Hammer grip? Handshake grip? Huh?

ok, excellent question, I didn't get it either until I got a sword that required handshake grip. Handshake grip is when you hold your weapon with your fingers only and keep the meat of your and behind the little finger out of the way of the pommel. It is mostly for Viking swords, the lobed pommel will dig into your hand at the end of a swing if you hold it in the normal way :cry: , just wrapping your hand around it, which is hammer grip, and they are single-handers so there is no better spot to put your had. I thought it would fly out of the hand easier like this, but it doesn't make a difference for me, just grip tightly. I can't figure out how to put pics from the web on here, :oops: so I have to copy a whole review link, sorry it is a bit lengthy. coincidentally for the viking sword I am holding to visualize while I type hope this helps. %The pictures you are looking for are 4 and 5 above the pros and cons, top is hammer grip, lower is handshake

Thanks! So in other words, MOST other one-handed swords will be used with a hammer grip, then?

There doesn't seem to be a universal definition. A common definition, and compatible with the definitions of hammer/handshake in various sports is that if the sword grip lies straight across your palm, then it's hammer grip, and if it lies diagonally, then handshake.



There are 4-5 major sword grips:

1. Hammer grip.
2a. "Proper" handshake grip.
2b. Foil fencing grip.
2c. Saber fencing grip.
2d. Pommel-in-palm grip.

2a-d will all be called "handshake" grip by people.

2a is the classic Japanese grip. Sword grip diagonally across palm, index and middle finger relaxed, mainly gripping with 3rd and 4th finger. That is, the sword is held in the palm, not the fingertips/thumbtip.

2b is sword grip diagonally across the palm, holding between the index finger and thumb. Only suitable for lightweight swords. This is a very different grip from 2a. People who say that handshake grip is too weak appear to be thinking about this grip.

2c can be done either hammer or handshake. What makes it a "saber" grip is resting the thumb along the sword handle rather than wrapping around it. Plenty of sabers are gripped in other ways; this is a fencing grip.

2d is the handshake grip as applied to Viking swords (or similar). This isn't usually called a separate grip, just a generic handshake.

We could add the different grips where fingers are looped over quillons, where pistol grips are used (not just on modern pistol-grip foils, but also traditional swords from, e.g., Indonesia), thumb rings, and more.

Hammer grip is secure, easy, and encourages good draw-cuts. In hammer grip, you can't extend the blade in a straight line along the forearm (at least not easily - if you are letting the sword grip shift to diagonally across the palm, that's going into handshake grip). This is good for draw-cuts, because it means that you hit with the hand leading, and slice rather than baseball-bat chop. This is bad because it gives up reach.

Some swords force hammer grip, such as tulwars, some thumb-ring sabers, and the gladius. I find Viking swords to be good with hammer grip, unless the grip is too long - I feel that the hand should be snug between upper and lower guard (i.e., pommel and guard). However, while the upper/lower guard encourage hammer grip on a Viking, they don't force it, and it's easy to switch to handshake if you want that reach.

Some swords are best with handshake or foil grips, such as rapiers, smallswords, foils etc. Some are traditionally used with handshake grip, such as jian. Medieval art shows both hammer and handshake grips in use.

To answer the question of which was used most isn't easy, because things changed over time.

Also, when actually using most swords, your grip will change all the time. Even the simplest of swings will have you naturally transitioning from a hammer to a handshake grip, with variable degrees of variation (recursive variety is the best kind!) - you'd have to make a really contrived and counterproductive effort to actually maintain a uniform grip.

I'm generally in Tom's camp on this matter.

That's normal.

In Medieval art, we can see swords being held in hammer grip and in handshake grip, sometimes both in the same work. Swords at full extension are (usually) in handshake grip. On works where both grip are present, sometimes handshake grip is only used at full extension.