The German Swords of Darksword Armory

Typical of German swords in use around the 15th century , the DSA Two Handed Gothic Sword is typical of the type of, a large acutely pointed hand and a half sword designed thrusting through maille and the gaps in plate armour, but also capable of inflicting seriously powerful slices and cuts.

In this hands on review, I will be putting this extremely durable sword through it paces - and I think you will find that overall, this sword is one of their most impressive pieces to date...

Darksword Armoury Two Handed Gothic Sword

My first impressions of this sword was that it was a heck of a lot of steel for under US$300. And good quality steel at that...

The first thing that struck me about this particular piece was this German swords distinct fish tail pommel, a common enough feature on swords of this type as seen in Ewart Oakeshotts work, Records of the medieval sword.

Extremely thick and weighty, it serves as a great counterbalance to the blade and would make a rather effective weapon in its own right! With extremely crisp lines and an attractive, if not perfect, finish it really does give this sword a unique character of its own.

The German swords hilt is wrapped in high quality textured leather with attractive stitching clearly visible on one side. Some people prefer a sword not to show any visible stitching, others love it. Personally like it a lot - it gives it a much more authentic feel.

With two risers in the middle, these German swords are best gripped by holding the top leather covered half in your right hand and gripping half of the pommel in your left. Gloves are probably preferable for comforts sake when gripping the pommel in this manner for an extended period, but are not necessary to be able to handle it well.

The crossguard itself is very nicely done, a straight octagonally shaped cross beam terminating in slightly flared squared off ends.

Everything is very nicely and tightly assembled, with the shoulder of the blade closely meeting the hilt allowing no rattling or untoward movement.

I took it apart to have a look under the hood to make sure all the internal components were in good order. With a threaded tang assembly, this is not that hard and while the fittings start out very tight - over time it is possible to experience some loosening of the fittings as the internal nut shifts.

This can be fixed easily enough however, by either doing some field maintenance and tightening the nut by hand or using loc-tight or epoxy to hold it in place once and for all.

Anyway, inside:

The tang looked a little on the thin side for a sword that would serve as a dedicated beater, but it was within what historically a blade like this would look like - and I would test this to its limits later on...

Overall, I was left with a very positive impression of this German swords furniture - the shoulder of the blade was rounded, the fittings substantial and well made and the quality was exceptional. It was hard to believe that this hand forged sword could be priced at under US$300.

The only real criticisms I can level at this sword so far was that the grip seemed to be slightly off center and the polish of the steel fittings was a little rough here and there. Nothing too bad mind you, but noticeable none-the-less.

THE BLADE

Now as I mentioned before, I was very impressed by the overall appearance and sheer presence of this German swords unsharpened (1.8mm edge) 35" blade.

This is a classic Oakshott Type XVIIIa, a solid cut and thrust fighting sword, and you can feel it has both the authority of a very powerful cutter combined with a tip optimised for a deeply penetrative thrust.

This is in keeping with the times of its deployment, where on the battlefield most soldiers were fairly lightly armoured with the majority of their protection coming only from a breastplate and helm at best and could be dispatched with a sweeping cut, yet when facing an opponent in plate - it was possible to try and probe through the weak points and split the mail by half-swording (i.e. holding the sword in the middle of the blade with a mailed fist and using it like a spear).

A single central fuller runs down two thirds of the length of this German swords blade. Interestingly, this is where it shows some distal tapering - from a thickness of around 5.4mm at the hilt to 3mm by the time it gets close to the tip. While this is not perfect or ideal, it is quite serviceable and does ensure that the blade is balanced closer to the hilt as it should be.

In terms of its tempering, this sword is ideal - with just the right about of flex to be highly resistant to torque, but not at all whippy or flimsy to ensure it can deliver the kind of thrust required to break maille and penetrate as deeply as possible.

VIDEO: Flex Test Excellent Tempering and Flexibility, yet not at all whippy when in use unlike many other sub US$300 swords of this length

So far, exceptionally good.

HANDLING

With a total weight of 4lbs and a point of balance at around 5.5" from the cross guard, this massive looking sword is actually surprisingly easy to wield.

Historically, German swords like this one were never meant to be light weight. And comparing the raw stats to the $1,200 Albion Regent - which is almost the exact same sword in overall appearance and style, on paper at least the differences are minimal (The Regents blade is 2" longer, Point of balance is the same, weight is only 3oz less).

As such, I found this German swords handling to be extremely good - while Darksword has a reputation for overly heavy swords, this is not one of them.

VIDEO: Handling Test While it's no featherweight, it certainly isn't sluggish and handles about right for a sword of this type

As you can see, it is far from being the kind of clumsy blade that you might otherwise expect.

TESTING

Now as you may well know by now, Darksword Armory blades have an excellent reputation for extremely hard core durability. And their two handed German swords are no exception...

Some excellent tests of the blade on plate armour were conducted by my friend Jason Ryan at Swords of Valor here - which are well worth reading about as a supplemental review is also included. However, for conveniences sake I have also included his testing video below.

VIDEO: SoV Test on Plate Armor and Maille Jason Ryan from Swords of Valor puts the Gothic through its paces – and doesn’t hold back!

Obviously these tests were impressive. However, as this sword was a lot longer and thinner than other Darksword Armoury swords I have previously tested, I felt it was necessary to REALLY give it some serious punishment - primarily to ensure that the tang would hold fast and the blade would not bend or deform.

And the most punishing test of all, is an immovable object that will put all the vibration and potential damage right back into the sword - a very large (and very solid) tree trunk...

Now obviously, this is not the intended usage of a sword. But I figure that if it can withstand this kind of extreme abusive, it can withstand pretty much anything that it would encounter in day to day steel on steel usage...

And as you can see from the video below, I didn't really hold anything back...

VIDEO: Sword Abuse Yes, this is most definitely sword abuse. And yes, I feel sorry for the tree.. But it's pain and sacrifice is all for the greater good...

Yes indeed, this is one monstrously tough sword...

At the very least I was expecting some deformation of the blade, or this German swords thin looking tang to bend or break, or SOMETHING bad to happen. But the end result was barely a scratch...

CONCLUSION

These German swords have it all. They are not bad from the perspective of historically accuracy, with the general design and handling characteristics within the parameters that they should be. They are also very attractive to look at - not perfect, but certainly more than you would expect at this price point.

And finally, they are about as tough as a sword gets!

My only criticisms is that I wish that they were with a peened pommel and available in a sharpened version. And while the thick and long blade takes some work to manually sharpen by hand, if these are the only criticisms I can level on them...

Well, all I can say is that if this kind of sword appeals to you, grab it!

UPDATE

Looks like both of my wishes for this sword came true...!

Both the pommel of these DSA German swords has now been PEENED (see the picture to the right)...

And it is now available with a sharpening option done by Darksword for an additional $25...!

Can't ask for much more than that!

PROS

• Excellent handling characteristics for such a big sword

• Amazingly durable and beautifully tempered blade

• Historically accurate, both in appearance and performance

• Some minor cosmetic issues such as the line down the middle of the hilt being slighty off center

WHERE TO BUY

These Gothic German Swords normally sell at Darksword for $275 plus around $35 shipping) for a total amount of around $310.

However, you can get the latest model shipped FREE in the USA and Canada here at the SBG Sword Store for just $264.99