Re: (TFT) stainless sword and pole arms

["Neil Gilmore" <raito@raito.com>]

> > Even poll axe play was considered to be just vigorous exercise.
>
> You've mentioned this before, but I have a few doubts here. Primarily, it
is
> unlikely that something so cumbersome would have been used on the
> battlefield if it were so useless. That just doesn't make sense. Also,
would
> you be willing to stand in a quality reproduction suit of plate and let
> someone take a no holds barred swing at you with a decent pole arm
> reproduction? I know I wouldn't! A sword swing maybe but not a pole arm. I
> have seen pictures of repro great helms punctured just with warhammer
> backspikes (I think the link is at myArmory.com); while not perfectly
> scientific, it is plain that the potential is there.

My normal tourney suit is Japanese, and weighs in at 37 pounds, which is
pretty light. Some time ago, for a specialty event, I made some new stuff.
Proper padding, mail, and plate over that. The whole rig was about 80 pounds
or so. I took a hit with a rattan weapon that creased the backplate about 8
inches (really odd combnation of circumstances). I didn't even feel it.
Sure, I moved slower, but I sure felt like a tank How thick was the helm?
Many of the repros out there are 18 ga. (I think that's deliberate, because
SCA requires 16 or better). How was the helm held to hit it? When worn by
someone, armor is a lot more absorbent than when held tight.

As for cumbersome, Jeu de la Hache pretty clearly shows that (at least for
tournament), the head isn't what should be used, unless you have a clear,
unimpeded shot that the opponent can't respond to.

And there's the one Jacques Lalang duel with poll axe. The other guy shows
up with a war axe, so the officials call it off, but Jaques says play on.
Both lay on each other pretty well, and the only injury is a stab to the arm
to Jacques. He ends up winning by throwing the other guy down with his good
arm, and because one of the winning conditions was something like 'lay your
length on the ground', Lalang wins. The other guy wasn't happy. Clearly,
even an axe nade for battle wasn't all that effective against armor.

> > Perhaps I'd amend that to be a properly made sword made from modern
steel.
> >
> As would I :-). I was strictly referring to modern steels, since that was
> the context of that part of the thread. Stainless isn't the only modern
> steel! I had more in mind 1095, O-1, 5160, and similar alloys. Note that
> stainless can be very good, it just doesn't work for swords. Now that I've

I've neard some really good things about properly treated L-6 blades.

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com
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