Valiant Castile Regular v. Signature

wow they still have those around?

ok, the practical Castile you are looking at is the first generation and a type X sword instead of a type XII. notice how much longer the fuller is on the practical and how much more the blade profile tapers on the signature?

they are two entirely different swords. the practical Castile is too heavy for the preference of most people but if you are a big strong guy you may like it. I have a good buddy who is about 6' 2" and very broad shouldered and muscle-bound like a farm-boy and he loves his practical castile and complains how most other swords are too light, while the rest of us can barely swing the castile. also the practical will need some serious sharpening and don't ask me to do it. I swore I would never sharpen another one after I sharpened my buddy's. the heat treat on the practical castile I saw was fantastic but it made it very hard to sharpen. files literally slid right off the blade without even making a scratch.

so anyway they are two entirely different swords, the practical is a very heavy type X and not sharp, while the signature is a type XII and much lighter and better handling and should be nicely sharp.

so yeah I'd personally recommend the signature model over the practical but you just might be the kind of guy who wants a big heavy sword and if so the practical is good but otherwise the signature is going to be way better for you.

also the signature is going to have awesome quality leather while the practical's will be kinda sad.

basically what happened is the practical Castile you see there was the original design for the first run of both the signature and practical versions and was not very well received. Valiant Armoury redesigned it to be a type XII to better match the historical sword it was modeled on and to be a better sword. these old first gen Castiles still pop up from time to time though.

Yup... what Tom said.

I owned a Practical and a Signature version of the first gen Castile... and if you liked the first gen sword and couldn't afford the Signature... the Practical was a good way to go. The Blade and fittings were the same... its just the leatherwork and belt were more simple.

However, they did not make a practical version of the second gen Castile... or any of the new Signature swords... so if your looking for the current generation Castile, the signature is your only option.