And why do sources deferentiate between them.

If you are speaking about replicas of arms, the "false edge" is a particular processing of the edge of a weapon to look like a real, dangerous edge, but be completely safe (approx bigger than 3mm). Obliviously a "real edge" is when a weapon is manufactured with a normal edge, even if not razor sharp.

Both of you are correct. Gabriele was speaking in terms of replicas; I have seen the term "false edged" used for Kit Rae swords before, and they are much like he describes.

M.

As Nathan said.

With a simple hilt, if you are holding a sword in the "hammer" grip, the true edge is the edge facing your knuckles, the false edge faces your wrist (and if no-one is holding the sword it has neither). This important for some cuts- eg when "falling under the sword" in the MS I:33 system; if you bind with the true edge your options are limited, while if you bind with the false edge you can immediately follow it with a wrist cut to your opponent's head.

On the other hand, for some single edged swords (such as falchions) the tip of the back of the sword may be sharpened to aid thrusting, and referred to as the false edge; also complex hilted swords such as schiavona have an obvious true and false edge because they can only be held from one side of the hilt.

In Fiore, the true edge faces the same way as your knuckles and is your primary cutting edge. The false edge is the back edge of the sword. As Nathan mentioned, its merely an alignment issue - not an actual physical property of the sword.

long edge is for long strikes, the short for shorter strikes :)

The term "false edge" is also sometimes specifically applied to a (usually) short, beveled section of back edge, on a blade that is otherwise single-edged. These are also sometimes known as a swedge. This use of the term is more of a modern connotation, I believe, but does cross over into historical pieces which often have this feature. In some contexts this could cause some confusion/misunderstandings.

Hello All,

True & False edge is the terminology used in the 18th century British sword manuals I work from to explain edge alignment.

Long and short edge is the terminology used in the 14th & 15th century German sword manuals I work from to explain edge alignment.

True & Long both line up with the knuckles, false & short line up with the web between the thumb and first finger.

Since I work with the Scottish Baskethilted broadsword (correct name in this case) and the longsword, both weapons have edges that run the same length on both sides of the blade. If not fencable blunts, but sharps, the sharpen edges would be the same length on either side of the blade.

On the British backsword and German messer, True & False edge/ Long and short edge is still used to explain edge alignment, but in these swords each has a blunt false/ short edge for most of the length of the blade with only a short section sharped back from the tip.

While the "odd" naming of the edges might confuse a sword collector, it's very helpful to a historic fencer to explain how a cut or defense with the sword should be delivered when working from period text.

Cheers,


David Teague

Ok, I thought that the true edge (i'm speaking of longswords only) was somehow different than the false edge. Thank you all very much.

Second question, though kind of off topic, do any of you know of any good heater or roundshield techniques? I can only find the hammaborg group (in germany) that has any videos on how to use a roundshield.

Check out SPADA I: http://revival.us/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=80

Stephen Hand and Paul Wagner break down information from Talhoffer's dueling shield and a few other sources (Capo Fero if I recall correctly) to reconstruct some sword and shield techniques, particularly as they regard center grip shields.

M.