Is it possible to get into the world of swords without developing autism? Do I need to take a firm side on Katana v Longsword?
Swords
Is it possible to get into the world of swords without developing autism? Do I need to take a firm side on Katana v Longsword?
Probably not.
A true swordgay loves all swords.
>A true swordgay loves all swords.
how canna bea true swordsgay if ye like a pansy grasscutter with ye shite folding memes?!
Swordsgay ruined swords gayging for swordsgays
Katanas are a good representation of the bell curve meme.
>brainlet
amazing cut through tanks folded 10000 times
>midwit
trash pig iron only good for cutting peasants breaks the moment it hits anything hard
>ascended swordgay
it's a decent sword
tbh I just wanted to disagree with the poster above me because they were advocating harmony and I'm an assie shitposter
I will be the first to say that Katana's (and the twenty odd very similar types of sword that all have their own different classifications but look similar enough that people just call them Katana's) aren't superior, but they're a bit more than 'decent' anon. The whole reason they got popular or attained any cultural significance outside japan was because people recognized they were high quality items made with an autistic attention to fine detail.
That's only vaguely true for maybe the 13 to 15 hundreds anon, but for the vast majority of euro history, the best armour tech we had was chainmail over a padded jacket. And even in the 13-1500's, that was still a lot of what was worn by poorgays.
Hell, the only reason the longbow strat at Agincourt worked, was because armoursmiths didn't have the breakthrough to temper plate steel then.
Buhurt is good for pressure testing, but the requirements of the armour are way different for a tourney than a battlefield, and the skill level both isn't high, and is in different fields due to Buhurt rules.
Real armour wasn't the bloated space suits you see them wearing, and was designed to forsake some protective capacity for breathing and maneuverability, with the understanding you'd have an active defense going on top of the armour by using good range, evasion and technique, as this becomes more of a critical need in a fight to the death than being a bit tankier.
TL:DR Buhurt is like Sumo. It fights to different, rude-coded conditions. It's armour prioritizes greater protection over capacity to fight or remain aware. This also changes the fight science, making complex techniques less effective, and prioritizes power blows, wrestling and shoving.
>t.does hema, fencing, mma, and is currently getting into buhurt.
You don't need it. But like with any hobby, the 'autism' is just a natural byproduct with gaining familiarity and knowledge.
Yeah, if you want to get into sword teqniques for the history/art, there isn't anything wrong with it. It's like studying Okinawan Karate or Kung fu. But you aren't going to win in a modern MMA ring if you rely only on that. Hema very good, when you are fighting in a Hema tourney for example.
I was talking about now, as in what sword fighting would look like if you seriously got into it and trained to win in modern times. It would look like Buhurt if you wore armor, and it would look a lot like Rapier/Fencing without it.
It's clear that you know some stuff, but your knowledge on this is nowhere near as deep as you think you have it,
You're like someone who only has casual knowledge of UFC and thinks they know more than someone who trains MMA
>high quality items made with an autistic attention to fine detail.
some of them were, but people forget that a large number were also churned out to arm the very large armies that the japanese were fielding during their periods of constant warfare. they also exported them in droves to korea and china. the katana seems to have started out as a sword for peasant foot soldiers, so it's not like they were the best things on the battlefield. iirc most of the national treasure swords are actually tachi, which is a calvary weapon, because it's the guys with the horses that had all the money to spend on fancy swords. same as it ever was.
>because people recognized they were high quality items made with an autistic attention to fine detail.
The reason why they were fine detail wasn’t because they had this amazing quality to the blade. The fine detail was that, in order to deal with the shitty iron quality, the japs had to minmax the utter shit out of the forging process
>Grasscutter
Kusanagi?
>7 KB, 485x154
ants?
no pictures exist of the real kusanagi, and its never shown to the public
Sus, so either somebody "lost" it a long times back and they don't want to admit it or it's got anime powers, got it
>Real kusanagi is longsword
The
>OMG le Katana baaad!!!
meme has been going on longer, and has been louder and gayer, than the Katana meme ever was.
Two generations of gays that missed the Katana fad, but wished they'd been born early enough to scream "Acktualleeee" as loud and as often as they could, basically pretending that the "myths of the Katana" are still popular thirty years hence.
>Two generations of gays that missed the Katana fad, but wished they'd been born early enough to scream "Acktualleeee" as loud and as often as they could, basically pretending that the "myths of the Katana" are still popular thirty years hence.
Wtf, button pushed.
What?
The Americans with disabilities act ensures that you will still have a chance to be a contributing member of society despite your sword-autism disability.
Who else /misc/earm masterrace/?
… war scythes, bill hooks, ranseurs, and the list goes on. From the most elite of palace guards to the lowliest of peasant levies, the pole arm type of weapons presents one simple problem. I just can’t name a favorite.
>I just can’t name a favorite.
Miyamoto Musashi
says in the Water Scrool, The School of Two Swords warrior should not have a favorite, but consider ALL tools for what is best. Consider each word individually. He also says that.
I do enjoy my halberd
as one of the resident swordgays
no, sorry anon. the autism is non-optional
What oakeshott type is best?
xviiic and it's not even close
I’m considering a couple Albions. Would like your input. It’ll be my first real sword.
The Yeoman
https://albion-swords.com/product/the-yeoman/
The Templar
https://albion-swords.com/product/the-templar/
They’re two very different swords, but basically I’d like to slice shit up in my backyard. I like how compact the Yeoman is, along with its thrusting ability. For the Templar, it seems better for cutting and for Larping.
What are your thoughts on these?
for backyard cutting, i'd go yeoman. its blade geometry will sail through light targets, be more forgiving, has less resistance. This will make it feel more fun
Not him, but I’m interested in a two hand or hand and a half Albion optimized for thrusting. Do you have any input?
$4000 1911 autism
it's expensive, but the Ljubljana has a great blade for thrusting / halfswording stuff. Super stiff, very unique blade geometry/cross section.
Or… hear me out… join me in the Albion Doge master race.
That is very pretty for a functional sword.
wow
keep in mind for around $2-3k you can get a unique hammer forged sword by a european master swordsmith
Talhoffer
Xviiib is my go-to. Strong LOTR vibes and I've always adored the thinner long blades.
we're brothers you and I
Why?
this
although if you're interested enough to get into swords in the first place, its already too late for you.
The Katana vs Longsword is bs it should be Katana vs Falchion since a Katana is more identical to a falchion then it is to a Longsword
>since a Katana is more identical to a falchion then it is to a Longsword
ESL detected.
You mean more similar.
It's also not true, because the falchion is a one-handed chopping sword often next door to a militarized machete, while a katana is a principally two-handed slicing and cutting sword.
Longsword vs. katana is not an exact match up, but a more sensible one.
how about Messer vs. Katana then?
>katana is a principally two-handed slicing and cutting sword.
Katana are traditionally hand and a half swords meant to be used with one hand. Traditional Japanese sword techniques principally use a thrusting motion to attack. two handed use is for strong cutting and defensive postures, and cutting techniques are used to parry and create openings.
Only modern sport kendo uses two hands almost exclusively, because of the speed of the contest
People make way too big a deal out of this chop-vs-cut-vs-slice thing. Sure, compare a kukri with a deeply curved kilij and we'll probably notice the difference there, but for less extreme cases... well, ok, even with the extreme cases may not always be so clear-cut. I've found that even with an axe a purely perpendicular chop isn't ideal for getting through assorted soft cow tissue. Then should we move from cutting competition to actual fighting that'll muddle things even more, and the attack you go for will liekly be dictated mostly by what opportunities you get.
Then to make matters worse the falchion's reputation as a hefty chopper is liekly grossly over-exaggerated. (Just the idea that they're all all that similar is an elephant step-dancing on very thin ice.) Sure, some have a wide profile, but if they do then the blade is almost certainly also very thin, making a rather light weapon for cutting flesh rather than smashing through wood, armour and dead bone.
Frankly just about anything with the "vs" part is usually a bad idea. Far too encouraging of gross oversimplification and fanboy flamewars.
A pair of interesting parallels...
>Traditional Japanese sword techniques principally use a thrusting motion to attack.
I've been told in HEMA that for cuts you often want to go at it as if a string attached to your sword and the target point pulled the former towards the latter. IIRC it's from some old manual, can't recall which at the moment.
>and cutting techniques are used to parry
"since every cut is used to defend yourself against your opponent's stroke and put it off, as well as to injure his body, therefore to teach the cuts is to teach the parries" - Joachim Meÿer
Though all of this said I don't really feel like all of this seems all that well supported by what I've seen of modern koryu. Which admittedly isn't the final word in these things, but then we're left wondering what material your claims are based on?
>"since every cut is used to defend yourself against your opponent's stroke and put it off, as well as to injure his body, therefore to teach the cuts is to teach the parries" - Joachim Meÿer
"Whenever you parry, hit, spring, strike or touch the enemy's cutting sword, you must cut the enemy in the same movement. It is essential to attain this." - Miyamoto Musashi
>claims are based on?
couple years of iaido+kenjutsu, sport fencing, kendo (1 year ea) and dicking around with some hema homosexuals. I've read or skimmed almost all the source material, including the second stuff from the British about Indian swordplay, which is frustratingly thin.
Japanese sword technique has got quite a bit of documented history, not least of which is Musashi who is credited with popularizing the dual-wielding style if not inventing it. His school Niten Ichi-ryu is still around. I think the fairest thing to say here is that the cut and thrust are just as important to the katana/Japanese style as they are to the Western styles- mainly you can't call the katana just a cutting weapon, or just a two handed sword. You will use both hands and one hand, it is not single-handed like a rapier, but much more like a longsword. That is for of an analogy than a comparison.
I know its clickbaity Youtube shit, but these crossover videos really are a good way to see the different style approaches here. This guy teaches kenjutsu with a fairly standard approach but notice at no time is he at all uncomfortable with only one hand
Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu is one example of the koryu I spoke about. The things is though that there are a number of other koryu schools surviving to this day (in various states of preservation). You can find a good, but not quite exhaustive list over at https://www.koryu.com (along with a general explanation of what koryu is and what their role in history was).
So as you can see, Niten Ichi-ryu is one school of many today. These in turn are a small minority of those that have existed, and in turn all the "ryu"-style schools are just one part of the Japanese martial history (being mostly an Edo period thing). So even with a book from the founder to help keep things on track, if we're simply looking at one of these schools then the conclusions we can draw would seem to be more about one way of using the katana, than about the way to use the katana. For example Tenshinsho-den Katori Shinto-ryu does not recommend cutting as the main form of parrying, preferring instead if possible to sidestep and swat the incoming blade aside (making contact spine against spine) according to the book by Risuke Otake.
For a decidedly less clickbaity look into some of the variation found within koryu schools, you could have a look at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD385DF5CD3802752
>one school of many today
to be blunt, the by-far-largest school of Japanese swordsmanship is kendo, by several orders of magnitude. Whenever we discuss kenjustu or kobudo, we are always starting from a specific niche
>Niten Ichi-ryu
an example of the relatively well documented history of Japanese swordsmanship compared, to, say, Indonesian swordsmanship
>more about one way of using the katana
I am speaking only to the misconception that the katana is necessitated to be used with two hands only for chopping and cutting. It is definitely not.
>playlist
I like the Shinkage Ryu videos, they've done a good job making their stuff accessible over the years
>Is it possible to get into the world of swords without developing autism?
no. but it is a nice kind of autism.
What autism is it most similar to in the gun world?
black powder people, particular those who collect both antiques and modern repros (and shoot them / hunt with them).
depends, japanese sword fans are more into weaboo sports and culture having deep autistic knowledge. I'd say long range shooters.
euro swords is blackpowders people, hema, reenactment, experimental archaeology, friendlybro peoples and good drinkers.
japanese swords isn't about the sword, but about the smith who manges to get the entire process from iron sand or raw iron into one sword, which is absolutely amazing and hasn't been done in europe since say 1500 years. the swords are very unique simply by the way the metal is made and shaped
handgun autism, because it's also a sidearm
checked
anon, once was enough
Impressive, very nice
Nice :3
>handgun autism, because it's also a sidearm
anon has spoken
Oooooh thats true!
czeched
Its over handgunbros…
What a waste
>autistic screeching and tribalism over weapons that are mostly the same
it really checks (and check’d) out
Does anyone but super expensive niche custom makers make ACTUALLY good quality swords today? All the meme companies that people talk about like Windlass or whatever are almost always much thicker and less springy then originals swords. I've had a couple original ones that were incredibly thin and you could bend double and spring back. The modern reproductions I've seen felt twice as heavy and felt like I was going to damage them if I bent them too far.
there are literally hundreds of custom sword makers. would need you to niche down in order to give recommendations
To assume generic euro medieval swords, some choices would include
TEMPL/Patrick Barta
Peter Johnsson
Maciej Kopciuch
Mateusz Sulowski
Gael Fabre
James Elmslie
Fabrice Cognot
and those are just a few i remembered off the cuff
> Patrick Barta
Amazing-tier
> Peter Johnsson
Makes homosexual "modern art swords" these days that mostly sell to contemporary art museums for $30k/ea. A nice grift, but not really accessible.
> James Elmslie
lmao at this R*dditor homosexual. Muh elmslie typology.
>lmao at this R*dditor homosexual.
Looks like you've been reading Reddit an awful lot to know where I'm active.
But seriously, Swordforum International is dead, Myarmoury and Vikingsword are on terminal life support. Facebook and Instagram get leery at advertising anything that their filters identify as a weapon.
Reddit is one of the best places for connecting with the customer base just now.
Go where the money is. simple as that. If you have better suggestions of communities which are active, I'll be active there instead.
>Muh elmslie typology.
you are absolutely welcome to a better job.
Seriously. If you think you can do better, reach out to me, have a chat and I will gladly help you get whatever solution you can come up with promoted or published.
I created that solely because we didn't have any terminologies for half the details when discussing blades. is that a short cusp, or an elongated cusped point? yelman? stepped? Is that a sabre, a backsword, a hangar, astorta, a falchion, etc, and so on.
That's the only reason I made it, because I couldn't find terms while looking at them. Others adapted it because it worked, and quite honestly, I thought I was going to be laughed out of the door when it was first put forward, and I still wonder why I wasn't.
What sort would be best as a backup to a firearm for home defense?
>assuming it absolutely has to be swords and you had time to equip it after your gun stops working and they don't have a gun
rapier+dagger in a narrow hallway. scottish broadsword if there's open space.
>actual answer
a baseball bat hiding around a corner.
>baseball bat
Wood or aluminum?
Wood. Gallium cannot harm it, and a flaming cudgel is only a more powerful weapon.
The truth about swords is it's 99% BS.
It's like Karate and Kung Fu before MMA. The English figured it out pretty early.
For single combat, You get a nice heavy long sword, grab the handle with one hand, the blade in the other, wear enough armor where you can't be easily stabbed and start being the crap out of the other guy in a brawl. Try to get the point in a joint of their armor or bash their helmet with the cross guard.
That's about it.
You can use a shield and one hand sword but it's not as good. If they have a shield just throw yours at him and charge him, he's pretty useless with his one handed sword.
There's a reason why most knights with brains just ditched the sword and went to the war mace.
If you don't have the armor then rapier style fighting has some merits, which would also dominate a katana or saber.
That's the ugly truth of it, and everything else is just larping like "Kung Fu" is to unarmed fighting.
I mean there was a couple of centuries of saber use, and duels extended beyond the point where soldiers would wear a large amount of armor.
>If you don't have the armor then rapier style fighting has some merits, which would also dominate a katana or saber.
Dominate is too strong a word. The French brought masters over to practice against since they were the first to go full weebs, the notes they have on it says that they weren't invincible or anything, but their fighting style was very impressive to go against and would shock Europeans fighting them with how much reach they could get.
I saw dominate because it just is not possible to SWING the katana or the saber if you have a rapier. If you have the point pointed at them, all you have to do is extend and stick them. It's faster, more direct, its a dominating position in it's advantage.
Based
>just because we're in full plate and wearing our lords colors doesn't mean this isn't gonna be a nasty street fight of helmet pulling/twisting, shield throwing, half swording, mordschlagging, punching, kicking and wrestling around with a dagger and somebody hitting somebody else with a rock
That's not going to be what a cutlass in naval battle will do. Or tons of other historic use as armor got less. Rapiers got their ass beaten by sabers.
And how much sword and shield sparring have you done?
>The English figured it out pretty early.
>Halfsword with a longsword in plate
>Early
>Weapons changing as the needs of fighting changed and people actually killing each other in the style of the time
>larping
have a nice day FaceBerger.
SHUT UP. JUST SHUT THE FRICK UP.
Are you assuming that knights weren't smart enough to realise fighting other armoured knights was generally a bad idea and didn't smartly focus on striking lightly-armored infantry or civilians instead? Besides, a sword is still effective against a geared opponent if the wielder's sharp enough themselves; they could strike and poke at the joints and face, or deliver all-out thrusts to the frontal mail or plate (both of which are shown in historical illustrations). As high-school physics could tell you, a heavy metal point stands a good chance of going through anything it's up against, especially if the blade design was specialised for thrusting like a tuck/estoc. All this is supported by the fact that knights carried swords more frequently when steel became more readily available, contrary to your argument which would suppose otherwise.
Thank you for making this post anon so that we can all learn how it's wrong
>Is it possible to get into the world of swords without developing autism?
Anon I.....
Bocchi!
Longsword or Katana, either way the Tism is required
both are objectively good weapons in their own right. they each served the purpose that it was meant for. both are based weapons to like.
I'm gonna drop the mistakes I made.
>don't get a katana, they're weak even when made right, very balanced and fun to mess with though
>don't get a one handed sword, they take way more skill and strength to use. I'm talking Swords that have a closed one handed hilt, you can't put two hands on to really take a power swing and that's lame. At most get a hand and a half sword or open hilt sword so you can get two hands on for better control and two handed power swings.
>a big sword is going to be heavy, just get what looks cool, you'll have to practice a bit to get good with it anyway but they are manageable once you get the weight distribution figure out. Key thing to consider is whether you one a one sided or two sided (both sides sharpened) sword. I went with a one sided but ended up wanting a two sided. There's different tactics you can utilize for both.
the key mistake you seem to have made is being a weak ass manlet
>the mistakes I made
You have to be 18 to post here
no and no.
>t. HEMA gay
The gay part is redundant after the hema part.
you just jelly
Carry a long sword/wakizashi daisho
Autism-bro you should wield a katana and arabian sword
i've grown found of the kriegsmesser
how's the handle on this thing?
it doesn't really look comfortable
the way its handled is different, you draw your slashes and use thumb grip a lot (which is what the groove in the grip is for)
XVii
Yay or nay?
hell yes.
Dumb question, swords from Albion don’t come with a scabbard, do they?
No. If you can find a scabbard maker for their models, they're often times even more expensive than the actual sword in my limited experience.
Goddammit I want a longsword. I'll be autistic or whatever
a longsword is a sword used in europe to counter mostly armor in the 14th and 15th centuries, the katana is a sword mostly used in japan in the same period as other curved sabres across the world were taking off in the 16th to 18th centuries
so if you wanna take a side then compare a sabre to a katana
Uchigatana started appearing in the 15th century in Japan, in the Moromachi period, and the only thing differentiating a katana from a tachi is the location of the signature and mounting.
If you take a tachi, and swap the koshirae so that you can wear it edge up, it becomes a katana, and vise-versa.
The tachi was a thinner blade, usually longer and with a stronger curve.
It was damn near a calvary saber, except fragile, since they weren't tempered.
The tachi was closer i shape to a modern saber, but they stopped using the tachi in the 1200s.
>but they stopped using the tachi in the 1200s.
Some of the earliest signs we have of the katana is from the second half of the 13th century. At that point it was sized more like a wakizashi than a tachi (the wakizashi itself coming along later on when the katana had grown too much and left an opening for a new smallish sword to fill), and appears to have been a thing for the basic grunt. Only with the latter Muromachi period did it start creeping up the ranks to gain universal acceptance. They didn't stop making tachi however, it just lost a large chunk of its market share to the katana. here for example is a Meiji period torikubi no tacho koshirae.
See Kanzan Sato;"The Japanese Sword", Kokan Nagayama; "The Connoisseur's Book of Japanese Swords" and Markus Sesko; "Koshirae-Taikan"
>since they weren't tempered.
While the clay coat and quench (yaki-ire) is usually all people talk about since that's the flashy stuff, tempering is absolutely part of traditional Japanese sword making as well.
"After yaki-ire, Yoshindo removes the sword from the water and runs it through the coals, reheating it to 160°C and quenching it again. This is called tempering (yaki-modoshi) and helps relieve stress in the hardened edge" Kapp, Kapp & Yoshihara; The Craft of the Japanese Sword
KM, in deference to your knowledge of Japanese swords, I have some questions for you. I imagine you've probably read about this destruction test before:
>http://www.nihontocraft.com/Aratameshi_Nihonto.html.
My questions:
1.) If we assume that what was described here is legit, what would you guess accounts for the big difference in performance between the swords by Kiyomaro's brother and everybody else?
2.) Naotane's swords performed very poorly in this test, yet he's ranked as one of the top shinshinto smiths today. Why is that?
3.) Generally speaking, most sword aficionados I talk to think that koto > early shinto > shinshinto > mid shinto in terms of performance as battlefield weapons. Are they falling for fuddlore/conflating prices on the modern market with better performance? I find it very hard to believe that a Kamakura sword would actually be better in a fight than one from the Boshin War.
1: It could be a matter of geometry, the material itself, or the heat treatment. I don't think it'd be possible to tell with just the information in that text, ideally you'd want a full lab analysis to check things like grain size, composition, hardness, and the possibility of any local flaw (bad weld, large slag inclusion, etc). With humans wielding the blade there's also the possibility of skill and bad cuts playing a part, ie essentially random chance, though if it was the same person doing all the tests here I'd be inclined to say the sample size is too large for that to be all there was to it.
2: I suspect that from the Edo period and onwards there's been very little in the way of practical tests influencing the overall Nihonto collecting world's opinion about smiths. Maybe today there's a bit of information leaking in from the tameshigiri competition circles, but I'm far from certain and would actually guess it's more on the negligible side. Appreciation appears to be based largely on looks, things like large nie for example really don't seem like they'd be good for the strength of the blade.
Then again, perhaps there are other tests or events in favour of Naotane's work that we simply haven't heard about.
3: I agree that the ranking there seems a bit suspicious, and I strongly doubt there's much in the way of actual data behind it. Now the best swords form a purely practical standpoint might not have been made in the most violent of times, since ten sorta-ok swords today will beat the hell out of one absolutely superb sword next year when the enemy is coming to urn your house down next week. But if we look at some period of relative calm and prosperity right after some major mess then it'd seem like there should be plenty of smiths around who have had their craft combat-tested, as well as a good number of suddenly very rich warlords around looking to invest in getting to keep those riches, but not feeling any extreme sense of urgency.
I just want useful tool. Probably a knife.
Where can I find a modern metal works place to make me a sword?
Whats the cheapest type of sword I can make shape wise and all that minimal material and labor cost but still effective
Or is an Albion squire my only option
Why do you want one made for you versus just buying a production sword?
Albion isn’t the only brand, Albion is a very good brand, but you have a lot more options, you can go a lot cheaper and a lot more expensive.
What in particular are you looking for (arming sword, longsword, Viking era, ect…) and realistically what is your budget? The squire line is not a bad option in the $500-$700 range, but you can go cheaper and still get a good euro sword from brands like Balaur Arms, LK Chen, Ronin Katana, Kingston, Hanwei, ect… even a very hesitant Cold Steel depending on what you are looking for in particular
I want a functioning strong sword for practical use
No particular style considerations at all?
In that case you could look at the Ronin Katana entry level katanas for $150. If you don’t want a katana and want something big, the Hanwei Dark Sentinel is $130 and in stock on Kukt Of Athena currently… still kind of looks like a katana though. Hanwei Tinker Pearce longsword is normally around $250 along with some of the Ronin Katana European swords. I would probably trust the Ronin Katana ones more if you want to cut with it.
Also the Cold Steel Italian Longsword can be found for under $300… if you really want a sword you can beat up, I would probably go with a Cold Steel tbh
You could also consider a swordchete, like the Kingfisher Machete in this picture is like $65, but was rough from factory and I did a lot of work to the handle and edge.
I want something to seriously kill someone with. I practice in my backyard with a wood baseball bat so I'm really good at big swords now. I'm almost 40 years old. Its not too late for me right? I don't own a gun so I need to defend myself.
And honestly if you just want to walk around and cut branches with it, the Schrade Priscilla brush sword (renamed to “Decimate” something or other), is pretty fantastic for $45. It’s my most used brush clearing tool. And it’s a lot more like a short sword than a machete, it’s not flexible like a machete, and has a thick spine. It’s great for backyard bottle cutting too, especially if you thin the edge out.
FYI: Most of the cheaper repros out there are shit. This isn't because they're weak and will break too easily, but rather the opposite problem: They're often too thick or overbuilt, which means they handle more like a sharpened crowbar than a sword.
The reason this problem exists is because your typical sword buyer is usually an untrained, physcially unfit weeaboo, video game enthusiast or deus vult LARPer who plans to use his sword to tard out on garbage in his backyard. For this use case, a sword that doesn't break in the hands of a moron is better than a museum-quality replica that's better in a fight but worse against tree trunks and old refrigerators.
If you think about it, refrigerators are like modern knights.
Any nodachi appreciators on the board?
Realistically a katana sized for a white man would always be a Nodachi.
Funny you mention, my Katana is a Hanwei Raptor Nanbokucho, which is designed by James Williams (an American practitioner), and is basically a katana just scaled up to be for a 6”+ guy. It’s debatably an O-Katana
One thing to keep in mind about katana size is that it's to a large degree an legal artifice, as in the early Edo period the Tokugawa shogunate banned people from carrying swords over a certain length. (Now the katana had been a round for quite a while already at that point, but the Edo period is where the katana fully stabilized in the form we know it, and a lot of older swords that didn't fit the new idea about proper size were re-mounted and/or cut to size.)
I suspect you're getting to the really important parts of the issue around "I favor" and "myself personally".
>developing autism
fricking normies, I swear
you should take the short sword challenge
Get on my level, plebs.
I don't like these things because of it's completely round handle. Makes it much more likely to turn the blade when you hit something
Jian in general or that specific jian model from that specific maker?
Idk about longswords but the katana is clearly outdated
Now I want an Albion Talhoffer. Thanks nerds.
No, if you keep the same context with swords as a rational person would with guns. Swords were purpose built in the same way guns are. There's no best sword just like there's no best gun, only ones that excel at a specific job. I'm only talking about blade geo, shape, etc. blade quality is another matter and a function of how advanced the metallurgy of the period was.
That's really all there is to it.
what is your homosexuals opinion on
>arming sword and shield
vs
>bastard or two hander
specifically in a 1 on 1 fight, if your opponent also could chose between the two options but you wouldn't find out what they picked until the fight began
i've autismed around with both and I personally can't decide whether I favor the better defense of the shield or the slightly longer reach of the longer sword, but I have noticed that myself personally am too moronic to control two hands holding two different things at the same time whereas I feel more focused with a two handed sword
Is armour involved? I'll take the shield if it's not but I'd rather have a two hander if we're wearing armour. I'm pretty sure this is the case in real life too, two handers didn't really turn up until plate advanced enough that a shield was redundant and you could go all offence
assuming roughly equal skill levels sword and shield will shit on longsword every time for the simple fact that being able to attack and defend at the same time is very strong
two handed sword as a backup for a two handed weapon. one handed sword as backup for a one handed spear.
Why can't I wander into a metalwork shop and buy a sword or a knife to kill Jungian ideas with like my Japanese VNs?
Why am I forced to buy weird name brand shit with cringe names and have stuff soulless shipped to my house
I seriously want to just kill someone just rip them apart and reveal my nodachi omoromuramasa ketsugiri moves i don't think I'm just a human I think I must be part devil
>rapiers
>mfw
Rapers
I like how that guy's points were completely vindicated by the results of naval boarding actions between Spanish sailors and their rapiers against British sailors with their cutlasses.
This was mostly due to the superiority of the Anglo spirit, but it is also true that slashchads dab on stabcels.
I really just want to kill people. I want to bite their throats. I want to carry my sword everywhere I go.
Just make me a sword god damn it! Single edged! I don't need a guard or a grip ill make do!!! It can be bronze or copper for all I care!
God damn it!!!!! I want my sword!!!!!!! But I'm in 6 figure of debt! I live in shifty America where there is are be no sword smiths!!!! Son of b***h!!!
>America where there is are be no sword smiths!!
John Lundermo, Anthony DiCristofano, Vince Evans, Rick Barrett, Walter Sorrell...
>But I'm in 6 figure of debt
Sounds like a you problem.
Those guys are too artisan for me I can't fford it.
>you problem
Nope and its your job to fix it. Everyone had a right to defend them selfs.
Yes and I will suicidal support communism and fascism. If I can't have what I want then burn it down haha!
Frick gun rights! Bring back swords!!!!!!!
Live by sword!
Frick this country. Jts gay. If you are patriot you are far.
GIVE ME MY SWORD
NOW NOE NOW NOW
HOW MUCH DO I NEED TO PAY FOR WHAT I DESCRIBED
HOW MUCH DUCATS??
TELL ME.
stupid ass.
your posts read similar to a Vietnamese anon on /jp/. I miss him 🙁
Why the frick would you reply to him?
Tell me where to get a sword as I described. Cheap and simple. Maybe even without a point?
you know they need to pay workers minimum wages in america, and pay american steel prices?
USA made swords will never be cheap in the US
Why are you automatically making it a factory thing? Why can't I just meet a bro whose willing to do it
because he also needs to get paid.
Never said I wouldn't pay
Great, then you still need to pay at least minimum wage * work hours + material cost
I'm not sure why you're acting like I wont?
"Those guys are too artisan for me I can't fford it."
How does that say I'm unwilling to pay any amount? Do you understand English?
It tells me you're a poorgay, who will never pay the actual market value for USA made products.
I just want to live in a better world where USA made isn't a thing people even think about. Its hard to express. I just want to walk outside to a place and work with a guy to get a sword I can afford. I think thatd be nice. I don't want to autistically order something from XxXColdDeath Bladekiller and have it shipped to my door from halfway around the world. I don't want to contact MichaelAngelo through email and request an artists blade from his shitty website.
I just want a natural organic world
And you apparently wanna pay bargain prices for that ideal fantasy
You just don't get it i guess. Or you're more determined to have some useless argument than to understand
I don't get it. If i want something locally made, I am willing to pay the asking / fair market price, knowing it is subject to cost of living/rent of workplace, cost of labour and cost of materials
Me too
then why havent you already purchased a USA made custom sword at fair market rates, such as those in
Because those aren't local. I don't give a shit if something is usa made either. And all those guys are going to charge extra for their names and other stuff thats beyond price of materials and work hours
"other stuff" being workmanship / quality?
I don't need art
And if I try to negotiate a cheaper design with less features they'll say it's more expensive because it's a unique piece
Its just nonsense
>negotiate a cheaper
i just bought a hat and got from:30 to:20, negotiating is a skill many people don't have. I'm just better than most. It's a nice hat, no pic.
I want to cum on a sword
We should seriously take the W out of the word
No you can ascend. Take the chinese sword pill. Picrel is from the han dynasty (200bc-200ad)
You will lose yourself going into chinese history.
Why are there never any sword anons posting swords they actually own?
What the frick is this
A qajar era sabre associated with taziyeh
NEat
I've gone through all the depths of swordgayging autism so you don't have to.
A 5160 spring steel longsword. That's it. That is the ultimate combination of cost/effectiveness, usefulness, advantage vs disadvantage.
Goodbye.
but i dont want cost effectiveness, usefulness, and minmaxing. I want fun, weird, and historic
>I've gone through all the depths of swordgayging autism
You are still in that depth, the deepest darkest, frendolini. Now get out your boxed set of Highlander and tell us how much better Adrian Paul is than Christopher Lambert. Weirdo.
Where to buy?
How hard is it to make your own knife
Depends on the hardness.
Huh
Exactly.
>Do I need to take a firm side on Katana v Longsword?
Yes and no. It’s a petty squabble because both swords are good at their own thing
crossovers are tight, TBQH. Could use more of this sort of thing
>Do I need to take a firm side on Katana v Longsword?
It's as pointless as any other online argument. People have generally come to recognize the "folded over 9001 times and can cut through an entire tank with one swing" hype as just hype, but then a number seem to have overcorrected to the complete opposite stance because this is the internet and nuanced opinions are apparently not allowed.
Ultimately they're both long, sharp pieces of metal, and being hit by either will ruin your day.
>It's as pointless as any other online argument
No. .45ACP, is better than 9mm. This the entire internet decided conclusively just minutes ago. You may have missed it.
True, you don't really see the "folded 1000 times and is therefore superior" opinion at all anymore, and pretty much an unreasonable opposite like you just said, but all that means is that it is easier to distinguish who actually knows what they're talking about
This thread convinced me to become a swordgay.
Enjoy
I don't have a yeoman but I do have a screen-used prop from Arn: the knight template made by Albion to help bolster your choice
where ddid you buy it and are there any more for sale? i loved that movie
i uh, actually didnt buy it. It was given to me for free as a gift.
bought a katana recently (around $850) for fun and the moron of my friend decided to hit the tip agaisnt the wall, and now its kind of dented, although from what i can tell its just the edge that got fricked. is this easy to resharpen? do i need special equipment or can i use the same shit i use to resharpen my kitchen knifes?
Yeah, just grab a file or whetstone or whatever and have a go at it. An old and traditionally made blade would be a very different matter, but when you're simply repairing damage on a mass produced modern sword there's nothing special to it. Just remember that swords want more of an axe edge than a kitchen knife edge.
now you got me curious, how would you sharpen the real deal? im also doubtful. the katana i got was from one of this sites where you can customize everything, from the metal to the type of angle on the tip to the designs of the whole thing, do tjose still count as mass produced? im inclined to believe so, but again, im not entirely sure.
>how would you sharpen the real deal?
Basically just a bunch of whetstones, with some suitable polishing powders at the end. But unless you want to ruin the art/cultural/economic value of the blade (possibly irreversibly) then the polisher needs to very carefully hone the geometry and bring out all the stuff that's going on in the steel due to the folding&differential heat treatment, in a way that fits the character of the blade, the smith at large, and the smith's school. This takes a whole bloody lot of skill, a whole bloody lot of time, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Japanese swords. So it isn't the steel or the blade geometry being anything truly outlandish, it's simply about not fricking up a piece of piece of art.
The whole process for a new blade can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnCpshnXS_c while how much of that is needed to restore a worn or damaged blade depends on how badly deteriorated things are.
>the katana i got was from one of this sites where you can customize everything, from the metal to the type of angle on the tip to the designs of the whole thing, do tjose still count as mass produced
In this context? Absolutely.
Though all this said, if your sword has a visible hamon or hada keep in mind that it may take a lot of careful polishing, and possibly some light etching, to get that visible again after you've been abrading away at things. It's just that it isn't quite the same loss with your sword as it would be with an 8500USD antique.
i see, thanks anon!
and yeah, mine does have a visible hamon, guess ill have to be extra careful then
unfortunately no, anon. don't get me wrong, up until the invention of the gun, the sword was the coolest frickin weapon ever and there was a time when you absolutely would have been an ubergigachad for knowing everything about the world of swords. but that is not this time. ours is the time of the gun. i'm sorry we don't choose our time.
>ours is the time of the gun
if only, feels more like the time for artillery tbh
It's the time of the drone and 1's and 0's now
What are some fun targets to swing a sword against? Bonus if it’s just shit lying around the house.
Gets some old newspapers or similar, make sure to remove any and all staples, soak in water, let the worst excess drip off and roll into a tight roll. Wrap in duct tape for cohesion and "skin". Plastic plumbing pipe (the fusiotherm brand was specifically mentioned) can supposedly be added if a bone simulant is desired, but I haven't gotten around to that myself.
Supposedly quite similar to flesh and bone, though that's according to Peter Johnsson and while he certainly knows his swords I'm not so certain about his anatomical credentials. Maybe I'll get my brother to have a go if he ever bothers to drop by, he actually has experience carving up live human tissue. Either way though it's a rather fun target, far less all-or-nothing than PET bottles.
imagine buying from albindion when you can get a professionally made sword with scabbard by a real swordsmith
https://sulowskiswords.com/in-stock/available-blades/
https://www.sword-elgur.com/ordering/
https://www.armabohemia.cz/Novestr/handA.htm
Imagine buying from some sketchy Eastern European with no pedigree and a janky backyard shop, when you could buy an Albion crafted by American Wisconsinite descendents of North Germans.
been watching his storefront for a long time now since it got mentioned here, seems like he spends over half the time on the scabbard/belt alone.
don't know what prices Elgur charges, but it was somewhere around 3000 euros for both the sword and scabbard/belt on this highly detailed one iirc. lower detailed ones going around 2100-2400 euros.
he just finished all existing orders, so the queue is empty assuming none of those blanks have been claimed.
plan on ordering one myself in a month or two when i can afford it.
Sounds like it's about the same ballpark. Hopefully I'll notice you showing off the good and (if any) bad sides of it when yours arrive.
i own four swords by mateusz sulowski and they're exceptional. his leatherworking is not as nice as DBK's upper end stuff, but it's still extremely nice.
Also, from my experience, sulowski doesn't charge the entire order up front. You can pay a minimal deposit like Albion.
I'm very happy with the Viking sword I got from Elgur. The Pavel Moc feder I've gotten to molest handled and looked fine, but IIRC perhaps a touch softer than ideal. probably still better than what it'd have been historically... has anyone gotten to fondle a Sulowski in person? Any ideas about how wait time and/r price compares with Elgur? They do look very nice.
I wouldn't mind having a tacticool gladius just for the hell of it.
I'd love to own one of these bad boys.
I'm just here to say that it annoys me that there are like 1000 choices for Atlantean swords, Sting, Glamdring, etc. swords, but only one for the sword from The Beastmaster, made by one guy who doesn't make any any more, and listed on sword sites for no other reason than to waste time with 'lol not available do you want this anime sword tho?'
Custom time. Ollin sword perhaps, or Odinblades?
Might end up doing that, sitting on my thumb won't get it done, after all.
>Do I need to take a firm side on Katana v Longsword
its cringe if you do
Is Albion worth it? Why/why not?
Yes.
Because they produce a consistent, high quality product where you know you will get exactly whay you thought you were getting and it will be correctly executed.
They are not 'amazing value', but they are worth it because you can have full confidence you aren't going to get a piece of shit. They offer a wide variety of styles based on real historical examples and just get it right. They use good steel, they have good geometry, they have good handles, they have good edges, they're made in the US, and they aren't a scam.
is it possible to own a sword without being autistic? yes
is it possible to become a full-on swordgay without autism? possibly, but it has never been observed
and no, unless you have a double digit IQ you don't have to pick a side, they're all cool
For any history buffs here: Were the tachi/katana that levied farmers and ashigaru were equipped with markedly of lower quality than what a low status samurai would have used? How would a modern chinese 1045 steel $75-$150 katana compare to a historic low quality blade?
>For any history buffs here: Were the tachi/katana that levied farmers and ashigaru were equipped with markedly of lower quality than what a low status samurai would have used?
There's no real answer. They might have got shit, they might have got something decent.
>How would a modern chinese 1045 steel $75-$150 katana compare to a historic low quality blade?
A historical low quality blade is likely to be more brittle, a modern low quality blade (outside of the total meme stainless steel anime swords) is more likely to be too ductile, bending when struck against a hard surface.
Bending is technically better than breaking, it remains a length of metal, at least, it can intercept blows and cause some injury.
As somebody with multiple cheapass 1045 and 1060 katanas off amazon what seperates these from the better $300-500 katanas is not metallurgy or general blade geometry. Its the handles being dogshit with loose wraps and disntigrating ill fitting wood.
The blades are actually decent.
>markedly of lower quality than what a low status samurai would have used?
Insomuch as they wouldnt really have swords as infantry troops, no, not really. Japan has historically had high quality steel and steel tools, and mass production of weapons like spears and arrowheads was no exception.
their forging techniques were inferior to like 1st century celts, who were braiding steel vs the japs still folding 1700 years later. Tamahagane is garbo.
Braiding would have been done primarily to join small pieces of metal together into a billet large enough to make a sword blade. It isn't really an alternative to folding, and the bits to be braided together would first have been folded.
As for folding remaining in use, well, it's a very useful technique. As such it was for example still in widespread use in 19th century Europe, see shear steel as one of the more obvious representative. And of course a lot of the benefits of forging are to be seen today in hot strip milling, which skips the folding bit but takes the "forge out" step in between folds to the extreme.
>braiding steel
>Tamahagane is garbo.
you are a moron, and literally do not understand what you are saying in any way
please do not post here again until you have murdered yourself
>Were the tachi/katana that levied farmers and ashigaru were equipped with markedly of lower quality than what a low status samurai would have used?
The distinction between a farmer/ashigaru and low status samurai was unclear before the Edo period and the establishment of a formal caste system. In many cases, farmer/ashigaru & low status samurai were the same thing (look up what a jizamurai is).
Regarding swords: The historic term for a mass-produced sword issued to foot soldiers in the Sengoku Jidai is kazuuchimono. They were inexpensive swords that were literally sold by the bundle. However, they weren't necessarily bad or low-quality weapons; it's just that they were made with no consideration towards being works of art.
Here's an example of what I mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj_Rm91jgfA. The sword being shown here is a bog standard Bizen kazuuchimono, and, although it's quite plain looking, it's a good blade that survived years of actual combat.
>How would a modern chinese 1045 steel $75-$150 katana compare to a historic low quality blade?
The modern sword SHOULD be better, but that's only if the Chinese didn't cut corners somewhere. Do you trust them to do that at the price point you specified? I sure as hell don't. For a real battle, I would unironically take the kazuuchimono I linked above over a cheap Chinese sword.
Someone give me 1 reason why I shouldn’t buy this. It’s not for larping (ok maybe a little), but more for a SHTF scenario in which everyone runs out of ammo and goes back to primal warfare.
https://www.kultofathena.com/product/13th-century-arming-sword-atrim-design-type-xiv/
>It’s not for larping, but more for a SHTF scenario
So... larping
>in which everyone runs out of ammo and goes back to primal warfare.
Guns are medieval technology.
A good axe, knife, and bow/crossbow would serve you far better for a real disaster-scenario, unless you plan on picking a lot of fights with survivors which is risky to say the least. Even trained knights could get swarmed by freemen or peasant militia and captured for ransom, assuming they didn't hate them enough for a summary execution.
Machete > sword
Post machete.
I did. Was pretty easy, I don't feel autistic.
Yet.
Better pic of sword
What sword is that?
Fidestisan Claymore, got it for $150. Came sharp as frick, and made out of 65Mm leaf spring steel. It's hefty, and chops frickin nice.
>Came sharp as frick, and made out of 65Mm leaf spring steel.
Can you use spring steel that isn't from Canada to make a good sword?
Lolz not sure, but this sword frickin rips.
Honestly has enough weight to it to make me feel like I got a great deal on an actual usable sword.
Only a duel with a $1,500 vs. my $150 could settle it.
I mean it when I say this thing doesn't feel cheap and I can't seem to stress that enough. I'm a big dude, 6ft 205 gorilla build, and I even have a semi-tough time one-handing with my shield in picrel
I have a sword that is one inch long, but it was originally over 19 kilometers long. See, what happened, is that it was folded over 26 million times, and the blade was made out of diamonds, so of course the process made the sword smaller. It is 1 inch long, but it weighs 14.3256 metric tons. It is in a museum. Send me a message if you want to know where it is.
This is top secret classified information, so only people I really trust will be allowed to see where this sword is kept.
Why are sword threads so comfy and long lived compared to spear threads?
Spears are more niche and its more fun to swing a sword.
Sword threads welcome all. The Carolingian, the Messer, the Gothic Longsword, even the Jian and Katana are welcome.
Speargays won't even give a pity (You) a billhook poster.
Only so much anything you can do with a spear. Use, training, or dialogue, there's little nuance to spears.
Swords, though dude
Spear autists are minmaxxed, optimised form spergs, and there is only so much you can discuss on one of those threads beyond "spear good. Spear primary weapon."
Sword autists have embraced the sub-optimal, the sidearm, and still want to talk about them
>the sub-optimal, the sidearm,
I cede no ground to spearcucks.
When the roman army used the sword as it's primary arm it obliterated millions of speargays.
Broadsword or rapier. Based entirely on your feelings/autism, which one is better?
Define broadsword
Single handed double edged thicc blade typically used in the medieval period
Gotta go with broadsword. Rapiers are great, but it's hard not to feel like a Frenchman wielding one. I like weapons with some heft to them, and Rapiers just feel too springy to me
Most antique rapiers are in the 800 to 1500 gram range, which is almost exactly the same range as one handed arming swords.
I don't understand you anon
I confused longsword with broadsword, I didn't realize broadswords were one handers.
Learned something new today
hey look my random numbers pulled straight outta my ass were roughly correct. nice
While there's enough of a span that you could simply have happened to run into the lighter ones, overall rapiers seem to tend towards having quite a bit of heft to them. Combining a significant mass with a usually not that wide profile also results in a decently thick blade, which means it's also a reasonably stiff one.
A classification that seems much too wide to be much use. Leave broadsword as the double edged brother of the single edged backsword in renaissance to early modern Europe.
How come we allowed people to make such a wide range of rapers that they intersect with side swords and small swords on the fringes.
Someone should stop them.
How am I suppost to stat them in my table top game.
It hurts my head.
Tell the museum people to stop making them that way.
in the words of cringe swordtubers, "rapiers exist on a spectrum"
>such a wide range of rapers that they intersect with side swords and small swords
Because the cut wounds, but the thrust kills, and e'er it shall be until the ending of the world.
All cutting swords are second rate. This is science
What does that have to do with the post you responded to?
All swords are on a spectrum. Weapons evolve and mix influences.
There are historical examples of swords that are messer style, yet have symmetrical, double edged blades. There were longswords with complex guards. Rapiers emerged out of what we now call sideswords. The word "Rapier" basically means "Dress sword." We're applying terms in ways that medieval and renaissance people did not. Swords weren't produced to factory specification like modern guns, and even modern guns get customized and can blur boundaries.
Tell them to stop
Is sword autism better than knife autism?
one is objectively more practical than the other
but only the most deluded swordgay believes their sword is practical
meanwhile most knifegays day dream about using their knife in all sorts of scenarios that never come up, yet deeply believe they will
>this awesome survival combat knife is fricking great it has so much utility
>uses it exclusively for opening boxes and cutting line/rope
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APROOOOCHING
anyone know where you can buy a good cheap tachi sword. basically it's the army version of the katana which means it's a bit longer
Tachi koshirae is expensive and the Chinese forges that have it floating around have a fairly poor reputation. Hanbon is an option but their blades are ugly imo.
le bump
Let the thread die anon, it had its day
sord
Type XIV masterrace