Best practice swords out there?

1

1917cutlass

Joined
Jul 4, 2005
Messages
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I'm curious where you can find the best practice swords or other types of weapons in general? Please consider both quality of the goods and the price.

Thanks,

Cutlass
 
Are you looking for wooden practice weapons, or steel? Contact or no contact? Western or Eastern style?

As for price, well, quality costs... I recently purchased a Purpleheart longsword waster after handling another guy's. It's awesome for forms and contact sparring - almost indestructable, and a good value for ~$80, including shipping. I've also seen a nice Arms and Armor steel blunt - *very* nice piece, used by Christian Tobler for his Lichtenauer seminars.

On the Eastern side, you can pick up a decent bokuto almost anywhere. Iaito are pretty standard for forms practice - you can pick up a well-rated one from Gichudo on eBay for pretty cheap, but of course they're useless for anything but forms practice.

The problem is that there's no one-stop-shop. You need to know what you're looking for, and then people can start directing you to good values.
 
By far the best practice sword (boken) style is the cold steel version, in my opinion its made of zytel and is very strong
 
The Cold Steel bokuto (I actually think they're polypropylene) are nigh indestructible. The only problem is that they're very flexible. The one I handled was very bendable. Other than that, they're great for contact sparring, I think. Not so much for forms training, because they do behave a bit differently in the hand from a standard wooden bokuto. And of course dojos that adhere closely to tradition won't allow them.

Some people don't like them 'cause they're made of plastic. I kind of agree; there's just something nice about the way a wooden waster or bokuto feels in the hands.
 
Thanks so far, i am actually looking for something European, rapier, cav saber, viking, two handed, ect.

Thanks,

Cutlass
 
Wooden? In that case, Purpleheart should definitely be on your short list. Hollow Earth Sword Works, too - but that's second hand info for me, I haven't handled one of their pieces. Arms and Armor has practice longswords, and they can fit out one of their rapier hilts with a practice blade. These options are a bit more expensive, but if you're looking for *value* rather than simply *cheap* you won't have reason to regret a purchase from them.
 
Albion and ATrim also have great practice steel blunts.
Some people like Starfire Swords and Valentine Armory stuff (the former is reenactment and the later is aluminum I believe). I think the Albion Squire line is also blunt (but thinner edges than most - also can be sharpened for a fee) but the Maestro line is specifically unarmoured longsword practice blunts.
 
I've been looking at the Albion Maestro line now and again - I thought they were all still in "advance reservation" mode?
 
I don't believe the Maestros are available yet, either. No word on when advanced orders will be filled, as far as I know.
 
1917cutlass said:
Thanks so far guys, i just had another member of these boards post this in the prac/tac forum.

http://www.rsw.com.hk/index.htm

Anybody have any experience with these from a full contact sparring situation.
Click to expand...
I believe I posted that.
You can examine the reviews. To be honest, I'm not sure it's worth the cash including shipping UNLESS you have a large bulk order (20+ swords).

Has a bit of waster bounce, minimal protection required (thin padded gloves and a helmet preferred, but optional), simulates binding, has pretty close weight and balance.

Edit: they don't really look like swords... they don't look bad, but certainly nothing like an aluminum/steel blunt
 
Another vendor worth looking at is Darkwood Armory . They have a very good selection and are also known for a quality product. I would also seriously recommend that you go to myArmoury.com . They have an incredible wealth of knowledge on swords there: articles, essays, reviews, suggested reading lists, tons of pictures and a discussion forum as well.

The advice you've been given so far is spot-on.

What do you want to do with the sword? Hang it on the wall? Learn European swordfighting? Full contact Western Martial Arts vs. re-enactment fighting? Cutting milk jugs and pool noodles? Any or all of the above?

What do you mean by quality? Historical accuracy? Something that you can beat on and have it stay together? Something that just looks really good and sword-ish? ;)

How much are you realisticly willing to pay? You will get very good to excellent quality from any of the vendors previously stated.

Good luck and welcome to a wonderful hobby! :)

Mark
 
I'll look up my company for you...I get my bokken from a guy in Japan. His prices are great and the bokken are perfect and take immense abuse that I can personally testify to. Red oak bokken (like mine) are 5 dollars, I believe, and the white oak are 30. I've used them extremely hard, and in two person forms, at 90+% power, and we use them for years at a time. Very good stuff.
 
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