REALLY want to buy a steel blunt

[Kody Tench]

should I buy an albion meyer, a lutel blunt (thinking about because it comes with the sheath and belt for same price as albion blunt which comes with nothing(I dont think)) or just go with a tinker pearce longsword trainer??? any other websites that sell longsword blunts would be appreciated my spending limit for practice sword is around $500 MAX would prefer NOT to have to pay 500 before shipping (saving for a sharp) already have a cold steel waster that I have endevoured to balance but I really want a steel to train with as well. all info appreciated.

[Sal Bertucci]

I think it's worth it to save up.

[Randall Pleasant]

Kody

Save up your money for an Albion blunt. The Lutel blunts are heavier and no where near as blanced. Likewise withthe Tinker swords.

[Stacy Clifford]

Ran, it depends on which Lutel you get. I would agree that on average they are a little bit heavier than Albions, but I've never heard anybody complain about the balance on mine; I love it. Perhaps I got lucky there, but of the few others I've handled, none felt poorly balanced. No question that Albion is the cream of the crop - they definitely are - but I think Lutel is a high quality second choice at slightly cheaper prices, worthy of consideration. I would buy from them again. The included scabbard and belt is a nice extra touch, and well made at that.

[Jonathan Hill]

I’ve handled a few Lutels at the club, again no complaints. I actually prefer them over the Albions I have handled as they feel more ‘mean.’

The problem with Lutel right now is they have been having issues between the sword maker and the ‘business owner.’ They have split and it seems like they might make a ‘legal’ fight over things. The sword maker seems to have a new sight up, www.lutel-handicraft.com , while www.lutel.eu looks like the 'business owner.' Which is reliable, who knows?

My only advice is; make sure you will stick with this before you invest a lot of money into a high end blade. If you buy a nice Albion and give it up next year, then you bought a really expensive decoration. I've always looked at high end gear as earned.

[Stacy Clifford]

The problem with Lutel right now is they have been having issues between the sword maker and the ‘business owner.’ They have split and it seems like they might make a ‘legal’ fight over things. The sword maker seems to have a new sight up, www.lutel-handicraft.com , while www.lutel.eu looks like the 'business owner.' Which is reliable, who knows?

Good to know, thanks for the update. It's been quite a while since I bought mine, so I wasn't aware of that.

[Kody Tench]

I practice every day and love it so I'm sticking with it. I may get get a lutel in about a month or albion the lutels are so customizable though and I love the look of them

[Stacy Clifford]

If you decide to get a Lutel, please post back here and let us know which of the two sites above you purchased from and what your customer experience was like with them.

[Kody Tench]

I will indeed

[william_cain_iii]

Posting from the Hanwei Tinker side of the equation:

It's a good sword. There's more flex in the end of the blade than their is in the Albion Liechtenauer (though I hear the Meyer has about as much flex as the Tinker). It's light and easy to maneuver through drills and plays well in sparring. It has a good level of sense for the blade in the bind, is easy to make sparring-safe (tape on a blunt, file/sand the edges a little bit to round them), and is less than half the price of the Albions.

That being said, if others have a more high end sword (Such as an albion, or arms and armor, or Ensifer, etc) - yours will be the one to suffer and get chewed up.

The issue is a bit more complex than to say that Albion is the only choice out there. I could have dropped 500 on an albion. Instead I got my tinker, a little raven waster for pell work, two manuals, and a membership in an insured group. (200, 100, 100, 52) and still had a little bit of money left over. You have to look at the whole picture of what you want.

Best,

William

[J. Scott Steflik]

That being said, if others have a more high end sword (Such as an albion, or arms and armor, or Ensifer, etc) - yours will be the one to suffer and get chewed up.

The issue is a bit more complex than to say that Albion is the only choice out there.

I have to agree with William here. If I had purchased an Albion, it would only be used for solo drills. Instead I bought two Hanwei federschwerts (so I'd always be able to drill and spar... and it convinced others to buy steel) and a Hanwei Tinker with money to spare.

I really like the Albion Meyer and enjoy the occasions I get to spare with one, but its price is a serious issue for many students. In the future, I'll probably skip the Meyer again in favor of a pair of Ensifers.

[John Farthing]

While I can certainly understand the burden that making a high priced investment can incur, there is some truth in the maxim "You get what you pay for". Just as you cannot buy fast food from the dollar menu and expect it to have any nutritional value, you cannot expect to purchase an adequate training tool at 'wall hanger' prices.

Not all swords are created equal and you wouldn't train to become a sniper by using a BB gun, anymore than you should expect to develop competency and skills with a longsword you bought at bargain basement pricing. The point here is this, if you are dedicated and serious, then you must consider the purchase of the equipment you will train with as an investment. Like any investment, choose carefully, choose wisely and don't try to 'cut corners', if you cut corners in the selection of your equipment, will you also cut corners in your training and practice of the art?

Just some food for thought....

Good luck to you in your selection, whatever it may be. Take your time, do your research, I'm sure you will choose wisely if you consider the ideas presented above carefully in your decision making process.

[william_cain_iii]

Making the appeal to prices alone is fallacious, though.

Saying you "can't" expect good training gear at wallhanger prices is an absolute, and absolutes are rarely true in something as subjective as a standard of quality.

I got an Atrim Custom longsword for 200 dollars. That's the same price as the Tinker Blunt training longsword is going for right now, so I'm going to assume that's within wallhanger territory. It's a good sword, cutting water jugs, tatami, and other fun substances rather effectively. Is it perfect, no - it has a bit of a rattle in the grip and could do with some tweaking, a spacer perhaps. But it is a useful training tool for someone on a budget. So 'can't' get good gear at those prices is patently not true.

More than anything, remember that quality is subjective to the user, and is not an absolute standard. There are some universals - such as whether the thing will break the first time you hit something with it, how dangerous it is to a sparring partner - but all of these fit within a larger, much more subjective framework of 'what works for you.'

[John Farthing]

What you say is true (to a point)... the source literature tells us, "Practice is better than Art; your Practice may be useful without Art, but your Art is useless without Practice." -Hanko Dobringer, 1389. So it can be inferred that if all you have accessible is a stick, than training with a stick is certainly better than no training at all. If however, you only ever train with a stick, in the end... all you will ever be is a stick fighter.

[John Farthing]

To put this another way, while it is certainly true that one can learn ALOT about swordmanship with just a decent wooden waster, ultimately wasters do not produce swordsmen. Swords produce swordsmen.