Hello everyone,

We have a few HEMA related projects in the works and I thought it would be a good time to get some direct feedback on what longsword practitioners are looking for in a sword for drills practice and sparring.

It's a quick survey - just 9 questions: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XRNDLG8

If you are interested in helping to develop a new line of HEMA longswords please take a minute or two to fill it out and have your voice heard!

Thank you for your time,
Blake

I took the survey, but for me, what it boils down to is -- bring back the Hanwei/Tinker blunts, but give them rounder, thicker, more durable edges. A more interesting scentstopper pommel would be nice. If that makes them a little more expensive, that's fine with me.

Everybody and his brother makes modern style blunts, what I'd love to see is reasonably priced and reasonably accurate reproductions of the many actual training swords that have survived. We've got antique training rapiers, we've got antique trainers for single handed swords with complex hilts, we've got loads of antique training longswords, we've even got surviving examples of montante trainers and for the most part they're just not being reproduced.

I, too, would like to see more Tinker Hanwei bastards. Thicker edges would be a bonus.

The Hanwei federschwert is reasonably accurate but there's been an ongoing problem in the heat treatment. On one of mine the point of the schilt on one side of the blade is so hard a file can't cut it but on the other it's very soft. I've got two that have lasted for years of regular use but a third I bought broke within the first few hours. The pommel nut is also soft and tends to strip out over time. I'm thankful this training weapon exists but there's room for improvement. Good steel, quality heat treatment, peened on pommel and pressed on guard would be great.

There are philosophical questions here, too. For instance reenactor-style blunts are currently popular because they look like what many think a sword should look like but they're an anachronism that has nothing to do with how the arts were actually practiced in the eras we ostensibly study. Similarly the "feders" commonly used in HEMA tournaments right now are way overbuilt compared to what was actually used which means they're heavier and stiffer which means more and bulkier protective gear must be worn which means the fighting is further removed from what it is we're trying to simulate. Basically I see three distinct markets; anachronistic blunts, modern two handed sport swords and accurate reproductions of historical weapons.

I'm coming at this from a stage combat perspective, so my viewpoint is going to be different from that of a reenactor or sport fencing practitioner. So I'm all for those blunts that try to find the best balance between -

1) handling as much as possible like a real sword - light, lively, and fast
2) looking as much as possible like a real sword
3) durability - more than a real sword would have
4) safety, especially since we wear little or no protection.

I found it interesting that using a (sharp) historically weighted longsword wasn't an option for the solo drills question. I use sharps by myself and steel feders with people... and I don't think that unusual.

That's what I do too, steel feder for force on force training and a reasonably accurate sharp for solo drills and cutting. Most likely this was also the common training practice hundreds of years ago.