WHAT is the BEST SWORD for HOME DEFENSE??

[Jake Glickfield]

The original subject of this discussion was for a person in Spain. European apartments are not known for spaciousness so a longsword may do more hard than good. A tactical approach is probably best. Stand in a narrow hallway with a spear and defend yourself Spartan style. They can't overwhelm you because they can only come at you one at a time. Spears have quick recovery time and a long range. Consider getting a dog too.

[danielcarcich]

For those of you who haven't heard about this yet... I thought you might get a kick out of it!

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/09/15/sam ... index.html

[Jonathan Newhall]

An interesting fact from that article shows that the man had his hand cut (nearly or fully) off and was also wounded in the chest. I would bet it was from the same cut. My experience in training has shown me it is all too human to attempt to block a sword with your arm or hand no matter how much you know full well it won't work - it is reflex.

Just something cool.

[Stacy Clifford]

I did see a TV news report on this incident where a lawyer discussing the case did say he made just a single strike in defending himself. From what the first one did it must have seemed pretty obvious that a second one wasn't going to be necessary.

[Chris Ouellet]

I read that article as well. The problem with much of the media we are fed through Hollywood and anime is that people don't respect swords as much as they do guns. You almost invariably see people getting shot once and falling over dead in screenplay but screenplay swordfights drag on and on with punches and kicks and all sorts of silly fantasy.
I wonder if this burglar would still be alive if the guy had a gun.

[Stacy Clifford]

You almost invariably see people getting shot once and falling over dead in screenplay but screenplay swordfights drag on and on with punches and kicks and all sorts of silly fantasy.

...except of course when sword blows are being delivered by the hero to the armored bellies of nameless minions, then all of a sudden they become light sabers.

[Chris Ouellet]

Too true Stacy, too true.

[Jonathan_Kaplan]

Well I hope the student doesn't get convicted. From what I can tell, he did everything right -- confront the attacker, wait for the attacker to make the first move, make a single strike in self defense.

[rogerx]

Right, I guess many of you would say that the best weapon for home defense would be a shotgun or similar but in my country (Spain) is virtually impossible to acquire such licenses. Having a firearm without a license grants you years in jail not to mention using it! Even swords cannot be acquire as weapons but as collection item or decoration, so legally speaking if I protect myself with it would be like using a a decorative jar.

Unfortunately thieves have become in these days extremely violent in my country when it comes to break ins; before they would wait for you to be out of home and then would search the house for money and jewels. Now they don't bother, they wait till you are at thome, and then they break in and torture you to force you disclose the location of money or jewels... and you better have something to disclose cause otherwise they won't believe you and you'll have to go through an ordeal.

I guess most of us agree there is no such thing a "best sword" cause it depends on the situation, therefore, I would like to present the most usual scenario in the modern house break ins in my country so that we can discuss about the best weapon for that situation. I am really interested in your point of view since I know many of you are great experts in the field.

Situation to consider (according to police records & news):

* Two intruders (minimum) breaks into your house.
* At least one carries a fireman axe (They use it to break doors in case you lock yourself in a room)
* The other/s usually carry big knifes, knuckle dusters and so on...
* Occasionally they might bring a handgun though not so common since they know you don't have one at home anyway.


"Weapons" that I can legally purchase in my country:

* Baseball bats.
* Knifes & Swords.
* Hammers, Axes, Chainsaw... Any garden tool.


My guess for the best weapon:

* If I use a baseball bat against the axe I am done, so nope... And so it goes for the Hammer or any garden tools that I know.
* The axe would be a fifty-fifty thing against the guy with the axe and two slow to contain two attackers.
* The Chainsaw looks terrific in theory but have a few drawbacks that makes it not so good choice:
o might not work, or take me too much time to make it work.
o heavy and slow.
o a blow with the axe on the chainsaw might take the chain out of the rails leaving me with no weapon at all.
* So that leaves me with a sword/s as best choice...
o rapier & dagger: with a trapping dagger the rapier might be the best choice for unarmored 1-1 duels, but this is not 1-1 and a good cutting powers seems to me a must in this situations.
o one long sword: perhaps if I am in the middle of the dinning room they would be the best choice, but if in a small room they could be really hard to maneuver. On the other hand they will be the best to keep away the intruder with the axe. But if I go for one long sword I think it is better a double edge longsword so that I can handle one attacker at 12 and other at 6 ( hitting with the backside edge at 6 and rapidly hitting at 12 without repositioning the blade).
o two short swords: great for small spaces, perhaps not so great against the axe, but so far imagining myself in that situation the two short swords seems to give me the best options; against the axe I can block and attack at the same time, and against the 12-6 I can use one blade for 12 and the other for 6.

Conclusion: Well I think the best choice is two short single edge swords. So how about two Chinese butterfly swords or similar? Any renaissance martial art using two swords?

You have the best idea and information about what to do to use the thing's in the house to use as a self defense weapon. Great job.

[Randall Pleasant]

Rogerx

You need to edit your profile to include both you First and Last names as is required by the forums rules.

Thank you,

[T.J. Young]

Not sure if you guys came to a decision yet on the thread (looks like it's many years old and just recently bumped up)... and not sure if this was mentioned but I own two of what I would consider the ultimate in self defense/home defense "sword alternatives":



I bought one of these M-43 Himalayan Imports Khukuri. The damn thing is a BEAST. You can buy it for show or train with these things... which I started looking into. They're small enough to get in close with, but have some length on them to keep the intruder at range as well. Plus it looks like an absolute beast.

Hope that's at least helpful for someone new coming into the thread.

[Jonathan Hill]

This is an insanely old thread that was necro’ed, but I figured I’d put in my recommendation.

http://www.zwillingonline.com/31425000.html

Nothing is more important that knowing how to use it. Even the sharpener is pretty nasty. Best advice I read while skimming is just to look at common household items. It’s funny how the top for my pots and pans is made exactly like some bucklers.

[Jim Charles]

Situation to consider (according to police records & news):

* Two intruders (minimum) breaks into your house.
* At least one carries a fireman axe (They use it to break doors in case you lock yourself in a room)
* The other/s usually carry big knifes, knuckle dusters and so on...
* Occasionally they might bring a handgun though not so common since they know you don't have one at home anyway.


b][/b]

It's not a bad question. There are states in the US where you may not be allowed to own a decent self defense gun either. And no, a fowling peice is not a decent self defense gun.
Many people think a gun is Deus Ex Machina.Usually those who have never used one in self defense or seen the after effects.
For example, the .40 S&W is tremendously popular where I live-- among people who never shot anybody with it.
Those who have know it has about one half the effective stopping power of telling an attacker a dirty joke. I can think of a half a dozen .40 shootings and NONE was a one shot stop. Or even seven shots, so far as that goes.
(In one case a doofus shot himself with his tactical tupperware and drove himself to the Hospital).
People think the shotgun will spread out and you don't have to aim it....because they have not fired it on paper and seen the three inch pattern it makes at 25 yards is tighter than most five shot pistol groupings.
Modern Americans have been hoodwinked by big corporations into mindlessly beleiving in technology. Technology is good in its place - but it is no replacement for common sense or effectiveness.
For example, most gun nuts would laugh at a .45 derringer or an old Remington .44 single action as a self defense peice, despite the fact that either weapon fires a FAR more effective round than their laser sighted .40 drastic plastic weapon.
Its the bullet that stops man or beast - not the style of gun it is fired from.
ANY effective weapon will never be obsolete,despite what Corporate America and the Technology Pimps want you to beleive.
Remember Technology pimps don't have your best interest at heart. They want your money.
Now, having gone down that route, a good sharp short sword would be an EXCELLENT home defense weapon. Next to the bed, in addition to an old .45 handgun, I keep a very sharp Kris Cutlery Ninja sword that is lightnin' fast out of the scabbard. In the living room I also have a Gladius. these short swords are a LOT easier to handle in the cramped confined quarters of my home than say, a longsword would be. They are also faster out of the scabbard.
If you never heard of the Tueller drill, look it up. Basically its an old law enforcement training drill about how a guy with a knife can travel 20 feet and hit you in about two seconds or less....
So the old joke about bringing a knife to a gunfight may not be so funny to those who have had some LE training. The knife is NOT to be discounted by those who are aware of such things.
I don't think anybody has staged the Tueller drill against a sword, but that might be something of interest.
As a post note, if you did live in a big home with high roofs and plenty of open space, by all means a longsword or even two handed claymore would be even more effective and would increase the distance the bad guy was kept from you - which is always a good thing.
And there are some Talhoffer moves for in close fighting if the bad guy does get too close. But I am guessing that for most of us, if we had to rely on cutlery for home defense the short sword would stand us in good stead.
Remember Jeff Cooper used to say self defense was a problem and encourage people to THINK about the solution in a rational way.
Falling back on firearms myths is not exactly rational. Guns are excellent weapons with tremendous self defense capabilities. But we live in a world where your right to have them can be infringed. And in that situation one may have to look to history for suitable replacements in the event of self defense.