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Roger Hooper




Location: Northern California
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PostPosted: Fri 29 Jan, 2016 5:45 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I have a few A&A rapiers, and they are anything but flimsy. They have stiffer blades and weigh more than many of my Medieval swords.
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Nathan Robinson
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PostPosted: Fri 29 Jan, 2016 7:30 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Roger Hooper wrote:
I have a few A&A rapiers, and they are anything but flimsy. They have stiffer blades and weigh more than many of my Medieval swords.


Yup. The rapier is a victim of people's misconceptions based on movie renditions of them being like modern epees and that sort of stuff. As you know, they are not at all like those weapons. They are technologically advanced, purpose-built, efficient and deadly as hell.

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Philip Dyer





Joined: 25 Jul 2013

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PostPosted: Fri 29 Jan, 2016 7:53 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

^Yes, It was rather ingenious how smiths managed to figure out how to make a sword functionally a spear that you can carry at your side. I have absolutely zero interest in smallswords and khopeshs. IMO one is glorified sewing needle another is a glorified sickle.
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Roger Hooper




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PostPosted: Fri 29 Jan, 2016 9:01 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I can't stand stage combat or sparring swords that are overweight crowbars with bad blade geometry. I want them to function and feel as much as possible like real swords, while still being durable and as safe as possible - a tough combination to bring off.
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Craig Peters




PostPosted: Fri 29 Jan, 2016 9:36 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

J. Nicolaysen wrote:

But on their own I don't see much to love, while I happily yearn to collect a set of iconic helmets preceding and following the late 1300s, no harness necessary. I'd love to have examples from the migration era up to the 18th century and I can name almost all of them, but for this bascinet.


What about this: maybe, the appeal in a pig-faced bascinet is less in its beauty, and rather more in its alterity. Taking a look at this one from the Royal Armoury in Leeds, for instance, one is struck by the alienness of the appearance. It seems to belong less to a human being, and more to some sort of monstrosity. In this sense, it is akin to some of the Samurai helmets that have face masks that serve to dehumanize the warrior who wears them.

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Sam Arwas




Location: Australia
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PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 2:58 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Multiple fullers that are spaced widely apart. Looks horrible.
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Sam Arwas




Location: Australia
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PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 3:06 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Roger Hooper wrote:
I can't stand stage combat or sparring swords that are overweight crowbars with bad blade geometry. I want them to function and feel as much as possible like real swords, while still being durable and as safe as possible - a tough combination to bring off.
There are antique swords, usually intended for slashing from horseback, that did handle like that. Being a real sword doesn't immediately imply that it's light and nimble.
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Roger Hooper




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PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 3:15 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Sam Arwas wrote:
Roger Hooper wrote:
I can't stand stage combat or sparring swords that are overweight crowbars with bad blade geometry. I want them to function and feel as much as possible like real swords, while still being durable and as safe as possible - a tough combination to bring off.
There are antique swords, usually intended for slashing from horseback, that did handle like that. Being a real sword doesn't immediately imply that it's light and nimble.


True enough, but if they were any good, they had decent blade geometry. I've come across a number of modern swords that weighed 4lbs, but because they had intelligently applied distal taper, they were quite nimble. I've come across blunt reproductions that have little or no taper, and they are clunkers, even at lighter weights.

Most sparring/reenactment/stage combat is done on foot, so a blade-heavy cavalry sword would not be a good choice.
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Philip Dyer





Joined: 25 Jul 2013

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PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 6:38 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Craig Peters wrote:
J. Nicolaysen wrote:

But on their own I don't see much to love, while I happily yearn to collect a set of iconic helmets preceding and following the late 1300s, no harness necessary. I'd love to have examples from the migration era up to the 18th century and I can name almost all of them, but for this bascinet.


What about this: maybe, the appeal in a pig-faced bascinet is less in its beauty, and rather more in its alterity. Taking a look at this one from the Royal Armoury in Leeds, for instance, one is struck by the alienness of the appearance. It seems to belong less to a human being, and more to some sort of monstrosity. In this sense, it is akin to some of the Samurai helmets that have face masks that serve to dehumanize the warrior who wears them.


IMHO, it looks to happy, with the upturn breath holes to be scary in the sense of Samurai warrior helmets. dehumanizing, yes,, no. I Don't think basicinets come anywhere near close to terrifying look of Samurai and Savoyard helmets. http://petermorwood.tumblr.com/post/608386146...-and-body. With right weather lighting conditions a row of these men can very easily look like Devils and Reapers galloping towards you. I don't claim to understnad the mind of medieval European or Japanese man, but I definitely feel these helmets are allot more monsterous than a bascinet.
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Ronald M




Location: vancouver bc canada
Joined: 06 Oct 2015

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PostPosted: Tue 02 Feb, 2016 11:17 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

sabres, tulwars, katanas, messers, falcions
you get the idea usually unbalanced or um unsimmetrical blades kinda bother me

smiley face 123? no? lol yeah well im here cause i like...swords and weapons and stuff obv
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Craig Peters




PostPosted: Sat 27 Feb, 2016 8:15 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

As before, the phrase "I can't stand" is too strong for this post. What struck me recently, however, is that Petersen Type M Viking swords probably have the least appealing hilt furnishings of any Viking-era sword. From a time period that gives us triangular, tri-lobed and multi-lobed pommels, a simple horizontal bar, with a similar such bar for a cross, is pretty unappealing. Even the Type F at least has the button on top, while the Type Q has some curves. Not being particularly knowledgeable about Viking swords, I was astonished to learn that Type Ms were the most common type of Viking sword, after Type H. In a sense, this is understandable: the Type M seems to be the simplest hilt configuration of any Viking sword for a smith to make. Aesthetically, however, Type M's seem to lack everything that make Viking swords beautiful. Even most of the workman-like medieval swords have a more appealing pommel to me.

Does anyone see something in the Type M that I'm missing?
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Luka Borscak




Location: Croatia
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PostPosted: Sat 27 Feb, 2016 1:28 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

It has been suggested that M is a basic set of fittings bladesmith would put on just for the sword to be usable, but most customers would choose to send them to hilt cutler for a proper nice hilt. I don't know if theory holds water, one would have to search for signs of use on discovered type M's to see if they were used or did they wait for someone to hilt them properly but never were...
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J. Nicolaysen




Location: Wyoming
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PostPosted: Sun 28 Feb, 2016 12:11 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Really nice bascinet there Craig, as far as they go, I can almost stand that one! Big Grin

I wish I had a nice example of a type M, but you are correct, they seem to be quite plain and utilitarian by comparison. I don't mind them at all, though I'd probably collect other types first. I can't say the Type M is my favorite by any means, but I admire the idea that it might be a stripped down, munitions-grade setup, to be anachronistic. And if the swords are being provided to the warriors by their Jarl or something, perhaps this is one way to look at it. I'd be interested in handling one. I always thought the Type H would feel uncomfortable with an outsized triangular pommel. But I like my Albion Berserkr. So it's worth seeing if the clunky looking bar actually provides some good handling features, I don't know.

Of course I'm aware I'm conflating these types across regions and times, a viking might not ever encounter a different type than an M or H or whatever. My point such as it is, that the utilitarian design of Type M might surely make up for its plain characteristics.
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