Research and Discussion Forums

All my oak wasters have splintered up. They worked for a while, but hickory will be a much stronger alternative.

For a little more, you could get his one.

http://www.kultofathena.com/product.asp ... tard+Sword

A few guys in our group use these and they are pretty decent. Their dimensions match the NSA waster better than the hand and a half.

I've never tried them, but those are the only things know of that fit what you're looking for. I'm tempted to get some because, as a musician, I really can't afford to have my fingers getting injured. I've gotten lucky so far...

Ah thanks, I didn't even notice that.

Keith Myers has made this book available online for free here.

http://www.marylandkdf.com/wiki/index.p ... mbat_(Book)

Even if the Houston study groups are too far for going every week, it would help quite a bit to make it out every now and then.

I've worked with polycarbonate and nylon in non sword related projects, and polycarbonate is definitely the stiffer of the two. It's a strong material, but it's more expensive than nylon and probably wouldn't offer any real advantages.

That's not to surprising as the spine is quite soft on a katana that's been differentially hardened. I suspect a through hardened sword would hold up better.

Jason, if you could post a picture, that would be wonderful. I think I have some polycarbonate scraps which would work well.

Sam, that's an interesting idea. I think it would be pretty simple to add a simple guard to my waster.

Thanks for the input everyone.

Thanks for the input guys. I suspected that injury wouldn't be completely avoidable, but if I can significantly reduce the risk, that would be acceptable. After some searching around the forum, it seems that lacross and motorcross gloves offer good protection and mobility so I will look into that.

Hello everyone, I just wanted to formally introduce myself. Currently, I'm a music education student at the University of Houston, and am really interested in beginning some longsword classes with one of the two local groups. I have a couple of questions. First off, as a musician, I simply can't aff...