Chinese Strider Swords

[Willrett]

I have been looking for a sword for awhile now and when I could get the one I wanted I didn't have the cash. I have looked at everything from ebay to craigslist to custom. I say find you price range get you money ready and go with someone you can trust. sword buyers guide has a list of several companies he recommends. I have become a fan of strong blade and some of the battle ready bastard swords they sell.

[Peter Remling]

Hi Will:

Strongblades products are very sturdy however they are way heavier than they need to be and not the cheapest out there. This generally forces the POB forward which will make the blade less manueverable.

If you want something customizied you can buy something with a better balance and rewrap the grip, recover the scabbardand apply belt mounts, medallions, coins or something else to the pommel. Quick inexpensive customizations plus learning new crafts.

[Taurthir]

Be careful with buying swords. Ive owned 5 swords so far and only 1 has come close to being perfect, that however is an archers sword though i do love it. The most important think I can say is make sure the blade you buy is designed for combat. A so called "battle ready" piece I got which wasnt from the practical section of a particular seller was the worst blade I ever used. The handle was an odd black substance under the leather that crumbled so the handle was loose, the hilt was rattly, the pommel was loose and of all of those the worst was when just below the hilt the steel snapped. An important reminder to get a blade with a handle that has mostly metal going into it as the frail ones will not only break but will leave a scar near your eye. Yes im a bloody pessimist but one ill fate will stop another ill fate.

If you can see the blade and hold it before you buy that would be the best as nothing turns out as it does in your mind or in the picture.

[mcapanelli]

Be careful with buying swords. Ive owned 5 swords so far and only 1 has come close to being perfect, that however is an archers sword though i do love it. The most important think I can say is make sure the blade you buy is designed for combat. A so called "battle ready" piece I got which wasnt from the practical section of a particular seller was the worst blade I ever used. The handle was an odd black substance under the leather that crumbled so the handle was loose, the hilt was rattly, the pommel was loose and of all of those the worst was when just below the hilt the steel snapped. An important reminder to get a blade with a handle that has mostly metal going into it as the frail ones will not only break but will leave a scar near your eye. Yes im a bloody pessimist but one ill fate will stop another ill fate.

If you can see the blade and hold it before you buy that would be the best as nothing turns out as it does in your mind or in the picture.

That's common with sub $300 swords. Battle ready isn't always really "Battle ready". A proper temper is not an easy process and requires skill to pull off. Skilled labor isn't cheap. It also takes skill to properly mount the furniture to the blade so the grip core isn't holding the guard down. Skilled labor costs money, again. All of the steps to making a successful weapon that behaves like a sword and not some butcher knife or sharp crow bar require a skill that a sub $300 sword just can't have due to labor costs. Any time you pick up a sword in that range you going to trade something. This is something that in a functional kit you'd be willing to bet your life that it would preform it's task. I like some windlass blades but there's no way I'd depend on them to keep me alive if given a choice. I'd highly recommend if you want a fully functional kit to save up, even if it takes all year, and get a good sword. If you keep your eyes peeled on the forums over at myarmoury, sword forum, and SBG sword forum you can get a squire line Albion, a used Atrim, or the Valiant signature at a great price. Or you could wait and get a new Gus Trim http://custom-sword-shoppe.com/shoppe/i ... ?cPath=1_8 or this http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/alb ... squire.htm Hell, there's a Gus Trim Makers Mark XIIa for sale on the myarmoury forum with some very minor edge damage for $450 right now!!!!! Andy always said the two things in your kit you should be spending the most money on we're your weapon and your boots, I couldn't agree more. I guess my point is it's better to have one good sword then ten cheap "battle ready" ones. I guess I could have just said that from the beginning and saved some bandwidth. Oh well, I guess we'll just call this my morning rant and leave it at that.

[Greg]

I miss your morning rants...always insightful!

What he's saying about expenses in kit is VERY true. I haven't spent more than about $20 on just about any part of my kit, homemade or otherwise. Then my current bow was $120, the new one I've almost finished cost me $50 in materials, so it was even cheaper, my quiver ran $60 as a custom piece...but my boots were just shy of $200, and my blade was just shy of $300 (and it was only cheaper than $300 because I snagged it in the VA pre-order.) Everything else was literally $20 and under, including my maille, which simply took a lifetime to make. This CAN be a relatively cheap hobby...until you want a sword and legit boots that'll last. Then it's an investment.

[Taurthir]

Be careful with buying swords. Ive owned 5 swords so far and only 1 has come close to being perfect, that however is an archers sword though i do love it. The most important think I can say is make sure the blade you buy is designed for combat. A so called "battle ready" piece I got which wasnt from the practical section of a particular seller was the worst blade I ever used. The handle was an odd black substance under the leather that crumbled so the handle was loose, the hilt was rattly, the pommel was loose and of all of those the worst was when just below the hilt the steel snapped. An important reminder to get a blade with a handle that has mostly metal going into it as the frail ones will not only break but will leave a scar near your eye. Yes im a bloody pessimist but one ill fate will stop another ill fate.

If you can see the blade and hold it before you buy that would be the best as nothing turns out as it does in your mind or in the picture.

That's common with sub $300 swords. Battle ready isn't always really "Battle ready". A proper temper is not an easy process and requires skill to pull off. Skilled labor isn't cheap. It also takes skill to properly mount the furniture to the blade so the grip core isn't holding the guard down. Skilled labor costs money, again. All of the steps to making a successful weapon that behaves like a sword and not some butcher knife or sharp crow bar require a skill that a sub $300 sword just can't have due to labor costs. Any time you pick up a sword in that range you going to trade something. This is something that in a functional kit you'd be willing to bet your life that it would preform it's task. I like some windlass blades but there's no way I'd depend on them to keep me alive if given a choice. I'd highly recommend if you want a fully functional kit to save up, even if it takes all year, and get a good sword. If you keep your eyes peeled on the forums over at myarmoury, sword forum, and SBG sword forum you can get a squire line Albion, a used Atrim, or the Valiant signature at a great price. Or you could wait and get a new Gus Trim http://custom-sword-shoppe.com/shoppe/i ... ?cPath=1_8 or this http://www.albion-swords.com/swords/alb ... squire.htm Hell, there's a Gus Trim Makers Mark XIIa for sale on the myarmoury forum with some very minor edge damage for $450 right now!!!!! Andy always said the two things in your kit you should be spending the most money on we're your weapon and your boots, I couldn't agree more. I guess my point is it's better to have one good sword then ten cheap "battle ready" ones. I guess I could have just said that from the beginning and saved some bandwidth. Oh well, I guess we'll just call this my morning rant and leave it at that.

All I can say is anything less than full tang is not a practical piece

[R.D.Metcalf]

Most swords are hidden tang, a hidden tang sword can be extremely sturdy. I like for the tang to be about 1" wide over most of the grip length and 1/4" thick throughout this is stout enough, as there is plenty of steel in that harmonic node to resist shearing provided the blade to tang transition is properly radiused and the maker took pains to avoid grain growth while forging the tang, I.E. the tang wasnt overheated and normalized after forging.

Full tang blades are repped to be tough with good reason, but out side of Messers and some early Iron age replicas like Albions Cherusker you wont see traditional Euro swords with a full tang. Those that claim to be are misusing terms to jump on a marketing gimmick.

[Jon]

I bought a herugrim (theoden's sword) from this type of shop and it starting falling apart almost instantly. First the handle (as it was screwed on to the blade kept coming loose everytime you used it, stainless steal already wasnt too good but then i found out it wasnt even stainless, hitting the sword against a plank of wood (which im not sure im meant to do anyway) notched thw sword strait away... so i'd say no.

[kaelln]

Reading over the various replies to this thread makes me wonder. Unless I'm extremely unlucky, I'll never be using a sword against another swordsman. Even in the unlikely event that I found a sparring partner, I wouldn't want to use live sharp blades. And it's also extremely unlikely that I will ever need to use a sword against a human being, even an attacker. First, I've never been attacked, unless you count fist-fights back in grade school, and second, if I was attacked, what use is a sword against a gun? And if I was attacked by an unarmed opponent, or someone with a knife, and I had access to a sword, any sword, even one I got from the flea market for $30, would do the job as well as the most expensive sword in the world.

Don't get me wrong; I like swords! Both as a symbol, and as art. I have half a dozen very cheap, very bad ones lying around the house. I just find it difficult to justify an outlay of a couple grand for something that will actually just be a symbol. I mean, I wouldn't be able to actually use one of these expensive custom made swords for anything, not even practise!

So my thinking right now is, if I want to learn to use a sword and practise the art of swordsmanship, maybe I'd be better off just getting a $30 Cold Steel hand-and-a-half plastic training sword, and let it go at that. What do you guys think?

[Greg]

I'd spring for one of the Rawlings wasters for more accurate sparring practice and such, if you want to go that route... *grins*

In all honesty, the main reason most people who really wish to accurately train to use swords as per the historical documents and such own real, live blades is because it is impossible to REALLY learn how to use a sword appropriately unless you actually handle them on a semi-regular basis. They practice their drills with wasters or blunt steel blades, generally spar with wood wasters or the newer plastic/carbon-fiber ones, and do test cutting with live steel. It's the closest one can come in this day and age to understanding the feel and function of a live blade. I've been teaching my brother-in-law basics for a few months and he and I spar regularly, but when I brought out my sharp, filled some milk jugs with water, and did some cutting with him, he found he had to change a bit about how he swung the blade. It teaches you proper form, because the proof is in the pudding. You can see where your cut erred, where you began to rotate the blade rather than keeping it aligned...it shows you all of your technical faults. In addition, hard targets like tatami rolls develop strength of strike and follow-through. All important building blocks.

It's all a big bunch of "what if's". IF you were put in a situation where you needed to defend yourself with a live blade, would you be able to? If you only use wooden wasters, you might be able to. If you only use foam boffers, you might be able to. If you regularly use sharp live steel in addition to safe sparring/drilling methods, you would be able to, because you've practiced as accurately as possible.

I completely get what you're saying, and I agree with you. In this day and age, they're not practical. The place the sword has in history has passed, and they're symbols. But if you REALLY want to know what it was like to be a swordsman, to know what you're doing with your blade, and to be a well-practiced master of the art, you have to use a real blade. You can't learn to use a firearm playing duck hunt on NES (though it's TONS of fun!)

I don't want to come off as harsh here. I am, by no means, a master of any of the sword arts. Just about all of my training has been self-study from internet resources and the historical fetbuchs. Almost all of it has been focused around Talhoffer's shenanigans. I haven't branched out very far. But I'm learning, and I work with a few guys fairly regularly, so I'm on my way. I doubt if I'll ever be at a level that regular HEMA or ARMA study would get me to at the rate I'm going, but I still practice with sharps on targets. It just seems like the right thing to do as a part of my studies, just like how I lash on three broadheads a few months before hunting season and shoot nothing but them, no field tips, so that I KNOW how they'll fly, I KNOW how they'll perform, and I KNOW that I can shoot them accurately, because they function differently.

End of essay. This is the part where R.D., Mike, and others who have trained more extensively come in, rap me on the hand and correct all the wrong things I just stated.

[kaelln]

Thanks, Greg. There was a link to an article posted on here somewhere that suggested that test cutting was a waste of time, but I can see how it would make a difference in getting the angle of the sword right.