Flexibility

 At the beginning of this year Nick Thomas of the Academy of Historical Fencing published an interesting post in the Military & Classical Sabre group (FB) about the static flexibility of several antique swords.

„Blade flexibility –

Here I have taken a selection of my antiques to look at how flexibility varies between the different types of sword and pattern. This was mainly in response to the ever present “spadroons are too flexible to thrust” sentiment, which I knew to be untrue (or only true for some examples, rather than all).

These swords are arranged in order of their flexibility with the most flexible being the 1796 spadroon with folding guard being the most flexible, and the blue and hilt 1803 sabre being the most rigid. I suspect there will be quite some surprises in this data. This data shows what the overly flexible spadroons were like, but also what range they can be found in, with many good examples to be found. I’m sure it will also be quite a surprise to many to see just how flexible 1796 heavy cavalry swords can be. At the most flexible end of these swords, I can flex the blades almost into a half crescent, whilst at the other end of the scale the blue and gilt 1803 is so rigid is can barely flex at all. [1]

This is not a scientific measurement, but it does provide a very accurate comparison from one sword to another. For comparisons sake, a Black Fencer steel 1796 infantry sabre is 5kg and a Kvetun Easton straight blade 4.2kg. The measurements are as below.

1796 infantry officers sword (spadroon) – 2.3kg

1786 infantry officers sword (spadroon) – 2.7kg

1796 NCO sword (spadroon) .................. – 2.8kg

Lenticular bladed smallsword ................ – 2.8kg

1796 Heavy Cavalry Sword ................... – 2.8kg

Smallsword ............................................. – 3.2kg

Heavy Cavalry dress/dismounted ......... – 3.2kg

1803 Infantry Sabre ............................... – 3.3kg

1796 Heavy Cavalry Sword ................... – 3.4kg

1796 Infantry officers sword ................. – 3.5kg

1845 Infantry Officers sabre ................. – 3.6kg

1803 Infantry officer sabre ................... – 3.7kg

1796 Infantry officer sword .................. – 3.9kg

1796 NCO Sword (spadroon) ................ – 4kg

Colichemarde Smallsword .................... – 4.7kg

1796 Light Cavalry Officer sabre ......... – 5.2kg

1803 Infantry Sabre ............................... – 7kg”

 The above values are extremely low in comparison with the static flexibility of an Olympic sabre (2.0-2.5kg). The author made a mistake to record the value when a blade just started to flex a little bit, thus seriously underestimating the static flexibility of his swords.

____________________________________________________

1. These measurements were calculated using the Black Fencer system outlined on their homepage.

Mardjani

 Last year an interesting exhibition -- called A thousand and thousand signs (Ezer és ezer jel) [1]  -- displayed a collection of stunning artifacts from the Northern Caucasus, mainly from the Mardjani Foundation. Among those was a sabre from the 10th century. I mentioned this sabre in a 2019 post.

 Much better photos of the weapon can be found in the article entitled Hungarians in the Northern Caucasus? (Венгры на Северном Кавказе?), published by the foundation.

 No specific location within Karachay-Cherkessia has been mentioned in the article regarding the above sabre, which has a very prominent angle between the blade and the grip. Specification: total length 80.5 cm, length of the crossguard 9.0 cm.

The last half of the 9th or

the first half of the 10th century [2]

Inside of the hilt

Outside

 It was found near a small village, called Barakajevskaya stanica. The original parts, fittings have been used to create this modern reconstruction, made by M. V. and A. V. Gorelik. Specification: total length 89.5 cm, width of the scabbard 3.2 cm, length of the crossguard 10.6 cm. At the moment the ethnic attribution of these sabres is unclear: it could be Hungarian or Alan.  

_______________________________________________

1. The short Hungarian description of the sabre can be found on page 6. It is based on the Russian article published by the Mardjani Foundation.
2. The same is true for the first sabre.

Thury's sword

 In less than two weeks' time many Hungarian reenactors will be commemorating the 450th anniversary of György Thury's death. The famous hussar and skilled swordsman was ambushed and killed by Turks in 1571 near Nagykanizsa. After the ambush his head was delivered to the sultan in Istambul. 

One of his swords.

 For nearly two decades he fought successfully against Ottoman invaders. Besides being an excellent commander, he was regarded by the contemporaries as one of the most outstanding duellists of 1550-60s. After his untimely death -- he was only 52-53 years old -- one of his favourite swords was sent to Vienna. In 1933 the Hungarian National Museum (HNM) received it back. [1]

Total length: 1070 mm. 

According to Tibor S. Kovács, curator of the HNM several other, very similar swords are in possession of the museum (average length: 115-119 cm, blade width: 5 cm).  

 The last two pictures give us a better understanding of the actual size and beauty of Thury's sword. [2]

____________________________________________________

1. Kovács S. Tibor: Thúry György kanizsai kapitány pallosa. Folia historica 26. Budapest, 2008-2009. 77-84. o.
2. An exhibition in 2017. (Gallery)

Splendid collection

 Readers, who – due to their circumstances (financial limitations etc.) – cannot collect or own practice (or sharp) sabres, will be delighted to browse this excellent collection. Fencing Arms & Artifacts provides a unique set of photos for each exhibited sword, together with a really valuable specification.

 

 Let's have a look. Clemen & Jung fencing sabre:

And the detailed specification:

„Sabre: steel, iron, wood, cord, shagreen, brass wire.

Overall length: ................. 96.7cm

Blade: .............................. 83.7cm long in front of guard, 

                                                6.11mm x 21.6mm thick at forte, 

                                                4.13mm x 18.07mm at middle, 

                                                1.87mm x 15.12mm at foible.

Hilt: ................................. 13cm total length

Guard: ............................. 11.18cm x 13.23cm, 2.4mm thick plate

Grip: ................................ 12.5cm long including ferrule and backstrap, 

                                                10cm visible shagreen, 20.54mm x 30.22mm thick 

                                                at middle,

Backstrap: ....................... 11.2cm visible length, 2.45cm at widest

Weight: ............................ 649 grams”

„Blade is fullered on both sides from the forte until the foible and the point is rounded. Peened hilt.”

And another nice fencing sabre (Broqua & Scholberg):  

In this case we also have a really detailed specification.

„Sabre. Steel, iron, wood.

Overall length: ................. 98.5 cm.

Blade length: ................... 84.0 cm in front of guard, fuller length 81 cm.

Blade thickness: .............. 5.82 x 18.22 mm at guard, 4.36 x 15.88 mm at strong, 

                                               4.06 x 13.66 mm at middle, 3.40 x 13.26 mm at weak, 

                                               2.27 x 12.77 mm at point.

Blade curvature: .............. 8.50 mm at strong, 9.11 mm at middle, 6.15 mm at weak.

Hilt: ................................. 14.8 cm total length.

Guard: ............................. 10.7 x 15.3 cm; 1.78 mm thick material, 6.1 cm between 

                                               knucklebow and grip.

Grip: ................................ 14.3 cm total length, 11.8 cm visible wood, 

                                               24.04 x 32.05 mm thick at middle.

Point of balance: ............. 9.6 cm from guard.

Weight: ........................... 666 grams.”

Even a PoB is provided. 

______________________________

Filiberto Sauro

 It is really exciting to find a catalogue picture which shows such a rich assortment of fencing sabres. (A better picture.)

From Gerard Six FB-page [1] [2]

 I planned to use the previous blog entries in order to be able to identify as many sabre hilts as possible. But with some luck I have found that Chris Holzman made my life much easier by posting a pdf of Filiberto Sauro's printed catalogue (1932). Thus we can identify all sabres with absolute certainty. (Page 5 & 6 of the Italian catalogue.)

Page 5

Page 6

 The whole story just underlines the importance of mutually beneficial cooperation between HEMA-enthusiasts: Gerard Six had some good photos, but no text, and Chris Holzman had only text, without pictures. So by combining their goodies, now they -- and also the whole community -- have much better understanding which fencing swords were manufactured in Italy in the 30s.

Part of the last page

_____________________________________________________

1. Originally it has been tentatively identified as a photo from the Sauro's catalogue.
2. 1st row: Parise, Parise, Radaelli (35), Radaelli, Barbasetti, ???; 2nd row: Sauro, Bonna, Sauro, Masiello, Masiello, Baracco; 3rd row: ???, Sauro, Gennari, Galante, Tomazzoni, Mensur.

Stab test

  Russian re-enactors created an entertaining and historically accurate video (2017) about the protective features of riveted chain mail (the 4-to-1 pattern) against different medieval weapons.  

 They tested several types of chain mail:

Chain mail (A)

10 kg -- wire thickness: 1.2 mm, ring diameter: 10 mm (A)

14 kg -- wire thickness: 1.6 mm, ring diameter: 11 mm (B)

15 kg -- wire thickness: 1.6 mm, ring diameter: 12 mm (C)

18 kg -- wire thickness: 2.0 mm, ring diameter: 12 mm (D)

 Naturally cuts -- slashing cuts -- were not very effective against this personal armour. As expected they failed to penetrate the chain mail at all, but their impact could have caused serious blunt traumas to warriors wearing chain mail. Thrusts with a sabre, and later with a straight sword having pointy tip penetrated chain mails rather easily. How much the blade had penetrated the armour, depended on the characteristics of a particular sample. 

Chain mail (A) against a sabre [2]

 In this particular case we can see a really deep penetration, somewhere around 20-25 cm, which could have caused a mortal wound. 

An approximate length of the blade 

which penetrated the chain mail sample (A)

   The thickest chain mail (D) against the pointy straight sword (1.5 kg).

This much!

  Most definitely one wouldn't want to have so much steel through his chain mail.

_______________________________ 

1. It is better to use the term chain mail, because ring mail is a different type of armour: „an assumed type of personal armour constructed as series of metallic rings sewn to a fabric or leather foundation”. (Wiki) Also it is advisable to avoid the term scimitar.
2. In the video they called it Horde sabre (0.7 kg), meaning that is a replica of a sabre used by warriors of the Golden Horde.

Medieval sabre

 In a FB group called Military & Classical Sabre Artem Lokhmatov wrote an interesting post about a modern replica of a medieval sabre. He said it is a Khazar sabre. 

A modern replica

Nice hilt

 Later a member of the group asked Artem based on what original artefacts the replica was created. And he posted the following pictures:

Two medieval sabres [1]

A blade sleeve

 In the last photo an interesting feature could be observed: next to the small crossguard there is a metal sleeve, covering the first few centimetres of the cutting edge. 

_________

1. It isn't completely clear if those two sabres are from a museum or they were found by illegal gravediggers.

Hornstein (1869)

 An absolutely splendid German fencing book -- Die Fechtkunst auf Hieb -- from 1869, written by Ludwig Hornstein. These masterfully crafted drawings speak for themselves. With my rudimentary German I would translate its title as The Art of Fencing with Cuts (or Based on Cuts).

Tafel I. (table)

 To those who are familiar with Six Cuts (Roworth, 1798): Horizontalquart = inside head = (5), Horizontalterz = outside head (6), Tief-quart = ascending inside cut = (3), Tief-terz = (4). Instead of one (1) Hornstein has two descending inside cuts: Steil-quart  = steep (1) and Hoch-quart = high (1). Naturally these cuts can be delivered at any valid target.

Tafel I.: Fencing saber (1869)

Tafel II.: Engaging guard [2]

An interesting peculiarity of the system 

(Tafel IX.)

 In the fencing guard the heels of the fencer are not on the fencing line. Hornstein wrote: „Der rechte Fuss steht... etwa 8-10 Zoll rechts seitwärts entfernt mit der Fussspitze nach vorn.” [3] So according to the author the right foot should be approximately 8-10 Bavarian inches -- 19.5-24cm -- to the right (from the left foot), with its tip forward. 

 With these short remarks I am just barely scratching the surface of this rather interesting Bavarian saber fencing source.

__________________________________

1. Ludwig Hornstein: Die Fechtkunst auf Hieb. München, 1869.
2. „Regelmässige verhängte Säbelauslage” Standard hanging guard with a saber.
3. Page 1 (Page 11:1 in the pdf).
4. One Bavarian inch equals 2.43cm.

Revisited

  In 2016 -- based on the information from a Russian homepage -- I wrote a post entitled Sport? Duel?, about two nice sabres, which are shown below. 

Duelling sabres?!

 The Russian text claimed that they are duelling sabres: German (left) and Italian; also it provided a fairly detailed description of swords, and their specifications (overall length, blade length, width, weight). During past years much more information has been available on different training swords, so with a certain level of confidence I would say that these two sabres are Parise type swords (Model 1 and Model 2). 

  Let's start with the second sword: an Italian duelling sword from the second half of the 19th century, according to the Russian description. It has a manufacturer's marking (SFG), [1] and an inscription can be read on the left surface of the blade „К ASANIELU PARISE”. This is a corrupted form of Masaniello Parise (1850-1910), famous Italian fencing master, director of Scuola Magistrale in Rome. This is his second model of fencing sabre.

 An excellent table [2] provides us with the very detailed information :

(108) 

Hilt type: ............................ Parise 2nd model
Blade type: ......................... Parise Curved 13 mm
Country: ............................. Italy

Owner: ............................... Sam Campbell

Blade length: ....................... 85.5cm
Overall length: ..................... 101.5cm
Fuller length: ....................... 51.5cm
PoB: ................................... 4.4cm

Total weight: ....................... 441g
Blade ................................. 169g
Guard ................................ 178g
Backstrap ........................... 0 ........ (because this grip doesn't have a backstrap)
Grip ................................... 38g
Ferrule ............................... 2x18g
Nut .................................... 24g

Curvature: ......................... 15mm
Width: ............................... 13.6mm (at ricasso)
Tip: ................................... 6mm
Thickness: .......................... 6.5mm (at ricasso)
Tip .................................... 0.6mm
Halfway.............................. 3.5mm

The Russian source gave us the following: overall length: 1028mm,  blade length: 857mm, width (presummably at ricasso) 19mm, total weight: 630g. So a sturdier blade with a Parise Mod. 2 hilt could have been used as a duelling sabre. [3]

  The first sword is said to be a German duelling sabre. The German origin is fully supported by marking „WEYERSBERG & STAMM SOLINGEN”. By studying different resources it is obvious that this hilt is Parise 1st model.

(7) 

Hilt type: ............................ Parise
Blade type: ......................... 18 mm
Country: ............................. Italy

Owner: ............................... Kevin

Blade length: ....................... 86.5cm
Overall length: ..................... 102.2cm
PoB: ................................... 12cm

Total weight: ....................... 596g
Blade .................................. 300g
Guard ................................. 205g
Backstrap ............................ 55g
Grip .................................... 26g
Ferrule ................................ 6g
Nut ..................................... 4g

Curvature: .......................... 15.22mm
Width: ................................ 18.67mm (at ricasso)
Tip: .................................... 12.43mm
Thickness: ........................... 5.39mm (at ricasso)
Tip ..................................... 1.53mm
Halfway............................... 3.95mm

  The Russian source gave us the following: overall length: 1012mm,  blade length: 846mm, width (presummably at ricasso) 16mm, total weight: 700g.

  So based on the above date we cannot exclude that these swords are indeed duelling sabres, but it is also quite clear that both hilts are Parise type hilts.

___________________________________________

1. Italian manufacturer: SFG = Serafino Fratelli e Gnutti (A catalogue page.)
2. Sabre Measurements. (Table.)
3. In the table there is another Parise 2nd model -- owned by Stephen Fisher -- manufactured by Horster, which weights 635g.

Balp Fils

 One page from a French catalogue of fencing equipment. [1]

• a wooden sabre (beech), wire knuckle bow (15 francs); [2]
• a wooden sabre (beech), steel guard (18 francs);
• Radaelli type training sabre;
• Parise type training sabre, with wooden grip;
• Masiello type training sabre, wooden grip with a backstrap;
• Sestini type training sabre, wooden grip with a backstrap. [4]

  This French sword manufactured -- Balp Fils (Balp Jr.?) -- was established in 1830 at Saint-Étienne, and later was able to produced 5-6 thousand swords annually for different branches of the French armed forces and also civil administration. [3]

  Several blade markings can be found at different sword forums: B.F in an oval (French cavalry sword, ~1896), BF, between the letters there is a rapier hilt (probably an older version of Balp's marking).

__________________________________

1. www.benjaminarms.com
2. Without a wire knuckle bow wooden sabre costed only 10 francs.
3. Littlegun.
4. Other types of Italian sabre hilts can be seen in this post.

Evolúció

   Eddig már többször írtam a barantás vívószablyáról, itt az ideje, hogy áttekintsük az eszköz fejlődését.

BSZ-1

   A barantás vívóeszközök őse. Bővebben: részletes ismertetés [1]

BSZ-2
   Úgy tudom, ezek a szablyák barantázó gyerekek és nők részére készültek, de sajnos nincs konkrét adatom róluk. Valószínűleg könnyebbek lehettek a férfiák által használt, famaggal rendelkező BSZ-1-nél. Valami hasonló vívószablyákat láthatunk későbbi fényképeken. [Vívótopik] 

BSZ-3

  Ilyen eszköz még soha nem volt a kezemben. Annyit tudok róla, hogy az erdélyi barantások fejlesztették ki valamikor 2013 körül. [5] Akkor láttam először képeket erről a vívószablyáról. A következő három kép a 2017-es Erdélyi Szablyavívó Bajnokságon készült összefoglalóból lett kivágva. [2]

A markolat vége

  Pontosan tanulmányozható, hogy milyen szerelvényekből lett összeállítva a szablya, a keresztvas kialakítása stb. A BSZ-1 képest határozottan jobb vívóeszköz. Per pillanat nem állnak rendelkezésünkre adatok az erdélyi változat tömegéről, súlypontjáról és egyéb paramétereiről. Látszik, a markolat felülete gyakran teljesen sima, habár csúszásmentesített markolatot is láttam képeken; nem tudni, hogy töltöttek-e valami a cső belsejébe a tömeg növelése érdekében. [6] Nem túl szerencsés megoldás a keresztvas vége: simán felszakítja a penge szalagos borítását.

BSZ-4

   A legelterjedtebb változat: részletes ismertetés. Idővel némileg pontosabb adatok is lesznek ebben a bejegyzésben. A vívószablyáról készült képek megtalálhatók a 2017-es Bors Kupáról szóló ismertetőben.

BSZ-5

  Ez a legújabb változat. [4] Jelenleg ezt használjuk az egyetemen folyó grundvívó gyakorlásokon. Kimondottan jó vívóeszköz, bár van 1-2 tervezési gond vele, de ezeket - részben - már megoldottuk. Majd erről is töltök fel képeket. A technikai paraméterek tekintetében nincs eltérés az előző modellhez képest.

   A bejegyzések, a képek alapján jól követhető az OBSZ által használt vívóeszköz fejlődése: nehezen irányítható „fabunkó” → kellemes, olcsó, elnyűhetetlen vívószablya. [3]

______________________________

1. A képek a 2012-es Baranta Világkupán készültek a Városi Sportcsarnokban. Szép csendben leballagtam a küzdőtér mellett heverő szablyához, felvittem egyet a széksorok mögé és ott készítettem a képeket. Sajnos, mérleget nem vittem, így csak később mértem le az eszköz tömegét egy kezdetleges, ám viszonylag pontos mérleggel. 
2. Erdélyi Szablyavívó Bajnokság (Szováta, 2017) YT-videó.
3. Az eszköz pengéjét - emberi erővel - lehetetlen eltörni, az átalakított hárítólemezt dettó. 15-20 gyakorlás után ki kell cserélni a polifoam réteget, és mondjuk évente a textil burkolatot („zoknit” (c) by Tibor).
4. Viszonylag részletes leírás, adatokkal, javaslatokkal.
5. Frissítés: Már ilyen szablyákat használtak a VI. Balassi Kupán 2013-ban. Fogarassy Gyula (Zrínyi HMHSE, Bp.) övében látunk ilyen vívóeszközt. (Harcművészetek c. topik)
6. Egy délvidéki újságcikk: „A Balassi-kupán egyetlen versenyszám szerepelt, a szabad szablyavívás, amely során a barantázó vívósisakban, polifón szivaccsal borított, ólombetétes szablyákkal, szabad stílusban vívtak a pontozóbírók előtt – magyarázta Sziráki Miklós.”

Atlantean

  By pure chance I came across a couple of photos of Arnold being trained by Kiyoshi Yamazaki [1]. The most interesting image is this one:

The Japanese teacher & Arnold

  I'm not a big fan of Conan the Barbarian (1982) film, but nevertheless it is interesting to know that in the 80s a Japanese instructor was employed to improve the fencing skills of the actors. Even more rewarding is to find out the specification of the Atlantean sword, which - according to the script - Conan found in a hidden cave, next to a skeleton.

Atlantean sword

   We are lucky that there are several manufacturers who produce this sword, and also many reviews are available on the net. So let's see the specification (Conan the Barbarian Atlantean Sword):

• Overall length: .... 38 7/8"
• Blade Length: ..... 28 1/8" from emergence from casting, 21.25" from end of langets [54 cm]
• Grip length: ......... 5.35" [13.6 cm]
• CoG: ..................... 4.5" from end of grip ....... [11.4 cm]
• Weight: ................ 7 lbs 12 oz ........................ [3.171 + 0.339 = 3.5 kg]

   A short extract from the review at MyArmoury:

Handling Characteristics Well, what can I say about the Atlantean's handling qualities? At a weight of nearly eight pounds the sword is certainly no lightweight. In fact, the Atlantean's weight puts it far outside the parameters for a functional sword of this size. The sword does have a rather nice static balance, but once it is set into motion its weight becomes a hindrance. I was able to grasp the sword in a reverse grip and twirl it around in best Arnold fashion. I was able to maintain this for a few seconds before my shoulders began to feel the strain. In short, you'll need to have bigger guns than mine if you want to act like Big Arnold. I have no doubt that the Atlantean would be able to cut through any test medium of choice if it was sharpened. It just can't be done quickly or repeatedly. (Full review)

  Additional infos can be found on Wiki: „Samson and Huchthausen agreed the weapons were heavy and unbalanced, thus unsuitable for actual combat;[120][117] Lighter versions made of aluminum, fiberglass, and steel were struck in Madrid; these 3 lb (1.4 kg) copies were used in the fight scenes.[121][117] According to Schwarzenegger, the heavy swords were used in close-up shots.[122]”

   From the above it is rather easy to conclude that a 3.5 kg two-handed sword is not particularly well suited for actual combat. The average weight for a historical longsword was between 1.1 and 1.8 kg (the average weight of 23 longswords in the Wallace Collection is 1.74 kg).

   So enjoy the film, if you like the whole story etc, but aware that the actual „Atlantean” sword is way too heavy and badly balanced when compared with historical European longswords.

   It is also fun to watch Skallagrim's video (How to Make Conan's Atlantean Sword Better?) A really good point from it: why is the Atlantean sword so (comparatively) short?

_____________________________

1. Schola Gladiatoria's FB page.

Régi sportkard

  Egy ausztrál gyűjtő - Sam Gordon Campbell - képeit láthatja az olvasó, melyek a MyArmoury honlap egyik topikjából lettek letöltve.

1. kép

2. kép

3. kép

  Campbell azt írja: „They're a "Hungarian" style hilt, chromed steel, wood canted grip. Fittings also steel and were chromed at one point. One is in original condition, the other I carefully tried to stabilise. No markings on hilt parts. I'm thinking they're around the 1960s-70s?”

 Igen, ez egy jellegzetes magyar kardkosár, merevítő bordákkal. Jól látszik, hogy mennyire aszimmetrikus ez a jobb kezes kosár. A 2. képen tanulmányozható a recézett famarkolat, ebből olyat is ismerünk, aminek mindkét végén egy-egy fémgyűrű is volt. (A markolat belseje jobban látható egy további képen.) 

  Per pillanat nem tudom eldönteni, hogy ez az sportkard tényleg a múlt század 60-70-es éveiből származik-e. Elképzelhető, hogy valamivel korábbi, mivel teljesen hasonló régi sportkardot lehet látni a Duronelly-teremben. Érdekességként össze lehet hasonlítani egy magyar sportkarddal, Vince 1938-as katalógusából.

Summary:
  An old Hungarian style fencing sabre. This type of sword could be easily recognised from (reinforcement) ridges on the bell guard.

Brit gyakorló

Egy kitűnő angol cikkre szeretném felhívni az első őszi  edzésekre készülő blogolvasok figyelmét: British Army 1864 Pattern Practice, or Fencing Sabre (2018), amit Matt Easton írt még augusztusban.

3 db 1864-es mintájú vívókard

és egy kakukktojás [1]

  Matt kimondottan részletesen foglalkozik:

• a brit gyakorlóeszközök előtörténetével, külön kiemeli a singlestick (kosaras vívópálca) használatát; elemzi annak okait, hogy a vívópálca sokáig a legnépszerűbb gyakorló volt arrafelé, az eszköz előnyeivel és hátrányosabb tulajdonságaival;
• az ottani sereg 1864-es mintájú vívókardjának bevezetésével;
• az eszköz pengéjével, kosarával, fogantyújával, külön kitér a kosár tervezési hiányosságaira.

  Összegzésként a szerző megjegyzi: „Generally though, these 1864 patterns handle wonderfully and the blades are a superb design. The hilts are simple, but effective.” Meg: „The 1864 pattern practice sabre may not be perfect, but it has many good features, particularly the blade cross-section, and was a realistic analogue for fencers to simulate the use of the real service sword used by infantry officers in the second half of the 19th century. If you find one, give it a good home - they deserve more recognition than they have so far received.”

 Érdekes olvasni azt az észrevételt, hogy a gyakorlókardok eddig nem kapnak elég figyelmet. [2]

 Számomra igen hasznos volt az egész cikk, kellemes élményt jelntett a Matt-féle hozzáállás, és úgy általában a HEMA-ra jellemző adatközlési hajlandóság.

Kardok és adatok

„A: Blade length 83.0cm, balance 11.5cm from guard, mass 820g (made by Mole)

B: Blade length 82.5cm, balance 12.2cm from guard, mass 800g (made by Mole)

C: Blade length 82.0cm, balance 12cm from guard, mass 785g (sold by Garden)

D: Blade length 82.3cm, balance 12.5cm from guard, mass 800g

E: Blade length 82.6cm, balance 11.0cm from guard, mass 800g

F: Blade length 85.9cm, balance 10.0cm from guard, mass 680g (made by Wilkinson)”

  A fenti adatokat a szerző a saját gyűjteményében található gyakorlókardokon mérte. Különösen az utolsó vívókard érdekes, nemcsak azért, mert ennek a pengének van leginkább szablya formája, hanem a penge hossza, íveltsége miatt is, valamit a tömege is jelentősen eltér az akkori brit átlagtól.

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1. Matt cikkéből természetesen az is kiderül, hogy miért került a képre.
2. „For these reasons, practice swords are not very common survivors to the present day. They were made to lower costs, abused heavily, until they broke in many cases, and once they were put out of service they were cast aside and not valued in the way that a service sword was. Even when they have survived to the modern day, they are often overlooked or misunderstood, and allowed to degrade further. *** We often see this dismissive attitude to practice swords in the world of antiques and, despite being quite rare, they usually sell quite cheaply. Very few people are interested in collecting them, though this is perhaps now starting to change with the rise in the historical fencing movement.”
3. Némi adat a kakukktojásról: „For interest, I also measured this single 1895 pattern. It has a blade length of 86.5cm, a balance only 6cm from the guard and a total mass of 830g. *** The irony should be noted that this is actually heavier than any of the 1864 pattern sabres I measured, yet this 1895 model of sword, and the variations of it, has the reputation of being 'lighter' than the sabres that went before it. *** Holding the sword in hand and going through some exercises with it explains this clearly though - while the 1895 is heavier in literal terms, it feels lighter due to the mass distribution, with a heavy hilt and a light tip. Having more mass towards the hand means that it moves more deftly in the hand and hits the target with less force.”
4. „Indeed, mass alone is a poor way to predict the qualities of a sword in the hand and mass distribution is very much more relevant to how a sword will move and feel.”