Research and Discussion Forums

Hey everyone, I'm relocating to the Western part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (about an hour and a half from Marquette, about an hour from the Wisconsin border). I was wondering if there were any study groups, practice partners, or other HEMA groups up in that region. For what it is worth, I ...

What manuals are good for learning Basket Hilt Swords? It isn't on the basket hilt sword (much earlier), but Johannes Leckuchner's manual on the messer is an overall fantastic manual on single handed swords. Though I disagree with some of the stuff in the first chapter's interpretations, the transl...

Any truth behind this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izHUP-69V_I ARGH! Not Skall! T_T He has a lot of videos I enjoy, the goofy knife ones are great. I posted this in the youtube comments "I am an ARMA member and a fan of yours. I remember complimenting you on your first vid, but I am ...

Does this study look fishy to anyone? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110719194352.htm Yes, this article has been around a while and I don't know how much the reporter is screwing up the article or the researchers were too ignorant of what they were studying. Armor did not weigh that m...

Well - if price was the case id rather use some club/hammer like weapon - its highly effective, easy to master and depending on kind, good for many types of opponents - for egzample Goedendag - if unarmored opponent took the hit from that he was basically done for, and it was also very usefull agai...

Well, I thought you guys had basically answered my question and then I read about this! http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/8397803-418/harper-college-wrestler-charged-in-home-invasion-in-which-he-was-shot.html Granted the guy was drunk, and most likely in better shape/stronger than the two cops, bu...

A lot cheaper so most people could afford one and a better chance of chopping through armor. In internet chatter, the later tends to get exaggerated but if you come right down hard on top of an iron helmet at the right angle, an ax might have a better chance of going through. The short length can al...

How do i start training if there is no study group near me? What about trying to start one yourself? I've been in ARMA for over a year with no one in my area and I have no regrets. Since you are under 18, you probably have a hard time getting there, but there is also a St. Louis group in MO. You ma...

I'll let others who have more experience with this comment, but I know for a fact he is no Kenshiro :p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPYqWRDnt4g

My thought on having a fuller added would be simply to bring the weight down. . I was trying to say if you put a fuller on that partifular sword blade, it might not be historically accurate while some material taken off around the center ridge (partial hollow grind) might be better. There are also ...

I do not have any pics, sorry. One of the most important things is to get good hard wood. Hickory is your best bet. For adding weight on my longsword, I drilled in to the grip (the grip is fairly thick) added a couple of .50 cal lead muzzle load bullets, glued in a piece rebar, part of said rebar st...

Never had any business with them, but 4 pounds does sound heavy. A lot of swords didn't have fullers. A lot of swords of that time period had spines with partial hollow grinds around them. They had complex geometries and they probably didn't bother to do anything complex to reduce the weight. I own ...

I have heard the same things as Corey and handled one once. I'll add that I have also read they a nasty flex edge to edge, like if you hit take a propper swing at a target like a pell, it can flex back toward you like a boffler/LARP sword. The flexy bouncyness also hurts binding/sword on sword actio...

While the correlation between battlefield tactics and preferred weapons of a culture could not be denied, I've always found it interesting that the swords of the era were reminiscent of the holy symbols of the competing powers (the cross for the Christians and the crescent for the Muslims). There a...

Oh, and the whole how to ward and perry debate is discussed at length in this forum Long of the short of it, is John Clements and those of us at ARMA beleive we can use both, edge and flat to ward. They do say use edge to ward, particularly with the later methods that use mostly stabbing in civilian...