Swordplay

[TexRoadkill]

I was reading an article on bladed weapon combat and it talked about the evolution of BWC. It said that it's inherent in men to want to slash at an enemy instead of thrusting. Thrusting is much more deadly and it was a technique the Romans decided to work on with their men (not sure when that started). Once they got their men trained to thrust instead of slash they became much more deadly against the undisciplined barbarians.

[Tamur]

But this probably has the danger that the blow chops your hand off instead.

Ha! Yes... I just had my thumb broken (fracture) last week when a particularly bad parry brought my thumb smack into my son's blade. Yowch.

Parrying near the tip of the blade is near impossible. Mid-blade is best --- if you try to catch and parry near the hilt you're getting too close to your opponent and the fight will end pretty quickly, one way or the other

[Tamur]

did you make your swords? Me and a friend were discussing the kind of wood to use for swords and what the best way would be to produce them would be. Any suggestions or did you buy them?

Nothing fancy, but the trick is to get and use a single block of wood for the entire sword. At first I tried a simple dowel attached via a small steel rod and glue to a grip/handguard, but wood joins are just too weak to handle the punishment.

The very simplest, longest-lasting, and great fun for NOTHING is to just get a reasonably-sized 100 cm (about 3 feet) long dowel. These last forever, can be easily carved into a nice blade shape, and are very inexpensive. You can find them in any craft store.

Second is using a larger piece of wood, like a 4 cm x 10 cm x 100 cm slab, and carving one. I did this once -- it took me three months at a few minutes a day, and lasted for something like three weeks. Dreadful waste it was, looked very nice while it lasted though!

Let me know if I can help out with more detail. It really is great fun.

[DemonArchangel]

Well, a melee was a big fat crush, if you were a "barbarian" with a longsword, you couldn't swing it right, but the gladius was short enough to be used effectively in scrum situation.

[octavian]

mmm, wooden swords my best friend has quite a collection of wooden swords that he has made (as well as some steel ones that he bought). his wooden swords are some of the best i have ever seen (and that is saying a lot). he usually can make one sword in under 6 hours of work as well, he is an extremely good modelling artist artist, so from 5 feet away, his swords (no joke) look real. he usually uses red oak for the wood, and keeps the blades at least 3/8 of an inch thick at their thickest point (right beside the fuller). i will see if A) i can get him to email me some of his digital pics of his swords B) get him to tell me exactly how he does the manufacturing of them.