Arms & Armor Fechterspiel
Original: 15th - 16th century
The problem with creating a training sword that behaves like an accurate weapon is that there is no such thing as a training sword that behaves like an accurate weapon. A weapon is designed with the intent to harm; a training sword is designed to keep the practitioner safe. Fencers in period clearly realized this, and in many of the German fencing manuscripts you can see fighters practicing with blunt swords that have narrow blades. The blades are designed to be narrow so that they can be made with thick edges, which provides extra safety without adding extra weight. In order to keep structural integrity around the tang, the ricasso area is wide.
Arms & Armor has created this wonderful version of these fencing longswords. Called the
Fechterspiel, which roughly means "assault of arms", this training sword is one of the finest of its kind that I have ever held. It is lively in the hand, feels and moves like a real sword, and even looks like it came right off of the pages of a Renaissance fechtbuch. In addition, the sword is one of the safest of its kind that I've ever used: The edge is wide enough to help avoid injuries, the sword is incredibly responsive which helps the user control it, and the blade is flexible enough that, with the addition of a rubber blunt over the tip, thrusting is safe. It can't be ignored that all of these factors mean nothing if the sword is being used by someone who lacks safety equipment, experience and control, but provided that these things are taken into account, the advanced longsword fencer should be quite pleased with this acquisition.
See our
hands-on review for more information on this sword.
Overall length: 48"
Weight: 3.2 pounds
Width of guard: 9"
Blade: 37.5" long; 1.75" wide below guard
Grip length: 8"
Point of Balance (PoB): 2.875" from guard
Center of Percussion (CoP): ~25" from guard
Maker:
Arms & Armor of Minnesota.
Open a printer-friendly version of this page
