So, we've been doing these twice-weekly blogs for two years now, and our effort really seems to be paying off. More and more folks are watching our videos, following our research, and sharing our posts. Thank you all so much. In looking back over the more than 100 posts we've written and recorded it became apparent that some of the earlier pieces we did haven't had much uptake. In part this is because we didn't have many followers back then, and also because we gave some of them titles that made them difficult for folks to come back to or find organically. Nevertheless, we think that some of those earlier posts have some pretty interesting information in them that a lot of our current followers and friends might appreciate.
In pursuit of bringing you ever more interesting content we present some of our best posts that you probably missed the first time around. Check them out.
1. Edge damage on feders: comparing a fechterspiel with historic originals. In this blog Nathan uses photographs of the original training swords in the Metropolitan Museum to compare the types of damage on those blades to damage on an Arms and Armor training sword. Different modern feders are prone to various forms of wear and tear. Some modern training swords need to be routinely filed and sanded to prevent the development of sharp edges and a saw-type edge, others tend to warp or break. By examining wear on period training swords we can make some inferences about how closely our feders and modern sparring relate to the originals.
Fechterspiel and original feder from the Metropolitan Museum, NY
2. Two part investigation of the uses and forms of tucks, or estocs, a sword-shaped weapon with a very stiff blade for heavy armored combat. In these two posts Craig shows off two very different tucks that we've made, and explores the dynamics of how they developed and why there is such variety among these iconic weapons. Tucks or Estocs part 1, Tucks or Estocs part 2.
Depiction of Tucks in use from Hans Talhoffer
3. Thrusting potential of the Leeds Castle Sword, type XVIIIc. In this post Nathan uses the Arms and Armor Leeds Castle Sword to thrust through heavy cloth armor, something that was often previously regarded as difficult to accomplish with such a thin-bladed weapon. This post demonstrates how high quality historical replicas can teach us about the uses and attributes of historical weapons.
The Arms and Armor Leeds Castle Sword
Thanks for looking!
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.