Close reproduction of iconic gothic longsword - made by Sterling Armory - sword reviewed

#sword #swordreview #cutting

This sword was inspired by a famous one on display in the Royal Armouries. The original is dated by the museum as 1890, making it a Victorian-era sword, possibly a reproduction of an actual Medieval sword. The one I'm reviewing today was made by Chris Fields of Sterling Armory, and is intended to be a close, but not exact, reproduction of the sword in the museum.

In this video, I compare the Sterling Armory sword with the Royal Armouries one, using pictures from the Royal Armouries, and give a comprehensive overview of the sword, including detailed measurements, test cutting, and thoughts on how it handles.

The sword most closely aligns with either Oakeshott type XVIIIa or XVIIIb, with some blended features of both. It is a cut and thrust balanced sword that can be used either one or two handed, and would've likely been used from the late 14th Century into the early 16th. My opinion is that it fits in more towards the later part of that timeframe.

Chris Fields/Sterling Armory:   / sterlingarmory  
Royal Armouries sword (XXI.31): https://collections.royalarmouries.or...

Sterling Armory "How It's Made" playlist:    • How It's Made - Sterling Armory  

Reviews of Sterling Armory swords:
Riding Sword:    • Sword Review - Sterling Armory XVIIIa Ridi...  
Falchion:    • Sword Review - Sterling Armory Falchion  

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Sword measurements photo gallery: https://photos.app.goo.gl/8EDa3rQFLjw...
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00:00 Intro
01:21 Royal Armouries Sword
02:14 Sword Characteristics
03:17 Hilt
08:16 Blade
13:36 Cutting and Handling
16:06 Potential Improvements
16:45 Bottom Line
17:58 Outro

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Background Music

Totentanz
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Neol O'Doan
Sourced from MusOpen: https://musopen.org/music/32872-toten...
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
-Only changes made were to volume levels

Unstern Sinistre
Composed by Franz Liszt
Performed by Radek Materka
Sourced from MusOpen: https://musopen.org/music/42694-unste...
Licensed under Public Domain: https://creativecommons.org/publicdom...