First sword practice of the year
For the second day in a row it was sunny and warm.

When we got to the practice ground, the snow from last week was still on the ground.

At last year’s Gulf Coast Ren Faire , the storm was so bad it destroyed our old tent.
So, my wife ordered a new tent that we picked up when we were back in Pensacola in November.

But, the poles needed to be stained and varnished and the connectors needed to be painted. So, we decided to work on that today.


It was complicated by the fact that when we turned the heat on in our practice space, the roof began leaking.

But, we still got in some sword fighting.

Today we were working on Joachim Meyer’s rapier. German’s weren’t known for their rapier, but there are some moves that might work well in a show.




I had to show folks the book so they saw I wasn’t making up the “sneering nose” move.

My wife has studied more rapier than I have but even she couldn’t always get across the moves to David and Devon.

But, she assures me that it was wood stain on her hands, not their blood.

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This is probably a really dumb question, but do you use real swords .. sharpened ... so it's actually quite dangerous if you don't practise?
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"Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!"
I've often wondered about some of the translations of medieval or even renaissance texts. I am wondering if this was meant to say something more along the lines "with look of determination" or perhaps "with look of confidence", as to attempting to falsely convey the intent to perform an overconfident, straightforward thrust as a feint maneuver? Did I get it right?
On another topic, while putting all our Christmas decorations away into the closet this weekend I came across my ceremonial sword from your wedding. The brass is getting greenish with verdigris and while the blade is still quite shiny, I think it could do with some polishing and waxing. I need to take it out of the closet and find a suitably honorable place to hang it on the wall. With a 95cm blade though, it requires alot of wall space.
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