Well after the wholesale destruction of the wooden wasters. Mr. Blood and I decided that the only remaining option was a nylon wasters. So we dug deep and spent £85 per unit and bought two of the sparring longsword wasters from the knight shop. Well first impression were not bad. The weight and balance of the weapon wasn't too bad. The construction of the product was excellent. The hilts are particularly nice with high quality aluminium fittings. The grip was nice and long though alittle broad. The "blades" did look like giant lemonade ice lollies and with a couple of L.E.D.s would look very lightsabre. Now things go bad. When using them the blades bend alarmingly. Forcing the users to go to re-enactment style edge to edge fighting. Binding with the wasters is almost impossible. There is simply no feeling from the weapon. Winding is out because the blade bends so much. Cutting with the waster is ok though more like cutting with a bokken than with a longsword. On the plus side the cross-piece construction allows for safe practicing for wrestling at the sword and throws. Overall, not great but seem very durable and hopefully will last longer than the wooden wasters. On the plus side there is a mk2 version being designed at the moment to solve some of these issues. I have to admit there is alot of work needed before I would approve the weapons for general practice but for a stop gap for outside training they will have to do. Good luck with version 2 knight shop. The Bear.
We've got a couple of nylon wasters at the AES. We've got some by the now defunct With Intent Wasters, which are quite nice. They're a little bendy at the tips, but otherwise not bad. Pretty decent for sparring, actually. The balance on the arming sword is amazing. The others we have are by Brian Hunt which are quite rigid. We have his grossemesser wasters, and a member is getting a longsword waster, so we'll be able to test that out soon. Overall, you might want to consider Brian's, as I think they will be closer to what you're looking for. Best regards, -Mark
I would like to agree with the Bear on the nylons. When I tried out fighting with nylons in freeplay they were dreadful, especially if you are only used to steel. They bend all over the place and the point whips about and is totally unrealistic compared to steel and I don't think it wouldn't be a helpful tool preparing someone for freeplay with steel because they behave so differently. Regards Teddy Bear
We only train with steel (and for that price bracket we point students at the Paul Chens) but we did buy a few for workshops where joe-public might turn up. One thing that did become apparent was that these are better than wood and are good for harness fighting as they cannot go into the eye-slit. So, at the moment, we're planning to use them for that area (against authentic helmets or escrima masks). Cheers, Mark
Hey Mark, I agree. We're only using them for specific purposes like training in parks where the police would take a dim view of steel and freeplay for under 18s. The Bear.
That's a good point - we used to have an outside session and once swapped from wood to ali wasters - 2 police cars later we swapped back to wood.
Yeah well try it in the Knife crime capital of western world and you're likely to get a visit from armed response. The Bear.
We don't do too bad in sunny Dagenham. Ironic one of the guy doing a perfect "Fiore style" dagger cover from a high attack. Problem was that it doesn't work against a machete and he survived minus a hand.
Ouch. Myself and Mr. Blood did about 30 mins freeplay with the nylon. Damn those things are nasty. We had to stop because Mr. Blood's injuries were too bad too continue. They leave horrible looking though superficial injuries to the body but his hands we torn up so bad it ended the session. The wooden waster injures were bady but not to this extent. Oh well I guess we better hope the ladies like battered and bruised men. The Bear.
Welcome Back Mr. Hamster, It was good catching up with you on Sunday. It was welcome news to hear there is a chance you could return to Longsword at some point in the future. The boys are all crossing our fingers for you. The Bear.
ta walked in the door after having been missing for months and started coaching in about 3 seconds - its a disease I tell you! having a crisis of faith right now - cant see how the rehab I'm doing is going to help. I know its early days but 6 months of pain has kinda worn me down.
Yeah I noticed it and it brought a smile to my face. Once a Duellist always a Duellist. Well keep a positive mindset and see what happens. Atleast you know there is always a seat kept for you and a warm welcome. The Bear.
Bear, Interesting (and, to be honest, unexpected) - do you use any form of hand protection? Cheers, Mark
Hi Mark, Yes we use reinforced leather gloves. Which are effectively police riot gloves. Another session today. We managed 40 minutes of fighting and although injuries nothing too bad to stop us fighting. The Bear.
