clarification on rapier parries vs. cut and thrust.

[Sal Bertucci]

I was reading in Renaissance Swordsmanship, and I was a little confused about something. On the bottom of page 48 it mentions that with the true rapier and it's descendants you parry with the true edge. I know you wouldn't do this while wielding a C&T b/c of edge bashing, and against a thrusting only weapon it wouldn't matter. However, since the rapier was first used against C&T, I was wondering if you would use the same technique if you were wielding a rapier and the opponent had a C&T. To me, that looks like a potential for edge bashing, which would be especially rough on the rapier by my way of thinking.

Am I missing something?

[Stacy Clifford]

You're still advised to use the strong of the rapier blade to parry cuts with as you would with any other blade, and that section on a rapier is at least as stout, if not more so, as the strong of any other sword. Since you can't cut with that part anyway, many rapiers have either a very thick edge in the strong or even no edge at all, depending on the cross section, making edge bashing much less of an issue. This is of course if you're doing things correctly. The closer to the tip you try to parry, the worse your blade is likely to suffer as the taper increases and the blade gets thinner and sharper.

[Sal Bertucci]

ok, thanks.