Art of the Sword

"Designed by Michael "Tinker" Pearce and made by Paul Chen / Hanwei to Tinker's exacting specifications, this sharp Norman style sword is balanced to optimize cutting ability and authentic handling characteristics. The disctinctive brazil-nut pommel is peened to the full-length tang. The blade is forged from 5160 high carbon steel marquenched to HRc50-52, allowing superior edge retention. The grip has a cord-wrapped wood core covered with leather. The wooden scabbard is covered with leather and has steel fittings. A very light and fast sword with a slender grip for great control. " Leaving aside the technicals I have bought the sharp version of this sword for a deal off the New Zealand version of ebay and then, after being impressed with it, I bought the blunt version also. Pro's Both sharp and blunt versions, they just well designed swords with the closest feel to a historical design for a "mass produced" sword that I've yet handled. ...

"Whatever this tool in the hand of man will produce depends entirely on the nature of the goals alive in this mankind." - Albert Einstein In my opinion most of the current big debates and antagonisms in the wider HEMA community stem from having ambiguous goals and the fact that many do not understand that the Historical European Martial Arts (plural) are tools that were intended for and can be used for many different purposes. Its easy to see why people get frustrated, they understand (sometimes incoherently) that they are trying to achieve something (let's say, to accurately recreate a practical fighting art from a treatise) and when others also use the same treatise to different ends (cherry pick technique to get better at fighting in modern tournaments) they feel like these other people are trying to deviate them from their One True Goal. In these arguments about the use of HEMA those people who espouse the One True Goal are confusing the means (HEMA) with their ...

"Made from the same high-quality leather and stitch construction that sets our Swordsmans' Gloves apart from the competition, we have added a super-dense martial arts foam, along the fingers, thumb, metacarpal bones and wrist. The quilting pattern is specially designed to allow for superior mobility in the hand, fingers, thumb and wrist." You can find at: http://revival.us/lightsparringgloves.aspx Ordering from Revival in the USA is fine, though their postage is a little on the pricey side. Despite some dodgy behavior in association with payment of authors through Chivalry Bookshelf they receive a lot of kudos from me as the original HEMA goods supplier. Edit: after posting this I decided my gloves could do with replacing and placed a order for new gloves. When they arrived it turned out that I had been sent two right hand gloves. Unfortunately since then despite emailing them through several different stated email addresses I haven't been able to get a response ...

"This gauntlet offers serious protection and mobility to those who need it! A deeply bifurcated finger shell, lobster tail (3 Finger Style) articulation and a reinforced thumb make our glove a force to be reckoned with. After beta testing the initial sets we came back with our improved model that has taken to heart what you the community said you wanted in a gauntlet. Available in M and L." You can find it at: http://www.afinternationalsporting.com/product_info.php?products_id=169&cPath=8 Firstly abit about the Company. Ordering from the USA was no problem and they responded well to email inquiries. The postage was swift and well packaged. Total kudos for AF for making a range of HEMA specific items. Pros: It's deifnitely nice and light, so a big win on that regard. Protection wise it's also quite good - it can take a snipe at the hands, though I wouldn't trust it to take a full Wrath cut. The reinforced thumb is a good touch. Cons: I don't l...

http://histfenc.com/productcart/axel-pettersson-fencing-jacket "A fencing jacket designed with the help and suggestions of Axel Pettersson, to serve the needs of the Swedish schools of historical fencing ("Gothenburg Historical Fencing School" in particular). " A quick review of this bit of kit. Firstly though before talking about the jacket. Ordering from SPES, a Polish company, couldn't have been easier. They were quick to reply to any question, their English was excellent and the shipping was super fast. Pros: 1. It's a real pleasure to don something that was not designed for re-enactment. There is velcro and a zip rather than fiddly little ties or large metal buckles. There has obviously been no concession to creating an "authenticity" look in terms of machine stitching and it is a very solid garment. While the design has dispensed with the re-enactment orientated guff the cut and fit of the arms has clearly been inspired by historical ...

"4. Camp (as in fencing) or stand low with your toes out, knees bent. and your left elbow close to your body"  The Inn-Play: or, the Cornish Hugg-Wrestler by Sir Thomas Parkyns I came accross the above quote online and it got me to thinking. I don't think Meyer, or any German treatise, tells how you should stand down to the details of how to point your toes. Comparing the quote to the images in Meyer the main difference would be that when in Beginning and End stance you extend one leg out straight and bend the other as a base. It was the feet that I found interesting and what Meyer does, varying from a few degrees off centre to almost 90 degrees turned out, it's a very broad church. This is the kind of variation you see in the treatise in all different stances: Back foot turned out Both feet only slightly turned out Front foot turned out  From some testing it appears to me that turning either foot 90 degrees improves ...

I found a length of steel barrel in my garden (1m long, 2inch diameter, 5mm thick bit of steel) and for a while I was using it as a sword waster. Recently as the weather has been less than perfect I started developing these little exercises as my rainy day indoor training. It's quite straight forward, all without stepping: Exercise 1: Zornhau Start in the guard of the Day (here I adopt the guard from Goliath because I don't want to put a hole in the ceiling!) and push the barrel through into longpoint. I don't let it drop below the horizontal. I'm doing it nice and slowly, in complete control and repeat until I can feel it in all the muscles in my forearms. Exercise 2: Krumphau Simply moving the barrel from one side to the other and back again, don't let it drop all the way til it's pointing at the floor, make sure you maintain control at all times. Again, repeating until I can feel it in my muscles Exercise 3: Zwerchhau ...