[Simon Moores]

I've just taken delivery of the towton sword, cleaned-off the awful hologram sticker and generally polished-up and cleaned the blade before I go off Iaido class.

First impressions are that it's reasonably well made for the price but can't compete for quality with my Albion clontarf sword. Second impression is that they have gone overboard on sharpening the blade. I'm used to handling live blades but the sharpening on the Towton goes right to the hilt and it's razor like. No chance then of handling the top of the top of the blade as one might see in a Talhoffer illustration of the period.

Verdict.. not bad as a practise blade but I'll be saving for a better and more historically accurate oakeshott type, probably from Arms and Armour - The Durer Bastard Sword http://www.arms-n-armor.com/sword195.html or the Albion Talhoffer when finances allow.

[Chad Arnow]

Simon,
Welcome to the forums! I'd echo your sentiments on the Towton (and did: http://www.myArmoury.com/review_mrl_towt.html). Nice buy for the buck, but not a great representation of swords of that era. The blade is too flexible to be the thruster that its profile taper suggests. Mine was "unsharpened" and safe to handle. Did you have someone sharpen yours?

Like you said, A&A and Albion are huge steps above, but the Towton is one of the best looking light-duty-cutting swords in the ~$200 range.

[Simon Moores]

Thanks Chad. Windlass sharpened the blade for me. Again, not done with any finesse but OK for the price and if I run out of razor blades I could always shave with it! :\ It looks like the early ancestor of the rapier with that narrow tapering blade.

There's a number of small things that could be done in production to improve the quality I'm sure but I guess, for the price, they aren't too fussed and as regards value for money I respect that.

[Simon Moores]

I've just had a chance to throw the Towton sword around and have to confess that it makes me nervous. I'm writing here as a long-time Iaido practitioner very much used to handling live blades but of the Japanese variety.

Looking through Talhoffer's Fechtbücher on Medieval Combat, the moves illustrated in the book now make more sense in conjunction with this kind of blade - even though it's really a hybrid - It strikes me a the evolutionary ancestor of the rapier but with a trace of Zulu Assegai or short spear as a stabbing weapon. Waving the razor sharp version I have around demands that it be treated with real respect as it doesn't handle and control as finely as a Japanese Shinken/Iaito, which I'm used to controlling with my fingers (as described by Musashi in the Book of Five Rings) or more like a violin bow. Perhaps that comes with practise though but there is a risk of it twisting and slipping.

My own modest opinion is that the Towton would be at a disadvantage being wielded in anything smaller than a football field and I think that if I were given a choice, I would probably bet on an opponent using a sword closer to the Albion "Mercenary" http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/albion/ne...ry-xva.htm