Arms and Armor Edward III

Arms and Armor

Edward III

Performance Review:
Oakeshott states that the original Edward III sword is surprisingly light feeling and well balanced. The Arms and Armor reproductions maintain these characteristics. Despite being a physically very imposing sword the Edward III is a reasonably quick weapon for its size and capable of dealing powerful shearing blows. For a person with reasonable strength it should even be possible to use the sword one handed for a limited duration. The gold version belongs to a customer so I was unable to cut with it. However the silver Edward III works well against soft targets and I have no doubt would perform admirably against harder targets as well.

Appearance:
Visually the Edward III is stunning. This is to be expected since the original sword was intended as the side arm and status symbol for a king. The reproduction would probably be fairly serviceable for royalty as well. The fit and finish are up to Arms and Armors usual high standards. The blade is clean with no grind marks or obvious geometry problems. The castings for the hilt and pommel also are clean. The enamel work on the pommel is well executed and fairly well defined. The grip is nice and tight. The engravings on the blade is very sharp and crisp. I asked Craig how these were applied. He said that the guys at Arms and Armor had settled on a sand blasting method to apply the engravings. He said that it was preferable to an acid etch which he had also tried. This sword is the showiest piece from Arms and Armor that I have ever handled.

Conclusion:
Although Im admittedly biased I believe that this sword is the version of the Edward III sword that you want to own.