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The Hobbit Hole XXXVI - O! Water cold we may pour at need...
Posted on 05/03/2008 8:48:06 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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To: Ramius
Instead, what you'd train to do is to parry with the ~flat~ of the blade. Just turn it slightly and meet his edge with your flat. A sword will flex when hit on the flat, like a leaf spring. It gives a little and cushions the blow, plus it is spread across a wide area."Mythbusters" have done a couple of "swords myths" episodes. The have an air-powered mechanical "arm" that can swing horizontally at 4x human speed and strength. Using high-quality modern swords in flat-on-flat testing, the rapier went down first. High speed video showed a traveling sine wave moving up and down the blade. It snapped far below the point of contact. The long sword was the last one left standing, after taking out the samurai sword.
In a test of quality steel against cutlery stainless, the "good" samurai sword took out the cheap one edge-on-edge. Again, the cheap blade failed at a weak point far away from the point of impact. An edge-on-edge test of two quality samurai swords showed both "survived", but with huge chips taken out at the contact point. I'm sure close-up study would show that both would be considered useless after that.
I think there will always be a search for reenactment weapons that are safe, affordable, and look and feel right. Meanwhile, I'm very satisfied with my Cold Steel "Brooklyn Smasher" that I carry in my truck. It's solid polypropylene, and is very handy to have in case a baseball game breaks out without warning.
4,821
posted on
08/20/2008 1:50:50 PM PDT
by
300winmag
(Deterrence is an activity, Destruction is a profession)
To: Overtaxed
Phone skilz...he haz them.I haz them too, and needz all of them since I'm stuck here alone for another two hours.
see more dog pictures
4,822
posted on
08/20/2008 6:15:12 PM PDT
by
300winmag
(Deterrence is an activity, Destruction is a profession)
To: 300winmag
Ha! I thought of posting that one for you when I saw it a few days ago. :-)
To: 300winmag
*sigh*
That’s a bit too close to home today.
Ungh. Ineedadrink. Or some ice cream. Or both.
To: Ramius
Evening Ramius - saw your posts on swords and have read all of them quite closely. That is an excellent skill set to acquire. My hats off to you for picking such a worthwhile endeavor.
Although I have several Wilkinsons on my wall in the den, I have virtually no idea of how they would actually be put to use. This is another good reason to have a weaponry oriented moot.
I’m sure there’s more than one of our fellowship that would like to be more acquainted with the care and handling of long pointy things. :-)
To: Overtaxed
Jackson.... Phone skilz...he haz them. LOL
To: HairOfTheDog; All
To: Corin Stormhands
It’s so close to Friday...
4,828
posted on
08/21/2008 5:14:41 AM PDT
by
JenB
To: Corin Stormhands
hppf ,ptomoh
I’ve been up since about 2. :~(
To: HairOfTheDog; JenB
I went to bed at about 2 EST.
It’s just not right for co-workers to make me want to hurt them this early in the morning...
To: Corin Stormhands
I slept all night... er... but I had really weird dreams...
4,831
posted on
08/21/2008 6:43:05 AM PDT
by
JenB
To: osagebowman
Thanks Mister Bowman...
I’ve got a long road ahead of me. There’s an awful lot to learn and much practice, practice, practice. But it’s really interesting because there’s a great deal of history that comes along in the package.
A weapons-moot would be something good.
4,832
posted on
08/21/2008 7:12:37 AM PDT
by
Ramius
(Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
To: Ramius
There’s an awful lot to learn and much practice, practice, practice. You're trying to get to Carnegie Hall???
To: Corin Stormhands
Heh. Nah, for that I’d just use GPS. :-)
4,834
posted on
08/21/2008 7:18:10 AM PDT
by
Ramius
(Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
To: Ramius
To: Ramius
A few months I joined a historical fencing club. That. Is. So. Neat!
To: Lil'freeper
Thanks! I think so too!
I’m still a noobie. But I’m soaking up as much as I can as fast as I can. The all-day seminar on Saturday was a huge boost. Kinda put it all together and gave me a foundation to build on.
In some ways it’s very simple. There aren’t that many basic guards and strikes. Yet the combinations, feints and variations are so very complex.
It’s like tennis. As my old tennis coach used to say: It’s the easiest game in the world to play, yet it is impossible to master. You have a fairly large ball, a large thing to hit it with, and an enormous target. And yet... mastery eludes everyone.
4,837
posted on
08/21/2008 5:15:33 PM PDT
by
Ramius
(Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
To: HairOfTheDog; ecurbh; RosieCotton
4,838
posted on
08/21/2008 6:26:05 PM PDT
by
Ramius
(Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
To: Ramius
I saw that on the TV news. Weird. Just randomly along a track somewhere? I wonder if it failed to go off wherever it was supposed to go off, and someone just dumped it there.
To: Ramius
When you come down this weekend, can you bring the small live trap that dad has?
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