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One of the things my group tried last year at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, was a "How Weapons Work" demo that included abusing various produce and cuts of meat with the weapons in our camp and then showing how a field surgeon would fix the wounds. Recently we've added black powder to the demos, by way of pistol shots. I am hoping to convince the Bristol management to help defer the cost of the produce and other materials and make this show part of our regular schedule. I think its important to show the reality of the weapons and the medical practices we are displaying to help educate the TV generation.

So my question is, what kinds of things do you, as a historical arms community, think should be shown/explained at a venue where misconception abounds?

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Pistol charged with 60 grains and leather patch, no shot

I have an idea or two. One, I would like to show how light a medieval sword is.

A good way to do this would be to do a balance scale with say, a highschool textbook balanced on the other side? a few potatos? Something everyone is familar with. Then cut with the sword to show how sharp it is. (I know you do that, but I mean an immedate transtion from scale to cut.) Get the lightest weight blunt you can, and pass it around.



There are some other things I would like to show, IE, Katana next to broadsword to show the Broadsword isn't super inferior like on TV... (Grrr.) Like cutting with a katana and an Albion side by side, to show the Kat isn't actually sharper, and then balancing them on the same scale to show the 'super TV sword' isn't actually outwieghed by a 'super heavy' European broadsword..... I would go on, but people tell me I start raving when I go on about that stuff. ;)

Another thing that might be of interist is one of those 'point of balance' stands that Albion has for sale. A very interisting and simple way of showing the sword's balance.

Let me first start out by saying that the picture of the exploding watermelon is awesome, Chris. :cool:

George Hill wrote:

A good way to do this would be to do a balance scale with say, a highschool textbook balanced on the other side? a few potatos? Something everyone is familar with. Then cut with the sword to show how sharp it is. (I know you do that, but I mean an immedate transtion from scale to cut.)

That's a really good idea. I like the idea of using highschool textbooks in particular, actually, since most people can relate to how heavy they are. :) I wouldn't pass a blunt around, unless if it were a small crowd... to many legal liabilities for that. But if it's a small bunch directly in front of you where you can keep a close eye on them, maybe that'd be okay.

Another good thing to demonstrate is how swordplay isn't about constant blade contact. If you can demonstrate a few basic moves with blunts/wasters, particularly moves that involve simply voiding and countering, that'd be good. And showing a few fancier but correct moves as a crowd pleaser afterwards never hurts. :)

Thanks George and Bill for the replies. And Bill It was very spiffy, but I had to take a water bucket to rinse off by doublet afterwards :)

I like the weight ideas a lot. I'll have to see what I can get away with during the demo (can't have too much anacronistic stuff in my show even though I'm right next to a joust field that has knights returning from the 'Anglo-Saxon wars' - Oy, my head hurts just thinking about that) We have two tents set up in camp, one with armour and one with weapons, and in those tents we allow hands on learning with the swords and armour. I love the way people look when I show them a modern recreation (usually some wallhanger one of guys has lying around) and compare it to our original 1640 Cavalry Sword.

We tried incorporating some WMA things into our shows last year and it went over very well. With a couple of the Chicago Swordplay Guild guys working the Arms and Armor booth just up the hill from us we've been able to learn and share more and more. This year instead of teaching stage combat to the group, we are using Greg Melee's class on Viggiani as the basis for our sword work. I'm betting we could incorporate a couple of plays and then show those actions on some targets.

Thanks for the help!

I'd love to do shows regarding historical swordplay and equipment at the two local Ren Faires here, but I have no idea how to get it going. Obtaining equipment isn't to big of a deal. My biggest problem is finding another couple people who will do the project with me and are willing to incur a bit of the startup costs. :\

Your idea to show the actual damage that medieval weapons cause is a great step for educating the less knowledgable. Same with allowing them to compare "fantasy swords" with "replicas". Keep up the good work!

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I would go on, but people tell me I start raving when I go on about that stuff.

I'm the same way. I hate how all the animes and holywood movies portray katanas as being superior. :evil:

Armour demos are good as well.
Movies and RPGs have a tendency to downplay armour effectiveness a lot.

A trick we've done is chopping up apples on peoples's helmets. Preferably with a wood axe, wich is something people can relate to. Meat cleaver would be another good one. Bowie knifes, other modern day items...

Put a helmet on a melon, and wack it with a sword... (It can perfectly well be a blunt sword... You can still cut the melon in two with it afterwards...)

Demonstrate draw cuts. Then how mail stops them.

A alternate/alternative to the WMA presentation is the street brawl approach, where two armoured fighters clash together, and try to kill each other in every way they can, preferably working their way from polearm to sword to dagger, and ending up in a heap on the ground.
A good way to show the difference between duel and war.

Doing ancient period reenacment.

I was thinking of setting up an demo that shows a bit how a battle would go according to missile weapons and such.

So I would like to put up a (roman) shield with an (old) sheap roman helmet.
And then targeting it with stone's from a slingshot, arrows, and javelins...
Doing so i would like to tell them the range these weapons would have...
(anybody who could tell me?)

All this, to show that a battle wouldn't only be about people hacking into eachother with swords and such, while trying to hide behind ones own shield.
But that these shield also were used to protect one and ones comrades agains missiles...

Especialy because these roman reenactment troops would like to march around and show there use of the gladius while hiding behind there shields. I think it would be a nice adition to there programn...

For other periods I quess battles also would start with a rain of missiles...

Folkert

You might show how every part of a sword can be used to to inflict damage. Demonstrate a pommel strike, for instance. Or turn the sword around for a murder stroke and smash some fruit with the hilt. You could proably do quite a nice demonstration with this where you show the real percussive force of such a blow. Also, you could demonstrate some half-swording thrusts since people rarely see someone grip the sword blade for a thrust in the movies. I'm not sure if half-swording thrust would be as entertaining as the murder stroke for a general audience but it would fit nicely with the armor demonstration that Elling mentioned

Ben

For showiness, you could try demonstrating blade-grabs/disarms as they tend to be fun to watch and perform. You could also demonstrate how-to perform a proper blade-grab upon a sword blade. I don't know what reference materials you possess, but Tobler's first book covers this quite well.