Whatever training tool you choose it will have its advantages and disadvantages. It all depends on what you want to do.
Personally, I have never tried a decent wooden waster although I am sure there are such ones. In my club wooden wasters were used by beginners just for formal training. Some modified shinai were used for sparring but nowadays everyone uses nylons and steel. We work with both, both in technical training and when sparring.
The good thing about nylons is that you can spar with very little protection. A mask, lacrosse gloves, throat protection and a cup is actually enough if you have a good nylon waster. BUT, and this is important, the early designs were very rigid and stiff, making them dangerous when thrusting and gave them too much punch for striking hard against lacrosse gloves.
I will be adding reviews of several nylon wasters and steel federschwert to the hroarr.com site soon, but shortly I can say that the best I have tried are hand made by Pentti of Gothenburgh Historical Fencing School. Unfortunately he no longer produces these. However, the little known "
Norrlandswastern" is the next in line. These too are hand made and can be designed according to your specifications. They even have a hilt of birch tree.
A few good things about these is that they do have a flex in the thrusts, but aren't wobbly. Also, the do not stay noticably bent while sparring, like the KnightShops currently do. In my opinion though, none can beat the nylon that was used in the Pentti wasters. But, the maker of Norrlandswastern is looking into using that type of nylon as well.
Contact:
plastsmeden@gmail.com
The
Knightshop wasters are still a bit too wobbly but will have a stiffer blade within the next few weeks and a steel cross have also been designed and will be available. With the final adjustments I think they will be very good. They have taken all requests and comments very seriously and continue to develop their product. Still, I would wait a little bit for the new ones.
I have a PurpleHearts waster as well and although it is good for exercises, I feel that it is too stiff and point heavy for sparring with little protection. Other than that, it is well made. The
With Intent wasters that you mention are quite similar to these in how they perform. Be careful with the thrusts and strikes. They can cause damage.
Of the three, the Knightshop waster is clearly the longest with three inches more than the PurpleHearts waster. The Norrlandswaster can be had at any length though and I heard rumours of a montante.
Oh, and stay away from the Cold Steel wasters. They are dangerous and weird...
No matter what wasters you choose, make sure to use similar wasters against each other. A Knightshop waster does not work well against a With Intent or PurpleHearts waster.
As for feders, the Hanweis are decent, but there have been quite a few incidents in hard sparring where the blades have snapped. I have contacted them about this issue but have received no response. If you get one, make sure you get the 2nd generation. The first was incredibly wobbly.
A better choice is Jan Chodkiewicz feders at
http://ensifer.carbonmade.com/ The price is about 180-200€ which is half the cost of an Albion Meyer. And they can really take a beating.
If you have the cash, the Albion Meyers are wonderful. Good hardening and delightful in the hand. I love it. The pointy ricasso is a bit dangerous though and I don't really understand why it is designed like that when it is supposed to be a sparring weapon.
Also some really like the Arms & Armor Fechtbuch sword although I haven't tried it yet.
http://www.armor.com/train209.html
Like I said, I will be adding a proper review soon, but here are some of my thoughts.
Good luck with whatever you choose! [/url]
