Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2012 0:59:12 GMT
Hi, new to the forum, this is my first post.
I got a wild hair about a week ago after a friend showed me his Game of Thrones Longclaw replica, and started reading about swords and found the Sword Buyer's Guide. After many hours of reading and looking at swords, I've decided I want to join ARMA and get a longsword and start learning longsword fencing technique to prepare myself for the eventual zombie apocalypse. :twisted:
Of course, in my reading I came to the conclusion that I like the Valiant Armoury swords, and some of the Windlass, Darksword, and H/T swords look pretty cool. My favorite though is the VA Zombie Slayer, which makes me a little wet every time I look at it. I dig the Zombie Tools offerings, but they don't seem to have a two-handed (hand and a half? bastard?) longsword.
Unfortunately, it looks as though I'll have to wait a long time to get the Zombie Slayer since it's backordered everywhere.
I've also read a fair bit about wasters and synthetic swords, and how they are typically used for training. I decided to order the Purpleheart Armoury Synthetic Longsword to start practicing on.
My question: do you think this is a fair way to start, just practicing guards and footwork and such with this plastic item, or do I need to start with steel? Am I losing anything by choosing the synthetic sowrd over a traditional waster? Should I get the waster too?
Anyway, looking forward to getting started, been reading The True Swordsman, and this community has been very helpful so far, so thanks for reading, and I look forward to learning a lot from you guys in the coming months and years. At least until the power grid goes down and can no longer support the servers. :lol:
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Post by ineffableone on Jun 9, 2012 1:33:07 GMT
I think it is a very good idea to pick up a practice sword while you wait to buy a real one. I don't think there is anything wrong with this way of doing things, infact it is probably a very wise move. By the time you get your live sharp sword you will have a much better idea of how to handle your blade. There is the issue of practising with a waster or synthetic sword will not teach you proper edge alignment really. You do need a live blade really to be able to fully learn that. However I think you will get a fairly good sense of it once your live blade does arrive. Congrats on the new found passion, and a warm welcome to SBG.
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Post by Sir Tre on Jun 9, 2012 2:49:38 GMT
there is a major point of SAFETY here in this post... definitely using a practice blade is the best for safety..... but, the second half of this post hits on a GREAT point regarding true swordsmanship.... nothing replaces a real sword.
HOWEVER: if you do not have a master training you follow with the practice blade. one should always have a master in swordsmanship to train them. while i DO love books and vids for continued training later.
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Razor
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Post by Razor on Jun 9, 2012 5:34:10 GMT
Wooden wasters are the most common used training sword in WMA and it is the best for beginners. Synthetics is also good for beginners but are not as common as the wooden ones. You will see steel trainners being used by more experience students, unless it is a rapier. The best than to do before you buy anything is to go to the school and see what they are using. They should also have loaner gear for new students too. If you are going to get a wooden waster, New Stirling Arms are the best ones. www.newstirlingarms.com/shop/cat ... px?catid=3
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SeanF
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Post by SeanF on Jun 9, 2012 17:29:40 GMT
I've always heard the Purple Heart Type III's referred to as wasters, and as far as I can tell and WMA practitioners i have met tell me they are superior to wood in just about every possible way. It is possible to gain an extremely high level of proficiency using one, as a mater of fact at my HEMA school we drill exclusively with them and only use steel for sparring.
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Post by John P on Jun 9, 2012 19:09:58 GMT
If you want to join ARMA I would talk to them first since they have a rather systematic approach to things and a defined culture. If you are not married to joining ARMA you may want to look and see if there are any clubs near where you live. having other people to learn with in person will help you progress faster. www.communitywalk.com/user/view/81443 Have tried most of the waister on the market I feel that Purple Heart Type III's are the best non steel training sword. If you don't have any one to spar practice with and you are just doing guards and foot work it doesn't matter what you use. if you are interested in Italian longsword the leader of my club has made some free training materials www.worksofrichardmarsden.com/fiorelongsword.htmThere are the youtube tutorials we made. www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... ature=plcp we are working on putting up more guides for more systems here is out reviews of sparring equipment www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... ature=plcp
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jhart06
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Post by jhart06 on Jun 10, 2012 1:53:18 GMT
I have heard nothing but good things on the purplehert iii's, but I just can't get past the guard on them, just kills it for me.
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SeanF
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Post by SeanF on Jun 10, 2012 6:16:43 GMT
What don't you like about it?
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jhart06
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Post by jhart06 on Jun 10, 2012 11:53:11 GMT
Aesthetics, it is just ugly as sin to me, and it bugs me for some reason.
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Post by John P on Jun 10, 2012 20:51:06 GMT
they are apparently working on more options for the guard.
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jhart06
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Post by jhart06 on Jun 10, 2012 20:56:22 GMT
Yeah, I know it's silly, I just can't stand the look. When getting to the hair splitting that the III offers between other PHA offerings and the like in the category of performance[at least from what I read] then i'm apt to go with something that actually looks like a sword, lol.
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SeanF
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Post by SeanF on Jun 10, 2012 21:03:39 GMT
But you can just about guarantee that it is going to have the bulbous rubber stoppers on it for safety. (They can be removed if you wanted, fyi)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2012 8:17:16 GMT
Thanks so much for the awesome links! I hadn't settled on ARMA, and I'm in Anaheim, CA and from your links I can see that there's several options nearby! This is gonna be great.
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Post by Neil G. on Jun 11, 2012 13:21:36 GMT
I really dig the PHA Penti III+ wasters. I own one, my brother owns one and my instructor has 2 more that we use quite extensively at our school. The balance and weight are pretty damn close to steel as well, so doing solo drills with it is totally an option. In class we do most of our drills using steel, but for heavy sparring we always switch to the PHA wasters. At home I use it quite a bit for footwork and flow drills.
BTW, I think that ARMA kinda frowns on use of synthetics for some reason if I recall correctly, so you might want to double-check to see if they're cool with it.
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