Yeah But Can You Fight With It?

M

Moving Target

Joined
Feb 8, 2000
Messages
617
Ok here is a hypothetical for everyone...

If you had to go to war today - not a modern war, but one as in days long past where bows, pikes, maces, and swords are the principal arms - what modern (e.g. reproduction) sword would you trust your life to? Will your MRL or AA blade do the trick? Which sword or swords would you reach for in a life-or-death situation where you can expect the blade to be used and abused yet absolutely MUST endure the rigors of mass battle? Assume only common production and low-end custom blades are available. Any comments?
 
Easy - any Angus Trim made sword! Costs range from $300-400 and they are far far superior than the junk MRL puts out.
 
It's a wakizashi sized sword with double grip I saw on one custom knifemaker's site..just can remember who :confused: .Easy to handle with one hand, but the two-hand option is always welcome!

Cheers,
 
If bows and spears were involved, I'd be back there with those guys. Massed archery took its toll on the best of swordsmen.

If sword is my only option, I'd take my Arms&Armor shifford viking sword against them if they were lightly armored (ie, in leather, maybe mail, with shields).

If heavy armored opponents (metal armor), I'd take my Kris cutlery warsword, a model they don't make anymore. Its 3.7 lbs, 43" overall, with big forte/ricasso area. Edge bevel more obtuse, for use against heavy medieval style armor.

An axe ro mace would be my choice against a plate mail armored opponent, preferrably on a long pole...

Keith
 
For an [relatively] inexpensive sword? Lol hmmm...I'll join Ferrous Wheel with the archers ;)

Sword only? Hmmmmmmmmm! Probably Hanwei Shinto or lower-end Cicada Forge piece for Japanese style...

Hanwei or perhaps KC for Chinese style if I couldn't get a low-end custom

KC for Filipino style

For European style I'd lean towards A&A and Tinkerblades, depending on the type of sword I would have hypothetically trained with.
 
I agree with Robert, in the Japanese style I think that shinto Katana, KC and Cicada forge are OK (to a not expensive one), I´d like to add the cold steel katana

I also agree with the options of the western models, but I also want to add three kind of models, the Deltin, the Lutel and the Angus Trim models.
 
Originally posted by Moving Target
Assume only common production and low-end custom blades are available. Any comments?
Click to expand...

Why limit yourself?

"Common" and "Low-End" was always the most popular choice of "The Ones That Didn't Come Home."

The Warriors that lived to retire knew that their lives depended not only on their skill, but the quality if their weapons and equipment.

They bought only the best.

Now go forth my legions into yon anachronistic battle and chose thine weapons wisely!

:D
 
As was noted over on SwordForums in reply to this same question, "It sounds an awful lot like one of those 'You don't bring a knife to a gunfight' questions." It's fine to speculate, but it is also so far from realistic as to be pure fantasy.
 
Blah blah blah...

Some witless drone always has to pipe in with some "that would never happen in real life" comment rather than participating in the discussion itself. As I stated in my original post, this is purely a hypothetical situation - and has absolutely nothing to do with the appropriateness of one type of weapon versus another. Your analogy has no relevence here. I did not ask what weapon is better for this style of warfare or that. I specifically asked which sword you would choose to fight with if you had to go to war armed with a sword. That is all. If you have no preference, fine, you dont have to participate - why deride the question itself (especially if you havent read it carefully)? Perhaps we should rephrase to a quality issue? That is: if you had to go to war with a sword which brand(s) do you feel are the 'real-deal' - which ones would stand up to actual physical combat in our fantasy battle?

On another note...one slight correction is that soldiers (professional or otherwise) bought the best weapons that they could afford and not necessarily the very best available. That is why I stipulated a general expense limit. I am more concerned with the utilitarian sword that a soldier would carry than the gilded dress blades of wealthier men.
 
I gotta go with the bow...but with the swords that I do know about which are in my collection it would be up in the air between the Cold Steel katana, Kris Cutlery Viking sword, Tinker and heavy Atrim Type XIIIa....the only question I have is what might be "low end"? if you compare these to Vince Evans, Peter Johnsson, Howard Clark, then these are my "low end" picks..
sweet-132.jpg
 
Trying to stay within the confines of the question, I would go with the best quality sword I could afford.
If you're going to limit it to low-end swords, then I would buy several and perform destructive tests on them to determine which would hold up. I would order a second of the one that held up the best.
 
Nice collection there sweet!

Moving Target
Whatever else he is (he's liberal son of a gun sometimes:)) Hugh is no witless drone.
 
That's very true, Triton.

Hugh is a very witty drone.
:D
(heheheheh)

Although I will admit that it's kind of a downer when someone comes along and pops your "fantasy balloon."

I don't see anything wrong with the question though.

I've seen grown men get into arguments over who's tougher, Spider-Man or Dare Devil (Spidey wins hands down!) so I don't really have a problem with a question like "If you were going to war in the Middle Ages tomorrow, what sword would you carry?"

We know it's not going to happen. Honest we do!
But it's fun to play sometimes. If they can't understand that over at Swordforums, then it's understandable why I don't spend much time there.

BTW, Sweet, your collection is, uhm, well...
SWEET!
;)
(But you gotta pick just one, you can't carry all of them!)
 
I stand corrected and apologize if I come off as too 'defensive' regarding the validity of my question - as you might imagine, I am accustomed to a great deal of spam/flame/etc. on other forums.

Not to create a tangent, but I would have to agree with 'scotjute' on what he coined 'destructive tests'. I am not ashamed to say that I have tested many blades (including *very* expensive ones) in this manner against all sorts of tough, unlikely, and creative targets. Anyone else feel the need to 'beat-the-crap-out-of' their swords in the interest of science? Staying within the confines of 'intended use', of course (i.e. cutting, thrusting, chopping) - not prying or hammering.
 
:D :D

Good one Ken. That's why I'm here at SFI and at Netsword. All very different environments all with positives and negatives.

No harm no foul Moving Target.
 
I have done some cutting tests, but never expect the sword to do what it was not designed to do.

I have used swords to cut softer than steel metals, but I haven't expected a sword to cut better than what the opponent would have normally worn in defense. for instance, if a sword from a time period or locale was designed to be used against a light-armored opponent (leather, padded coat, coat of plates, mail, shield), I would not expect that it would stand up to cutting on plate steel. Viking swords and many early asian weapons have an edge geometry and grind that was made to be used against a lightly armored or unarmored opponent. Conversely, 11th to 14th c. european swords were for use against heavily steel armored opponents, and the edge was more obtuse and bevelled to withstand multiple impacts to steel armor. Can't cut paper with them, they ain't razors, but they'll open metal right up!

I have carved up steel sheet with axes, punctured old heat-oil drums with spears and halberds. These weapons were very popular in Europe during the plate mail days, and the sword fell from power to make way for the real can openers.

Keith
 
hmmm...
i wouldnt know about price ranges and all that sort ..
but if i had to go into battle with a blade, i just wouldnt feel right unless it was one that i got to make myself...something that i knew completely and felt ok dying with.
i'd find it hard to put my faith in something that i didnt know what happened in its making (thats kinda egotistical isnt it?..sorry)
... but the last thing i would want is to be left holding a few inches of blade and a hilt. :)

and as for style of blade..
if it had to be strictly a single sword .. then i would have to be boring and say katana ..
but if i could chop and change i would say a couple of slender short swords to use my ambidextrous nature to some extent :D

but then again .. there are so many nifty blades out there ... its hard to stick to one for too long ..

mind you .. its purely academic .. a blade actually made for ME???..
i dont think that will be heard of in this lifetime.
:D


D.
 
Hey D,

For you I can certainly understand your reasoning. For me, I have to apply the same reasoning in reverse, and say a blade not made by me! I don't do metal work so any blade made by yours truly would be a disaster. Instead I need to go with someone who knows what they are doing. :)
 
Triton~ teehee .. :D
im sure that given enough time you would be able to fashion a blade that you would feel good with taking into combat.

but after training so long with blades that were just bought from a store in the city ...
and then being able to hold a blade that i made .. it gave me a much better understanding on some of the things i had been shown prior to the knowledge i have now .. (i hope people can keep up with my twisty turny ramblings)

i think about how people say that some weapons are meant to be an extension of the hand... think of it as your hand and the rest will come.
trouble is that you know your hand like the back of your .. .well you get the point. :)
and so after spending several days forging and filing a piece of metal into a blade ... you start to know it pretty darn well.
thats the reason i would take mine own blades into battle.
its not really a purely egotistical thing to say.

just preference.
;)

D.
 
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