We're about the only household I know of that could embrace a swordfight at home. We have the cavalry sabre over the door, just in case and a bastard sword in the dining room just in case and if that's not enough I have a navy sword uptairs in my closet. None of them are all that sharp but they are all very pointy.
Mine's got a sheath, as it should. The rest are bare blades like one finds in a museum. for pointy stuff.
6 comments:
Blades don't have to be sharp to do damage. Most cavalry sabers were not sharpened to a razor edge because the shock of hitting hard things (like metal) would break the edge and a super-sharp edge will stick in bone.
Sharpened to a fine edge, like a butter knife. Or a little sharper, and that will cut perfectly fine with enough force.
You hit someone with a very very narrow crowbar and something is going to break or be sheared (think dropping a sheet of plywood edgewise on your foot, shod or not, and most likely you'll have a broken foot.
Says the guy who has a kukri in the kitchen (which is wicked sharp) and a broadsword (Norman, 1060's pattern) in the bedroom and a gladius under the bed (probably the best sword for in-home fighting, short, double edged with a nice stabbing point.)
We don't have a gladius, yet. Next. The broadsword has no tip. Not meant for stabbing. The naval sword isn't much use except stabbing. It will leave a mark though.
The Cold Steel Gladius Machete is a perfect home defense weapon, tough as nails, can cut nails, and inexpensive. Well worth it.
Leaning against the wall are a shotgun and a .22 rifle and standing out in the handle of the filing cabinet is a K-Bar my last command gave me at the change of command. I don't carry. I'm not philosphically opposed to killing people who need it but I don't have the money or the patience to deal with the inevitable aftermath. And, like Gandalf, I am one of the most dangerous things on middle earth. Leaning up against the same wall between the rifle and shotgun is my ukelele. You don't want to hear me play.
When I was a young man I was in the USAF. Early in my career I had supervisor who insisted everybody in the shop take up fencing for at least a year. I did it for about a year and a half. I have an epee and mid-length sabre. For close quarters both can be devastating.
I got into all kind of extra curricular stuff when I was active duty. A lot of it was sanctioned and during duty hours.
I took fencing in my senior year at high school. I fenced a little my first year in college. My nephews were involved in the Society for Creative Anachronism for years and I just read a blog post by a new blogger over at OldAirForceSarge about SCA and what it does to people :)
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