Our post about the Rondel Dagger vs Mail from Sept 26th we got a lot of great comments and suggestions, we also had many of our viewers point out the excellent Video that Tod and Matt had done on a similar Dagger vs Mail video. They got much different results and we thought it would be a great idea to sit down and talk through some of the different factors and the take aways we can use in further research from our and their work.
We want to emphasize that the tests we do should be seen as data points in a much wider discussion. The multiple factors to define how a particular weapon would perform in an active combat situation against a particular piece of armor is fraught with so many variables it can be hard to broaden a single action into a cohesive guideline.
The focus of a test is also a very important part of tests. While both videos and others we have done look at mail vs a blade or point being thrust. The idea we were looking at was how a dagger used against mail could lock itself in to a good grip to use as leverage in combat. While our friends Matt and Tod were looking at the penetrative power of the dagger, which we have to say was amazing.
So catch our video below delivered in your favorite format as a Whiskey & Weapons look at weapons tests against armor.
Nathan Clough, Ph.D. is Vice President of Arms and Armor and a member of the governing board of The Oakeshott Institute. He is a historical martial artist and a former university professor of cultural geography. He has given presentations on historical arms at events including Longpoint and Combatcon, and presented scholarly papers at, among others, The International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Craig Johnson is the Production Manager of Arms and Armor and Secretary of The Oakeshott Institute. He has taught and published on the history of arms, armor and western martial arts for over 30 years. He has lectured at several schools and Universities, WMAW, HEMAC, 4W, and ICMS at Kalamazoo. His experiences include iron smelting, jousting, theatrical combat instruction and choreography, historical research, European martial arts and crafting weapons and armor since 1985