On the longsword and templar sword search!

sebastian Speaking of the Hanwei/Tinker Great Sword of War, one of our forum members is selling one.
sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/61923/hanwei-tinker-great-sword-sale

I will also say that the Hanwei Tinker line in general is good in the case that you may want to personalize or modify the sword for either your own satisfaction or as modeling for your character’s sword. The Tinker line are among the easier Euros to, well “Tinker” with should you choose to do so.

Also yes, those Museum Replicas/Windlass are definitely touched with a good bit of fantasy. Not nearly as bad as some you will find, but liberties are def taken. &Yes, they’re blunt stock, but as with most swords from MRL or Kult of Athena a sharpening service can be had; though that can be hit or miss if you’re hoping for a real cutter. Neither are Longswords though, so I suppose it’s a moot point.

Also found this: kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=SSM1002BK
They don’t advertise the maker, but I think I’ve seen similar by chinese swordmaker Musha. Unless the look really strikes you, the Balaur, Ronin, Hanwei are probably better bets.

I would definitely say that if MOK and nddave say the Balaur Arms is a good idea, that this is a sound vote of confidence for those. I’ve personally never had a Balaur, but have heard more good than bad. One caveat though, is that I have seen breakage on some pieces by them with reportedly routine cutting (as recent as a week ago on FB) and will add that at this price-point you’ve always got to be careful putting a blade to anything tough because you can always get a lemon, and that’s not just a Balaur thing.

I was looking at longswords or something that the templars would have used in their time period. So not a specific model. 

I am personally at 50/50 with Cold Steel purchases and would advise against them anytime there is an option,

Just find a nice arming sword and a nice buckler and you'll have 80% of what you want no matter what they are. You can get closer after that.

Darksword also has some pretty attractive (by my standards) 2 Handed Templar swords.
However, a disclaimer: Do some cursory research into the reputation that Darksword Armoury has and make the call yourself on whether the aesthetics/ specs are attractive enough to give them a shot. From everything I read, they can be hit-or-miss. I would say that if you were to buy a DSA, to buy it from a reputable vendor who has a stake in giving you a sword that also passes *their* quality standards. This way you know that there are now two parties at least somewhat invested in your satisfaction, and that it won’t just be DSA checking for QC, which seems to be part of their issue.

There is also less of an emphasis on historical accuracy with Darksword than with some other makers. How close are you hoping to come regarding accuracy? Is some fictional license acceptable, or are you most concerned with unimpeachable historical spec?

www.reliks.com/functional-european-swords/12th-c-medieval-sword/
www.reliks.com/functional-european-swords/two-handed-templar-sword/

To back another point made here, you do have those cool Brazil Nut pommels on Arming Swords of that time if you decide to go single-hander. “Teutonic”/“Hospitaller” swords will also work generally as long as you can identify (in your story/model) aesthetic components on them that might make it specific to these orders and change it to Templar-suited features for your purposes.