When an edged blade is employed for its
historical purpose as a cutting tool--to slash and cleave and chop things--there
are so many aspects of its use that become clear (and so many other questions
that arise). This is why using well-made accurate reproduction blades to
test-cut on substantial materials is so crucial today to our understanding
and reconstruction of these arts. Experimenting with different swords and
different edges on different materials yields great insights. Yet, cutting
strongly and accurately with good grip and edge placement is a skill and
must be practiced. ARMA stresses the necessity of test-cutting experience
and our '03 Gathering gave us the occasion to do some. Swords from several
makers including, Del Tin, Albion, Raven, Atrim,
Angel Sword, and others were used on a variety of materials, such as single
and double rolls of water-soaked straw mats, including some with wood dowel
cores. There were several helmets available to strike
on, including ones from Valentine Armories and MRL in addition to some finely
made historical style riveted maile (which proved impregnable to all our
strikes). Various cuts and types
of blows were tried out on the targets by several attendees.
Examples of sharp blades, straight and curved, single and double
handed were tested, cutting effortlessly through straw mats of all sizes.
A cloth gambeson was cut at, proving virtually impervious to cuts. One especially sharp, short Angelsword Messer
cut through three straw mats on one horizontal cut.
Several curved Angel blades sheared through mats diagonally without
effort. Some Del Tin blades also pereformed well. However,
most intriguing was how a blunt and entirely unsharpened Raven bastard sword
performed, cleaving smoothly through one entire mat, and on a single cut
even through one with a wood core and then on into another mat. The same
blade dented two helms without any edge trauma. Some short blades proved
deficient when they broke against helms as did several pole-arm shafts and
even their (un-tempered ) steel blade heads. In another example
of how far modern replicas still have to go, one very sharply edged longsword
proved severely deficient in hitting hard targets when its edge was pulverized
and shattered as a result. See pics and video clips below.
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