Castle Keep Type XII

Castle Keep

Castle Keep Type XII

Performance Review:
This sword handles well. The point of balance is pushed out toward the tip of the blade, but is typical and appropriate for this type of sword. This balance point is not pushed out so far as to make the sword seem blade heavy, but instead gives it a very solid presence. In cutting tests this sword preformed reasonably well against soft targets and excelled against harder targets. Quarter-inch thick plywood was no problem for this sword. Throughout the testing process the sword stayed tight with no rattling or noticeable damage to the edge.

Appearance:
Visually this is a very attractive sword. To many, it is the epitome of the double-edged knightly sword. Rob does a fine job of polishing the blades to a near mirror polish. His fullers are crisp and even with no wobbles. The only aesthetic flaw to the fullers is a slight run off at the tip. Rob tells me that he does his fullers by hand. The pommel and cross are well executed and also nicely polished. The grip is made of ash
or beech and wire wrapped. On my particular sword the wire wrap is loose.  Rob believes that the grip may have shrunk during shipping. He may need to switch to some sort of stabilized wood in the future. For the moment, however, There are also silver ferrules at the top and bottom of the wire wrap that are
very attractively done with small Celtic tryskeles.

Conclusion:
This sword is well worth the purchase price. It handles very nicely and aesthetically is absolutely top notch. There are very few non Arms and Armor production swords that have survived in my collection for any length of time. This is one of them.