So, I have not been practicing longsword for long at all. In fact, I’ve only gotten really serious about training within the past few months, and school has cut significantly into my ability to get out and practice, so I am not what I would call experienced. I do try and practice at least once a week, and this week was the inaugural session of my brand new pell. The pell I made is a six-foot iron pipe (actually, two 36-inch pipes screwed together, and all told its closer to 6-foot-2) supported by an H-frame of pipe on the ground. For padding I used a bundle of pool noodles (standard sized, not he “jumbo”) duct taped together with ample duct tape covering the top so as to prevent the top of the pipe sticking through and slid over the vertical pipe. I sewed a canvas sleeve to cover the pool noodles.
Today, I set this contraption up in the school yard next to my apartment and went to work with my NSA waster. I apologize in advance for any misapplied terminology.
Some thoughts I developed from this first-time run with the pell:
-It is rather easy to aim a cut at a particular area, but precisely getting the sword to go exactly where you want it takes practice.
-I noticed this while flourishing a couple weeks ago, but this reinforced it: it is easier to aim the sword at a particular area (head, leg, whatever) when you have a reference point, like an actual target (pell) or a stationary object you can direct your flourish towards.
-A cut from above, either vertically or from an angle (zornhau?) is defiantly and noticeably much more powerful than a cut from the side or below.
-A powerful thrust seems easier to deliver from the close or middle guard than from the ochs, but I think that’s a manner of practice.
-If you can keep your eyes open, you can actually SEE the pell deform and move as you strike it. Cool.
-Make sure the pipe is screwed tightly together, especially connecting the support frame to the vertical riser. Otherwise, a strong attack will cause the pell to fall over backwards. Theatrical, but it does get annoying.
-Caveat: if you are trying to thrust at the pell, having the pipe loose enough that it gives way when the tip of your sword hits is good.
-If you’re not careful, a false-edge cut can tweak your leading wrist weird—and it can hurt.
-Though it is fairly easy to chain multiple cuts together into a flourish, recovery can be much more difficult when the sword is stopped by its target.
-You get more double-takes, odd looks, and comments with a pell than when just flourishing.
-I found a rising cut from the tail guard to be more versatile and powerful than I originally thought, as it can be directed at the leg, hip, body, or head with equal ease.
-Gloves would be a good thing.
-At first, I had a tendency to attack with only the last few inches of the blade. With some effort, I think I managed to break myself of this and attack more with the center of percussion.
-Striking with a passing step feels rather natural, but attacking with a pass back seems to be less intuitive.
-Attacks from the middle or close guard feel slower than attacks from ochs or the high guard.
-I noticed I tend to not attack straight on, but will attack more from the side. Also, at the completion of the attack, I tend to be about half a step to the side of my starting point in the direction of the attack (i.e. if I strike a zornhau from my right to left, at the completion of the strike, I’ll be half a step to the left of my original position). I am not sure if this is normal or good/bad. It just happens.
-I would recommend a thicker, more resilient, and more durable padding than pool noodles. This is based on the following observations and occurrences:
-Occasionally, a cut, particularly a strong one like a zornhau, will strike the gap between two noodles. The noodles will still cushion the blow some, but the metallic clang is disconcerting.
-Related: The edge of my waster is now slightly dented (very slightly, hardly noticeable). Interestingly, I noticed an odd waffle texture to the dents, matches the weave of the canvas I used for the sleeve.
-In a couple of places, a zornhau managed to actually CUT the pool noodle. The canvas was unaffected, but there was definite damage to the noodle. I don’t think I was swinging all that hard—I’m no muscle-man.
-In one thrust I was surprised to see a hole form in the canvas. I thought the tip somehow managed to perfectly hit the gap between two noodles, but upon inspection, I found the path of the sword tore a gash in the side of one of the noodles. There is now a 1.5-inch vertical slice in the canvas cover. Only two threads that run along the length of the hole are broken, but every horizontal thread that cross the cut is neatly snapped.
If this goes over well, I’ll probably write follow-up “thoughts” from my first time test-cutting (if I ever find a place I can do it without getting arrested) and my first time sparring (if I can ever find a partner).
Now to get around to filling out that ARMA membership application…
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