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Looking For The Best Hand and a Half Trainers

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tomrkba:
If the CAS Paul Chen Practical Hand and a Half were great for $250, they'd be all over the place at Longpoint 2015.  They're not...so there must be a reason.

The Albion Meyer tends to hit too hard.  It's too heavy and inflexible, though I've heard they have redesigned it.  I have not played with a recent Meyer; few are using them and the price is high.

The A&A Scholar's Sword is excellent.  I really like mine.  I doubt I will use anything else, though the guy who makes Roland Warzecha's feders is really good.

Avoid any synthetic trainers unless you cannot afford anything better.  They do not transmit force well and bind worse than steel feders (feders are not that great either).  The real problem is they BOUNCE and this leads to bad feedback and worse habits.  "Bouncing" becomes part of the game in synthetic tournaments.  We prefer to use feders in Capital KDF where possible (sometimes we have too many new fencers).

CAS and Hanwei Federschwert...nah.  These won't hold up.  Several Hanwei Federschwert's owned by CKDF members are limp noodles that fall apart. Dark Wood...nah...I didn't see one at Longpoint 2015 (maybe someone had one, but they're not in common use).  Be happy if you get a year out of one before it breaks from moderate use.  The Hanwei I used for part of Bill Frisbee's halfswording class was far too noodle-y to apply effective pressure against a stiffer feder.

I use Ensifer.  I really like it.  Rengenyei makes good stuff.  Chlebowski also makes good feders.  Jake Norwood uses a feder from Comfort Fencing and Baltimore Knife and Sword now makes HEMA feders (they seem pretty good.)  BKS is new to HEMA and I won't use them until they've been around awhile.

Soooo...A&A, Ensifer, Rengenyei, Chlebowski, Comfort Fencing, BKS.  Albion likely should be evaluated for stiffness and how hard it hits.  I find A&A to be the best, with Rengenyei a close second due to price and full customization.  Ensifer makes a good feder and mine has held up to hard use in the past year. Chlebowski's stuff is good and cheap, but you'll never hear back from them and the sword will show up on a random date (likely after that important tournament or class). 

You can also look at Danelli Armoury, but he's tied up for awhile.  There are a few other small shops that make trainers, but you really cannot go wrong with A&A, Ensifer, Rengenyei, Chlebowski, and Comfort Fencing.

Sir Edward:

--- Quote from: tomrkba on 2015-08-01, 04:54:02 ---If the CAS Paul Chen Practical Hand and a Half were great for $250, they'd be all over the place at Longpoint 2015.  They're not...so there must be a reason.

The Albion Meyer tends to hit too hard.  It's too heavy and inflexible, though I've heard they have redesigned it.  I have not played with a recent Meyer; few are using them and the price is high.

--- End quote ---

Yeah, the Practical Hand and a Half was redesigned to be heavier and stiffer, so it'll hold up better than the earlier generations. But now it's in an awkward zone of being too heavy for its size, too short to be a good longsword, and too big to be a good single hander.

But for the Albions, you have that mixed up. The Meyer is the safer longsword for unarmored fencing, and is light and has decent flex. The one that's dangerous for Blossfechten is the Lichtenauer, with its thin edges and rigid design. However, the qualities that make the Lichtenauer more dangerous for Blossfechten also make it great for Harnessfechten (armored combat), where you want a stiffer blade.

Henrik Granlid:
For actual longswords:

The Hanwei-Del Tin longsword blunt is one of the best bang-for-buck weapons you can get your hands on and it's cheap as well.

The Albion Liechtenauer is another absolutely brilliant weapon, although it is a bit stiff for thrusts in Hema.

Pavel Moc's weapons are also absolutely great, however, the steel is a bit soft and they tend to get nicked easier than other weapons. However, he has a 140 liechtenauer which is absolutely massive AND thrusts well.


Feders:

Pavel Moc makes good, if a bit fragile feders

Albion Meyer - Too stiff

Regenyei, however, is THE swordsmith to go to for feders. His has become the standard pretty much throughout the european fencing community. They are absolutely brilliant.

Thorsteinn:
When I have money I shall have to look back on this thread, as I plan to get a set of blunt arming swords and blunt longswords at some point.

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