What do you expect to do with a sword

defjon said:

I did for a time keep a cold steel gladius machete near to hand. Why? It's perfect for the tight confines of a home.

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Someone's been watching Skallagrim. The down side is the pommel is not removable to end your foe rightly.

defjon said:

The US issued a gladius type sword in the civil war I believe,

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The M1832 Artillery Short Sword. My great-great-grandfather was issued one as an Artillery NCO. I have a Deepaka copy. I do have his issue belt buckle, though.

Gordon said:

He is now the proud owner of the original Mad Dog Saxon sword in almost new condition, this sword has been "proofed" beyond belief . it even was used to publicly cut a period Katana in two at one early demonstration.

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Hopefully one that was common, and cut down for a gunto.

John, you left out one category, in both effectiveness and practicality:
9. Swords are a better defense weapon than a sharp stick. (Note I did not write 'spear'.)

When the ammo runs out, I'm thinking the recurve bow and the spear are the ways to go................................

I test cut with my Paul Chen Practical Plus katana, my ghetto Tactical Wakazashi, Cold Steel Sword Cane (cuts amazingly well for a light straight blade), Cold Steel Bushman spear, ESEE 6, Cold Steel Recon Tanto and my Cold Steel Trench Hawk.

The setup works well for me as I can alter the height of the targets for different cuts.

I am good with angles 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8 but really struggle with angles 3 and 5. Must be the bursitis in my right shoulder.


Thank goodness my wife likes juice!

I have a Victorian-style wrought iron umbrella stand that is full of long blades and short axes from various periods, none of which are high on my list of weapons for self defense.
They could do some damage, of course, but their primary purpose is to look cool.

mcb said:

Honest question, what are you going to use your swords for other than wall hangers?

And I ask this not as a compete neophyte but someone that was on a collegiate varsity fencing team for four years (Mostly Sabre with some Epee in the off season since there was more Epee matches in the off season.) and continued to study the art a few years after leaving school.

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For the same reason I keep my Escrima sticks handy---they are weapons, I know how to use them, and I can keep them handy for greeting home invaders with zero possibility of an AD or ND
Also swords can be used for making shish-kebob---Escrima sticks not so much.

A good friend of mine got his free-loader stepson out of the house with a cheap wall hanger katana he had bought on the internet. He says the sword was the nearest thing he had when he lost it and he's glad because if it had been a gun the guy would not have been able to outrun the bullet (he outran the sword-wielding maniac). The effect was pretty good because the guy never returned to his house and is now mooching off someone else.
My friend has absolutely zero training with a sword but I guess you don't need much training to scare the crap out of someone when you pull out a sword and go after them.

You can always impress your girl by sabering a well chilled champagne bottle........

I'll be honest, I've never really watched skal. He was a member of the sbg sword forum back in the day when I first got on there.. Like 2008 maybe. Does he advocate the cs gladius machete?

It's really a lot of blade for your buck.

entropy said:

Someone's been watching Skallagrim. The down side is the pommel is not removable to end your foe rightly.



The M1832 Artillery Short Sword. My great-great-grandfather was issued one as an Artillery NCO. I have a Deepaka copy. I do have his issue belt buckle, though.



Hopefully one that was common, and cut down for a gunto.

John, you left out one category, in both effectiveness and practicality:
9. Swords are a better defense weapon than a sharp stick. (Note I did not write 'spear'.)

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He did a video of the effectiveness of various blades in encloed areas, (his apartment) and he preferred short blades like a seax or gladius. I keep looking at the CS Gladius Machete on Midway.

mcb said:

Honest question, what are you going to use your swords for other than wall hangers?

And I ask this not as a compete neophyte but someone that was on a collegiate varsity fencing team for four years (Mostly Sabre with some Epee in the off season since there was more Epee matches in the off season.) and continued to study the art a few years after leaving school.

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I think people who know how to fence or legitimately fight with a sword have good reason to have them around for practical purposes, like yourself. It makes sense, even if you prefer other weapons.

I did not fence, and have no training with a sword. I also live in a small home that makes them somewhat impractical to wield appropriately. So for me a sword is only going to be a historic artifact that hangs on a wall or sits under glass.

A good Bowie knife though, in close quarters absolutely does have practical use.

The one sword I owned was sold off at a pawn shop, and funded a Zero Tolerance knife that I carry frequently.

I don't have skin in this game, but I occasionally think about acquiring an M1832 gladius as much for it being an issued weapon for artillerymen in the Civil War as well as the cool factor.
Not a fan of blades in general, and usually consider SCA folks to be harmless nuts (in a good way), but as someone pointed out above, better to have something and not need it than need it and not have it.

I have a katana (26") I wear on my pistol belt. It enables you to draw overhanded w your left hand while your right hand is engaged. it's just one more thing your opponent(s) has to deal with. Getting surprised in close is where a short sword really shines.

RedlegRick said:

I don't have skin in this game, but I occasionally think about acquiring an M1832 gladius as much for it being an issued weapon for artillerymen in the Civil War as well as the cool factor.
Not a fan of blades in general, and usually consider SCA folks to be harmless nuts (in a good way), but as someone pointed out above, better to have something and not need it than need it and not have it.

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The gladius was the weapon that allowed Rome to rule the world for centuries. It is best used as a stabbing weapon by foot soldiers in coordinated closed quarters group fighting. A row of shielded men armed with gladius type swords can advance on a mob of much greater numbers leaving a trail of corpses in its wake. It was a perfectly designed weapon for that style of fighting. The katana and the European straight sword were better suited for cavalry and one on one fighting situations but that's not how the Romans fought.

I've always favored the Byzantine spatha.
It's much like the gladius but about six inches longer.
The gladius was intended for use with the wall shield and allowed opponents with longer blades or spears to have too much reach advantage when there is no shield wall.
-And yes, I'm an old SCA marshal and occasional reenactor.

What will I do with it? I have no idea. But when I figure it out, I'll have it!

mcb said:

Honest question, what are you going to use your swords for other than wall hangers?

And I ask this not as a compete neophyte but someone that was on a collegiate varsity fencing team for four years (Mostly Sabre with some Epee in the off season since there was more Epee matches in the off season.) and continued to study the art a few years after leaving school.

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If I'm threatened and my CPO cutlass is near at hand...Imma grab my cutlass and go all Navy on him.

Now, it doesn't have an edge because it's ceremonial...but it's got a point and the blade certainly has the mass to pound with. A cutlass is a hack and slash kind of weapon.

When you're in a bind, it's "weapon of opportunity" time. Make do with whatever you have.

If I had the katana I had shipped to me from a co-worker in Japan which I gifted to a brother of mine (who has studied martial arts his whole life), I'd grab it too, in the same circumstances. It has an edge, in addition to the mass.

I have the Samurai sword my father got from a guy he worked with...

The guy took it from a Japanese officer that charged at him from close quarters with it, and got a bullet for his trouble.

Once back home, the guy wanted to forget everything about the war, didn't want it in his house, so he traded it to my dad for a BB gun, that was in the "40's", I believe.

As a small kid, I always loved handling it, and as an adult dad gifted it to me...

I've often wondered how many GI's it had killed before that officer met his maker, trying to use it one more time, on my dad's co-worker!

DM

DM~ said:

I have the Samurai sword my father got from a guy he worked with...

The guy took it from a Japanese officer that charged at him from close quarters with it, and got a bullet for his trouble.

Once back home, the guy wanted to forget everything about the war, didn't want it in his house, so he traded it to my dad for a BB gun, that was in the "40's", I believe.

As a small kid, I always loved handling it, and as an adult dad gifted it to me...

I've often wondered how many GI's it had killed before that officer met his maker, trying to use it one more time, on my dad's co-worker!

DM

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Photo?

Speedo66 said:

Photo?

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yes

I found a photo of the only time I ever struck someone with a sword.
The photo was taken just before I made my strike.
This was at my friend’s wedding around 2004.
For those not familiar with Marine weddings. After the bride and groom are pronounced husband and wife, the walk under an arch of swords healed by Marines in Dress Blue uniforms. Prior to the service the groom gives one of his best, Marine, friends a special order to carry out. That friend is placed at the very end of the arched swords formation. As the bride and groom pass by, the Marine at the end slaps the bride on her butt, with the flat of the sword, as he gives the loud command “And obey!”
Boy did I get the eyes of death from Anita. Later at the reception she gave me a big hug and told me that I had scared the hell out of her. I told her that Charles had put me up to it.
In the photo you can only see the brim of my cover, my nose and my right arm holding a Marine NCO Sword.

Ryden said:

The Japanese did use the sword quote a lot in WWII, on the allied side there's a swordsman as well.

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A lot of that was cultural -- the Japanese have a long history of sword-craft and swordsmanship, but their 19th-century weapons laws made it illegal for commoners, and even most dispossessed samurai, to own any weapons, including swords. Swords had a "forbidden fruit" allure that conscript soldiers found irresistible.