Machetes and small swords? Are they sold on this forum at all?

Sillyship said:
I think I'm going to buy one of those replica cold steel swords, maybe the Cold Steel Training Hand and a Half Sword 44" overall 34" blade with fuller.
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That is about as far away from a Schiavona let alone a Gladius or a dirk as you can possibly get.......:rolleyes:
 
Well, I'll probably be going through a few cheap ones just to feel them out. That particular cold steel practice sword is a fairly common type sword and cheap so I figured it might be a nice start. I just was browsing online at swords but haven't found anything right yet.
BladeScout said:
That is about as far away from a Schiavona let alone a Gladius or a dirk as you can possibly get.......:rolleyes:
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Sillyship said:
Well, I'll probably be going through a few cheap ones just to feel them out. That particular cold steel practice sword is a fairly common type sword and cheap so I figured it might be a nice start. I just was browsing online at swords but haven't found anything right yet.
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My understanding is that Cold Steel swords have a horrible balance compared to others. I actually have a cold steel viking sword because the guy made me an offer i couldn't refuse. It's pretty good, but I can tell the balance isn't optimal, so I limit it to engaging targets that don't also have swords, or swords that are worse balanced than mine.

For breaking stuff and beating stuff though, they'll definitely work.

I believe Rawlings trainers are pretty good sword weighted and shaped objects.

I also cleared out some space in my PM box.

Zero
 
We are allowed to post dead auctions from ebay links, right? So if I wanted to show off something I just bought, "Three Cold Steel Polypropylene Swords: Katana, Gladius, and Waister" For $65 including s/h, I could, right? I started thinkin' about it and looking online and decided that I want A good sword, just one good one, at least at first. I may end up in fencing classes or in the SCA soon and when you're involved with a hobby things usually come cheaper and easier with better quality results. Soooooo, for now I'll just get the feel for swords, at an inexpensive price, made of materials I can beat on. These three were just added to my amazon cart the other day and I just hadn't pulled the trigger yet. The "buy it now or best offer" price of these three beat the price on Amazon so I offered . Although, I'm still going to buy an up swept heavy on the tip sword similar to a scimitar on Amazon, maybe this one "BladesUSA E474-PP Martial Art Polypropylene Training Kung Fu Sword, 38-Inch Overall". Or this one "BladesUSA 1606PP Martial Arts Training Broad Sword, Polypropylene, Black, 34-1/2-Inch Length"


Zero_Time said:
My understanding is that Cold Steel swords have a horrible balance compared to others. I actually have a cold steel viking sword because the guy made me an offer i couldn't refuse. It's pretty good, but I can tell the balance isn't optimal, so I limit it to engaging targets that don't also have swords, or swords that are worse balanced than mine.

For breaking stuff and beating stuff though, they'll definitely work.

I believe Rawlings trainers are pretty good sword weighted and shaped objects.

I also cleared out some space in my PM box.

Zero
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I'm always on the lookout for shorter swords, or to be more correct, cheap swords I won't feel bad about chopping down for sword swallowing. Still replacing stage gear for upcoming shows.
 
You could also commission a custom from a maker on here. I don't know if Mecha can do the fittings, but even if not, if you found some fittings, I bet he could make a fine titanium shiavona. Or Scott Roush, or a variety of other fine makers on here. Some of them are liable to cost you more than others, of course.
 
Mecha said:
If you have any specific questions about Scottish basket-hilt swords, ask in the Sword Forum sub-section and there is a fellow there named Horseclover who will give you a huge data dump on pretty much any kind of European or American sword. :thumbup:
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Troublemaker! ;)

As to Schiavona, other European baskethilts, English baskethilts, Scottish baskethilts; There is a lot of variety. Then you have walloons and mortuary hilts and any number of other types with more or less hand coverage.

As to Filipino stuff, There is a company Traditional Filipino Weapons making all sorts of blades, even medieval types.

For Pre owned swords, there are a number of other forum venues with classifieds sections. Several concentrate on swords above other blade types. myArmoury, Sword Forum International and The Sword Buyers Guide boards. Backyard Cutters and a number of others.

Most of my dozens are preowned and most a couple of hundred years old having had more than one owner.

Del Tin is the best available schiavona at this time. Cold Steel used to have a schiavona like hoirseman's sword and they have a number of other swords with some hand coverage.

Cheers

GC
 
"Walloon," good one I had to google that. :D A little bit Pappenheim hilt rapier-y, nice!
 
I wanted to add this very good article about schiavona types. Nathan is passionate about the form and associated swords.
http://myarmoury.com/feature_spot_schia.html

His site and forum offers a wealth of information and articles, as well as galleries. Much more information than any one spathologist can know it all.


My main focus is American swords from the revolution to mid 1800s. With that, reading about associated European blades. Narrowing that further, to a couple of decades from 1790-1810.

Cheers

GC

For migration/viking swords and a very good ethnographic forum visit www.vikingsword.com Actually one of my first bookmarks on the net and where I started looking at information for medieval swords in the 1990s.
 
Hadn't checked this thread for a moment. I'm gonna have to look into the info that's been shared. As for now I bought 4 polypropylene swords, cheap, three were used with one low shipping cost from the same seller, so that I can practice and get a feel for their different shapes.
Again, thanks for all the info, I'm going to have to look into this.
 
Mecha said:
"Walloon," good one I had to google that. :D A little bit Pappenheim hilt rapier-y, nice!
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Mecha, I'm curious what your services to build a sword of the broad basket variety would run. If you don't mind emailing me so we can begin a discussion that would be great.
 
Sure thing, Sillyship, e-mail en route. I gotta warn ya though, at the moment I'm swept up in a tempest of shop relocations, hand injuries, gigantic swords, blown-up cars, and angry Siamese cats, so it'll take a moment or three to get ready for a new sword! :D
 
Thank you for the links and thanks to everyone who participated in this conversation, I for one, learned a lot. I bought some polypropylene swords, 4 of them, to get familiar with the shapes. I will be signing up for some sort of fencing or something locally. Maybe go back to my kali school, although it's completely different people and owners now. However, sooner or later I will owna basket hilt sword of some type, maybe made by MECHA, but right now, I'm not in the financial nor experience place to pick one with any enthusiasm or knowledge.
horseclover said:
I wanted to add this very good article about schiavona types. Nathan is passionate about the form and associated swords.
http://myarmoury.com/feature_spot_schia.html

His site and forum offers a wealth of information and articles, as well as galleries. Much more information than any one spathologist can know it all.


My main focus is American swords from the revolution to mid 1800s. With that, reading about associated European blades. Narrowing that further, to a couple of decades from 1790-1810.

Cheers

GC

For migration/viking swords and a very good ethnographic forum visit www.vikingsword.com Actually one of my first bookmarks on the net and where I started looking at information for medieval swords in the 1990s.
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I like to chop up wood for a fire. It's more fun to use a big badass blade than an axe in my opinion. I found a few good options, condor bushcraft parang, kukri machete, ontario sp53, & junglas. I wonder if there is something bigger & badder under $100 that will chop through a 7 inch tree branch, baton it in half, and survive. Once you get much past a foot long, heavy duty options seem to dry up quickly.
Thanks
 
A machete comes to mind.

To clarify, a median blade length less than 24" and a disposable or unified grip to absorb shock. Under $100 kind of limits the alternatives of hybrid machetes. In the end, that is all one can expect from them and should suit those on a budget that don't care for the differences between swords of history and more utilitarian blades. There are 19th and 20th century fascine swords fielded by armies across the globe. For the US, bolo and longer machete filling a need even today.

The Gerber Gator Machete Pro, a cheap knockoff of a Woodman's Pal and one can find a variety of that form and one can get the genuine item for $150, with a scabbard. Sure, it looks funny and few would call it a sword but anything machete like under $100 doesn't really rate as a sword to me but what's in a name? Since it is a machete thread, hey what the hey.

If it weren't the qualification of needing to baton to your hearts desire, I'd recommend a smachet.

Cheers
GC
 
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