I ordered (another) sword.

[Anders Ämting]

Indeed it is. Although somehow I always thought the rapier was French. I've been deceived by the 3 Musketeers. (Who never use muskets for some reason.) lol

Oh, the French loved the rapier, but it only got to France after spreading from Spain to Italy.

As for the musketeers (who really did use muskets, actually) they would not have carried rapiers on duty, as it was a civilian sword exclusively used for self-defense and dueling. But since the musketeers liked dueling just as much as any other true 17th century Frenchman (which is to say a lot) at least the wealthier ones did own rapiers.

Yeah, I understand that point about exotic culture swords resulting more attractive and fascinating, but I do not feel that way at all... From my point of view, the Longsword and other European swords represent my continent's history and my cultural legacy, so I like them much more than anything from other cultures =)

Nothing wrong with that. The longsword is certainly gaining a lot of popularity as the historical European martial arts movement grows.

I'm just saying, if you like swords in general, there is no reason to not appreciate the katana for what it is.

Sword fights with European swords also usually ended within a matter of seconds, because having the best technique would allow you to deliver a fatal stab or a fatal cut quickly... It's not like the movies, where they bang their swords making a lot of noise and all that stuff.

Well, that actually varied a bit. Most swordfights were probably over fairly quickly, but some could drag out. A particular Italian duel is supposed to have lasted four hours. (!) And as far as longswords are concerned, it probably also depended on wether the fighters were wearing armor or not.

As for clanging swords together, that's not entirely inaccurate - for example the British baskethilt styles do look somewhat remiscent of Hollywood swashbuckling, and 19th century swords often had unsharpened fortes for very rigid edge parries.

Have you ever tried bronze swords like the ones Neil Burridge makes?

Nope. Bronze swords isn't really my thing. In fact, pre-medieval weapons isn't quite my cup of tea in general.

 

[Mindfire]

Oh, the French loved the rapier, but it only got to France after spreading from Spain to Italy.

As for the musketeers (who really did use muskets, actually) they would not have carried rapiers on duty, as it was a civilian sword exclusively used for self-defense and dueling. But since the musketeers liked dueling just as much as any other true 17th century Frenchman (which is to say a lot) at least the wealthier ones did own rapiers.

Actually, I was referring to the fact that in all the 3 Musketeers adaptations, we hardly ever see them use their muskets. lol

 

[Chilari]

Yes I'd noticed that too. But then I laugh to myself because even if they did use muskets, the British rifles (not to mention superior powder and the fact that the British trained with live fire) would eventually trounce them anyway.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

@Sheilawisz, I was already into Japanese martial arts (karate) and samurai movies, so the katana seemed to be the next logical step.



@Anders, I don't know if that's true that the iaito would shatter so easily. It's what my classmates told me.

But good call on the quickdraw thing, if you never had lessons. (I assume you didn't since you're not used to the weight.) Without the proper training, I wouldn't do a quickdraw with a sharp blade. It's actually the sheathing that's dangerous. You let the back of the blade slide along the skin between the index and thumb on your left hand (before thrusting it into the sheath), and the loose skin is close to the opening of the sheath. If you bring the blade back too far, you stab your own hand. With my iaito, I just felt a little silly the one time I did that. Didn't even need a Band-Aid though. A classmate of mine--who was way more skilled than I--drove himself to the hospital after doing the same thing with a real katana. The next week, he did it again! I was happy with my iaito. I still looked cool sheathing it, or maybe I looked nerdy... but either way, I didn't worry about life-changing injury.



@Mindfire, in iaido, you stick to moves that actually make sense in battle--nothing flashy. But at a tournament last spring, I saw some 30+ female karate black belts doing weapon katas which included katana twirls, jumping slashes and slash-kick combos. That was flashy... and way harder than any iaido kata I learned.

I honestly prefer the iaido katas because they're about quick kills, and easy to remember so I could always visualize while performing. Shiho-giri (4 direction cut) is a fun one, though... and a little flashy. You smash one opponent's wrist with your partially drawn hilt, stab the guy behind, overhead slash the first guy plus the one to his right, then chase down the remaining guy. So-giri (all cuts) is a five hit combo, which is overkill, but still a fun kata.

 

[Sheilawisz]

I am very attracted to bronze swords because they are so different to swords from later periods of history and, even though they are believed by many to be weak and fragile, bronze swords were and are actually very strong and respectable weapons =)

As a metal, bronze has a special magic that steel and other metals do not have: The copper and tin melting together to give birth to a new metal, it's unusual colour and legendary history of the Bronze age... I cannot really explain it, but I would be delighted to own a Bronze Sword.

The creation of Steel is kind of mystical too, but Bronze is... different.

Will you share pictures of your new Saber, Anders? I am very curious!! Today I will cut and stab my old pumpkin with my first Aluminum Sword =)

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I like the idea of cutting a pumpkin with a sword.

At a bachelor party, I wanted to have my brother cut a Pepperidge Farm cake with my iaito, but sadly, the bride-to-be (who crashed the party) and one of the guys (a friend) were both very drunk and were angry drunks. I told my brother to get the sword out of sight.

Just to give you an idea of what a dork I've always been, MY idea of a bachelor party was to eat at an Americanized "Japanese" hibachi then come to my house for cake and watch The Big Lebowski. Note the lack of excessive alcohol (not my fault we ended up at a bar) and lack of naked women. (Does Julianne Moore in a flesh-tone body suit count?)

But I'm not trying to hijack the thread, so, yes... let's see that sword!