My new sword.

jegs2 · Post by **jegs2** » 2004-01-25 12:38am

Howedar wrote:Swords are somewhat cool, but they absolutely PALE in comparison to any firearm, let alone the godly M16 (though I'm not a big fan of the M60 Shep posted).

I prefer the M4 over the M16.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-01-25 12:38am

Howedar wrote:Swords are somewhat cool, but they absolutely PALE in comparison to any firearm, let alone the godly M16 (though I'm not a big fan of the M60 Shep posted).

Course, if we wanted to be anal, we could go back in time to the 1950s,
when guys would get together in Nevada and fire off their 105mm Howitzers

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2004-01-25 12:39am

MKSheppard wrote:I just don't get what you can do with a sword...ok, you've bought it,
what are you going to do with it? Chase down Bambi and hack him/her
to pieces? Decapicate watermelons?

No...you use it to cut people's heads off and gain their life energy, duh!

But to be serious it's one of those things where if I have to explain it you'll never understand.

And yes, I know about the superiority of modern firearms and I think they're cool too, but it just ain't the same.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-01-25 12:44am

aerius wrote: But to be serious it's one of those things where if I have to explain it you'll never understand.

Oh, i'm willing to spend money like that on an edged weapon, but it'd
be a survival/combat knife with a nigh unbreakable blade and self
sharpening edge so that if I'm dropped in the middle of Alaska I could
survive to reach civilization, not a really useless broadsword..

Oh yah, and they have variants that allow you to cut through seatbelts and
plexiglass with special edges/cutters on the other side of the blade.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2004-01-25 12:45am

Yeah.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-01-25 12:49am

I don't mean to be a wet towel, but as I get older, I see through a lot
of the marketing bullshit they put around these kinds of stuff.

Guns are prone to this, usually the Colt .45 Derivatives, and target
shooting rifles *OMFG I HAVE A CRYO TREATED BARREL OMFG*.

Survival/Combat knives are also prone to this, with all kinds of whacky
bullshit being spewed out to be snapped up by rambo wannabes,
etc.

Lets not get started on the "ninja' bullshit like replica shurikens, etc.

I mean seriously, with modern production techniques and steelmaking, why
would it cost $7,000 for a SWORD?

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2004-01-25 12:53am

I guess it's just my Mind, but I'd go "that's fucking cool" if you showed
me a replica Crossbow, but "meh" for a sword. Maybe that's pretty telling
about me

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2004-01-25 12:57am

MKSheppard wrote:Oh, i'm willing to spend money like that on an edged weapon, but it'd
be a survival/combat knife with a nigh unbreakable blade and self
sharpening edge so that if I'm dropped in the middle of Alaska I could
survive to reach civilization, not a really useless broadsword..

Oh yah, and they have variants that allow you to cut through seatbelts and
plexiglass with special edges/cutters on the other side of the blade.

I have one of those on order. It looks like this, but bigger. Unfortunately I'm a bit down on the waiting list so it's gonna be a while 'till I get it. About $550, and short of clamping it in a vise and whacking it with a sledgehammer you're not going to break it.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2004-01-25 12:59am

I would like to own a halberd. Any place that sells halberds?

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2004-01-25 01:00am

HemlockGrey wrote:I would like to own a halberd. Any place that sells halberds?

If you find one, I'll give you a.... wait, I don't know if you'd enjoy that or not.

zombie84 · Post by **zombie84** » 2004-01-25 01:03am

You're not buying swords for their functionality, you buy them for their aesthetic quality--they're works of art, unlike utilitarian firearms.

Aside from that though, theres some sort of deep-rooted ancient subconscious connection to swords. I dunno, something about them (at least the nice handcrafted ones, as opposed to the mass-produced ones--again going back to the "swords as art" thing). When you talk of it as an instrument of death, theres just something far more personal and intimate about a sword--guns have this detached, cold "point and shoot in the distance" feeling, but with a sword you meet your enemy face to face and reign blows upon him with your bare hands; so intimate is itthat the victor is covered in his enemies blood. Theres something special about that. Two foes skilled in the art of swordplay meeting and duelling to the death has this religious connotation to it that is both romatic and barbaric at the same time.

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-01-25 01:04am

Halberds? Well, the local branch of the SCA has a pretty talented smith (the guy has the patience to make chainmail

), but he only deals locally. Doesn't want a huge ass workload. I don't know if he's ever made a halberd in any case.

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2004-01-25 02:57am

If I were buying a sword, I'd only buy based on both look and functionality (assuming a modern reproduction). Most show swords are W-A-Y too heavy. I'd either go for a replica of an early claidheamh-more or for a true longsword (not what D&D calls a longsword, which is really an arming-sword).

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-01-25 03:25am

MKSheppard wrote:I just don't get what you can do with a sword...ok, you've bought it,
what are you going to do with it? Chase down Bambi and hack him/her
to pieces? Decapicate watermelons?

At least with firearms you can hunt or target shoot to take up your time,
and return your initial investment

They are getting it for when the apocolypse comes and they've survived long enough that there's a real shortage of amunition and people who know how to make amunition.

Although, an axe would be more useful since it could be a tool and a weapon, but then that's part of the a point of a sword. They really have one intended use and that's to wack people. Kind of like most handguns.

Keevan_Colton · Post by **Keevan_Colton** » 2004-01-25 10:09am

HemlockGrey wrote:I would like to own a halberd. Any place that sells halberds?

Deepeeka do some, you can see thier complete range at Deepeeka.com there's plenty of different stockists all around the world.

Perinquus · Post by **Perinquus** » 2004-01-25 10:25am

I prefer a gun. As cool as swords are, and as much as I love them, I don't really have the skill to use one (or the occasion to do so), nor do I have the time to acquire it. What with work, part time, and other extracurricular activities, I can either devote my remaining free time to training with firearms and developing a skill usefull in the modern world (especially to a cop like me), or training in Jeet Kune Do, which is another skill useful in the modern world (especially to a cop like me). Devoting time to the learning of a weapon I will never have the opportunity to use just doesn't provide a good enough return on my investment, so to speak.

Having said that, 99.9% of fantasy swords are rubbish that would not hold up in real sword combat for even a few seconds. They are either too heavy, too impractical in design, too badly balanced, or made of inappropriate materials (e.g. stainless steel, which is too brittle for a sword). If you are going to buy a sword, get a Japanese-style sword from a maker of quality blades (the design is well proven, and these are good for martial arts use), or get a good quality replica of a European sword made by someone like Peter Johnsson, which are well made reproductions, patterned after real swords that were the result of generations of actual use and feedback from fighting men to swordsmiths, and thus are practical, functional weapons, possessing the qualities that battle-worthy weapon needed to have.

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2004-01-25 11:28am

Perinquus wrote:I prefer a gun. As cool as swords are, and as much as I love them, I don't really have the skill to use one (or the occasion to do so), nor do I have the time to acquire it. What with work, part time, and other extracurricular activities, I can either devote my remaining free time to training with firearms and developing a skill usefull in the modern world (especially to a cop like me), or training in Jeet Kune Do, which is another skill useful in the modern world (especially to a cop like me). Devoting time to the learning of a weapon I will never have the opportunity to use just doesn't provide a good enough return on my investment, so to speak.

All this is true, and if I were looking for a practical weapon for self-defense and not just a fairly geeky hobby, I would buy a handgun. A sword has a reach of a single meter, a gun has a reach of over a dozen meters.

Having said that, 99.9% of fantasy swords are rubbish that would not hold up in real sword combat for even a few seconds. They are either too heavy, too impractical in design, too badly balanced, or made of inappropriate materials (e.g. stainless steel, which is too brittle for a sword). If you are going to buy a sword, get a Japanese-style sword from a maker of quality blades (the design is well proven, and these are good for martial arts use), or get a good quality replica of a European sword made by someone like Peter Johnsson, which are well made reproductions, patterned after real swords that were the result of generations of actual use and feedback from fighting men to swordsmiths, and thus are practical, functional weapons, possessing the qualities that battle-worthy weapon needed to have.

The hilt isn't wobbly (and I did take a few practice swings), so that's an encouraging sign.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-01-25 11:49am

MKSheppard wrote:I just don't get what you can do with a sword...ok, you've bought it,
what are you going to do with it? Chase down Bambi and hack him/her
to pieces? Decapicate watermelons?

At least with firearms you can hunt or target shoot to take up your time,
and return your initial investment

You know some of us collect them for the sake of collecting them. Not because we intend to use them to kill and maim.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-01-25 02:55pm

You can practice martial arts with an Eastern sword for entertainment purposes, something to do after work to let off some steam. There's a certain elegance to a sword kata that can't be captured by just going to the shooting range. That may change when someone finally makes gun katas from Equilibrium, though.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-01-25 02:56pm

jegs2 wrote:
Howedar wrote:Swords are somewhat cool, but they absolutely PALE in comparison to any firearm, let alone the godly M16 (though I'm not a big fan of the M60 Shep posted).
I prefer the M4 over the M16.

That is one beautiful weapon. Do you use a scope attachment?

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2004-01-25 03:07pm

Iceberg wrote:
HemlockGrey wrote:I would like to own a halberd. Any place that sells halberds?
If you find one, I'll give you a.... wait, I don't know if you'd enjoy that or not.

Here's a nice link for Weaponry: SCA Weaponry Merchants

Some of them do their own smithing, some offer replicas from India, and some just make Rattan weaponry for SCA combat. But if you want a working Halberd, one of these merchants will have it.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2004-01-25 04:01pm

Howedar wrote:Swords are somewhat cool, but they absolutely PALE in comparison to any firearm, let alone the godly M16 (though I'm not a big fan of the M60 Shep posted).

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2004-01-25 04:09pm

Durandal wrote:That is one beautiful weapon. Do you use a scope attachment?

When it comes to assault rifles I think the Sako RK rifles are absolutely beatifull:

And this here is a special version of an older RK, made for the Qatar royal guard. The stock, pistol grip and forend were of walnutand the buttstock had a silver medallion inset on the left side. Slingswere white.
It's kinda big though so I won't inline it:
http://www.valmet-weapons.com/Valmet_Mo ... ussian.jpg

It doesn't have the folding stock or the same stock of the rifle in the first picture though(had one of those, much better I think than the classic, both in look and utility, you can keep your weapons cleaning kit in the hollow stock, which is suprisingly durable).

The Aliens · Post by **The Aliens** » 2004-01-25 04:11pm

No real katana, but I've got a couple of bokken and various sais, tanto... not terribly practical, but good training. Plan to get a katana/wakasashi/tanto set wehn I get the money.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2004-01-25 05:11pm

zombie84 wrote:You're not buying swords for their functionality, you buy them for their aesthetic quality--they're works of art, unlike utilitarian firearms.

A sword is no more a work of art then a firearm unless you go to the extra effort to make it so, which happens quite a lot with both. A decorative hilt and guard is no different then a decorative grip and stock.

Though I see far more beauty in this undecorated weapon then in any sword anyway.