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Post by Insane on Aug 5, 2013 6:10:42 GMT
Since the beginning of this year i'm member of a very nice Hema group called de Orde der Noorderwind.
We train on sundays in a gym with Nylon wasters. Once a month we train in authentic 13th century clothing at Castle Muiderslot.
Yesterday was my first time training there because i just had my outfit complete.
The first thing i noticed is that moving around and figthing in a gambeson is pretty weird and takes some time of getting used to.
The second thing i noticed is that a steel trainingsword is very different from a nylon waster.
It was a very hot day and after a couple of hours into the training me and my partner were rehearsing a show figth.
We made a series of attacks and i felt my arms getting heavy and fatique in my grip strength. Till the point that i stopped because it was getting dangerous. At that point i wished my handle was thinner so i could have a better grip.
My favorite cutting blade the H/T bastard has a thin handle and most people don't like that, but yesterday i could see why a thin grip is usefull.
Has anyone experienced something like this before?
And what do you prefer when it comes to handle thickness?
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Post by Lukas MG (chenessfan) on Aug 5, 2013 11:47:31 GMT
I like thin, well shaped grip with a slight swelling in the middle. Like this:  |
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Post by Kurimuzon on Aug 5, 2013 13:26:53 GMT
JSA guy here, I like that the tsuka of my shinken fits relatively well into the shape of my hands. Kinda like the shape of a pistol handle, I suppose would be the easiest way to describe it.
For WMA, how does the handle shape come into play? I've only handled friend's wasters and an RSW longsword that had a consistently round handle. I don't mean to derail the initial question, so if there's a link that describes it well enough I'd happily accept that too.
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SeanF
Member
Posts: 1,293
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Post by SeanF on Aug 5, 2013 14:25:58 GMT
For me it is the opposite. I find a thinner handle makes the sword more difficult to control when rapidly chaining cuts between the true and false edge, almost like it is going to fly out of my hands. With a thicker grip I can hold the sword looser while still retaining enough pressure on it to make it do what I want it to do, only contracting at the moment of impact.
I haven't handled any swords in WMA that have a round handle, I suspect that was because the swords in question were of lower quality. If anything having a handle that can give you accurate feedback on edge alignment is more important, as cuts with the false edge are even more difficult to get good alignment than with the true edge.
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Aug 6, 2013 1:39:50 GMT
my experience has been the same, i like big thick axe handles on my katanas, and i like thicker styled grips on my euros as well, the thin grips leave nasty hot spots on my hands and fingers, and are difficult to grip, oddly enough i have extremely small hands, and the bigger grips still work better for me
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Post by Insane on Aug 6, 2013 5:19:41 GMT
For a singlehand sword i think i lke this one too.
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Post by Insane on Aug 6, 2013 5:33:15 GMT
In WMA de sword is used in many ways not only for striking and stabbing, but also for locking, disarming, pommelstrike or lock, crossguard strike or lock. The blade has two edges, for example in the grumphau you attack or defend with one side of the blade/edge and with a flick of the wrist hit your opponent with the other side of the edge.
So with all the diversity the handle is very important, and when we train with steel we must wear protective gloves and they don't help gripping it.
And then there is the difference between a singlehand sword and a two handed.
Round handles suck big time, there is no way you can stop the blade from turning and you get bad edge allignment. As far as i know they weren't very common on blades that were intended for real battle.
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Post by tabiris on Aug 6, 2013 12:35:56 GMT
I also like thinner handles, and a lot of times I've seen that a handle too thick can prevent techniques from working properly
Firstly, if your handle is thick, you can't grasp it as far around as you can with a thinner handle. This means you'll have to grasp it more firmly, which will make you less effective in your techniques. Secondly, I find that a thinner handle helps a lot when moving from the regular (handshake, I think it's called?) grip to the thumb grip and back again. I also like it if the grip is flat on he sides, to help with edge alignment.
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Post by Kurimuzon on Aug 8, 2013 15:14:50 GMT
Interesting! I went looking around at a couple of one handed and two handed swords and I noticed many, that were non-fantasy/movie related, were more of an oval shape than the circle that I had previously thought was the norm. Thanks for the info!
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