CombatCon

I have been having classes but forgetting to post about them. New training swords and armor have been acquired. All that will wait until I get back from CombatCon http://thecombatcon.com/ !!! June 24 to 26 - 2011 - Tuscany Hotel - Las Vegas
Lots of classes in Western Martial Arts. I'll post pictures and hopefully videos when I return.

Cutting class

Last Saturday (02/12/11)I had a cutting class. (Tameshigiri) The class was much better attended than usual. I didn't have the money to buy the actual tatami omote but pool noodles and filled water bottles work pretty well. First we used my katana which is very sharp and works well even for beginners. Then we tried the two new long swords my wife had gotten me for Valentines day. They were sharp but not sharp enough. I'll need to take a stone to them and try it again. The swords are great quality and we got them for a good price. http://sbg-sword-store.sword-buyers-guide.com/product151.html The deal is good until the end of February. I'll let you know how they cut when I sharpen them more.

Fiore Dagger Defenses

I was expecting more, but at least I had six students today. I've been wanting to work on the dagger defenses for awhile so we got out the mats and had at it. I used two youtube sites for my main reference. http://www.youtube.com/user/TrilobyteArmoury works from Fiore but http://www.youtube.com/user/ArmeAntica works from Mair. I like the flow of the guy at Arme Antica. He studied the Bujinkan system which is the main art I practice. It's very evident in his movement. We had a good class with more to work on next time!

Medieval Retro-Class today

Only two folks for class today. :( I'd planned on covering medieval knife work but decided to go over joint locks instead. The same joint locks will be used in the knife defense. Medieval knife attacks are either icepick style coming down or a thrust. Most systems that developed in areas where it got cold used these types of attack to get through thick clothing. The warmer areas developed faster more slashing attacks since you weren't wearing as much. Lot's of good videos on youtube!

Castles

I am very interested in castles and plan on building one after I retire. Various plans are in the works to enable this to happen. Of course there are lots of castles still standing in Europe and many still being used and some for sale. Two groups of people are building castles using the old methods. No power tools or equipment, all by hand. One is in France, http://www.guedelon.fr/index.php?lg=en and the other in Arkansas. http://www.ozarkmedievalfortress.com/en-us/ I don't need to be that authentic! The stone work is cool but I'm thinking of using concrete faux stone from this company. http://www.redi-rock.com/. I'm not sure yet which would be cheaper, I guess that would depend on where I build. Much more research yet to do!

Class

We had a good sword class today. Dave talked about balance points and then I worked them into the sword work. Finished the class with knife sparring. Then we went to Victorville High School to watch a fencing tournament. We got there in time to watch the epee. I taken a fencing class in college but it was with the foil. The epee is a heavier sword and the targets are anywhere on the body, including the feet! After the epee was the saber. Very fast. All great for gaining experience with timing and distancing but lots have been lost to making it safe for a sport.

Happy New Year!

Yes, it's a new year with many new possibilities. As far as the sword club, I'm going to revamp the training to account for nobody making it consistently. Somehow I'm going to have to gear the training so I can progress without consistent training partners. I'm also doing a lot of study on the Crusades with the idea of writing a book. I've got a number of ideas that I've started on, just need to do the research.
I've ordered a number of books that hopefully will fill in the gaps of my medieval education. I'll try to share intersting tidbits along the way, as well as keep up with the martial aspects of the club. Hope you're new year is filled with new knowledge and great blessings!

Back again!

Wow i've been gone for a long time! Just finished another MS ride and a 3 day ride for the Police Unity Tour back in May. Practice has slowed down a bit because I'd been doing training rides but hopefully we'll get going again. The main problem is getting folks to come to class on a regular basis. I'm getting away from the padded swords. They're fun to spar with but just don't hold up to the abuse. I'm trying to keep the cost of things low so I can get more people to practice. I'd love to train with steel wasters but the cost of steel and the armor to go with it puts it out of most of my students price range. I think synthetic is the way to go for now. Our core group bought five nylon wasters from Dwarven Smithy http://web.emerytelcom.net/users/blhunt/longsword.htm and they are great for practice with a good weight and feel. A litle stout for working without heavier armor. I recently purchased two wasters from The Cult of Athena http://kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=600874 These are made in England and are very nice. Lighter then a steel sword with good flex and feel. These take much less armor to work with. More to follow!

Update on Training

Due to some hand injuries, I bought ten pairs of lacrosse gloves from ebay. ($80 gloves for about $15 apiece after taxes and shipping) Very well made, great padding with kevlar as well. We've also found that the pvc swords don't stand up to hard sparring. I've made a couple of wood wasters that we slide a piece of pool noodle onto. These take the abuse and we can still hit fairly hard, (with the gloves and head gear). Still not where we want to be but we're taking the cheap route for now.

Update on the Joust

Lot's of fun. Two teams with "Knights" from around the world. Jousting, poleaxe fighting, sword fighting, demos, etc.