Kingston Arms Sidesword - HEMA Review

Hema - Review Criteria

Before we dive in I wanted to make it clear that Kult of Athena provided this sword for the purpose of reviewing and if you like what you see there will be an affiliate link above.

Now let's go over the key factors I'll be considering in this review:

Fit and Finish: What materials are used, and how well is it put together?

Handling: Balance, weight, and overall feel in the hand.

Durability: How well will this sword hold up to regular HEMA training?

Safety: Does the sword have proper blunt edges and a safe tip for sparring?

Value: Is the price point reasonable for the quality and features offered?

Fit and Finish - 8

This sword feels like someone increased the scaling like 20%. I mean look at this guard and this pommel, even the blade and rounded tip. It is just BIG, not saying that is bad, just big. 

Lets start with pommel, it is a nut with a really nice faceted onion bulb vibe. It feels solid and your hand will not be slipping off of this one. The corded handle wrap is a little basic and I would expect this to be one of the first things to go but it is pretty robust cording.

The cross guard and bars are very attractive with an unique asymmetrical design. The welds on them are pretty 50/50. Some are clean, some maybe need a little bit more attention. Speaking of the bars, I really like this extra bit of reinforcement on the flanks of the blade that I do not see too often, but it makes it solid and no blade rattle at all. I think it does make this little bit of leather pointless, but if you really want to you could cut it off.

It has an overall length of 43' (109 cm) Moving on to the blade, it features a 36 3/8'' inches (92 cm cm), and all together is about 2 lb 12.3 oz (1247 grams).

It has this clean fuller halfway up and there is just the slightest beveling and distal taper from the end of the fuller to the tip. It also has a very soft diamond cross section, more like a pancake cross section. The tip is rolled with one heck of a loop.

Overall, the fit and finish is nice and pretty fun. Like I said before, it feels like someone oversized some parts but it is still something someone obviously put time into the look and the construction.  8 out of 10.

Handling and Performance - 6

It is BIG and it is HEAVY. It is large enough to fit any fingered glove into the rings, and you could even use your Spez heavies on if you wanted to. That being said, when I think of a side sword I think of a little bit more dexterity and finesse, if I closed my eyes it is closer to a viking type or a thick arming sword than what I would consider a side sword. That does not mean I do not like it necessarily, but I do not think this is great for a high level side sword fighter.  I give it an 6 out of 10 for handling 

Durability - 6

I do not think this blade is going anywhere for a while. I have used this sword for a handful of hours in sparring and it does not show any wear or tear, granted I am usually going against smaller blades and sabers so there is not too much that can harm it in its normal use case.

That being said, the basket seems to be made of a pretty mild steel. It has a few bites and there is a pretty gnarly shave on the cross right here.

So it is hard to really nail down on the durability but I feel like a 6 out of 10 is fair considering the thing that is supposed to take the most abuse, it is not really built to take that abuse.

Safety - 8

This sword is kinda stiff. Not overly but you certainly feel the resistance. It has arguably the largest loop for a tip I have ever seen and it is heavy. Not blade heavy, just heavy which slows down your actions.

I am pretty happy with the safety feature though I worry a tad with the weight if you get it into the hands of a beefcake. 8 out of 10

Value - 8

This sword is $230 on Kult of Athena, I think that is a great price. You are getting an attractive, if a bit chunky, sword for under $250? I think this would get a beginner/intermediate HEMAist pretty far into their training and improvement before they would want an upgrade. Plus it has the added benefit of weight training built into it. 8 out of 10

Overall Impression - 7.2

With an aggregate score of 7.2 The Kingston Arms - Fencing Side Sword is a great sword for beginners and people who are just starting to look into side sword work. It is a bit heavy but I see that as more of a feature than a bug for this type of sword as the weight is well distributed rather than being blade heavy, especially at this price point. This would also make a pretty good club beater for as long as the guard lasts. I know my students have really enjoyed trying it out and playing around with it lately.