European Sword Maker Tier List - Ultimate Sword Buying Guide, Collab with  

Great job on this video as a good follow up

That was a Very fine video! Although almost two hours long,it was well worth the watch! Waiting for the second part.Kane,you are a real jem for the whole sword community.Thank you for your time and effort.Cheers from Greece...

Great job Kane, can't wait to see the rest! While his hair may be thinning a bit, do you think Matt will take offense at being called "senior"? ;-)

Firstly I'd like to thank you for all the work that went into a very well made video. I really liked your take on DSA. I think you hit all the important information that people need to know about them. And you voiced your frustration with them, without bashing them. That was really well done. But I do think that you were pretty generous with your ranking of them 😂

You have shown yourself to be the leading expert on reproduction swords. This list is really informative with all the photos and videos. I appreciate your time and effort!

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience Sir. You are obviously knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter, and that shows in the quality of your content. I very much appreciate your effort to educate while entertaining with your in-depth reviews. I love history, science, and practically all weapons to some extent, so your content is fascinating to me. I look forward to seeing the next part of this list. Thanks again my friend. Best wishes to you and your family. ✌️🇺🇸

Very informative! Didn't finish the vid yet (lunch over) you've brought many vendors to my radar! Thank you! Looking forward to more content

Excellent video! This is a very valuable overview. Thanks for your consistently high quality content.

"Sword Maker Tier List" part 1. 1 hour, 47 mins, and you've only reached "K". Oh, I feel sorry for any poor eastern European smith with a name like "Zsolt Zelensky"... Very much appreciate the mention, too. Now, BRB, just going to go change my name to Aaron Aardvark for the next time you do a video. :D

55:48 that's my sword!

Great vid Kane! ^^ Am in complete agreement with your well reasoned arguments and justifications, you clearly deserve more subscribers!!

27:08 that is a right beautiful sword. Had no idea they made this. Great vid, very informative to a non euro collector

I like watching your videos to keep myself up to date, so nobody can bamboozle me into buying their BS.

You sing praises of the heroes and call out the villains. Much respect!

I have multiple pieces from Brian Kerce and his woodworking skills are unmatched. His blades are excellent but definitely more practical in many ways than the complexity of something like Albion. He's a small single maker though, so that's to be expected. All of the unusual things I've requested of him in the way of wooden furniture he has accommodated and knocked out of the park. Definitely look him up if you are looking for something off the beaten path like wooden inlays on scabbards or more unusual blade types like khopesh. His prices were also extremely fair.

A great video ! I am subscribing!

This is the most informative guide for people in the market. I cannot wait to see the complete list!

Okay! Fine! You sold me on Angel Sword. I’ll order one tomorrow. 😂

Great stuff, I've enjoyed these tier reviews that I've watched so far from you, Matt and Kyle.

Thank you for the honest review of these brands of maker. You are like the Marques Brownlee of swords!

Great Video, extremely interesting and very well researched. Maybe you could do a review of Armour Class swords, they are based in Scotland.

Epic review that's on point! Hope you can do a tier list of samurai sword makers.

Only half way through, but man this is so valuable. Thank you very much for your work! I hope, you will keep this table with the ratings updated from time to time in the future. That would be cool! Maybe this is the plan? Can't wait what i'll learn next in the 2nd half of the 1st half and in the 2nd half of the 1st and 2nd half ... 😁

Thank you so much ! I'd love to hear you about : Ronin Katana, Art of swordmaking by Maciej Kopciuch

Great video! I sometimes call Darksword Armoury Dicksword Armoury because most of their fans and the vendor keep pumping out keywords and phrases like Hard, Stiff, Battle Hardened Ready Stiff Sword, Stiff Not Floppy, Not Floppy Real Stiff Hard etc it’s like these guys sleep with these swords or something.

Late comment, but keep it going Kane, love your work!

Time stamps past 59 mins don't work you have to put it in hours and mins not just mins or youtube wont recognize it.

Nice

Great video!, I’ve learned a lot about a lot of seller specially The Art Of Sword Making, when I first saw his work I was impressed and I don’t think someone who won’t be, but never knew that they preform bad which is a disappointment. You have a diverse arsenal of sword from the world but I bet you don’t have Omani Sword 😀 This comment should be on the part 2 of the video but wrongly I commented here🙂

very informative video! do you know if albion ships to europe?

You have become a kingmaker with the release of this video.

Very helpful video. I still want to know your opinion on APOC swords.

In'Carius doesn't seem to be selling on Etsy anymore...or at the moment.

did..did he just say he owns 16 Albions?

I did just receive a Vindaaris from DSA, bought it through the SBG store to get it sharpened while avoiding the usual fee associated with it, and I guess I "rolled good" on this one, so to speak. They even threw in the belt and integration accessory with it without charge even though I didn't order it. I have seen a number of DSA reviews, good and bad including that one from alientude where he got the floppy blade, but I liked this design enough to give it a chance, and really like what I got.

Ive been looking for a Type XX but I wish Angus or Valiant made that model :( I feel in love with the Type XX that Castle Keep made on their site.

Great video with one exception. The "far right" label. Its such a nonsense label. People are called that for disagreeing with "extreme leftists." My point being these political epithets for those we disagree with are subjective fluff we throw around to justify trying to destroy opposing viewpoints. We have to learn to talk to each other/debate each other again instead of dehumanizing with labels that often do not fit.

I like lists. I have my own list, and everybody on that list should feel lucky.

Anyone know a decent saber you can get on a budget? I was looking at American civil war or French Napoleonic era saber. I saw cold steel had some that are not too expensive. Any experience with them?

I have a question : What happened to Mr. Excalibur?

What about Windlass swords?

Kane has a good form when cutting (better than mine) and I like his reviews - well, minus the annoying microphone, there’s something off with it, but I can’t pinpoint what. I do have an issue with the sword makers tier lists. My issue is that some makers make martial swords, others make art swords, and some make high quality sword like objects - a.k.a not swords, I want those makes to improve fast or go away. So these should not be on the same list. Don’t get me wrong, I like hearing thoughts on sword makers, I just don’t like the tier system. But fine, I’ll accept it as a framing device for the video. Since I have experience with Castle Keep… I can say that Rob Miller is an artist first and foremost (and no offence to people that want to push controversy, I don’t care; and now I hear a different take on the issue; so WTF, I want to see a video on swords, not pointless drama; keep the discussion on swords, or make a serious journalistic investigation on a separate channel; the sword community is not a big community to fragmented it every other week for the sake of drama). Rob made me a beautiful side-sword. Now, I used a historical piece to ground the project in reality, I specified what I want, and then I let Rob’s skills to take over. The end result is on his website and is gorgeous. However, don’t think that it’s perfect, and don’t think that if I have to pick up a sword to fight with I would choose this one. This is a proper sword made by an artist, and I allowed for it to be an artistic project more than I do with other makes, but it’s not something I would classify as a martial sword. If you want a sword from Rob Miller, after you wait for 2-3 years to get your place in queue, you will get an art piece. So look at the swords he prices at 6k ($, £, €, who cares at this price point) and judge him on his artistic skills. That’s how I would rank art swords and their makers. And of course the swords cuts well and all that, but that’s sharpness - even sword like objects can do that. Martial swords start with the blade and they don’t always make good backyard/competition cutters. So would I classify the type XIX bladed swords from Albion as martial? Yea! But here’s the kick, I like the feel in my hand of the LK Chen's Ribaldo more than the Albion's Machiavelli. Why? I suspect because the Ribaldo follows a historical example that benefited from on-hand feedback when these Milanese swords were originally made. From all the swords designed by Peter Johnsson for Albion, I like the Brescia the most, a.k.a. a relatively faithful reproduction from their museum line that has the least amount of added design in it. I suspect Peter Johnsson allowed his geometrical ideas to take over too much - one should look at moments of inertia to get the rotations right as well (something I suspect occured naturally in the old days). So Albion would not be S if S is seen as perfect tier, since their swords don’t offer 100% of their martial potential. And LK Chen is not S because production limitations and some design issues (e.g. hilt block on rapiers don’t impress me). One is a better made as an object, the other is a better martial sword. Which of these qualities ranks the maker as S? In the end, LK Chen blades are great and Kane is right that people should go for them no matter the stamp on the blade, but if I am offered one of the two for free I would take the Albion because is more expensive. And in this case I would take a Castle Keep sword, or another maker of unique swords priced in the +10k range. Basically, the tier list can end up being a price list. I think that to be able to design a good martial sword you should know how to use a sword (in particular the sword type you make a list for). That’s why high quality HEMA trainers end up feeling more like the historical antiques I had the chance to handle (and yes, I’m allowing for variance; not all antiques are good swords; some were shit when they were made, never got to be used and ended up in collections over the years). Trainers capture the right dynamics because they are judged on their ability to do so. As a caviat, I think that what I'm saying is more important for 1-handed swords. Longswrods are more forgiving, or maybe one can compensate easier for bad dynamics, not sure. Last, if you want a scary sharp blade with good geometry, good at cutting, good dynamics for the style of weapon, good quality with a philosophy behind their assembly, just get a Gottfried or a Günther langmesser from Landsknecht Emporium and splurge on the pommel and scabbard options. You won’t break the bank and you'll get something quite really good. So the best sword is a knife. 🙂

Usually I would rate right wing views as a plus, but other than not being able to find all that much on Rob Miller's controversy he is a Gnostic, which at least to me is much more objectionable than edgy takes or intracommunity drama. From what I've seen he refused to disassociate with and condemn a friend who is pretty off the reservation with a certain notorious type of historical denialism, also he has basically displayed himself to not be in line with other societal dogmas (notably to do with a certain vaccine). But honestly the music sphere is full of eccentrics and personally I don't think it's right to betray friends even if they have enough screws loose to set up a hardware shop. It seems like the usual drama in scenes like that. Gnosticism on the other hand is proactively dangerous, and not the James Lindsay "everything I don't like is Gnostic" sense, anti-natilism and heretical anti-reality/life mysticism are genuine threats to civilisation and banes of human existence. We must guard our souls against such things. It's a shame as he makes things which have very limited decent makers, like mortuary hilts and highland broadswords. Bit on the pricey side, but standard for many custom makers and reasonable when it comes to those less prevalent swords.

You are the champion of Hermaeus Mora in the world of swords. A video like this threatens to suck your audience into the realm of Apocrypha, in an endless library of sword knowledge.