A New Contender for the Kriegsmesser Throne (Review)

This reproduction is based on a depiction of a Kriegsmesser (“war knife“) carried by a Landsknecht (a German mercenary) from 1530. The blade of this sword is slightly shorter, more strongly curved, and overall narrower than the Albion Knecht. It's also noticeably lighter and can easily be used with one hand. It cuts beautifully, as tested on water bottles, tatami mats, and dead tree limbs / branches. It also took the harder chopping tests remarkably well, with no damage at all. For a practically minded collector this functional (“battle-ready“) reproduction is easy to recommend, although it's not what most would call “affordable“ (yet significantly cheaper than the Knecht). By the way, for those who keep calling it a “European katana“... Those two really have nothing in common, aside from being curved and single-edged. Different blade geometry, different guard, different handle shape, etc.