Valiant Armory Warder Sword

Steel	1060 Carbon Steel
Weight	2lbs 8oz
Point of Balance	5"
Price Range	US$416 to $520

When Sonny Suttles bought Valiant Armoury he wanted to come out with new and better designs. He contacted a few of the best sword makers around and asked them to contribute designs for a new line of swords. These would be designed by them, forged in China, and the leather worked done by Sonny and his crew in the US. And all this for a very reasonable price.

To date, Valiant Armoury has been producing some of the finest swords available in the low to medium price range. I think it fair to say that Sonny has rewritten the sword market rules.

The Warder is the design submitted by the very talented swordsmith John Lundemo and is part of the Valhalla Collection.

When I first saw the prototype to this sword I was less than enthused. It just didn't click with me. As time passed and I saw more pictures of it it began to grow on me. By the time it was released and several forumites began posting pictures and reviews I was smitten.

Considering what is offered at this price it was hard to say no. Unfortunately, at the time of release I was lacking in funds so I had to wait. Luckily, not too long.

The sword arrived with little problem and in good shape. The packing was standard for VA: Double boxed with styro foam packing. The styro foam was a little damaged, but the sword was untouched.

The sword was covered in a sheen of oil that was easily wiped off. There was one tiny spot of surface rust on the blade that was removed with little effort with a little WD-40. Hardly worth mentioning but since this is a review I have to really look hard for critical things to say.

The Warder comes with a scabbard and suspension.

Scabbard

My package is the standard color: Brown grip and belt with an ox blood scabbard. I really like the scheme so I went with it.

I have to say I really love the work on this scabbard. I don't have much more to say so I'll post some pictures.

The sword fits well, though there is some rattling of the blade inside. Nothing bad and the sword does not fall out when turned upside down. Maybe due to the curve of the blade the scabbard cannot be made tight all the way through. This rattling is a minor point but needs to be mentioned.

One point about the belt. I have lost some weight lately. But even considering that this belt is long! I had to punch a hole a good 5 inches further in from the last hole. This is not a con. It took 1 minute to fix and made me feel better about my diet.. ;-)

The Stats

These are all my measurements. Nothing fancy here. Just the numbers.

OA Length 44"
Blade 34"
Weight 2lbs 8oz
Grip 7"
POB 5"
POP 24:

The Grip

The grip is 7 inches long. Just long enough for my average sized hands. I noticed the grip is a bit thicker than my Kriegschwert, which is very nice. The leather work is very nicely done. The seam is hardly noticeable, so much so that I did not get a good picture if it. I can find no fault in the grip from the finishing to the size and feel of it.

The Furniture

I was very impressed by the level of detail of the furniture. There is evidence of tooling and scuff marks, but nothing unseemly. I rather like these little imperfections as it makes the piece look hand made (which it is) rather than punched out in a production line.

I noticed that the guard will shift around if I wiggle it by hand and no amount of tightening seems to help. It does NOT move at all when handling or cutting, only when I grip it with both hands on either end and push. So this is a non-issue but I mention it as full disclosure.

This all is held together but a standard hex nut configuration that I really do prefer.

The Sword/Blade

This is a two handed saber. I know of no historical precedence, but I am no expert. I love the might not have been, but really should have nature of this design. Simply elegant from top to bottom.

The 34 inch blade has a thick spine with a fuller along 3/4 of it's length. The last 8 inches is a diamond cross section with a sharpened false edge.

The distal taper on this blade is pretty amazing. I do not have the tools to measure it, but it is obvious to the bare eye. Other than the initial teeny tiny spot of rust the blade was blemish free.

Note that I do not have a shot of the tang. When I tried to take it apart the grip was wedged on pretty tight and I did not have the time or patience at that moment to fiddle with it. I will update this review when I do take it apart.

Handling

The meat and potatoes.

As evidence by the stats this is a light sword for two handed use at 2lbs 8oz. It has a good blade presence with a POB at 5". It dramatic distal taper makes it glide in your hands. I found it effortless to flow from guard to guard and to stop motion and reverse. In many ways it feels too light, which is a good thing I guess.

I did not try it one handed much, but I will in the future and will update this. My prediction is that it will handle quite well one handed.

Cutting

The fun stuff. The Warder came with the standard VA edge, which is to say it is super-excellent-awesome. No secondary bevel to be seen. I cut several bottles and this baby loves to cut. This may well be my best cutter, but I will have to get a bit more practice with it before I commit to that.

Here is a short video of my first, and only, cutting with the Warder. I did edit out a couple a botched cuts as I don't want to make myself look bad. And this is to show what the sword can do, not how much I suck. But believe me the botches were few. The only other thing edited out is the down time between cuts.

The first cut you see is my first cut with this sword.

Overall Feelings

I really like this sword. I like the pommel, guard, grip and the blade. I like the two handed saber design. I like the scabbard and suspension. I like the color scheme of brown and oxblood. I LOVE the way it handles and cuts. I would say it is worth the asking price if it were just a bare blade without the fancy scabbard and suspension. All together it is an amazing deal and one that I am so glad I bought.

PROS

• Price

• Fantastic handling

• Scabbard and suspension are very nicely done

• Super sharp

• Excellent cutter

• Interesting and beautiful design

• Did I mention the excellent handling? Yeah? Well, one more time then!

CONS

• Non-peened assembly is a turn off to some.

• Guard moves slightly when wiggled by hand.

• Sword moves around inside of scabbard.

My hat off to John Lundemo for designing this and to Sonny Suttles for recreating it at a reasonable price.

WHERE TO BUY

SBG loves the quality and value for money of these swords so much that we have made them available at the absolute lowerst price of US$416 with FREE shipping in the USA right here at the SBG Sword Store (MSRP on these is $520).