Hey everyone, Im trying to fine cheep and affordable wasters.

http://www.swordsofhonor.com/2hawosw.html

I was wondering if anyone had advice on these because these seem so cheap i'm almost circumspect.

Anybody have personal experience with these?

These they might be an interesting option ?
http://www.coldsteel.com/bokkens.html

I would buy them in pairs since they might work best against each other but might be weird if used against wood and certainly not a good idea to mix steel blunts and wooden wasters or in this case polypropylene wasters !

I have a couple of these as well as the daggers on order but I haven't handled them so I don't know if they work well compared to wood: Durability should be good but how they feel in the bind in contact with each other or with a parry ? If they are as good as wood they should be worth it and if they are better than wood at simulating the feel of steel on steel blunts they would be better than wood as a training sword.

If/when my order comes in I can report on it as I will show them to the director of my longsword group and he can use them and tell me if he thinks they are worth getting. ( Well at least foir others but I'm taking the chance as they don't cost a fortune).

Anyway there are a lot of good wasters out there by different makers but these are a different option worth looking into.

Anyone tried these out there ?

Oh, I don't know the vendor you mentioned in your Topic so I can't help you there but I'm sure others will be able to.

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I highly recommend New Stirling Arms for wasters.

They may be more expensive than those from the link provided in the initial post; however, when I bought mine several years ago, I received a waster that is still very well balanced, is weighted correctly, is durable, and has a warranty against breakage during normal use within the first year of purchase. After all these years, my longsword waster is holding strong, my dusack held up very well when pit against a metal sword (a bit of sandpaper removed the damage from where the metal sword repeatedly hit it), and my rondel dagger still looks new.

With New Stirling Arms, you get more than a mere "waster," you are investing in a high quality training tool.

http://www.newstirlingarms.com/

I hope this helps you out.

(Craig)

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Thank you very much for your replys. Those wasters seemed like they were too cheap to be true. However due to my limited funds (and its worse because I want to buy a steel waster for practice but want to get these so I can practice with friends and try to get them into it.

Does anyone else think 42 inches is a little short? I was under the impression that longswords avg length was 46'' to50''.

42 inches?

Which one are you talking about? The Cold Steel one at 44 inches?

It's a hand & a half (aka bastard sword) and it's still long enough to use as a "long sword".

My first steel blunt was a hand & a half and worked just fine for learning the German longsword.

Cheers,

DT

What about wooden gladii? I noticed that the gladii listed on New Stirling Arms are all listed as decorative only, and I can't seem to find any Gladii that are made for sparring.... does anyone know of a reputable site that sells any?

Only site i've come across is purple heart armoury, but i'm not to sure without any experience buying these.