Jeffrey Robinsons' Crusader Excalibur

The price of this custom build is not actually mentioned in the review, but for reference would be somewhere in the vicinity of $3000 to $4000..

For many years fans of the John Boorman Excalibur sword had few options - either shell out $2,200 for the Albion Discerner, wait around for the uncertain restock of the Generation 2 Boorman inspired replica, or more recently pick up the Darksword version.

None of these were acceptable to our resident sword connoisseur William Swiger.

So he did what anyone else would do who really wanted a replica of this sword made THEIR way, and has the money to make it happen - he ordered a custom sword, in this case from one of our own home grown and very talented US based custom sword makers, Jeffrey Robinson.

This pictorial review shows you what he got and gives you some idea of what to expect from a high caliber custom sword maker like Jeffrey.

Jeffrey Robinson Crusader Excalibur Review

Reviewed by retired SBG forum global moderator William Swiger

This is a sword I commissioned with Jeffrey Robinson a couple of years ago.

Crusader Excalibur:
Overall length: 48"
Blade Length: 36 1/2"
Blade Width: 2 1/2"
Blade Thickness at Base: .27"
Cross width: 9 1/4"
Grip Length: 9"
POB: 4"
Weight: 4 3/4 lbs

Makers Description: The concept for this sword is a two handed crusader sword with an Excaliburish pommel and an Isuldurish blade. It is a very large sword and has a lot of distal taper to keep the handling reasonable.

The pommel and cross are bronze. The pommel is hot peened to the tang with a small peen block and both the pommel and guard are 'banzaipeened' to the tang. The grip is a wood core with a cotton cord wrap and risers with a leather over-wrap. The blade is hardened and tempered high carbon steel.

The patented 'Banzaipeen' provides for an extremely solid construction.

Impressions: Awhile back I was slightly interested in the Albion Discerner but there were too many things I did not like about certain aspects of the sword. I have also liked the look of the hilts on some Excalibur swords. Eventually while looking over Jeffrey's offerings, I saw a sword that had the exact hilt I was looking for. The sword has a big manly blade as well.

The deal was done and the sword was finished on time and arrived in Germany very well packaged. The sword handles very well and has good balance. You actually do not feel the weight of the sword when using with 2-hands. Unlike some of the production Excalibur swords, this sword has a good amount of distal taper which makes it very manageable.

While hard to photograph, you can see some nice distal tapering of the blade - distal tapering meaning that the cross section of the blade gets progressively thinner from the base to the tip.

It is not a finesse weapon by any means and is meant to be a hard hitting war sword. Jeffrey made this blade himself and did an excellent job. I am very pleased with this sword.

Very clean cast bronze pommel, made using the lost wax process

Perfectly aligned hand guard, also cast bronze

A perfect fit with virtually no gap between the blade and the gaurd

Cons: Custom swords and especially hand made bronze hilts are not cheap. This sword while not cheap is very fairly priced but might be more than some folks can or want to spend. Blade is butter knife sharp.

Where to Buy

Jeffrey's Custom Swords are exclusively available from his website Bronze by Jeffrey Robinson. Prices are typically between $3000 to $4000 depending on the complexity of the design and if a scabbard is also required or not.

I hope this review of the Crusader Excalibur by Jeffrey Robinson has been helpful. To return to Affordable Replicas of Medieval Swords from Jeffrey Robinsons Crusader Excalibur, click here