Today's update:

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Spotlight: Combination Weapons
An article by Chad Arnow

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CAS Iberia / Hanwei Combination Rapier
A hands-on review by Bill Grandy

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CAS Iberia / Hanwei Trident Main Gauche
A hands-on review by Bill Grandy

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CAS Iberia / Hanwei Combination Rapier
Added to Bill's Collection

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CAS Iberia / Hanwei Trident Main Gauche
Added to Bill's Collection


As always, you can see our Complete History of Updates listed right from our home page.

This is so unusual and amazing ! Thanks a lot for this great update !

Cheers,

David

This is a great update !
I realy like the article on Combination Weapons !
and weapon reviews are always welcome.

best regards
Klaus

We figured this would be a spotlight that many people would find entertaining. :) I'm glad people like it.

I believe this is also the most image-intense article we've done. My hat's off to Nathan once again.

Great update gents! On the whole, combo weapons aren't discussed very much nowadays, probably because their practicality in a combat situation often comes into question; I think Bill touched on this in his review of the trident main gauche.

I actually own one of these, though I have since loaned it to my best friend who re-did the grip so that it's all steel wire (no brass). I think it looks nicer this way and better matches my Windlass swept hilt rapier. You're right, Bill, it is a fun little piece. Mine is displayed on my wall with the arms open. "What the heck is that?!" people often ask when they see it. :D

Very good articles and some fascinating combination weapons that I haven't seen before. :cool: ( A few I've seen before but it's rare that I see things that I haven't seen before in my reference books: Many books seem to use the same museum pieces as illustrations even when they were written decades apart by different authors i.e. there seems to be a lack of new searches for less well know pics when books are put together as the same old images are recycled a lot ) .

Anyway, some effort has been applied here to find less well known weapons. :cool:

Oh, by the way " main gauche " is French for left hand in everyday conversation but is an established term for these parrying daggers at least from the 19th century on: In period I don't know if they were called this in French.

In any case the maker decided to use the French name for the " exotic " appeal I'm guessing :?: But I don't think there was a regional variant of the left hand dagger that would merit the specific use of French to distinguish it from the same type of daggers from other regions.

Nice articles from Bill also but if these types of combination weapons worked well in period would depend on the construction being sturdy enough to take a solid hit ! ( Well, mostly talking of the parrying dagger. )

Jean,
I'm glad you enjoyed the variety. It was challenging to track down as many good examples as we could find. Most of the publications with combination weapons in them are out of print and/or were short printing runs. The huge German Kombinationswaffen book is the single best source. Much of the sources section consists of rare/OOP books. It's probably one of our more expensive Source sections. :)

I highly recommend Kombinationswaffen. It's eye candy to the extreme. If you read/speak German, you'll like it even more.

The Robert Held-edited Arms and Armor Annual also had a few examples, including that main gauche-pistol combination. It also has a few other great articles. I've used it as a source in a couple of different articles so far. It's cheap, too. :)

I think combination weapons are under-studied. I know their martial usability is debatable, but their sheer wow-factor is undeniable. They are a testament to the creativity of humankind.

Jean,
Your mention of bayonets reminds me that another widely used combination weapon--if one considers it such--is the sword or saber bayonet. I do not know the frequency of this bayonet's use as a sword, but 19th century armies certainly produced them in high numbers. To remain closer to periods in which edged weapons enjoyed wider use, the plug bayonet is an example of an early combination weapon: dagger and bayonet. Perhaps combination is the wrong term for these as they did not necessarily have a separate mechanism for the secondary use. Maybe they are more multi-purpose?

Jonathan

A fascinating update, thank you to those involved.

I do have one question for Bill Grandy regarding the Combination Rapier. I was wondering if the rapier handles significantly differently with and without the dagger in place, and if so, which do you prefer?