Hello!

Of late I've found myself venturing into making a waster or two for personal practice. While I've been satisfied with what I make for myself, I've found myself wondering if they would be suitable for training with. So I'm looking for input on this subject...

What do you as a customer and martial artist (whatever art, be it JSA, HEMA/WMA, SCA etc), want of your wasters? What performance do you desire--weight, balance, 'liveliness'? What woods do you prefer, or would you rather they be made from synthetic material?

What use do you typically put your wasters to-- sparring, fighting, simply practicing forms or what?

Which purpose do you believe wasters are best used for?

What options would you like to see available as far as different types of 'sword' go? Would you want wasters for training with, for example, Polish saber fencing?

It's a fair number of questions to ask, I know. Thanks for your responses!

Well there are quite many synthetic wasters on the market(I use Rawlings myself) so you could read threads about those to get an idea of the requirements, however can you tell me exactly what kind of wasters did you make?

Ah, sorry!

Since I haven't been able to find anything harder (hickory, white oak), I've been using maple with some red oak bits. I can post a picture if desired, but so far I've made a single-hander that's more or less an Oakeshott type X and a two-hander that was a XIX. They're both relatively light compared to actual swords-- I'd say from half to two-thirds the swords' weight-- but they're quite tough, I slammed one full force into a 2x6 plank and there was no damage to the waster's edge while it left a fair impression in the plank.

I've also considered making a kriegmesser, mainly to see if I can pull it off...

My understanding of wasters is that due to the inherent limitations of wood, you can't necessarily make them the *same* weight as a steel sword without making them unwieldy and unattractive.

As a customer, Nobody that I have found makes what I want in a waster.

I have a thing for exotic woods and would love to see a historic Types done all in exotic wood... Take my favorite
pictured here http://www.oakeshott.org/Typo.html

Type XVII
Blade: 36" Cocobolo
Guard & Pommel: Ebony
Handle: 9" Wenge

the variations are unlimited and nobody is doing it.

I have made staves in cocobolo, as well as knife handles. It's expensive and hard to work with, plus the dust is toxic. But it is beautiful, dense (much heavier than oak) and very tough. I used to buy mine at Gilmer wood company in Portland. IIRC, they supply a lot of the exotic hardwoods to the knife maker industry.

You would not want to be hit with a cocobolo waster. Wood in general is quite painful in the thrust, since it doesn't flex. I'm using Rawlings, and have a new Xtreme on the way. I personally don't see much use for wood waters any more unless you are very traditional. The synthetics are much safer and not much more expensive than the good wood wasters. YMMV