Any other sword freaks out there?
Although I'm heavily into rifles and motorcycling, my real hobby has always been collecting good quality replica swords, and learning how to use them. Primarily I'm into European broadswords from about 800 AD to no later than the mid-1500s. It's been a persistant obsession for the last 27 years. I started by banging edges of cheap replicas in mock combat with a college buddy. There was very little instructional info available to us then, and no good, affordable source of good swords. Nowdays there is a wealth of printed instructional material available, and swords that any Medieval King would go to war for are readily available.
About 10 years ago I started fooling around with various forms of the Japanese Katana, and am becoming very fond of it. Especially now that "Paul Chen" (of Hanwei) has made available some really excellent Japanese style swords made in the traditional way. I've been doing my cutting practice with one of his bamboo stick katanas for the last 4 years, and even when I push it beyond my skill level it's never let me down. Yes, the grip and scabbard look like crap now, but the steel is still intact, inspite of some really dumb things attempted on my part.
The latest addition to my collection was a set of custom Criswell swords- a Katana, Wakizashi, and Tanto. They don't look like much, but they are all business. They cut with a well, and are very tough.
Anyone else?
Although I'm heavily into rifles and motorcycling, my real hobby has always been collecting good quality replica swords, and learning how to use them. Primarily I'm into European broadswords from about 800 AD to no later than the mid-1500s. It's been a persistant obsession for the last 27 years. I started by banging edges of cheap replicas in mock combat with a college buddy. There was very little instructional info available to us then, and no good, affordable source of good swords. Nowdays there is a wealth of printed instructional material available, and swords that any Medieval King would go to war for are readily available.
About 10 years ago I started fooling around with various forms of the Japanese Katana, and am becoming very fond of it. Especially now that "Paul Chen" (of Hanwei) has made available some really excellent Japanese style swords made in the traditional way. I've been doing my cutting practice with one of his bamboo stick katanas for the last 4 years, and even when I push it beyond my skill level it's never let me down. Yes, the grip and scabbard look like crap now, but the steel is still intact, inspite of some really dumb things attempted on my part.
The latest addition to my collection was a set of custom Criswell swords- a Katana, Wakizashi, and Tanto. They don't look like much, but they are all business. They cut with a well, and are very tough.
Anyone else?
