being historically accurate, the hilt fittings have to go. The blade isn't too right, either, but it's probably passable. I'll echo what Bill said and put it into my own words: ATrim makes good contemporary sword designs but they are not attempting to be historically accurate.