HEMA Sabre Buyer's guide 2025

[@SwordScience]

Brilliant video, Nick. These buyer’s guide videos are just priceless for both new and experienced fencers alike. Truly fantastic. Thanks.

[@TheBetterBleedingBladesYouTube]

Thank you for coming back to this! I really missed your guys’ channel…

[@polymathart]

2:23 POV: Nick is offering you a bouquet of sabers this fine evening.

[@synthemagician4686]

I'm so happy they dropped the weight on the Regenyei. 100% going to be picking one of those up now.

[@kevinc3751]

Great reviews and info. Thanks for making it as I’m planning to get my first HEMA saber soon.

[@carloparisi9945]

Hi Nick, I have an original British Army gymnasium sabre from the Belle Epoque, like yours, and I could live with a modern reproduction of it, rather than heavier reproductions that require more protection. All in all, the British Army really nailed that one. I would also love a good reproduction of the 1888 Italian sabre or of the french 1882.

[@historyandsabre]

I've got the exact same custom Kvetun slot hilt sabre you have and they got the blade right on the first try. Sorry to mess up your Kvetun custom order statistics, Nick!

[@heirihunziker]

Thank you for the excellent information, very much appreciate the detailed and well explained criticism. Nobody would need a 40+ minute sabre infomercial, this here was a lot more useful.

[@swordlaches]

Great video. Would love to see more of this type of thing

[@weaselrampant]

The latest VB Gymnasium Saber is really good and affordable, both the straight and curved versions. It might be too light for European saber tournaments, but its a good midpoint for the US, where there are more mixed weight saber tournaments.

[@toxi87]

I so hope a baskethilt video is coming. Especially with so many new options ir wpuld fun to see your opinions.

[@dlatrexswords]

Man what an extensive overview. Great content Nick!

[@TBoneHEMA]

That regenyei is beautiful... Excelt for the nut pommel. Imo that looks pretty silly. Thank you for such a fantastic guide. Your guide on the Blackfencer Swept Hilt Sidesword convinced me to get one for myself, and it should be finished soon!

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

I'd agree that the big nut on the Regenyei isn;t the most attractive, but it is a feature copied from the original British 1864 gymnasium practice swords. It is designed to be 100% functional. Easy change of blades, easy tightening without risk of stripping, and they tend to stay tighter than other screw thread options. Not pretty like a peened over back strap, but extremely functional for a training sword.

[@TBoneHEMA]

@AcademyofHistoricalFencing yeah I can't argue with the functionality at all. Thanks again!

[@xact13]

Amazing video that you can only come here for!

[@KnjazNazrath]

Sabres are great, but us cultass users are really left with no decent options. The Red Dragon "cutlass" is p much the only usable synth out there, and is just a messer blade jury rigged onto a sabre hilt at the upper end of a cutlass size. As far as steels are concerned, they're all sharps unless you can find someone to make you a custom. Really surprising considering the popularity of PotC and naval history over the past decade or so.

[@scottydoesntknow8]

I had Castille Armory make me a custom Cutlass trainer based on my antique British pattern 1804. It handles just like my antique. I definitely have to be careful using it in sparring though because it hits like a truck and doesn't flex much.

[@LafayetteCCurtis]

The review of the Dorothea dussack should offer a pretty good clue as to why. It’s really difficult to build a training sword that short while striking a reasonable compromise between durability and flexibility.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

The demand just isn't there sadly. In fact there has been very little interest in any short swords in most corners of the HEMA world outside of some niche areas like messer, and even that is a pretty small market. It really wouldn't be difficult to make good cutlasses, but pushing makers is the hardest part and when the demand isn't there, there is not a lot of motivation. The Poker mathaus messer is very cutlass like and if fitted with one of their sabre type bowl guards it would be very representative of many 19th century cutlasses. That could be worth chasing. The steel training cutlasses I own are Castille spatha blades on custom hilts, and a custom Armourclass.

[@ballisticsquid]

​@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing you guys featured a Silk Fencing one off sabre called "lil' sabre/dussack. Looked like it would do well as medieval/renaissance hanger or a cutlass. Silk fencing sound like the kind of guys who are very willing to do these custom spec sabres. Do you recommend it?

[@chrismorgan1336]

Mine is by Kvetun.... 27" blade, 1.5" wide at ricasso, wide 21" fullers, prominent distal taper, 3" POB. Good flex. Spatulated tip. In the interests of interchangeability with the other three sabres, I requested a regular Easton hilt-guard assembly. This hilt is dimensionally close to an RN 1845 pattern anyways. This cutlass handles like the originals of that style and is a formidable piece. However, the French 1833 is something entirely different....need to decide which style you want.

[@cskiver]

Always nice to hear from (who I consider to be) the head hema sabreur. I believe having a fuller on only one side encourages the blade to flex in a safe and predictable way, relative to having it on both sides of a training saber - the dumbbell shape is probably why the Kvetun Eastons break.

[@Vyrian89]

Great video. Agree 100% with the Regenyei grip, it stops me from buying one. Really disappointing to see the Kvetun Gymnasium sabre be a letdown. I was hoping based on the specs that it would be the go to competitive sabre but I guess not. Putting all my hope in the new Krieger S6.

[@BladeFitAcademy]

Thanks for the video, Nick! Excellent review. I bought the Kvetun gymnasium saber and I wanted to like it. It's super pretty and a kvetun, so I felt obligated to really try figure it out in the hand. Mine weighs over 800g ( 816g) which is a head scratcher compared to my other full sized Easton blade with #3 curve and stirrup guard. They weigh almost the same. The K gymnasium sword is very pretty. But honestly in using it I've realized the one thing I don't like is the grip. It's too thick front to back like it could hold a magazine of .22 caliber pistol ammo in there or something. I plan to customize the grip by taking away the aggressive bulge on the grip and I think it will perform much better after that. The tang inside is almost as beefy as the Easton full size. So I think it might qualify for military saber tournament if the parameters are by weight only. But I agree it's an odd duck, a mermaid in the aquarium. So hearing your take validated my experience a bit. For contrast I have a VB gymnasium saber, which I love. At 635g it's lightning fast and the grip is roomy enough to fit my Gabriel 2.0 gloves inside. I can't fit them into my K Gym sword very well at all if I plan on anything dexterous. So I wish there was maybe a 1/2 inch or what, 7 mm more room for a medium glove to fit in that grip. Thanks again for the excellent video.

[@ultimomos5918]

I loved my VB Gym and it's honestly one of the better gyms on the market. Sad I broke it on a castille though >_

[@BladeFitAcademy]

@ultimomos5918 a moment of silence....

[@LafayetteCCurtis]

I wish this had come out before I bought my Poker Adept. It wouldn’t have changed my decision or made me less satisfied overall with it, but it would have given me a better picture of what to expect.

[@smith2851]

I have had my Poker Adept sabre for over a year and I thoroughly enjoy it. For the price range it is offered at, it's an excellent sword. It's a tad heavier on the tip compared to others which I find works well for short cuts!

[@LafayetteCCurtis]

@ That’s odd because I find mine to be _less_ tip-heavy than the Kvetun Eastons that make up the majority of steel sabres in my club.

[@rawr2u190]

Oh thank you for the detailed info

[@FirebloodDamian]

I feel like Nova Fencing Sabres should get added to the list. Michal Sadowski who runs Nova is a top tier Sabre fencer, and he makes very good swords for a good price.

[@ChEEsEmc]

in HEMA in NA most people practice dueling sabre from my experience, that sub 700 gram range (no real weight restrictions most will use around 600 grams). i would love a video on dueling sabres as if i go into a tournament here with a sabre around 800 grams i'm severely disadvantaged and some techniques will probably destroy my arm. just throwing out interest from a viewer form over seas :)

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

I think it is very much about where you live, NA is huge after all. I know loads of folks in NA that use the 800g approx stuff that we do. Certainly he duelling sabre crowd is larger in the US than most places though, it is not common here at all. As a result, I am not really the right person to provide such a video for you, as we just don't use the 600-700g range sabres, and not many in the UK do. As we focus a lot on Roworth we also have the spadroon which does that lighter range of cut and thrust sword for us.

[@Remainsofaruineddeadcursed-d7t]

Yes. It is a very lame aspect of many US sabre tournaments. Id love to see that change, but would be hard since it would change the entire tournament scene. With the exception of socal. But then they went into the opposite direction and their sabre tournaments use knuckle bow sabres.

[@weaselrampant]

@@Remainsofaruineddeadcursed-d7t They just need to be separate tournament categories. I love both military and duelling saber fencing, but its no fun trying to mix them.

[@Remainsofaruineddeadcursed-d7t]

It is not indeed. The game becomes really different, even with just a 150g disparity. Just semi salty the one i like less, is the more popular one here lol

[@ultimomos5918]

@@Remainsofaruineddeadcursed-d7t I personally much prefer the speed of a dueling saber bout but I can understand the frustrations concerning weight requirements here in the US. Saber is just now growing in popularity here in the US, I think it's only a matter of time before there's a separation between the two. That said...people are always going to meta game to maximize performance. If we draw the line for "military" at 750g the top performers are probably going to be using gear right at that point.

[@Davlavi]

Nice review.

[@Swoop__doop]

Awe no heavy cav saber? 😢 still love the video! Love my black fencer I got (minus the huge issues with hilt durability mines crushed into my hand countless times needing ripped back to get my hand free)

[@Shot8117]

Just weighed my eston saber, light curve. A smidge under 900 grams, its a beast

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

That is a shame. Can you tell me when it was purchased? This data is useful to understand the trends over time.

[@adcaptandumvulgus4252]

I like highly curved sabers almost like a shamshear because you have so many more angles of attack open to you than in my not so humble opinion

[@pi8chyt]

Nice video - thanks! I have a Sigi Big with the fullered (but not light) blade and super happy with it. The Regenyei I could try out recently but was not convinced on the grip. Taste I guess. What would really interest me would be what to use as Spadroon Trainer - the Kevtun seems to have issues with the guard, and there are no real options. I'm thinking about getting a VB light with straight blade as a pseudo-spadroon, although the grip shape is of course wrong then.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Spadroon is a tough one. I will likely make a video about that soon, but the options are limited. Indeed the Kvetun has weak guard issues. I was the one developing it, but one day they just gave up on development and unreleased it before it was good enough. I am pushing them all the time to make changes as it is close to being a good option. Right now Armourclass make the best one to order, you can ask for the HEMA spadroon based on my specs and it is very good, the blade is in fact a perfect copy of one of my originals.

[@pi8chyt]

@AcademyofHistoricalFencing thanks for the info!

[@Remainsofaruineddeadcursed-d7t]

Idk where you are based. Like he said, being in Europe makes Castille not a good option. But they do make an economy spadroon that isant great, but the best one i know of. And as per their FB they are working on a new economy spadroon. Hopefully that turns out well

[@adcaptandumvulgus4252]

If you want to fix that wobble all you have to do is electroplate the blade just a little bit of the metal of your choice I would recommend silver if cheap silver available thrift store kitchen has lots of plated pieces that is passed up because it's not valuable solid sterling silver and that would give you all the flex reduction you need

[@KK-ib4uf]

I personally don't like the Easton loaned to me in my club, mostly because it's too heavy for my forearm strength. The smooth leather on the grip can get extremely slippery over time. Combined with its weight, I feel like it's gonna fly out of my hand every time I do a cut. I ended up buying the S6 saber from Krieger, which felt much more controllable for my physicality. The only major downside I can think of is that it's less durable and might be unsuitable for really heavy sparring.

[@LafayetteCCurtis]

Huh. Interesting. The Kvetuns I’ve borrowed in the past couple of years have tended to be too fat in the grip for my liking, and it gets worse since most Kvetun sabre owners here in Indonesia seem to have a tendency to add extra wrapping around the grip. I’m pretty sure I’d want to get an uncovered grip or something if I were to buy an Easton from them so that I’d be able to shave the grip core down to a more reasonable size. Incidentally, I was thinking that I probably would have liked their Easton blade with a smaller grip, but if the blade has been getting heavier as you said, then it might not just be an issue with the grip after all.

[@Remainsofaruineddeadcursed-d7t]

Funny because i was hoping for a fatter grip, and i got one with the thinnest grip of ant of the 12 kvetuns ive held lol

[@simbelin1]

Any thoughts on Krieger Weapons S6? Got mine just a week ago, happy with it so far, but would be interesting to hear a comparative opinion.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

I haven't seen one yet and so it is hard to say, though its clearly just a slightly tweaked version of the S2 I reviewed a few years ago. I'd be curious to know what the distal taper is like. If I come across one at some stage I will get a review done.

[@JeremyRoyaux]

I love my Krieger but i don't get why they use that strange material for the pommel. It's impossible to use without gloves , it just sand your skin instantly :p Otherwise, same weight as Black Fencer infantry saber with stirrup but POB a bit more towards the guard. It handles like a dream. Really "fast" saber that i love for sparring. For class, i prefer my broadsword or the Black Fencer one. Feels a bit more beafy :)

[@simbelin1]

​@@JeremyRoyaux teaches you glove discipline :) But yeah, they might have overdone the "shagreen impression" a bit.

[@andymason1324]

pls do another vid on feders and rapiers pls

[@carloparisi9945]

I'm sharing with my students

[@barnacleandy]

You haven’t won a single match in your fencing career and you have students lmao

[@carloparisi9945]

@@barnacleandy excuse me? Why would you Say that?

[@MrPotatoesLatkie]

Do any of these companies make versions of these practice weapons with real sharp blades? They would make a great accompaniment for the practice weapons and we could cut with them, as we do medieval swords.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

For the most part the companies mentioned do not, but others do. Because antique sabres are still fairly affordable and readily available, many use entry level antiques for test cutting, ones that are not have great historical or monetary value. Beyond that there are companies that have recently started to make realistic replicas of some, see for example our review of the Windlass 1795 light cavalry sabre. That is a great replica and excellent for test cutting, as is the LK Chen model.

[@MrPotatoesLatkie]

@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing I own Cold Steels version of the 1795, and it doesn't seem to be than maneuverable for fencing while on foot. Perhaps the originals do?I would like a real sabre blade with a practice sabre hilt.

[@dennis-mariusthieme8128]

I have also the sabres from most of the sellers, but would never advise to my scholars to buy kvetun or regneyei. I had big quality problems with kevtun, partly also with regneyei.

[@EriYtt]

Same here. One broke today. And the nut has a large tendense to get loose.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Please let us know what issues you had and what the makers did to resolve it. Every company has duds and issues here and there, but what is important is what they do to fix and/or improve. So far the few times we have had issues with Kvetun in the first year of ownership they have sent warranty replacements, and we haven't had any breaks from Regenyei in the last 50 or so swords we have received.

[@Remainsofaruineddeadcursed-d7t]

The nut on mine gets loose almost every sparring session. And that didn't really change until i put sports tape between the handle and guard, and at the shoulder where the blade goes into the guard. That significantly reduced the it getting loose. That being said, their guards seem to be too weak. I couple people in my club have had theirs look beat to hell after one year. Especially compared to sigi. Ive seen sigi pro guards take abuse orders of magnitude more than than kvetun guards and be in much better shape afterwards.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

That is the price you pay for a threaded tang, and yes it has some standard fixes like washers, glue etc. You can opt for peened over though. As for the guards, yeh they can take a few dents here and there, but nothing that has compromised them in any I have seen yet. Sigi have hardened guards that can crack, that is the advantage of a mild steel guard, it doesn't fail completely and can be reshaped and hammered out when needed. Personally I prefer mild guards on many hilts for this reason, though Kvetun have recently moved over to heat treated guards for their revised Easton model. I have seen so many hardened guards snap and fail completely that I would far rather have a few dents than that.

[@dennis-mariusthieme8128]

@@AcademyofHistoricalFencing kvetun is of bad quality. The blades are mostly braking after a year. I had some breaking ofter some weeks. They price is way to expensive for the bad quality. Also no good support. Regneyei, are. good starter but are really heavy and not comftibale at the grips. Also had some blade issues there.

[@tubekulose]

4:28 It's pronounced "Lands - Knecht" instead of "Land - Shneckt", and with "Regenyei" as with every Hungarian word/name the first syllable ("Re...") is stressed. 🙂

[@mysticmarbles]

I'm sure the rengenyei is good but I just hate the way it looks. That tire lug nut looks so silly. The Sigi and the Easton are my personal favs on the market.

[@johnnycakez2750]

It's worth nothing that Kvetun aren't actually shipping anything to the UK at the moment- I went to order an Easton a few months back and they rejected the order saying as much.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

This was an issue briefly a few months back but it has already been resolved. We have received Kvetun orders in recent weeks and others have put in orders fine.

[@jj13ag]

Missing the Krieger S6 😢

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

As much as I would like to try it, at 750g it is too light to meet a lot of groups requirements. I had a patr of S2 and they were decent, but the very narrow stock and lack of distal taper was off putting, I did mention that in the video.

[@bernatpanxeta]

I have one french saber from 1835. I really love it, but it needs continnous attention. It's the prize I must pay to save it.❤ originals

[@brennenderopa]

In 2024, one of our Regenyei feather swords just snapped right at the hilt. I don't trust their products, they are way too expensive for the quality they offer. I still love my three bar hilt blackfencer sabre but it won't win you any competitions vs duel sabres. I will try the Kvetun Easton as soon as I figure out what configurations I want.

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

Was it under warranty and what did Regenyei do about it? They are one of the most reasonably priced and we have found the most reliable. Every single company has duds, we have had Kvetun, Black Fencer and many others do exactly the same from time to time, but they are one offs. So the question is, how frequent are these issues, and what has the manufacturer done to resolve them? If blades breaking bothers you, the Kvetun Easton is the one we have seen snap the most in recent years. In fact every event I went to the UK in 2024 I saw an exploding Easton sabre. As I mentioned in the video, they are used in great numbers and so you might expect to see a few more breaks, but I have not seen any other sabres do the same in that time from other companies.

[@Remainsofaruineddeadcursed-d7t]

Curious about regenyei now. but nick mentioning thr supfen gloves reminded me of his recommendation made me consider buying a pair. Tho luckily i did not, because a club mate got them and they are pure dogshit. Between that and BF sabres with their soft steel made me really have a skeptical eye towards his recommendations since then

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

What issues did you have with the Supfen gloves and what did Supfen do to resolve it? Batches can vary and designs and materials are always changing. The issues we have had were largely replaced under warranty without issue. The recent pair I received was not as well cut as my first pair and that is something we will keep an eye on. As for BF, I have always been very clear about them using thin edges and therefore taking more damage. It is a design choice they make to keep their swords as close to the originals as possible. Some people are ok with that and others are not. It is worth nothing that they have started adding feder type blade options to some of their swords (longswords, sideswords), and I will suggest they add this option to their sabres too. For people wanting thicker edges this could be a good option.

[@Remainsofaruineddeadcursed-d7t]

Oh for me it's beyond quality. I loathe the design in general. especially the finger tips. They are super over bulky and the way they did the finger tips there's so much space/material between finger and the end of the glove, getting a good comfortable grip is a challenge. there's also so much leather in colder weather they get very stiff, even indoors. Also within 3 months we had an incident where the backplate ripped off of the glove 3/4ths of the way from a stop thrust. Ill blame this on dry climate to a degree but the leather dried out and began split in places. Far more aggressively than any other leather products we'd seen. As for supfen, didn't bother because just didn't like the design, and went with the HF firestones. As for BF ive seen a couple that would have become saw blades if not for maintenance after almost every practice. And the guard on the 1803 collapse, as well. You are right that they do feel nice in the hand tho. Which was frustrating because of how much of a pain in the ass they are to get in NA.

[@Remainsofaruineddeadcursed-d7t]

I mostly agree about the sigi. The grip is amazing i only wish it was maybe 2mm wider, they do feel a bit thin. The guard on the one i have experience with is almost indestructible tho. After 2 years of very heavy sparring, it barely has any dents on it at all. Even after purposely trying to mess it up with direct longsword cuts. The blade is sadly a bit too wobbly for my tastes as well. And it bends slightly more towards the middle than last 3rd. Which is my only real criticism of it. The blade is also similarly tough. Ive seen both regenyei and kvetun blades break with shorter lifespans under similar conditions.

[@WebSandwich]

i feel this is a very western european oriented video. you're talking about hema sabres and immediately limit yourself to just military sabers, so the title is misleading. and in hema scene, when people say sabre (as you put it), they can mean different thing depending on where the hema scene is located, i find. for a truly comprehensive hema sabre buyer's guide, you're missing ensifer, bloss and others. finally, real sabres have curves. (edit for wording)

[@AcademyofHistoricalFencing]

I talk about the focus of the video extensively and the parameters of this video and other types of sabres that exist extensively. This focuses on HEMA sabres as are required by most clubs that we know, can only fit so much description in a title, but it is well outlined through the video. Yes there are a few missing, but with good reason, if they are not here it is because they are either not recommended, or have not been seen in any significant quantity to be able to judge. Across a great many HEMA clubs across many countries we know nobody with Bloss or Ensifer sabres for example, and so they cannot be reviewed nor recommended yet. Only swords that have been seen and used extensively enough to review across a broad selection of HEMA clubs that we know are covered here.

[@polymathart]

Man saw Matt Easton wearing a waistcoat at the Royal Armouries and thought “damn. I need to do that.”

[@billcollector69]

Meanwhile us Radaellian sabre people’s best choice is Hanwei 😂

[@TyLarson]

Castille has some really nice dueling sabres.

[@rbranham8062]

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