German Longsword in the Liechtenauer tradition, forged by Karl Aldinger

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Dec 9, 2011
Messages
141
Hello Sword Enthusiasts,

for about the last 10 years, I have a German Longsword that I like a lot.
This sword has been forged by Karl Aldinger, who is a well-known swordsmith of high reputation here in Germany.

Last weekend I made a video about my Aldinger Longsword: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsRYtWMtXh8

Hope you like it...
Cheers, Erik
 
Great review Erik.
Made me curious to know more. Do you know where the point of balance and the area of percussion is?
To do the latter I put my right hand where it would normally be on the handle and move it with the sword fast left and right. The handle will swing, the tip too but at some area in between the blade will not move.
I'm also curious how it cuts tatamis, how flexible the blade is when bending and whatever else you can think of.
Sorry for all the questions, I guess your excitement is contagious.
:-D
 
Hi Jens,

thanks, glad that you find the Review ot this Aldinger longsword interesting. Although i have this sword for a decade now, i only take it ou now and then, maybe every 2 years, to cut some plastic bottles. I really would like to cut some tatami rolls, but have not done that so far ... maybe soon :)

On that Sword, the Center of Percussion (primary node) seems to be approx. 28 cm from the tip .. i have just taken the sword out and tried to measure that by lightly striking on the pommel, and watching where the blade doesn't vibrate then.. seems to be 28 cm from the tip. Maybe 30 cm. - the whole blade length is 90 cm.

Here is the Story hhow i got the sword: i bought it from a guy who was with a bunch of enthusiastic bavarian re-enactment guys. He mentioned that the did stuff like building ships, sounded quite serious... and the whole bunch did order swords from Mr. Aldinger, every guy a sword. - but they ordered the sharp, battle ready swords. Few weeks later they found out that they would have been much better of with blunt Trainers, in order to do some Sparring fencing... so he sold his sword. Good luck for me...

Jens, your Name sounds quite german. Du you have german roots, if I may ask?

Cheers, Erik
 
Thanks for the video, der_vincent, and a great sword. I prefer swords that have an "understated" look, and know what you mean when you say some have a certain feel to them that can't be put into words. When handled, they bring to the sword wielder a sensation that isn't replicated by anything else!
 
Hi Mecha,

thanks... i have the strong Impression that we both share the same attitude and passion about swords ;-)
You absolutely understood what i tried to express in the Video.

Cheers, Erik
 
Hi Jens,

thanks, glad that you find the Review ot this Aldinger longsword interesting. Although i have this sword for a decade now, i only take it ou now and then, maybe every 2 years, to cut some plastic bottles. I really would like to cut some tatami rolls, but have not done that so far ... maybe soon :)

On that Sword, the Center of Percussion (primary node) seems to be approx. 28 cm from the tip .. i have just taken the sword out and tried to measure that by lightly striking on the pommel, and watching where the blade doesn't vibrate then.. seems to be 28 cm from the tip. Maybe 30 cm. - the whole blade length is 90 cm.

Here is the Story hhow i got the sword: i bought it from a guy who was with a bunch of enthusiastic bavarian re-enactment guys. He mentioned that the did stuff like building ships, sounded quite serious... and the whole bunch did order swords from Mr. Aldinger, every guy a sword. - but they ordered the sharp, battle ready swords. Few weeks later they found out that they would have been much better of with blunt Trainers, in order to do some Sparring fencing... so he sold his sword. Good luck for me...

Jens, your Name sounds quite german. Du you have german roots, if I may ask?

Cheers, Erik
Cool story. Glad you got it. :))
Yep I'm German, living in America.
Now I'm trying to find more reviews and checking out other work from Aldinger.
 
Sweet sword, Erik.

The neighbors down the road from us were named Schuetz. Everybody in my area has ancestors who came from Venne (near Osnabrück) in Germany in the mid 1800's. I got to spend several years studying Longsword in the Liechtenauer tradition with a club in Saint Louis. And I got an Albion Munich to play with as a result.

Hi Jens,
On that Sword, the Center of Percussion (primary node) seems to be approx. 28 cm from the tip .. i have just taken the sword out and tried to measure that by lightly striking on the pommel, and watching where the blade doesn't vibrate then.. seems to be 28 cm from the tip. Maybe 30 cm. - the whole blade length is 90 cm.

You seem to be talking about the harmonic node, but I believe Jens was talking about the pivot points. Take a look at this article for a better description, and how to find the pivot points using a pendulum or by doing a simple "waggle test". http://www.thearma.org/spotlight/GTA/motions_and_impacts.htm
 
Sweet sword, Erik.

The neighbors down the road from us were named Schuetz. Everybody in my area has ancestors who came from Venne (near Osnabrück) in Germany in the mid 1800's. I got to spend several years studying Longsword in the Liechtenauer tradition with a club in Saint Louis. And I got an Albion Munich to play with as a result.



You seem to be talking about the harmonic node, but I believe Jens was talking about the pivot points. Take a look at this article for a better description, and how to find the pivot points using a pendulum or by doing a simple "waggle test". http://www.thearma.org/spotlight/GTA/motions_and_impacts.htm

No way. Maybe they are relatives? :)
Actually the name is quite common.
Met even one myself in America. His family came from Switzerland. Mine probably from Bohemia.

Thanks for your help with terminology. Wouldn't have known it's called pivot points, but it makes sense.
 
There are lots of other Schuetz families in this area as well, so I'm assuming it's a pretty common name.
The town of Venne in Germany actually set up a website for people researching their genealogy, and the list of surnames on that page reads like a local phonebook. :) http://www.venne-in-america.de/


Interesting side note-
Our neighbor Jacob Schuetz was born in a log cabin. Literally. The cabin was still standing in Dad's pasture when I was younger, until it was moved & restored. Everytime we went by it, Dad would talk about Jacob (Jakie, they called him) being born there, but it never really sunk in how special that was, until I was older. Jakie passed away in 2010 at the age of 93. The changes he saw in society during his lifetime must have been mind blowing.
 
Hi Jens, Hi Possum,

many thanks for your highly appreciated thoughts & Input ...
Obviously i urgently Need to lear more about the Pivot Point - I ll do some Research about it. Makes me curious :)
I think it is important for every sword guy to know at least a bit about physics ...

YOu know what? I have high respect for those sword guys who can cut through a fee Standing plastic bottle - until now, i hang the bottles on a Nylon cord.

Jens, did you manage to find some more info about Karl Aldinger? I found it quite hard to get some recent info on him... as far as i have read, he quit sword making some years ago. He seems to be a talented man with many skills (he is a Dipl. Ingeneur) ...
Cheers, Erik
 
There are lots of other Schuetz families in this area as well, so I'm assuming it's a pretty common name.
The town of Venne in Germany actually set up a website for people researching their genealogy, and the list of surnames on that page reads like a local phonebook. :) http://www.venne-in-america.de/


Interesting side note-
Our neighbor Jacob Schuetz was born in a log cabin. Literally. The cabin was still standing in Dad's pasture when I was younger, until it was moved & restored. Everytime we went by it, Dad would talk about Jacob (Jakie, they called him) being born there, but it never really sunk in how special that was, until I was older. Jakie passed away in 2010 at the age of 93. The changes he saw in society during his lifetime must have been mind blowing.
Log cabin. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened 200 years ago, but so recent :-o

The name is just like Miller for example. Super common and started at different locations for completely different families. Ancestral research is kind of a nightmare if one doesn't find all the links. :-D
 
Hi Jens, Hi Possum,

many thanks for your highly appreciated thoughts & Input ...
Obviously i urgently Need to lear more about the Pivot Point - I ll do some Research about it. Makes me curious :)
I think it is important for every sword guy to know at least a bit about physics ...

YOu know what? I have high respect for those sword guys who can cut through a fee Standing plastic bottle - until now, i hang the bottles on a Nylon cord.

Jens, did you manage to find some more info about Karl Aldinger? I found it quite hard to get some recent info on him... as far as i have read, he quit sword making some years ago. He seems to be a talented man with many skills (he is a Dipl. Ingeneur) ...
Cheers, Erik
I think I came up empty handed, unless that's him here --> http://www.swords.de/index.php/bewusstsein/job

If he stopped making swords that would explain it.

Dipl. Ing.? I got me one of those :-D
 
Hi Jens,
yes, indeed, that guy there is Karl Aldinger ...
some nice swords there on his Website :-0

hey, btw -the "Dipl.Ing." is something like a reliable, thrustworthy title for technical guys here in Germany... i wonder if there is some kinda aequivalent for construction or engineering experts in the US ?
Cheers & a sunny Weekend
Erik
 
Our word 'engineer ' covers lots of subjects and can be confusing . In my experience the European education results in a very strong knowledge of the basics of sciences and they don't have all the knowledge of various types of engineers. When I was in school years back there was a Frenchman who had that strong basics training but took metallurgy courses here which he couldn't get in France. That may have changed a bit know. Today with knowledge expanding so much specialties are becoming more common.
 
Hi Mete,
ouuhh .. that's VERY interesting to hear indeed, since i am professionally envolved in education and science here in Germany.
For decades, we used to have degrees like "Diplom-Ingeneur" at the so-called "Fachhochschule", in technical subjects like machine-construction or architecture; and the Diploma-Degree (comparable to a Master) at University, in subjects like Chemistry or Physics. Ten years ago, the german government decided to skip the traditional "Diploma" and changed to the international recognized Bachelor / Master System. ,

Well, at least for most subjects... exceptions are Medicine and Law (Jura). they still have their state exam "Staatsexamen".

what I find funny: here in Germany, also Researchers for instance in Biology can get a doctor degree - but i heard that in the US; if you call somebody "Doctor", then he is a physician. Who is treating patients. But not doing Research ...

Your example about the French guy taking metallurgy classes souns quite logic to me...

Thanks, Erik
 
I'm a Dipl Ing myself. In biotech/medical tech. Still learned about metals mechanics circuits etc like all the other German engineers during their first years. Specialisations usually happened at the end.

From what I've seen American and German Engineers are pretty much the same.

If I really have to come up with something I'd say American Engineers are a bit better at improvising and coming up with completely new great stuff while German Engineers can rely on and have to adhere to many tested and proven norms.
Don't you hate it when you have to go through a dozen differently sized jar lids with different diameters and thread sizes to find the right one? In Germany you'll have only a few standard sizes, chiselled in stone in the mighty D.I.N. for all eternity ;-)
Such standatization makes incremental changes easier and interchangeability is always good in development unless you want to force customers to stick to your products only :-D

Can you imagine my aunt is a German Engineer for Economics of all things?That's not some recent oddity, she got it ~30 years ago.
 
Nothin' like a good German mad scientist. :D
 
I'm a Dipl Ing myself. In biotech/medical tech.

Hi Jens, ahhh .. i already thought this, when you wrote "Dipl. Ing.? I got me one of those :-D " when we talked about Mr. Aldinger.

Cool to hear that you are in Biotech and Medical Tech! Thats really interesting ... and innovative.

Well... your aunt (in economics) has Chosen a very interesting topic too!
Cheers, Erik
 
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