Kult of Athena has quality swords as well as poo hand swords. Everything there is branded. It's your own fault if you buy shit. You don't blame the grocery store when you buy store brand coke instead of name brand Coca Cola.
want to start collecting swords >any advice where to start?
1)Never buy any modern reproduction
2)Buy the best you can afford from auction houses like Czerny's etc
3)Never ever involve yourself with hema or similar moronation
4)Buy the book and read the book about the sword before you buy the sword
5)Make sure you have good storage, glass case etc
You are a proper human
Just bought a 15th century longsword and francheska axe from "The Knight Shop" theyre pretty good quality and have tons of cheaper options for a starter aswell as gear.
You are not a proper human
This
Antiques or nothing
Correct. My oldest antique is only 300 years old and was quite affordable. If you go older than 18th century it will get pricey really fast though.
Correct
High quality modern reproductions are better than pretty much anything they had in the past though.
They are fake and gay. If I hear someone with an interest in swords talking and they mention reproduction shit, ninja shit, repro weeb shit or repro hema shit or repro and gay, I think they are fake and gay people and they are fake and gay people and everything about them is fake and gay and such people will be fake and gay until they die and then they will be dead and fake and gay
I agree that a lot of hema is pretty bad but damn dude >don't talk to other enthusiasts >antiques only >reeeee not real collectors
Like what if I want to, you know, actually spar? I know it's a useless skill but you aren't going to get good at using it without a partner and a coach. Like I know 90% of hemagays are cancer but your kinda cutting yourself off of a lot of the potential fun of the hobby like that. If I could I would own nothing but historical swords but I don't really want to beat up a historical sword like I would a new windlass. I can practice cuts on a cheap saber with a decent balance, vs the unnecessary wear on on a 150+ year old antique. I put quite a bit more value on a antique.
Its always so funny when a mcdonalds employee that lives with his mom or crypto lottery winner gets haughty over how the most expensive version of a hobby is the only real one.
Its often not that simple.For example Deepika do dirt cheap often over built with spotty heat treatment on their blades but an Albion Gladius comes with no scabbard.And the Deepika their swords come with scabbards that are spot on especially roman ones.Hell roman blades would be cheap mass produced with spotty heat treatment so yeah it does much the historical examples.
Not every bladed weapon was a master crafted wonder a lot of historical examples are for function nothing else.No reason why somebody in the modern world cant pay a decent sword at a cheap price.
The thing with KoA is that it has everything, from the cheapest chinese wall hangers that bend under their own weight to high quality reproductions costing thousands. There's not problem with buying stuff on KoA but if you're gonna buy something you should read up some reviews on it to see if it's actually a good product or not.
>avoid deepeeka or any other indian made metal like the plague >avoid swords with threaded pommels, threaded nuts, or any non-peened pommel. You are not going to be constantly disassembling your hilt. You want the blade to be as permanently fixed as possible. >"but what about when i damage the blade when i do all my larping?" remember that not only were swords pretty rarely used for most the history of war, they are considered unimportant wear items that were constantly replaced or repaired by armorers >don't pay for additional sharpening if offered by the seller. Buy stones and a cheap chef knife from walmart and practice sharpening the knife. Then sharpen the sword yourself. It'll be a much stronger, sharper, and prettier edge >if possible, do not store swords in their scabbard if they come with one >yes, properly tempered blades are supposed to be whippy and wobble like crazy when you smack the pommel. This is what keeps them from shattering on the first impact >no, albion is not worth their price. They're good, yes, but they're not $1k+ good
The thing with KoA is that it has everything, from the cheapest chinese wall hangers that bend under their own weight to high quality reproductions costing thousands. There's not problem with buying stuff on KoA but if you're gonna buy something you should read up some reviews on it to see if it's actually a good product or not.
These. They have probably the best selection and variety out of other sites and have "not great but still better than chinese sites like trueswords" customer service
>Indian bad
Windlass is ok though >permanent blade
Bad idea if buying cheap or literally anything foreign with a wood grip however. >Sharpening
Frick no do not use stones unless you have a cheap shit practice blade. A slack belt with the appropriate jigs will get better results. Even then I recommend you buy a really cheap sword to practice on.
>>yes, properly tempered blades are supposed to be whippy and wobble like crazy when you smack the pommel. This is what keeps them from shattering on the first impact
so what im getting is starting off with a katana is a bad idea. which is fine i wasnt married to the idea that it had to be a katana.
this is roughly what i wanted.though. maybe if i just use the katana blade and make a weighted handle.
Save up a bit and: https://lkchensword.com/wo-yao-dao
Maker seems legit form what I've seen online, with a question mark about resilience for their song hand dao.
The degree of wobbliness is due to the thickness (or rather lack thereof) instead of the heat treatment. Stiffness is a non-structure-dependant property, and as such cares little about hardening. As such the wobbliness isn't so much a way to avoid shattering, it's about not being too heavy.
>you could just use it one handed as is
nah frick that shit ive tried not with a katana but things of that length and while its possible its not comfortable.
Sounds odd, but in that case you could also go a bit shorter and pick up a wakizashi instead. Fun sized for cramped (boarding) conditions.
Oh well maybe I will give it a try. What's on your wishlist, anon?
At auctions? More of Haftröm's designs, a kindjal or some such ever since reading Dune, maybe a matching dagger to go with my Bhutanese sword, an 1796LC/Blücher/m1808, a Swedish railroad official's sword, maybe a nice Moro kris, a dussack, perhaps a small knife or dagger made of jawhar if I really feel like spending, etc...
I like what I like and I refuse to apologize.
It's a sensible design, though that rendition is just a wallhanger.
300 bucks nah i want something to frick around with beat on and probably destroy with abuse with no guilt.
https://i.imgur.com/fKqyMP5.jpg
here you go
https://www.knifecenter.com/item/CN36024HC/condor-tool-knife-ctk360-24hc-naval-cutlass-24-carbon-steel-blade-hardwood-handles-leather-sheath
if this was in stock and there were better pictures that proved it wasnt a machete sword id probably go for it.
no just no stop recommending wakazashis i dont want a wakazashi. i want a single edged sword with a 28-24 inch blade.
>buy sword with intent to destroy it
why?
because i know im not going to baby it or treat it like a heirloom. im going to be that idiot cutting water bottles and branches in their backyard. as long as the sword roughly the shape i want and it wont snap in half its fine. i will let it rust and do zero of that wipe the blade constantly bullshit. you gotta be realistic with yourself.
2 years ago
Anonymous
What's your body weight?
2 years ago
Anonymous
Buy a cold steel sword machete, they make plenty with 24 inch blades. You really shouldn't own any swords if you think not wiping the blade after a session is "realistic with yourself." Even those backyard cutter "idiots" will maintain their blades and work on the edge.
Those are some specific wishes. Put them in your tinder profile because girls like men who know what they want. I would like to get my hands on a partisan by they are very hard to find and very expensive.
lmao at all you moron zoomers crapping on albion. albion was one of the first people to bring legit high quality battle ready historically correct reproductions to market. they were the first and will always have that name recognition . they have good white-man level quality control and fabrication standards. you will not get chink or poo crap from them. they are absolutely worth their price especially when you consider the quality of leather work from their 3rd party scabbard maker
> completely ignores every European manufacturer.
Albion were the first to apply giant markups and spend that money on slick product marketing and shills. That's all. They're mediocre.
Just bought a 15th century longsword and francheska axe from "The Knight Shop" theyre pretty good quality and have tons of cheaper options for a starter aswell as gear.
kek, your mind has been fried by marketing and the R*ddit/youtube hivemind.
Albion swords are okay. They're nothing special. Fit and finish is pretty poor; they're not made according to traditional methods, so they've got machining marks everywhere and the furniture tends to be very plain. There are a lot of places in Europe where you can get a better sword -- or a serviceable antique rapier or smallsword -- for a comparable price.
>serviceable antique rapier or smallsword -- for a comparable price.
In my experience antique rapiers tend to be quite a bit more than an Albion at auction - even late era taza are 3000 euro on average, and that's not getting into earlier designs.
Smallswords tho, absolutely
This. I bought a Napoleonic Era small sword for 550 Euros including the sheath. It was still reasonably sharp and could take off an arm easily in its out of the box condition.
Daily reminder that generally speaking, what's being branded as 'high quality reproductions' aren't remotely high quality. Some makers offer custom builds that can reach thousands, months of wait time, but in the end the blade is just made from a tad nicer steel coming from god-knows-where with a bit of cosmetic finish on it. Even if it's supposed to come straight from a blacksmith.
Don't waste your money on such products unless you're consciously willing to take the risk to end up with something made out of mystery steel. At least, when getting antiques (and especially swords that aren't just meant for parades), you get an object designed and used as a real tool and furthermore it is a piece of history. Meanwhile repros are somewhere between the toy and the wallhanger.
Start with reading a lot. There are a lot of different swords throughout history, designed in different ways and with slightly different things to make them work. Whereas today there are a lot of different ways to go about recreating sword. And those two sides will affect each other. So picking which kind of sword you like and what matters to you about the reproduction of one, well, for best results you need to know a lot about these things.
As one example there's the guy here recommending antiques. Which is certainly one option, and the only way to get something truly authentic. But it also requires sufficient knowledge to dodge the fakes (this varies greatly with what kind of sword), and if for example you want to do sparring, cutting, or want an early iron age sword in mint condition for a sane price, well, antiques can't be recommended. (Meanwhile a good sparring sword will cut like a brick and a good cutting sword would be insane for sparring.)
A good place to start can be www.myarmoury.com, both articles and the forum (start with the spotlight topics in the latter case). Not a terribly active place nowadays, but you'll have enough reading to keep you occupied for some time. A bit in you'll probably also want to start hitting the books.
But for shortcuts, well, what kind of sword and task do you have in mind?
>you get an object designed and used as a real tool
While that is true, the metal in weapons people have brought to war historically includes both kinda-slaggy wrought iron and impure copper. Getting my hands on steel that poor at all around here would likely be something of a challenge, getting my hands on some good carbon steel wouldn't. So if there's one thing that speaks for antiques... this would be a decidedly odd choice. (Of course no matter which steel I got I could then proceed to ruin it utterly with a suitable stupid heat treatment, but then again I can match a lot of historical weapons by simply not trying.)
Bottom is the Swedish navy's m/1849 (identical to the British P1804). 84cm total, 1025 g, centre of mass 11 cm from the guard. Somewhat funnily enough the straight blade with limited profile taper and a short false edge is much the same as what we'd find on some of the early single edged iron/steel swords that started spreading out of China and eventually gave rise to tachi and katana in Japan and sabres in the Pontic-Caspian steppe.
Fourth from the top would be a kris from Java. 47 cm, 105 g. Possibly more fashion and status piece than serious weapon, it feels no sturdier in the hand than the weight suggests.
Thank you, fren. I asked for the 4th from the bottom though, also a cutlass. Kris never intrigued me I always found them exceptionally weird, especially the sheaths.
From ElGur, a recreation of this 11th century grave find from central Sweden. The pommel is likely a very stylised take on two raven heads.
2 years ago
Anonymous
>sword is all bent
I've seen this before with some bronze swords where they appear to have been intentionally bent out of shape before burial. Do you know why that is?
2 years ago
KM
In a grave find it could be to ritually "kill" the sword so it'll follow its owner into the afterlife, for a sacrificial sword it could be to properly sacrifice it, in both case sit could also be to deter other people from helping themselves to a shiny new sword out of the grave/bog/lake/wherever you left it.
And in some cases it can also be the shifting of the earth over the centuries, construction machinery/a plough unearthing it in a les than careful way, etc.
2 years ago
Anonymous
That's pretty much what I had guessed. What cultures commonly practiced that sort of thing?
2 years ago
KM
I've only really heard about it from iron age Europe, though it wouldn't surprise me if it popped up elsewhere to.
Is there a lot of competition at these auctions? I only bought from dealers so far because I am too lazy to attend the nearest auction. I would love to buy a 16th century rapier but they are all about 6-8k€.
It can vary a good deal. Sometimes it's just you who happen to care about something, sometimes there's two or three people who just have to have a specific item. The former is far more likely with the more niche stuff though I think, with a rapier or a katana your chances for a significant are probably not so great.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Oh well maybe I will give it a try. What's on your wishlist, anon?
When my Regenyei grip wrap started fraying to shit and coming off like yours I replaced it with 1/8th inch paracord (Home Depot has some patterns that look good). It was such a massive improvement over his grip wrap that I would literally do it to a brand new feder. Fills out the grip so it fits the hand much better especially with gloves on, and the ribbed texture from the bigger diameter cord prevents it from leaving your hand. It's also utterly bulletproof and I'm sure the blade will break before the wrap does.
moronic take. Modern steel is far better than older stuff and plenty of manufacturers will trll you exactly what you're getting. Mass produced swords from the 1800s aren't made of some mystical unobotanium.
Start with the most expensive fedora you can find. Buy it.
Having paid so much for it, you will feel the need to wear it everywhere.
The acne will come in rapidly at that point.
The patchy neck hair will fill in where the acne scarring leaves off.
You'll be an expert on swords in no time after that.
You get a free katana after 10 white knight posts online.
Oh wait, fourth from the bottom. That'd be a mid 19th century police sabre. It's got Stockholm's coat of arms on the guard so we can probably guess which police force. Designed by a Swedish artillery officer named Hafström, just like the m/1848 infantry fascine knife below it and the m/1847 cavalry sabre above it. What exactly gave him the idea for the demi-leafblade shape is something I've so far failed to determine. 79 cm, 960 g, CoM at 11 cm. Decidedly blunt, likely never sharpened.
There's always some local variation, but for a Swedish one here in Sweden the latest auction results I can find were 3800 SEK and 4000 SEK (on top of which the Auction house would take another 20%), both with scabbards. Which depending on how much of that is the scabbard puts it in the running for my most valuable antique, the m/1847 was 3200 SEK+auction fee IIRC.
19th century private's weapons and some of the not-yet-so-popular ethnographic stuff can go quite cheap, yes. An ivory gripped hunting hanger sounds like something that would go a good bit higher. Also if you bought form a dealer instead of an auction then that too will kick the price up, the auctions seem to largely be where they get their stock.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Is there a lot of competition at these auctions? I only bought from dealers so far because I am too lazy to attend the nearest auction. I would love to buy a 16th century rapier but they are all about 6-8k€.
you can buy most swords less than 200 years old for a few hundred bucks or less. antique swords really only get expensive at 300 years old+ because that was before industrial machining and shit was produced in low quantities by hand
I'm into German longsword. Get a high quality blunt for training and if you like it enough get a sharp historically correct build like from http://www.albion-swords.com/
You can practice with suitable length pipes to just get started with something but yu will want to follow instructional videos and practice in a mirror for like 20 minutes a day to get really good in 6 months and competitor level in 3 years.
If you get the sword of Elendil please get one that's actually well made. Which means commissioned by a reputable smith. That Chinese shit will shatter like the one in the movie
collector items are meant for display. If you're gonna make a youtube video I'll borrow you one of mine, just splice in a GWAR song like LET US SLAY and chop up some stuff like lettuce and funny things like that. Make a BBQ out of it.
Best info on the net to read all the basics:
https://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/iss/
On collecting, the main question is do you like antiques to display, or replica to play and cut with.
On replica in general, distal taper is important, European swords without usually don't handle like originals.
how dumb am i for wanting to buy a 100-150 dollar katana then cutting the handle in half to make a 1 handed sword. the reason im starting with a katana is it seems like katanas are the cheapest available "battle ready" swords. what i actually want which would be a pirate sword/cutlass are all wallhangers at that price range. it doesnt have to be great i dont expect a good sword for around a hundred but should be durable enough to not destroy itself when swung.
>you could just use it one handed as is
nah frick that shit ive tried not with a katana but things of that length and while its possible its not comfortable.
Balance would be crap, Japanese blades are very tip-heavy.
Get a one-handed (short bladed) japanese type or settle for something by cheap but reliable makers like windlass steelcrafts etc.
here you go
https://www.knifecenter.com/item/CN36024HC/condor-tool-knife-ctk360-24hc-naval-cutlass-24-carbon-steel-blade-hardwood-handles-leather-sheath
You can largely just wield it in one hand straight away, the extra hilt length (assuming you don't get a very long-hilted katana) is unlikely to get in your way. A number of single handed Chinese swords (like the one in
https://i.imgur.com/LooKJLf.jpg
Bottom is the Swedish navy's m/1849 (identical to the British P1804). 84cm total, 1025 g, centre of mass 11 cm from the guard. Somewhat funnily enough the straight blade with limited profile taper and a short false edge is much the same as what we'd find on some of the early single edged iron/steel swords that started spreading out of China and eventually gave rise to tachi and katana in Japan and sabres in the Pontic-Caspian steppe.
Fourth from the top would be a kris from Java. 47 cm, 105 g. Possibly more fashion and status piece than serious weapon, it feels no sturdier in the hand than the weight suggests.
) end up with almost as long hilts just for balance (while, funnily enough, often having hollow pommels). As for durability you'd have to redo the grip wrap in some manner, and that is an important part of the sword's durability since if the grip cracks apart the blade can slip free.
For a bit more (well, plenty of percent, but 100-150 EUR is a squeaky tight budget): https://landsknechtemporium.com/products/standard/messer/Gottfried-M3C-Messer or https://landsknechtemporium.com/products/swords/Dorothea-type-4a-Dussack
Perhaps a bit more pirate-cutlass-y as well while you're at it (though the Japanese certainly weren't shy about piracy).
The nature of the hilt on jpn style swords make them prone to failure if not crafted properly. Even the worst, cheapest blade can still cause harm when if flys off cheap trade, I’ll fitting tsuka.
Buy a smallsword, sidesword, or rapier. Then, buy a good sized dagger and a machete. These are the large blades that would be most useful in theory. If you got felon status for saying "frick Black folk" in demolition man america you could still defend yourself depending on the laws (blade laws are all old as frick, moronic, and never updated). After that enjoy your fluff.
Don't have these in my area, would poking tiny holes make them aggressive?
If it's about creating a mess as large as possible stopping movement instantly there are many options, a dadao or zhan ma dao might also be an interesting option. But it comes down to what style you're looking for.
So if I want a real modern sword, that’s fully functional and not trash where do I look? I’d like it to be good quality and not Chinese/Indian trash. Located in Canada by the way.
This is going to sound moronic and extremely autistic but here it goes.
I want a weapon that I can kill something like a skinwalker with.
I’m a fricking big dude and fairly muscular (6’3 230). My plan is to consecrate the weapon to the lord with some Catholic engravings and practices. I was also inducted as a knight in a minor order while I was in high school. I already lift and do cardio 6 times a week and figured I’d add in autistic knight exercises in.
What would be the best way to go about this?
I was thinking a broadsword or axe.
I've been thinking of buying myself a katana, but I'm interested in other types of sword as well. What would be the best for self defence if I ever needed to use it?
Something intuitive to slash with, katana is the cheapest option, the relatively thick blade makes cuts work even if the user has bad form and little practice.
A cutlass, messer, falchion, dao etc. would also be a good option, but there are less on the market so decent quality costs more.
Was comparing it to katana prices, even if LE is inexpensive for the quality provided it can't compete with mass produced functional Japanese-style stuff.
Even chinese don't produce chinese-style swords competing with the katana market.
But thankfully like with messer, at least there are some options out there.
Buy from Huawei or Ronin Katana. Do not buy from swords of northshire as they are a low end longquan forge and often sell swords for twice the price of other forges.
Nice ones but i like to put it in a modern context. Is to heavy, in modern day scenario no one wears armor, and is not likely that they would have another sword.
I would look at late renaissance rapiers. Just for the purpose of killing a burglar for example.
For blade to blade or utility and play in the back yard a Katana would be fine.
I wanted to like this until I saw the review with the loose parts. Why are good sideswords so hard to find? It's theoretically the perfect sword. Can cut, can thrust, can fence, perfect if you theoretically had to use a sword today when nobody is a duelist or a knight and you'd just be a half-awake felon stabbing at burglars.
>. Why are good sideswords so hard to find?
Complex hilt = complex manufacturing, European blade shape, much wasted material if using stock-removal.
It was even hard to find halfway decent arming swords until only a few years ago, side-swords (and also sabers etc.) are a less iconic type with smaller market in addition to being harder to manufacture.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Who makes THE sidesword these days then? Or just a short "rapier"? It gets tiring digging through long winded youtube sword rants and sketchy websites designed in 2005
>inb4 $1000+ sword
2 years ago
Anonymous
If you want to cheap out, get a Munich town guard from windlass, it's a decent sword. Otherwise get the same sword from arms and armor and it'll be probably the best sword you'll own
2 years ago
Anonymous
Antique sideswords that are way better than anything you can buy new are all over European antique markets for $400-1500.
Even on eBay.
e.g.:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325032559763
https://www.ebay.com/itm/224983740237
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264991488406
etc.
2 years ago
KM
Those are two smallswords and one spadroon.
https://i.imgur.com/lhowz9X.jpg
A side note im concerned with some anons over the years that thinknewly made japanese swords are a cakewalk to buy and seem completely unware of the ridiculous price attached to them.What they are getting in terms of functionality is no better than a decent smith can make anywhere.Yet its attidudes of "I want to give my uncle a little treat" "i dont mind splashing the cash a little :)" for is essentially russian oligarch pricing.
Im assuming its just sheer ignorance of the actual price of them.But even if isnt and its a money flex on an anonymous image board its still a monumental waste money for what you are getting.You might as well buy an antique with some actual history and pedigree.
Well, if you're looking to practice kata or cutting then there's a possible issue in that many antiques suffer from degraded hilt integrity, or they just have shirasaya mountings. A newly made martial arts grade nihonto will avoid that while still being traditionally made.But if not (or you can check out the hilt integrity) then the lower and antiques should certainly be considered as well, yes.
2 years ago
Anonymous
> ACKSHUALLY
If I want a good sword without splurging for a 5k whats the best brand within the 1k to 2k range? These are what I've picked up on:
Albion
Valiant armoury
Arms and armor
Landsknecht emporium mogs those companies.
I also bought a sword from Wulflund in the Czech Republic that handles just as well as an Albion I had previously owned, and looks twice as good.
2 years ago
Anonymous
I was gonna buy from landsknecht emporium, but a 6 months wait is hard to swallow. Same reason I haven't bought an Albion, a year is a quite long time to wait
2 years ago
Anonymous
I was gonna buy from landsknecht emporium, but a 6 months wait is hard to swallow. Same reason I haven't bought an Albion, a year is a quite long time to wait
They don't seem to have much in the way of two sided swords unless I'm totally missing an order page. As for the wulflund, I don't care so much about looks, a decent handle plus a nice scabbard is good enough for me as long as it's a sturdy useable sword that will take and hold an edge.
2 years ago
Anonymous
motherfricker do you know what a sidesword is? absolute brainlet
2 years ago
Anonymous
Frick, I got mixed-up with smallswords. Sorry bro.
I'm not a manlet that's why. I'd rather get a type XV or XIV arming sword than a gladius but I just don't think they look as cool.
If you want to cheap out, get a Munich town guard from windlass, it's a decent sword. Otherwise get the same sword from arms and armor and it'll be probably the best sword you'll own
First off, it does have distal taper. Secondly if you want a good historically made sword you need to pay. Windlass makes swords for broke Black folk like you to have fun with. So either pay up or settle, or make your own.
Well, Sabers you can still find cause they was used recently but sideswords are 400 years old. Someone must make them manually and with all those shapes will cost a lot of time and skills... That means will have big price.
They where contemporary with Katana. And i think they are the peak of western blade, in a time when the blade was an essential weapon.
For killing a Black person would be better than a Katana because are longer and stabbing from a longer distance with only one hand, then you have two sharp parts for slicing.
They did it to avoid getting stabbed by people with shorter swords. For the same reason we use guns, to put holes in people who are too far away too put holes in you. Even when armor was out of fashion people still loved their really long fricking swords.
Of course you only need a sword that is longer than the other guys plus theoretical reach difference (in case he's 7 feet tall or something), so since swords are out of fashion I really doubt even a 30" blade is all that necessary.
No. Stupid laws in the UK, but it is possible to own a katana. Most purpose-made weapons are outright banned, like ninja shurikens, knuckle dusters, etc. But I suppose for collection purposes, all straight swords are allowed.
Curved swords are outright banned, with an exception for if they're made before a certain date (i.e. antiques), or made at any time using traditional methods. Thanks to the last part, you can buy and own a katana at home in the UK, as long as it was made using traditional methods, i.e. being glorious Nippon steel folded over 1000 times.
Wouldn't surprise me if they closed this loophole at some point though... Telescopic batons had a loophole until recently, where they were illegal to buy/sell, but legal to own in private if you had one. A few years ago those got outright banned, and everyone had to surrender them to the police.
Feels bad man.
Just pointing out how absurd it is to have zero personal freedoms except for degenerate behavior while your national myth is about defeating le ebil tyrant.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Hitler was a fan of responsible drug use and was trying to get dogs to function as German citizens so it’s not like liberals would have no freedom at all
2 years ago
Anonymous
Hitler was a based centrist.
2 years ago
Anonymous
kek, kinda true
Ted is to anarchy as Hitler is to authority
2 years ago
Anonymous
But liberals want lazy potheads, and an endless supply of bussy, dilation wounds, e-girl, and shota, not hyper-productive german autists on crack and two to three weeks of german shepussy a year.
Well, Sabers you can still find cause they was used recently but sideswords are 400 years old. Someone must make them manually and with all those shapes will cost a lot of time and skills... That means will have big price.
They where contemporary with Katana. And i think they are the peak of western blade, in a time when the blade was an essential weapon.
For killing a Black person would be better than a Katana because are longer and stabbing from a longer distance with only one hand, then you have two sharp parts for slicing.
The rapier was the pinnacle. The sidesword was an excessively chodey rapier, and the final iteration was its greatest. A long as frick cut and thrust sword that can engage multiple ruffians from a safe distance. The smallsword is the specialized duelist's devolution of the rapier (and was ok for self defense, unless someone robbed you at rapierpoint), and the sidesword is just an arming sword with a fancy guard and pointlessly limited range. A broader blade is better for slicing through gambeson after gambeson in war, but outside of that you want that mass put towards length.
Many other Anon here are giving you advise on how and where to buy good quality swords, so I will tell you how to care for them. Good swords are made of carbon steel so they rust like hell. Gun oil can help and use light sand paper to get rust off. Special made knife oils work to but in my experience are more expensive. If you know how the Polish the blade Renaissance wax will become your best friend. If you plan on using the sword keep it sharp get a belt sander, they have specific sharpening belts nowadays.
You have mall ninja, low end stuff, mid end stuff, and even a market for really nice 2000+ dollar repros made traditionally. Lots of opportunities, ergo lots of forges.
Keep in mind even low end Nihonto with papers in shirasaya are often 3k+.
The japanese are also not allowed to manufacture non-traditional swords and that they are limited to not suitable as weapon zink-alloy for display and iaido ..
This rules out japan for making japanese hobby-grade swords.
No, it's true. What exact exception there is to their knife laws to allow larger sushi knives I don't know, but given the Japanese police trying to use that as a loophole seems like a very bad idea.
A side note im concerned with some anons over the years that thinknewly made japanese swords are a cakewalk to buy and seem completely unware of the ridiculous price attached to them.What they are getting in terms of functionality is no better than a decent smith can make anywhere.Yet its attidudes of "I want to give my uncle a little treat" "i dont mind splashing the cash a little :)" for is essentially russian oligarch pricing.
Im assuming its just sheer ignorance of the actual price of them.But even if isnt and its a money flex on an anonymous image board its still a monumental waste money for what you are getting.You might as well buy an antique with some actual history and pedigree.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Do you mean newly made by Japanese people Japanese swords? Because I have never seen anyone spend the 20000 real life dollars to commission one of those on a whim. And at that price point its not about functionality, its about form.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Newly made traditionally crafted japanese swords.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Yeah, I agree theres no real reason to buy a new sword over an antique in good condition. You would have to be a psychopath to cut stuff with a sword that costs more than a new car and you can do kata with an antique.
There’s been a few Chinese forges recommended in this thread which I found interesting. What would you recommend for a functional katana in the $500 range?
Buy from Huawei or Ronin Katana. Do not buy from swords of northshire as they are a low end longquan forge and often sell swords for twice the price of other forges.
Thanks I’ll check those out. I saw Northshire recommended on here by a couple people, good to know their sketch.
Matt Easton seems very happy with what Jkoo sent him, but how cherry picked a review sample that was is of course always a question.
If I want a good sword without splurging for a 5k whats the best brand within the 1k to 2k range? These are what I've picked up on:
Albion
Valiant armoury
Arms and armor
Albion and Arms and Armor have very good reputations, but there's a good amount of made-in-america (and possibly also brand) premium in the prices as well. Between them it's probably mostly a question of which sword you want (not a lot of rapier sin Albion's lineup for example).
Valiant I think used to be Chinese-produced designs from Atrim&Fletcher, more of a Hanwei competitor perhaps but well regarded. I'm not sure I've heard much about how their Suttles-made swords are, but they do look decent enough.
For more options I'm quite happy with my Viking age sword from https://www.sword-elgur.com/ and Arma Bohemia seems good too overall. Apparently that place source their stuff from a number of craftsmen, Pavel Moc is clearly one of them and I've seen good looking and balanced longsword trainers form him, if perhaps a bit soft for regular practice. The stuff in the catalogues looks quite good overall as well.
Regenyei's stuff usually lags a bit behind in historical looks, and may not be terribly sharp, but handles well and his training swords have held up well for me.
Never buy them from mainstream sites unless its from a collector
Battle ready is not real unless its call of athena
You need something stiff yet flexibles.
Look at the handle, most scam swords dont boughter much so if a handle inst smooth, clean and comfy looking then its trash
If I want a good sword without splurging for a 5k whats the best brand within the 1k to 2k range? These are what I've picked up on:
Albion
Valiant armoury
Arms and armor
start with sword bayonets. particularly bayonets made from 1850 to about the end of WW1 bayonets from this time were designed and made when the Calvery saber was still relevant, so the design and materials used are all up to the task of being an actual sword and usually just as long the chassepot bayonet was 27 inches long when most medieval swords were about 30-ish inches, and they can be found on eBay under 100.
>DOTANUKI
For all weebs, every single time swords comes up on /k/ dotanuki style japanese swords should also come up. They're supposedly thicker, heartier battle-use versions of all your shitty mall-collector-grade swords. Skip the gayshit and buy your battle-tool grade DOTANUKI style swords. Really just get a wakazashi, Black person further up had it right. You don't know how to move with a full size sword and are more likely to be using one indoors in the current firearms-meta. They're nice, little longer handle in case you need two hands on it and not too long. Don't be a supergay, just get that. >You're wasting your life and money on collections. Get ready, it's fricking coming. Buy two.
Honestly frick all that, just get a sturdy 8-12" kitchen knife. Maybe wrap handle in hockey tape. London homiez do great with it. Same for Shitcongo Black person's ammo, they kill tons, stop being so picky. Put holes in b***hes, often, and quickly. Get your cardio up.
The frick is that, a kitchen knife? Who are you Gordon Ramsay? Here to chop up some carrots, make me a stew? I come here for a sword fight, a proper fricking sword fight, and you're running around here like you're on the fricking cooking channel. A disappointment, you're frickin disappointing.
While Dotanuki has come to be synonymous with thick, sturdy blades in modern day pop culture, historically their resilience was likely more a matter of plain old quality craftsmanship. Not much point in an unbreakable sword if you're struck down before it strikes anything. Accordingly while the Dotanuki style can certainly be identified by those who really know what to look for, but for us common mortals, well, there's a Dotanuki in this lineup and whether or not you can guess which I think we can all agree that it doesn't exactly stand out like a sore thumb.
Now if you're looking for a modern day reproduction then I'd consider having an extra thick blade to be a minor issue when it comes to overall durability, far behind overall build quality and hat treatment. If the former is lacking an extra heavy blade may even end up making the sword more fragile as the hilt can't withstand the extra forces. So much like "battle ready" it has become just another buzzword for the marketing to use and abuse regardless of whether or not the product sold doesn't live up to it. Or perhaps especially if it doesn't...
I will never shame my bloodline with a japanese sword unless it was taken off a dead jap as a battle prize. Not touching the spoils of any dead weebs thx. Real warriors hide their power level.
Kult of Athena seems like a decent site but the fact that it's promoted by a lot of sword YouTubers makes me wary.
Buying cheap low quality shit made by poos is not collecting swords.
This
Antiques or nothing
Correct. My oldest antique is only 300 years old and was quite affordable. If you go older than 18th century it will get pricey really fast though.
Kult of Athena has quality swords as well as poo hand swords. Everything there is branded. It's your own fault if you buy shit. You don't blame the grocery store when you buy store brand coke instead of name brand Coca Cola.
want to start collecting swords
>any advice where to start?
1)Never buy any modern reproduction
2)Buy the best you can afford from auction houses like Czerny's etc
3)Never ever involve yourself with hema or similar moronation
4)Buy the book and read the book about the sword before you buy the sword
5)Make sure you have good storage, glass case etc
You are a proper human
You are not a proper human
Correct
They are fake and gay. If I hear someone with an interest in swords talking and they mention reproduction shit, ninja shit, repro weeb shit or repro hema shit or repro and gay, I think they are fake and gay people and they are fake and gay people and everything about them is fake and gay and such people will be fake and gay until they die and then they will be dead and fake and gay
I agree that a lot of hema is pretty bad but damn dude
>don't talk to other enthusiasts
>antiques only
>reeeee not real collectors
Like what if I want to, you know, actually spar? I know it's a useless skill but you aren't going to get good at using it without a partner and a coach. Like I know 90% of hemagays are cancer but your kinda cutting yourself off of a lot of the potential fun of the hobby like that. If I could I would own nothing but historical swords but I don't really want to beat up a historical sword like I would a new windlass. I can practice cuts on a cheap saber with a decent balance, vs the unnecessary wear on on a 150+ year old antique. I put quite a bit more value on a antique.
Is it lonely up there on your high horse Anon?
Your mom blows my horse.
Its always so funny when a mcdonalds employee that lives with his mom or crypto lottery winner gets haughty over how the most expensive version of a hobby is the only real one.
Its often not that simple.For example Deepika do dirt cheap often over built with spotty heat treatment on their blades but an Albion Gladius comes with no scabbard.And the Deepika their swords come with scabbards that are spot on especially roman ones.Hell roman blades would be cheap mass produced with spotty heat treatment so yeah it does much the historical examples.
Not every bladed weapon was a master crafted wonder a lot of historical examples are for function nothing else.No reason why somebody in the modern world cant pay a decent sword at a cheap price.
have sex incel
>cheap low quality shit made by poos
wouldn't today's poo shit be closer to "real sword" from days of olde?
The thing with KoA is that it has everything, from the cheapest chinese wall hangers that bend under their own weight to high quality reproductions costing thousands. There's not problem with buying stuff on KoA but if you're gonna buy something you should read up some reviews on it to see if it's actually a good product or not.
>avoid deepeeka or any other indian made metal like the plague
>avoid swords with threaded pommels, threaded nuts, or any non-peened pommel. You are not going to be constantly disassembling your hilt. You want the blade to be as permanently fixed as possible.
>"but what about when i damage the blade when i do all my larping?" remember that not only were swords pretty rarely used for most the history of war, they are considered unimportant wear items that were constantly replaced or repaired by armorers
>don't pay for additional sharpening if offered by the seller. Buy stones and a cheap chef knife from walmart and practice sharpening the knife. Then sharpen the sword yourself. It'll be a much stronger, sharper, and prettier edge
>if possible, do not store swords in their scabbard if they come with one
>yes, properly tempered blades are supposed to be whippy and wobble like crazy when you smack the pommel. This is what keeps them from shattering on the first impact
>no, albion is not worth their price. They're good, yes, but they're not $1k+ good
These. They have probably the best selection and variety out of other sites and have "not great but still better than chinese sites like trueswords" customer service
>Indian bad
Windlass is ok though
>permanent blade
Bad idea if buying cheap or literally anything foreign with a wood grip however.
>Sharpening
Frick no do not use stones unless you have a cheap shit practice blade. A slack belt with the appropriate jigs will get better results. Even then I recommend you buy a really cheap sword to practice on.
you dont own swords, do you
>>yes, properly tempered blades are supposed to be whippy and wobble like crazy when you smack the pommel. This is what keeps them from shattering on the first impact
Save up a bit and: https://lkchensword.com/wo-yao-dao
Maker seems legit form what I've seen online, with a question mark about resilience for their song hand dao.
The degree of wobbliness is due to the thickness (or rather lack thereof) instead of the heat treatment. Stiffness is a non-structure-dependant property, and as such cares little about hardening. As such the wobbliness isn't so much a way to avoid shattering, it's about not being too heavy.
Sounds odd, but in that case you could also go a bit shorter and pick up a wakizashi instead. Fun sized for cramped (boarding) conditions.
At auctions? More of Haftröm's designs, a kindjal or some such ever since reading Dune, maybe a matching dagger to go with my Bhutanese sword, an 1796LC/Blücher/m1808, a Swedish railroad official's sword, maybe a nice Moro kris, a dussack, perhaps a small knife or dagger made of jawhar if I really feel like spending, etc...
It's a sensible design, though that rendition is just a wallhanger.
300 bucks nah i want something to frick around with beat on and probably destroy with abuse with no guilt.
if this was in stock and there were better pictures that proved it wasnt a machete sword id probably go for it.
https://www.sinosword.com/wakizashi-short-sword.html#!/Natural-functional-wakizashi/p/173199163/category=42951224
no just no stop recommending wakazashis i dont want a wakazashi. i want a single edged sword with a 28-24 inch blade.
because i know im not going to baby it or treat it like a heirloom. im going to be that idiot cutting water bottles and branches in their backyard. as long as the sword roughly the shape i want and it wont snap in half its fine. i will let it rust and do zero of that wipe the blade constantly bullshit. you gotta be realistic with yourself.
What's your body weight?
Buy a cold steel sword machete, they make plenty with 24 inch blades. You really shouldn't own any swords if you think not wiping the blade after a session is "realistic with yourself." Even those backyard cutter "idiots" will maintain their blades and work on the edge.
>buy sword with intent to destroy it
why?
Because Americans would rather spend more money to buy a new one than put even a tiny bit of effort into maintenance
Those are some specific wishes. Put them in your tinder profile because girls like men who know what they want. I would like to get my hands on a partisan by they are very hard to find and very expensive.
lmao at all you moron zoomers crapping on albion. albion was one of the first people to bring legit high quality battle ready historically correct reproductions to market. they were the first and will always have that name recognition . they have good white-man level quality control and fabrication standards. you will not get chink or poo crap from them. they are absolutely worth their price especially when you consider the quality of leather work from their 3rd party scabbard maker
> completely ignores every European manufacturer.
Albion were the first to apply giant markups and spend that money on slick product marketing and shills. That's all. They're mediocre.
Just bought a 15th century longsword and francheska axe from "The Knight Shop" theyre pretty good quality and have tons of cheaper options for a starter aswell as gear.
To not
buy once cry once. Buy an Albion sword and enjoy. This bastard sword is $539 but you might have to wait almost a year for it
oh also this is on the lower end of their price-range. their nicer swords go for 1k+, but they're the best swords you can buy.
kek, your mind has been fried by marketing and the R*ddit/youtube hivemind.
Albion swords are okay. They're nothing special. Fit and finish is pretty poor; they're not made according to traditional methods, so they've got machining marks everywhere and the furniture tends to be very plain. There are a lot of places in Europe where you can get a better sword -- or a serviceable antique rapier or smallsword -- for a comparable price.
>serviceable antique rapier or smallsword -- for a comparable price.
In my experience antique rapiers tend to be quite a bit more than an Albion at auction - even late era taza are 3000 euro on average, and that's not getting into earlier designs.
Smallswords tho, absolutely
This. I bought a Napoleonic Era small sword for 550 Euros including the sheath. It was still reasonably sharp and could take off an arm easily in its out of the box condition.
Just realized that English speakers don't call a sabre briquet smallsword lol.
the Principe in OP's pic looks fricking phenomenal are you just a poorgay?
It literally looks like an old Lutel. And those used to go for like $300.
>Lutel
Are they still arround?, ordered from them once, was overweight crap, blade was basically just 4mm steel with an edge put on it.
They closed down a few years back.
Daily reminder that generally speaking, what's being branded as 'high quality reproductions' aren't remotely high quality. Some makers offer custom builds that can reach thousands, months of wait time, but in the end the blade is just made from a tad nicer steel coming from god-knows-where with a bit of cosmetic finish on it. Even if it's supposed to come straight from a blacksmith.
Don't waste your money on such products unless you're consciously willing to take the risk to end up with something made out of mystery steel. At least, when getting antiques (and especially swords that aren't just meant for parades), you get an object designed and used as a real tool and furthermore it is a piece of history. Meanwhile repros are somewhere between the toy and the wallhanger.
Wulflund does some good working weapons for little money though.
High quality modern reproductions are better than pretty much anything they had in the past though.
Don't tell me you're a moron who actually cuts with antiques
Matt Easton does for sure.
I cannot stand it, it makes me cringe, I wouldn't be able to risk even the slightest damage to an expensive antique.
Honestly when I started collecting I felt the same but now I have no qualms going at it with a 1000 bucks worth hunting sword.
You deny your weapon its purpose?
We should also use old WW2 bombs dug up from some backyard. I mean surely nothing can go wrong.
You are a moron. No point elaborating.
It desires to bathe in the blood if your enemies...
Start with reading a lot. There are a lot of different swords throughout history, designed in different ways and with slightly different things to make them work. Whereas today there are a lot of different ways to go about recreating sword. And those two sides will affect each other. So picking which kind of sword you like and what matters to you about the reproduction of one, well, for best results you need to know a lot about these things.
As one example there's the guy here recommending antiques. Which is certainly one option, and the only way to get something truly authentic. But it also requires sufficient knowledge to dodge the fakes (this varies greatly with what kind of sword), and if for example you want to do sparring, cutting, or want an early iron age sword in mint condition for a sane price, well, antiques can't be recommended. (Meanwhile a good sparring sword will cut like a brick and a good cutting sword would be insane for sparring.)
A good place to start can be www.myarmoury.com, both articles and the forum (start with the spotlight topics in the latter case). Not a terribly active place nowadays, but you'll have enough reading to keep you occupied for some time. A bit in you'll probably also want to start hitting the books.
But for shortcuts, well, what kind of sword and task do you have in mind?
>you get an object designed and used as a real tool
While that is true, the metal in weapons people have brought to war historically includes both kinda-slaggy wrought iron and impure copper. Getting my hands on steel that poor at all around here would likely be something of a challenge, getting my hands on some good carbon steel wouldn't. So if there's one thing that speaks for antiques... this would be a decidedly odd choice. (Of course no matter which steel I got I could then proceed to ruin it utterly with a suitable stupid heat treatment, but then again I can match a lot of historical weapons by simply not trying.)
Hello fren, please tell me more about the cutlass at the bottom and the fourth from the bottom up.
Bottom is the Swedish navy's m/1849 (identical to the British P1804). 84cm total, 1025 g, centre of mass 11 cm from the guard. Somewhat funnily enough the straight blade with limited profile taper and a short false edge is much the same as what we'd find on some of the early single edged iron/steel swords that started spreading out of China and eventually gave rise to tachi and katana in Japan and sabres in the Pontic-Caspian steppe.
Fourth from the top would be a kris from Java. 47 cm, 105 g. Possibly more fashion and status piece than serious weapon, it feels no sturdier in the hand than the weight suggests.
Thank you, fren. I asked for the 4th from the bottom though, also a cutlass. Kris never intrigued me I always found them exceptionally weird, especially the sheaths.
what viking sword is that?
From ElGur, a recreation of this 11th century grave find from central Sweden. The pommel is likely a very stylised take on two raven heads.
>sword is all bent
I've seen this before with some bronze swords where they appear to have been intentionally bent out of shape before burial. Do you know why that is?
In a grave find it could be to ritually "kill" the sword so it'll follow its owner into the afterlife, for a sacrificial sword it could be to properly sacrifice it, in both case sit could also be to deter other people from helping themselves to a shiny new sword out of the grave/bog/lake/wherever you left it.
And in some cases it can also be the shifting of the earth over the centuries, construction machinery/a plough unearthing it in a les than careful way, etc.
That's pretty much what I had guessed. What cultures commonly practiced that sort of thing?
I've only really heard about it from iron age Europe, though it wouldn't surprise me if it popped up elsewhere to.
It can vary a good deal. Sometimes it's just you who happen to care about something, sometimes there's two or three people who just have to have a specific item. The former is far more likely with the more niche stuff though I think, with a rapier or a katana your chances for a significant are probably not so great.
Oh well maybe I will give it a try. What's on your wishlist, anon?
whats the top long sword just below the mace? i love those types
Custom longsword from Regenyei, in the style of the early 16th century. Hilt loosely based on this painting from 1515.
looks almost like a claymore but has a cool wrist guard
When my Regenyei grip wrap started fraying to shit and coming off like yours I replaced it with 1/8th inch paracord (Home Depot has some patterns that look good). It was such a massive improvement over his grip wrap that I would literally do it to a brand new feder. Fills out the grip so it fits the hand much better especially with gloves on, and the ribbed texture from the bigger diameter cord prevents it from leaving your hand. It's also utterly bulletproof and I'm sure the blade will break before the wrap does.
moronic take. Modern steel is far better than older stuff and plenty of manufacturers will trll you exactly what you're getting. Mass produced swords from the 1800s aren't made of some mystical unobotanium.
iaito
kinda want
Needs propeller on top and go for it.
Start with the most expensive fedora you can find. Buy it.
Having paid so much for it, you will feel the need to wear it everywhere.
The acne will come in rapidly at that point.
The patchy neck hair will fill in where the acne scarring leaves off.
You'll be an expert on swords in no time after that.
You get a free katana after 10 white knight posts online.
Oh wait, fourth from the bottom. That'd be a mid 19th century police sabre. It's got Stockholm's coat of arms on the guard so we can probably guess which police force. Designed by a Swedish artillery officer named Hafström, just like the m/1848 infantry fascine knife below it and the m/1847 cavalry sabre above it. What exactly gave him the idea for the demi-leafblade shape is something I've so far failed to determine. 79 cm, 960 g, CoM at 11 cm. Decidedly blunt, likely never sharpened.
Where do you even buy affordable antique swords?
Mine are mostly from local auctions.
How much do you pay for something like that? I feel like I have been robbed buying my first antiques.
There's always some local variation, but for a Swedish one here in Sweden the latest auction results I can find were 3800 SEK and 4000 SEK (on top of which the Auction house would take another 20%), both with scabbards. Which depending on how much of that is the scabbard puts it in the running for my most valuable antique, the m/1847 was 3200 SEK+auction fee IIRC.
Damn, that's cheap. For a hunting hanger I pay 800€ bucks at least. At least it has an ivory grip.
19th century private's weapons and some of the not-yet-so-popular ethnographic stuff can go quite cheap, yes. An ivory gripped hunting hanger sounds like something that would go a good bit higher. Also if you bought form a dealer instead of an auction then that too will kick the price up, the auctions seem to largely be where they get their stock.
Is there a lot of competition at these auctions? I only bought from dealers so far because I am too lazy to attend the nearest auction. I would love to buy a 16th century rapier but they are all about 6-8k€.
you can buy most swords less than 200 years old for a few hundred bucks or less. antique swords really only get expensive at 300 years old+ because that was before industrial machining and shit was produced in low quantities by hand
I'm into German longsword. Get a high quality blunt for training and if you like it enough get a sharp historically correct build like from http://www.albion-swords.com/
You can practice with suitable length pipes to just get started with something but yu will want to follow instructional videos and practice in a mirror for like 20 minutes a day to get really good in 6 months and competitor level in 3 years.
Are you telling us you studied the blade?
The Blade, Blockchain, you name it man.
start with pic related
I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not, but just looking at it I genuinely would be tempted to buy it.
I like what I like and I refuse to apologize.
If you get the sword of Elendil please get one that's actually well made. Which means commissioned by a reputable smith. That Chinese shit will shatter like the one in the movie
Start by getting a sword you moron
collector items are meant for display. If you're gonna make a youtube video I'll borrow you one of mine, just splice in a GWAR song like LET US SLAY and chop up some stuff like lettuce and funny things like that. Make a BBQ out of it.
>any advice where to start?
At Information
Best info on the net to read all the basics:
https://www.tf.uni-kiel.de/matwis/amat/iss/
On collecting, the main question is do you like antiques to display, or replica to play and cut with.
On replica in general, distal taper is important, European swords without usually don't handle like originals.
how dumb am i for wanting to buy a 100-150 dollar katana then cutting the handle in half to make a 1 handed sword. the reason im starting with a katana is it seems like katanas are the cheapest available "battle ready" swords. what i actually want which would be a pirate sword/cutlass are all wallhangers at that price range. it doesnt have to be great i dont expect a good sword for around a hundred but should be durable enough to not destroy itself when swung.
Seems pretty dumb, you could just use it one handed as is, no need to shorten the grip.
>you could just use it one handed as is
nah frick that shit ive tried not with a katana but things of that length and while its possible its not comfortable.
Balance would be crap, Japanese blades are very tip-heavy.
Get a one-handed (short bladed) japanese type or settle for something by cheap but reliable makers like windlass steelcrafts etc.
here you go
https://www.knifecenter.com/item/CN36024HC/condor-tool-knife-ctk360-24hc-naval-cutlass-24-carbon-steel-blade-hardwood-handles-leather-sheath
is that an actual sword or an overpriced machete with a guard on it?
Just get a wakizashi you moron.
You can largely just wield it in one hand straight away, the extra hilt length (assuming you don't get a very long-hilted katana) is unlikely to get in your way. A number of single handed Chinese swords (like the one in
) end up with almost as long hilts just for balance (while, funnily enough, often having hollow pommels). As for durability you'd have to redo the grip wrap in some manner, and that is an important part of the sword's durability since if the grip cracks apart the blade can slip free.
For a bit more (well, plenty of percent, but 100-150 EUR is a squeaky tight budget): https://landsknechtemporium.com/products/standard/messer/Gottfried-M3C-Messer or https://landsknechtemporium.com/products/swords/Dorothea-type-4a-Dussack
Perhaps a bit more pirate-cutlass-y as well while you're at it (though the Japanese certainly weren't shy about piracy).
so what im getting is starting off with a katana is a bad idea. which is fine i wasnt married to the idea that it had to be a katana.
this is roughly what i wanted.though. maybe if i just use the katana blade and make a weighted handle.
The nature of the hilt on jpn style swords make them prone to failure if not crafted properly. Even the worst, cheapest blade can still cause harm when if flys off cheap trade, I’ll fitting tsuka.
Home Shopping Network classic.
You guys don't remember the fake and gay guy? because a lot seem to be fooled by some pretty obvious parody.
A true classic, but that wasn't the hilt failing.
Buy a smallsword, sidesword, or rapier. Then, buy a good sized dagger and a machete. These are the large blades that would be most useful in theory. If you got felon status for saying "frick Black folk" in demolition man america you could still defend yourself depending on the laws (blade laws are all old as frick, moronic, and never updated). After that enjoy your fluff.
Yeah, start a cocain habit instead. It'll be cheaper and more fun.
whats a good sword that's not incredibly expensive but good for stabbing a gas station loiterer for laughs and then running away
Gunter type m3d messer from landsknecht emporium
>stabbing
?
I would like to lunge a 4-10lbs sword into an meth addict and then leave, yes.
Don't have these in my area, would poking tiny holes make them aggressive?
If it's about creating a mess as large as possible stopping movement instantly there are many options, a dadao or zhan ma dao might also be an interesting option. But it comes down to what style you're looking for.
if you're only stabbing, just grind some 1 inch rebar into a point
leave it outside in the dirt and let it get all rusty for +1 toxic damage
Test
Bro I love it when you've got your girl on lockdown and can let slip the Way of the Blade.
So if I want a real modern sword, that’s fully functional and not trash where do I look? I’d like it to be good quality and not Chinese/Indian trash. Located in Canada by the way.
This is going to sound moronic and extremely autistic but here it goes.
I want a weapon that I can kill something like a skinwalker with.
I’m a fricking big dude and fairly muscular (6’3 230). My plan is to consecrate the weapon to the lord with some Catholic engravings and practices. I was also inducted as a knight in a minor order while I was in high school. I already lift and do cardio 6 times a week and figured I’d add in autistic knight exercises in.
What would be the best way to go about this?
I was thinking a broadsword or axe.
The best sword for skinwalkers is the one in your pants anon.
Etching should be the simplest option
Also when it comet to symbolism of sword shapes, you'll probably like:
(he does the designs for albion)
start with a ww2 gunto
I've been thinking of buying myself a katana, but I'm interested in other types of sword as well. What would be the best for self defence if I ever needed to use it?
Something intuitive to slash with, katana is the cheapest option, the relatively thick blade makes cuts work even if the user has bad form and little practice.
A cutlass, messer, falchion, dao etc. would also be a good option, but there are less on the market so decent quality costs more.
> messer
Landsknecht Emporium.
Another brand that's better than Albion at half the price, by the way.
Was comparing it to katana prices, even if LE is inexpensive for the quality provided it can't compete with mass produced functional Japanese-style stuff.
Even chinese don't produce chinese-style swords competing with the katana market.
But thankfully like with messer, at least there are some options out there.
is that a Guntō(ww2 japan sword)?
it's a chinese one-handed type.
https://lkchensword.com/shop-1/ols/products/yan-ling-dao
Start with the materials and how swords was build along the history.
I would suggest to get a hand made vikinng sword, a military 17-20 century one and a japan made katana
Best place to get a good, functional katana? I’d like to be able to actually cut shit with it, and not have it break. Could spend up to $500
https://www.swordsofnorthshire.com/
bought a iaido sword from them for $130 made out of 1060 high carbon steel. After 5 years it still holds up from all the tree trunks I swung it at.
Buy from Huawei or Ronin Katana. Do not buy from swords of northshire as they are a low end longquan forge and often sell swords for twice the price of other forges.
Got myself this claymore by Hanwei. Cuts water bottles pretty well
no point of using big swords in modern world, they did it in medieval times to be effective against steel armor
>they did it in medieval times to be effective against steel armor
The ones used against armor (gaps) are the pointy type XV swords.
Nice ones but i like to put it in a modern context. Is to heavy, in modern day scenario no one wears armor, and is not likely that they would have another sword.
I would look at late renaissance rapiers. Just for the purpose of killing a burglar for example.
For blade to blade or utility and play in the back yard a Katana would be fine.
or sidesword, i don't see much difference
I wanted to like this until I saw the review with the loose parts. Why are good sideswords so hard to find? It's theoretically the perfect sword. Can cut, can thrust, can fence, perfect if you theoretically had to use a sword today when nobody is a duelist or a knight and you'd just be a half-awake felon stabbing at burglars.
>. Why are good sideswords so hard to find?
Complex hilt = complex manufacturing, European blade shape, much wasted material if using stock-removal.
It was even hard to find halfway decent arming swords until only a few years ago, side-swords (and also sabers etc.) are a less iconic type with smaller market in addition to being harder to manufacture.
Who makes THE sidesword these days then? Or just a short "rapier"? It gets tiring digging through long winded youtube sword rants and sketchy websites designed in 2005
>inb4 $1000+ sword
If you want to cheap out, get a Munich town guard from windlass, it's a decent sword. Otherwise get the same sword from arms and armor and it'll be probably the best sword you'll own
Antique sideswords that are way better than anything you can buy new are all over European antique markets for $400-1500.
Even on eBay.
e.g.:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/325032559763
https://www.ebay.com/itm/224983740237
https://www.ebay.com/itm/264991488406
etc.
Those are two smallswords and one spadroon.
Well, if you're looking to practice kata or cutting then there's a possible issue in that many antiques suffer from degraded hilt integrity, or they just have shirasaya mountings. A newly made martial arts grade nihonto will avoid that while still being traditionally made.But if not (or you can check out the hilt integrity) then the lower and antiques should certainly be considered as well, yes.
> ACKSHUALLY
Landsknecht emporium mogs those companies.
I also bought a sword from Wulflund in the Czech Republic that handles just as well as an Albion I had previously owned, and looks twice as good.
I was gonna buy from landsknecht emporium, but a 6 months wait is hard to swallow. Same reason I haven't bought an Albion, a year is a quite long time to wait
They don't seem to have much in the way of two sided swords unless I'm totally missing an order page. As for the wulflund, I don't care so much about looks, a decent handle plus a nice scabbard is good enough for me as long as it's a sturdy useable sword that will take and hold an edge.
motherfricker do you know what a sidesword is? absolute brainlet
Frick, I got mixed-up with smallswords. Sorry bro.
why not get a gladius?
I'm not a manlet that's why. I'd rather get a type XV or XIV arming sword than a gladius but I just don't think they look as cool.
>Windpoo looworks
>No distal taper
Man.
>A&A
>$1450 sword
Maaaaan.
First off, it does have distal taper. Secondly if you want a good historically made sword you need to pay. Windlass makes swords for broke Black folk like you to have fun with. So either pay up or settle, or make your own.
Well, Sabers you can still find cause they was used recently but sideswords are 400 years old. Someone must make them manually and with all those shapes will cost a lot of time and skills... That means will have big price.
They where contemporary with Katana. And i think they are the peak of western blade, in a time when the blade was an essential weapon.
For killing a Black person would be better than a Katana because are longer and stabbing from a longer distance with only one hand, then you have two sharp parts for slicing.
Yeah, but I like big swords because they're cool. If I wanted to defend myself I'd just get a gun
>no point of using big swords in modern world
hello buzz killington
They did it to avoid getting stabbed by people with shorter swords. For the same reason we use guns, to put holes in people who are too far away too put holes in you. Even when armor was out of fashion people still loved their really long fricking swords.
Of course you only need a sword that is longer than the other guys plus theoretical reach difference (in case he's 7 feet tall or something), so since swords are out of fashion I really doubt even a 30" blade is all that necessary.
99% of people with swords have a katana, epee, or machete. 35" is the length to beat. rapier is king.
if is good for Pope's guard, is good for you https://youtu.be/o0DIAdYd_yA
Where should I buy a katana in the UK?
don't you need lic for butterknife?
No. Stupid laws in the UK, but it is possible to own a katana. Most purpose-made weapons are outright banned, like ninja shurikens, knuckle dusters, etc. But I suppose for collection purposes, all straight swords are allowed.
Curved swords are outright banned, with an exception for if they're made before a certain date (i.e. antiques), or made at any time using traditional methods. Thanks to the last part, you can buy and own a katana at home in the UK, as long as it was made using traditional methods, i.e. being glorious Nippon steel folded over 1000 times.
Wouldn't surprise me if they closed this loophole at some point though... Telescopic batons had a loophole until recently, where they were illegal to buy/sell, but legal to own in private if you had one. A few years ago those got outright banned, and everyone had to surrender them to the police.
Feels bad man.
At least your are not speaking German though.
Vat iz wrong vith speaking deutsch? Racist.
Just pointing out how absurd it is to have zero personal freedoms except for degenerate behavior while your national myth is about defeating le ebil tyrant.
Hitler was a fan of responsible drug use and was trying to get dogs to function as German citizens so it’s not like liberals would have no freedom at all
Hitler was a based centrist.
kek, kinda true
Ted is to anarchy as Hitler is to authority
But liberals want lazy potheads, and an endless supply of bussy, dilation wounds, e-girl, and shota, not hyper-productive german autists on crack and two to three weeks of german shepussy a year.
The rapier was the pinnacle. The sidesword was an excessively chodey rapier, and the final iteration was its greatest. A long as frick cut and thrust sword that can engage multiple ruffians from a safe distance. The smallsword is the specialized duelist's devolution of the rapier (and was ok for self defense, unless someone robbed you at rapierpoint), and the sidesword is just an arming sword with a fancy guard and pointlessly limited range. A broader blade is better for slicing through gambeson after gambeson in war, but outside of that you want that mass put towards length.
Swords actually worth collecting have a starting price of 5-10k. Look around auction houses.
just buy a machete at harbor freight
Many other Anon here are giving you advise on how and where to buy good quality swords, so I will tell you how to care for them. Good swords are made of carbon steel so they rust like hell. Gun oil can help and use light sand paper to get rust off. Special made knife oils work to but in my experience are more expensive. If you know how the Polish the blade Renaissance wax will become your best friend. If you plan on using the sword keep it sharp get a belt sander, they have specific sharpening belts nowadays.
So I’m looking for a nice functional katana, what’s the deal with all the Chinese forges making Japanese blades?
People buy them, so they make them. It's as simple as that.
>what’s the deal with all the Chinese forges making Japanese blades?
You have mall ninja, low end stuff, mid end stuff, and even a market for really nice 2000+ dollar repros made traditionally. Lots of opportunities, ergo lots of forges.
Keep in mind even low end Nihonto with papers in shirasaya are often 3k+.
The japanese are also not allowed to manufacture non-traditional swords and that they are limited to not suitable as weapon zink-alloy for display and iaido ..
This rules out japan for making japanese hobby-grade swords.
Bullshit.
They make 30 inch long tuna knives from good steel.
No, it's true. What exact exception there is to their knife laws to allow larger sushi knives I don't know, but given the Japanese police trying to use that as a loophole seems like a very bad idea.
A side note im concerned with some anons over the years that thinknewly made japanese swords are a cakewalk to buy and seem completely unware of the ridiculous price attached to them.What they are getting in terms of functionality is no better than a decent smith can make anywhere.Yet its attidudes of "I want to give my uncle a little treat" "i dont mind splashing the cash a little :)" for is essentially russian oligarch pricing.
Im assuming its just sheer ignorance of the actual price of them.But even if isnt and its a money flex on an anonymous image board its still a monumental waste money for what you are getting.You might as well buy an antique with some actual history and pedigree.
Do you mean newly made by Japanese people Japanese swords? Because I have never seen anyone spend the 20000 real life dollars to commission one of those on a whim. And at that price point its not about functionality, its about form.
Newly made traditionally crafted japanese swords.
Yeah, I agree theres no real reason to buy a new sword over an antique in good condition. You would have to be a psychopath to cut stuff with a sword that costs more than a new car and you can do kata with an antique.
There’s been a few Chinese forges recommended in this thread which I found interesting. What would you recommend for a functional katana in the $500 range?
If you want to wack stuff get Cold steel and then save your nice sword the torture.
Don’t want to walk random shit, I’d mainly use it for display but I’d like to be able to cut pig carcasses or violent attackers.
Huawei
Sinosword/Jkoo
Hanbon
Huawei is highest quality by far but offers less customization options.
Thanks I’ll check those out. I saw Northshire recommended on here by a couple people, good to know their sketch.
Matt Easton seems very happy with what Jkoo sent him, but how cherry picked a review sample that was is of course always a question.
Albion and Arms and Armor have very good reputations, but there's a good amount of made-in-america (and possibly also brand) premium in the prices as well. Between them it's probably mostly a question of which sword you want (not a lot of rapier sin Albion's lineup for example).
Valiant I think used to be Chinese-produced designs from Atrim&Fletcher, more of a Hanwei competitor perhaps but well regarded. I'm not sure I've heard much about how their Suttles-made swords are, but they do look decent enough.
For more options I'm quite happy with my Viking age sword from https://www.sword-elgur.com/ and Arma Bohemia seems good too overall. Apparently that place source their stuff from a number of craftsmen, Pavel Moc is clearly one of them and I've seen good looking and balanced longsword trainers form him, if perhaps a bit soft for regular practice. The stuff in the catalogues looks quite good overall as well.
Regenyei's stuff usually lags a bit behind in historical looks, and may not be terribly sharp, but handles well and his training swords have held up well for me.
Never buy them from mainstream sites unless its from a collector
Battle ready is not real unless its call of athena
You need something stiff yet flexibles.
Look at the handle, most scam swords dont boughter much so if a handle inst smooth, clean and comfy looking then its trash
If I want a good sword without splurging for a 5k whats the best brand within the 1k to 2k range? These are what I've picked up on:
Albion
Valiant armoury
Arms and armor
I’m looking for well balanced sabers. Pitch me some well balanced sabers.
What the hell is this? Looks like someone made it in his garage.
Seems to be a polish saber, so close enough. No telling if it's a replica or not though
Cheap stainless wallhanger, got it while drinking binge and decided I want a real one. The POB is decent but it’s not sharp and like 1.5lb too heavy
What's your purpose? Buying actual swords is trading antiques which is all about being able to identify authenticity, condition and fair value.
start with sword bayonets. particularly bayonets made from 1850 to about the end of WW1 bayonets from this time were designed and made when the Calvery saber was still relevant, so the design and materials used are all up to the task of being an actual sword and usually just as long the chassepot bayonet was 27 inches long when most medieval swords were about 30-ish inches, and they can be found on eBay under 100.
inderdasting
I have a dozen or so machete of various size that I actually use every so often
>sword bayonet
what rifle fits them pic stickers and how much for working copy and ammo?
>any advice where to start?
have sex
>DOTANUKI
For all weebs, every single time swords comes up on /k/ dotanuki style japanese swords should also come up. They're supposedly thicker, heartier battle-use versions of all your shitty mall-collector-grade swords. Skip the gayshit and buy your battle-tool grade DOTANUKI style swords. Really just get a wakazashi, Black person further up had it right. You don't know how to move with a full size sword and are more likely to be using one indoors in the current firearms-meta. They're nice, little longer handle in case you need two hands on it and not too long. Don't be a supergay, just get that.
>You're wasting your life and money on collections. Get ready, it's fricking coming. Buy two.
Honestly frick all that, just get a sturdy 8-12" kitchen knife. Maybe wrap handle in hockey tape. London homiez do great with it. Same for Shitcongo Black person's ammo, they kill tons, stop being so picky. Put holes in b***hes, often, and quickly. Get your cardio up.
The frick is that, a kitchen knife? Who are you Gordon Ramsay? Here to chop up some carrots, make me a stew? I come here for a sword fight, a proper fricking sword fight, and you're running around here like you're on the fricking cooking channel. A disappointment, you're frickin disappointing.
While Dotanuki has come to be synonymous with thick, sturdy blades in modern day pop culture, historically their resilience was likely more a matter of plain old quality craftsmanship. Not much point in an unbreakable sword if you're struck down before it strikes anything. Accordingly while the Dotanuki style can certainly be identified by those who really know what to look for, but for us common mortals, well, there's a Dotanuki in this lineup and whether or not you can guess which I think we can all agree that it doesn't exactly stand out like a sore thumb.
Now if you're looking for a modern day reproduction then I'd consider having an extra thick blade to be a minor issue when it comes to overall durability, far behind overall build quality and hat treatment. If the former is lacking an extra heavy blade may even end up making the sword more fragile as the hilt can't withstand the extra forces. So much like "battle ready" it has become just another buzzword for the marketing to use and abuse regardless of whether or not the product sold doesn't live up to it. Or perhaps especially if it doesn't...
I will never shame my bloodline with a japanese sword unless it was taken off a dead jap as a battle prize. Not touching the spoils of any dead weebs thx. Real warriors hide their power level.
for me it's antique rapiers. I like them more than my guns
like come on
>