I'm holding another gathering/cutting party for the Roanoke Valley Sword Guild today.

Bill Grandy, Jason Elrod and Bob Busch are making the 4 hr. trek down from N. Va to attend. We'll post pics & details afterwards. Bill & I have been wanting to cross paths for a while and hopefully, today will be the day.


Bill G.
( the other one)

Bill (& gang)-

Hope it's a wonderful and safe time. Lots of fine folks in that list (with some serious toys).

Definitely interested in seeing/hearing how it all comes out.

Hack a noodle for me, will you?

-A

Aaron,

Yes it was a fun & safe time. Such a pleasure to finally meet Bill Grandy, Jason Elrod & Bob Busch. Thanks to them, Chris Goerner and Will Goodwin for making it a grand time of discussion & cutting. Hope Bill, Jason & Bob have a safe trip back home. Pictures to follow just as soon as I can get them developed and more detail of the goings-on. A small army could have been armed with all the blades that were on hand.
Thanks again guys and to Bill G. for the crash coarse in basic rapier.

Cheers,

Bill

Hey Bill,
Yup, we just made it back to Jason's place in Winchester (Bob and I still have about a two hour drive back to our own places). It was a great time. Thanks for having us out! We'll definately have to do more in the future. I can't wait to see the pictures myself!

Bill Goodwin,

Many thanks to you and your family for organizing this event and for being such gracious hosts! The food and fellowship were awsome! Everyone had a wonderful time.

I believe we counted 42 weapons on hand. It was difficult to break away from the items on display and the great discussions to actually do some cutting! Still, many a milk jug met its glorious end, and Bill Grandy showed us how to turn a cantelop into fruit coleslaw with a rapier. I definitely have a whole new appreciation for that weapon -- at least when it's in the hands of someone like Bill Grandy!

Selfishly, I have to admit that one of the highlights of the day for me was trying out my new ElJay Erickson 1750's British Hanger. ElJay's outstanding craftsmanship is apparent in this sword. The piece has a subtle elegance that just begs to be held. If I can ever get my digital camera repaired, I will post some pics. In the mean time, I am attaching a scan of the original sword I asked him to copy.

It was great meeting Bill, Jason and Bob, and I look forward to continuing discussions with them on the forum. Their collections were really incredible, and we proved that "show and tell" is not just for Kindergarten. It's always nice to actually be able to meet other members in person.

To that end, I think we would be remiss not to take opportunities like this to thank Nathan Robinson and the myArmoury contributing team for making the forum what it is. My enjoyment of this hobby has grown exponentially since Bill Goodwin referred me to this site, and I dare say yesterday's cutting party would never have happened had we all not met through the forum. Cheers to the myArmoury team!

Peace,
Chris

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Yike! Pamela and Helen, I'm going to have to hide this thread from my girlfriend if you keep talking like that, she'll get the wrong idea! ;) (that, and you're inviting Jason to say something sarcastic and pompous. :p)

I like the rapier/canteloupe demonstration because it shows that, while a rapier may be obviously thrust oriented, it can still do quite a number on the cut. A fast, wrist-driven cut to the head could possibly end a fight, even if not lethally, and a well placed cut to the forearm could very likely sever the muscles enough to cause someone to drop their sword.

Chris, that Eljay was a fantastic piece. I also really was impressed with your Mad Piper basket hilt. I'd heard good things about his hilts, but until I saw it up close I didn't realize just how nice his craftsmanship really is! I didn't realize we had a full 42 weapons, that's pretty crazy. And I know Bob and I didn't even bring all of our swords because there wasn't room in the car. :eek:

**evil smile** Hey Pamela, we need to make a mental note of this one for future reference :lol:

I would never say anything sarcastic or pompous! You know I do have other skills and abilities . . . though I can't think of any right now.

Bill Grandy wrote:

Yike! Pamela and Helen, I'm going to have to hide this thread from my girlfriend if you keep talking like that, she'll get the wrong idea! ;) (That and you're inviting Jason to say something sarcastic and pompous. :p)

Would you people quit gabbing and post some photos! :D

More pics

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Chris G. taking a swipe

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Chris G.'s new Eljay hanger

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Jason E. & serrated Shamshir

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more blades

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Will G. in action

Very nice cross section of blades you had there! :cool: You have a few there I would really like to try out! Those hangers call to me! ;) Did everyone try out the tulwars and the pulwar. Having one myself, I have found them to be some of the most efficent cutters made. What rated highest with everyone?

Oooppss. Sorry for th double post on the one pic, but here are some more........

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more hilts

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even more

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sharp & pointy

Now THAT looks like it was a wonderful day! As I said before, a gathering of some great folks. Also, I'd say that was a veritable museum there in the back yard! Really great stuff. I could have spent a good few hours just browsing, playing.

I like the cutting setup that you guys had set up. I probably will do something similar, as it looks like there will be at least 6 and very possibly more showing up for the RT this weekend. I want everyone to have a great time and get plenty of exposure, but I want to see it without incident. Thanks for piloting this!

There were a couple of the action shots that caught my eye. First was our hero Bill vs. the evil canteloupe. Bill, is there any chance of getting that demo on video? I think it would blow people's minds. It's true, we often kind of pigeonhole the rapier as a thrusting weapon, and totally discredit it as a slasher.

Next was this one by Chris. Take a look at this pic and look at the water spray. This erupted due to the pressure changes and fluid dynamics - shows a lot about the vectored forces inside that jug (or body of an adversary :eek: ). Look at the ring of water that came up from the harmonics inside the jug... This is awesome!
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Thanks a ton, guys! Really appreciate the pics - eases the pain of not being able to attend. ;)

Bill,

Looks like you had a great time time there, and brought quite an armoury with you all !!

I'm interested in Bill Grandy's fruit dissection drill.


Bill (GR), obviously the shape of edge affects this, as a lot of later rapiers do not have a cutting edge as such, so I imagine you are concentrating on earlier flat diamond or lozenge blades. Do you find there is a maximum length of blade for this kind of cutting if it were against an opponent? The replicas and antiques I have handled seem to have a cut-off (no pun intended) limit at around 37-38 inches of blade where a cut such as you were demonstrating becomes impractical because of the preparatory movements (and their visibility to the opponent) and the recovery (leaving open lines of attack due to the recovery time from a larger movement). I have read numerous references to point cuts or draw cuts (perhaps from when retiring from a deflected attack), and am interested in the practicality of larger wrist-driven cuts that you seemed to be demonstrating. What section of the blade are you using, the last six inches of the foible ? Or more ? The Capo Ferro manual does not really delve into cuts much but it would seem a logical move given the sword-shape of earlier rapier blades and the fact that most fencers were probably still very aware of, if not specifically trained in, the older cutting sword style. Very interested in your thoughts on this. (PS, can you carve BG into the fruit with a few nonchalent cuts ? That would be a show-stopper!)

Good also to photos of some of the people on the site. Nice to put a face to a symbol or post.

Daniel

thanks again Chris for the compliments. We are over-joyed to do stuff like this and the meeting of great people and the fellowship & discussions are just grand.

As far as the pictured cut......it's just Chis' sheer brute strength.... :D

I have loads more photos taken, it's just that 12 midnight, I was starting to nod off a bit.

Tom C.
I don't think that there was just one blade that ranked highest, everyone had there own preference and it was just too dang many to choose from........

Bill