First impression: Renaissance longsword from Michael Tinker Pearce

Okay, here's another first impression video, this time with actual test cutting. This is a sword made by Michael Tinker Pierce, and this was a really lucky find. He's a custom swordsmith, and so he can pump out swords as quickly as mass producers, and this I found on Cult of Athena in the used section. So as soon as I saw that, oh, a Tinker? Gotta grab it. So this was, I got this for $1,200. I don't know what he charges for one of these new, but that's what I paid, and so this is one of those interesting cases where it really grew on me as soon as I started using it. Because at first, when I got it, it was like, oh yeah, this is nice. And, you know, looking, taking a closer look, and looking at the guard in particular, how it's shaped and everything, and I saw a few welding marks here and there, and was kind of going, hmm, I don't know, for $1,200, the finish could be a little better. But then I started using it, and I was like, wow, really impressed. This sword, well, for one, you can see it has quite a bit more mass in the hilt than many other long swords because of the additional protection here. These rings, that's for more hand protection. If you wanted to, you could also put a finger there, which is sometimes shown in the manuals, but that means that you have, since you have a little more mass in the hilt, it means that you have quite a bit of point control. So thrusts are really easy with this, but it's also an amazing cutter, actually. In fact, it cuts a lot better than I thought. So far, I've only tried it against water bottles, but you can still tell, based on how cleanly a blade cuts through those, and how much or little effort it is, you can still tell how good of a cutter it is, of course. It flows effortlessly, and it really makes it, well, I don't really want to say makes it easy. It's really more a case where less well-designed swords make it harder. So this is really more how it should be, at least as far as I'm concerned. And what's also really nice about it, this comes with a properly sharp edge. And I find it sad that I have to point this out as if it was something special. It should be standard, but it really isn't. Way too many sword makers just don't sharpen them properly. He did, and this here is definitely very much appropriate. Overall, the handling. So on his website, Tinker has an article on what makes a sword good. And it talks about quite a variety of factors. It gets very technical, because it's not just the balance. Like most people understand, yeah, balance has something to do with it. Where's the point of balance? How much does it weigh? That's the most basic consideration. And that's also the easiest that you can check. Those are measurements that, if you see them, you get a general idea of what the sword is like. But there are also a lot more details. Like centers of percussion. Where are they? How much shock is transferred? How much vibration is there in the handle as you strike something? Where exactly is the ideal point with which to strike on the blade, the center of percussion? So there is a point where there is minimal, actually no vibration. And that's a point where you would ideally cut. And then there's other factors that many people are not aware of, like how the sword pivots. So based on how the mass is distributed through profile taper, distal taper, hilt components, and all of that, that influences how exactly the sword wants to move. So if you move it around, there is a certain point that it pivots around. If you move it around, there's a point that is more still than the rest. And that has a great deal of influence on how it handles. Natural tendency for it of where it rotates. That really influences the handling a lot and also how it cuts. So all those technical details are really confusing when you read about them. But when you pick up a sword like this, it all comes together. Yes, this feels great. This feels really good in the hand. But you don't have to know and understand all those technical details in order to appreciate how beautiful the handling of a really well-designed sword is. So despite it having quite a bit of weight on paper, it really doesn't feel like it. I mean, I can just hold it like this. It's really super easy. I can basically swing this with, you know, two fingers on each hand. Looks silly, but that's how easy it is. I tried some of the so-called master cuts, which are a little difficult to execute properly. They require quite a bit of practice. Things like, for example, a true edge krumphau. As you can imagine, this makes getting the edge alignment right a little more difficult. And then there's this false edge cut that I find difficult to get right. So these are a little challenging, but that sword really pulls it off well. So it made it a lot easier for me to practice my form and try to improve. So that was a lot of fun. Of course, it is just water bottles, but it is a lot harder to cut them cleanly than many people would expect. In fact, a lot of first-timers can't cut them at all. They just batter them across the yard. So you can tell how good a cut is by how little the bottle moves. This cutting stand is quite small, so it makes it extremely difficult to leave the base of the bottle standing. But you can still see if it just falls straight down, that's a really good cut. The less it flies around as you cut it, the better. Of course, it depends primarily on how well a cut is executed, especially how good the edge alignment is. But the sword certainly makes a difference. Especially sharpness is really important for a good cut. But also how it handles, that makes quite a bit of a difference. Needless to say, first impression is good. Very good, in fact. So this is a really awesome sword. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the video and thanks for watching.