Toward Skallagrim's point of where actual used weapons might end up, a friend and his father found a broadsword blade, lacking the hilt, inside a cabin wall. The blade carried nicks on both edges. One edge had been hollowed by repeated resharpening. The hollow was centered near the point of percussion, and the majority of nicks were on the proximal half of the blade.
The coolest example of edge damage I've ever seen on a sword is a sword that's on display at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, that's reputed to have belonged to Sultan Mehmet II 'the Conqueror'. There's a much more famous sword that belonged to Mehmet which is a really ornate engraved Kilij, that seems to have been more of a status symbol than a battlefield weapon (unfortunately that's the one that always comes up if you google 'Mehmet II sword'). But it's displayed alongside a few of his other swords that couldn't be more different. There's an estoc-type one that clearly seems to have been designed to pierce mail, and a straight, broad-bladed one (I've got literally no idea what you'd call the type), that has really heavy edge damage, particularly in the bottom third of the blade, presumably from parrying. The contrast between the sword Mehmet used for state occasions and those he used for war (or at least for sparring) is astonishing.
I was a chef (meaning I have made MILLIONS of blade strokes under various real conditions), and I can absolutely verify that steel blades, regardless of whether they are made stiff for long-time resiliance or more pliable for daily re-workability, do in fact get plenty of edge damage and end up being resharpened or reshaped many time... and that's just from carrots and ham bones. If you actually use a blade for daily tasks, those complex-covalent metal/chemical bonds and semi-crystal material packets do give way in various ways, and any kind of mishaps or heavy work just make it more inevitable and more often. Any knife edge that is still pristine decades after it was made, is one that was never really used. Even enough strikes on and strokes along a "soft" cutting board will eventually take its tolls on the steel. All metal is in some ways similar to a liquid, and forged/tempered metals are in some ways also like a gemstone. Depending on the temperature, pressure, and contact surfaces, metal will flow, bend, splash, chip, splatter, warp, fatigue, and even shatter like glass. It is subject to both steady force and harmonic reverberations in various ways. Metal has a spirit, you might say, a breath and a blood, and it must be cared for like a living being to get the most out of its lifetime. This is the essential wisdom of the "cult of blades" since ancient times, which has continued to this day. To see the "liveliness" and vulnerability of steel at a grand scale, check out footage of [Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse "Gallopin' Gertie"] of 1940, which had reinforcement i-beam girders over 2 meters tall, plus hundreds of suspension cables. It was destroyed by a simple coincidental resonant wind frequency... hard steel undone by a breath of air.
This was a great crossover and really made my day! I hope so see more conversations like these soon. 9:29 This is a large reason why katana in the edo period became so impractical without much pushback. A samurai could go his entire life without having to draw and fight with his sword. Because of this, the swords became thinner and far more decorative and kept creeping closer to art pieces and farther away from practical weapons. The most well known example is the change in hamon. Dlatrex swords has a great video on what this change entails and uses period accounts. Essentially, the hamon became wider and more decorative in design meaning cracks and chips were able to reach deeper into the blade before hitting the soft portion. This has given the perception that they would very easily take nicks and damage Another example is the tsuba. Tsuba became smaller and much more decorative so much so that some collectors nowadays only collect them. They had very intricate designs (some styles had the majority of the mass removed) but were less practical. I may be wrong, but I think the panel-style of construction also become more popular at this time. Basically the samegawa would only be put on the sides that were visible and didn’t even cover the seems of the wooden handle which was their original purpose. Many videos can be made on this topic alone. I really hope to see more crossover videos between sword channels like these :)
Read Markus Sesko's article on destructive sword testing. There certainly was pushback sometimes. The tendency for weaker, more brittle blades was recognized in period, and might be part (just guessing) of the reason why large thick swords make a resurgence just before the boshin war with kinno-to.
@@atom8248 thank you for the recommendation. I haven’t read Sesko’s article yet, but I do know of some of those swordsmiths that recognized where swordsmithing had gone. Masahide in particular had things to say about the practice. I just know the pushback was not very widespread and came relatively late in time
Another great example of museum curator bias is Ewart Oakeshott's own collection. From studies of it, he definitely preferred very light weight examples of each type of blade he collected (too a degree). The large majority of his medieval arming and long swords fall within the lighter weight side of the statistics of medieval pieces. Was pretty neat to see compared to examples in many other museums.
Awesome discussion Matt and Skall! Great having both of you to chat about sword stuff together. Also, tangentially: Matt, I have been communicating with the curator at the Museum of London trying to find pictures of A1785, which is not published anywhere....And here you go dropping video of it right here! What a silly looking singled edged sword with a port and ball pommel! I appreciate very much that you included it in your B-Roll =)
Hah, what a funny coincidence! Before the museum closed for relocation I went and took lots and lots of video footage. Some of that will be finding its way into videos in the future.
Simplest plausible answer for the paucity of edge damage in archeological pieces: by analogy, why don't we find many old automobiles--of any make and model--that are significantly dented up? Because they were functional objects that, *in their time* , experienced damage that was either (1) fixable, in which case they were, or (2) unfixable--in which case they were junked or parted out. Edge damage to a certain level can be polished out. To the level where they exceed comfortable blade integrity, the sword was probably turned into other objects and reusable parts, like guards, grips, pommels, saved and put on other swords. The ideas of swords as collectible objects, and especially to be saved as objects of scientific study--especially to know whether/how much edge damage occurred? Mostly unknown and of no concern to those in period. Hence there is a serious sampling error, that will never be overcome.
As i said on Skall's video, this was a great colab, very nice to see you both having a nice chat! I enjoyed it a lot Matt! You guys should do this more often! In fact i havent said this on my comment on Skall, but the two of you + Sir Jason Kingsley should make a podcast i could listen to the 3 of you having a conversation about anything histircal/ archeological / medieval / hema related for hours!
Pretty sure there's a few videos in this channel in which Dr. Capwall discusses his own reasons for choosing museum pieces. They're a perfect complement to this one, and they are some of my favorite scholagladiatoria videos, too.
I sure would like you to discuss other topics! One topic both of you touched in the past that is "Are big two-handed swords really pike counters?" and I thought maybe you could bounce your findings out of each other, because it seems your opinions might be different
The museum I work in definitely has some on display that are well used. I do work in a History museum, so there is definitely some context that is being provided by the weapons (such as a sword from Merriweather Lewis)
These two videos have been fun! Two channels about historical arms & armor I respect teaming up? Blessed my timeline on my day off. Definitely hope you two get back together for more collabs down the line.
This is Chris from over at Sterling Armory. I was just watching part one and posted over there about hoping you guys might dive into survivors bias a little when it comes to museum pieces. Seems you guys did dive into here in part 2! I mentioned there I have been fortunate enough to travel to lots of museums in the US, UK, and a little in mainland Europe, and also been lucky enough to get behind the scenes in many of them to study various pieces of interest. I think it should be noted that what you see out on the display area of most, if not all, museums is there nicest most pristine examples of pieces from any given time in their possession. When you go to the rest of the collection behind the scenes, you do see a lot more damaged pieces. I've lots more edge damage, guard damage, bent pieces, broken pieces, etc when studying more pieces behind the scenes. Also, the more fragile pieces are also usually kept in the back, which is often the damaged ones. It would be great if someone could do a paper or study on this topic in general. I would love too if I had more time. It's certainly an eye opener for many who many not understand yet that swords are indeed tools that wear out over time and use.
i was in the "altes zeughaus solothurn" recently, and was thinking about that topic, not swords especially, but all the equipment. they have a nice collection of armors there, but nearly none shows signs of use in war or conflict. it's documented that a lot was sorted out somewhen, only the stuff in good condition was kept and much was sold to private persons
Nice two-parter! Very casual but also very informative. You two work well together and the new world curiosity + old world knowledge is a great combination. (No, this is not to say that either is lacking, just that living in the new world makes you more curious because you don't see swords in every collection or castles on every other hill)
I have used exactly one sword in a real-life context (wild boar hunting). Obviously the boar wasn't wearing metal armour, but this is the closest to real conflict any of my early medieval swords have seen. It shows zero edge damage.
The Polish Coronation sword that Matt is talking about in 7:30 ish. Is named Szczerbiec, from Polish "Szczerba" meaning gap, dent, chip. Lovely sword too, seen it twice in person :)
here in New Mexico museums, there are a few beat Spanish swords that were refitted, modified, reshaped/re-ground over time because they might have been used as a sword for some time by a civilian or Mexican soldier, but then another century with a farmer or shepherd as a tool
It was one of a number of benefits we saw, but the inspiration was the original 1864 practice sabres that I have a few of. I have an article about them here: www.antique-swords.co.uk/1864-pattern-practice-sword-or-gymnasium-sabre
Derby Museum and Art Gallery currently has a fantastic exhibition of arms and armour from the Derbyshire Yeomanry's collection of pickups and bring-backs. Refreshingly they have LOADS of interesting examples of battlefield damaged weaponry. They have a revolver with a hole in the barrel and a bayonet with a bullet-hole in the handle. Well worth a visit.
When around 13, I went into the basement of my gr aunt's house in Virginia and found on the work bench mixed amongst tools...3 swords. 2 were civil war and 1 from earlier. The best preserved had 3'' of the tip cut off and everything else perfect. The other sabre had incredible gashes deep in the guard and the sword edge. To my eyes...these were beauty marks...the tell tale signs of an honored veteran of battles. I left with all 3 and still have them today. More recently I learned about and handled authentic Katana. The sellers and collectors were all about pristine perfect examples and looked at me as odd for asking to look at flawed and damaged blades. I always wanted to see one with an arrow strike and shuddered at the thought of such history being polished out. Sometimes the polisher will work around interesting and historic battle damage so as to keep that intact. Since then I have taken some Iaido training but couldn't stomach the unrealistic absurdity of kendo. I then found my true love in HEMA Long sword sparring. Now I look at swords with a very different eye.
That was fantastic, thank you for doing that! Would love to see you two together again. Maybe something about HEMA as a sport, where you both see the sport going?
Independent of curation, there's a selection effect just in survival of a historical weapon; a damaged sword is more likely to be scrapped or discarded or reforged than a pristine one. This applies especially to swords passed down in collections, but also to a lesser degree even on swords and fragments which are discovered archaeologically. Swords and steel are not without value in the period and so one would not expect them to be commonly discarded, but instead repaired or recycled. And I don't think Matt's experience with Nineteenth Century sword damage is really very indicative of what sword damage of medieval swords would be like, since in that era a sword is much more likely to encounter other blades or metal armor than in the gunpowder era. In short, I don't think that surviving examples have very much to tell us about edge damage to medieval swords. I think that written sources and real-world testing of authentic recreations will probably tell us much more.
I think I suggested this to Tod already but I think it would be cool if you tested out a jagerstock (light double-ended spear) against multiple opponents the way Pascha suggests it can be done in his manual. Great collab by the way!
Please do more of these. You two work very well together, coming at the topic from different angles. Also, I can’t wait for you to do that collaboration with James Elmslie. All hail the Falchion Pope!
Hi guys, thank you so much for this. Have you got content on how to look after and maintain swords (sharps and HEMA blunts). Maybe how this was even different historically and how people look after their gear on the road?
Totally agree about the sword fights probably only lasting 30 seconds to maybe a couple of minutes. Also, it was absolutely common for men to have multiple swords. I mean, for example, i live in the 21st cen. and even i have a Viking age sword meant for battle and a Viking age sword meant to show prestige. I also have a Viking age axe meant for battle and a Viking age axe meant to show prestige.
My recollection of the Met (NYC) - the curators *seem* to be concerned more with weapons as art objects, and had a bias toward more ornamental weapons rather than items representative of the norm.
You know those "erosion displays" some places have, for example showing side by side how much water erodes stone over 10, 20, 30, 50 years? I think something like that done with swords could be an interesting project for museums. Choose a place and time period, forge a bunch of swords commonly made around then with historically accurate techniques and materials, keep (at least) one as example for "fresh out of the forge" to compare against, and use the rest simulating what the life of a sword could have looked like. Sparring/use in combat, repairs, weathering, etc, while taking out samples or taking pictures of them in set intervals, showing different kinds of damage caused by contact with different things, like other swords, shields, etc, how the profile changed over time due to repairs, and so on.
I would love to see another conversation between you both how the american and european reproduction market varies, or if its the same overall across budgets.
With regards to museum selection, something that I'm surprised was not discussed was the fact that, at least in the US, most of the museums that have historical European arms and armor are art museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. Needless to say, a museum with an emphasis on artistry rather than history is going to have different priorities. Perhaps this was not brought up because it's obvious, but I also wonder if this tendency to find arms and armor in art museums is less true in Europe, especially Britain.
Yeah, we waited WAY too long. We tried to make it happen a few times before, but we never pulled it together! Hopefully we won't wait another 10 years!
I've been in the back of field museum in Chicago and they have WAY more swords not on display than our in the viewing area. I'm told that there is limited space available and they prefer to focus on textiles and non weapons. I wasn't given a good reason for that attitude.
That was an interesting and fun conversation. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience, Matt!
Hey, it was awesome to chat. Let's do it again!
more of these guys, please!
Loved this
@@GabrongYes, it was VERY OINKY indeed!
= @ )
More teamup videos is always a fun time!
As a fan of both Skallagrim and Scholagladiatoria, this was a great teamup on an interesting subject. Let's see more crossovers!
Glad you enjoyed it!
forms the SS team or SSG
@@scholagladiatoria next time on Skallagladiatoria
same
+1
Here's another vote for continuing this.
I'd love to see more Skall and Matt together.
I love this duo so much.
We had a really good chat, I'm sure we'll do more.
@@scholagladiatoria So glad to hear it!
Toward Skallagrim's point of where actual used weapons might end up, a friend and his father found a broadsword blade, lacking the hilt, inside a cabin wall. The blade carried nicks on both edges. One edge had been hollowed by repeated resharpening. The hollow was centered near the point of percussion, and the majority of nicks were on the proximal half of the blade.
ok, wow.
The coolest example of edge damage I've ever seen on a sword is a sword that's on display at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, that's reputed to have belonged to Sultan Mehmet II 'the Conqueror'. There's a much more famous sword that belonged to Mehmet which is a really ornate engraved Kilij, that seems to have been more of a status symbol than a battlefield weapon (unfortunately that's the one that always comes up if you google 'Mehmet II sword'). But it's displayed alongside a few of his other swords that couldn't be more different. There's an estoc-type one that clearly seems to have been designed to pierce mail, and a straight, broad-bladed one (I've got literally no idea what you'd call the type), that has really heavy edge damage, particularly in the bottom third of the blade, presumably from parrying. The contrast between the sword Mehmet used for state occasions and those he used for war (or at least for sparring) is astonishing.
I was a chef (meaning I have made MILLIONS of blade strokes under various real conditions), and I can absolutely verify that steel blades, regardless of whether they are made stiff for long-time resiliance or more pliable for daily re-workability, do in fact get plenty of edge damage and end up being resharpened or reshaped many time... and that's just from carrots and ham bones. If you actually use a blade for daily tasks, those complex-covalent metal/chemical bonds and semi-crystal material packets do give way in various ways, and any kind of mishaps or heavy work just make it more inevitable and more often. Any knife edge that is still pristine decades after it was made, is one that was never really used. Even enough strikes on and strokes along a "soft" cutting board will eventually take its tolls on the steel.
All metal is in some ways similar to a liquid, and forged/tempered metals are in some ways also like a gemstone. Depending on the temperature, pressure, and contact surfaces, metal will flow, bend, splash, chip, splatter, warp, fatigue, and even shatter like glass. It is subject to both steady force and harmonic reverberations in various ways. Metal has a spirit, you might say, a breath and a blood, and it must be cared for like a living being to get the most out of its lifetime. This is the essential wisdom of the "cult of blades" since ancient times, which has continued to this day.
To see the "liveliness" and vulnerability of steel at a grand scale, check out footage of [Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse "Gallopin' Gertie"] of 1940, which had reinforcement i-beam girders over 2 meters tall, plus hundreds of suspension cables. It was destroyed by a simple coincidental resonant wind frequency... hard steel undone by a breath of air.
I love how you wrote it all, well-said. Not enough is said about the "life" of metal.
Hey algorithm: This is great stuff. Reward it!
This was a great crossover and really made my day! I hope so see more conversations like these soon.
9:29
This is a large reason why katana in the edo period became so impractical without much pushback. A samurai could go his entire life without having to draw and fight with his sword. Because of this, the swords became thinner and far more decorative and kept creeping closer to art pieces and farther away from practical weapons. The most well known example is the change in hamon. Dlatrex swords has a great video on what this change entails and uses period accounts. Essentially, the hamon became wider and more decorative in design meaning cracks and chips were able to reach deeper into the blade before hitting the soft portion. This has given the perception that they would very easily take nicks and damage
Another example is the tsuba. Tsuba became smaller and much more decorative so much so that some collectors nowadays only collect them. They had very intricate designs (some styles had the majority of the mass removed) but were less practical.
I may be wrong, but I think the panel-style of construction also become more popular at this time. Basically the samegawa would only be put on the sides that were visible and didn’t even cover the seems of the wooden handle which was their original purpose.
Many videos can be made on this topic alone. I really hope to see more crossover videos between sword channels like these :)
Read Markus Sesko's article on destructive sword testing. There certainly was pushback sometimes.
The tendency for weaker, more brittle blades was recognized in period, and might be part (just guessing) of the reason why large thick swords make a resurgence just before the boshin war with kinno-to.
@@atom8248 thank you for the recommendation. I haven’t read Sesko’s article yet, but I do know of some of those swordsmiths that recognized where swordsmithing had gone. Masahide in particular had things to say about the practice. I just know the pushback was not very widespread and came relatively late in time
Great video/talk. O m sure a lot of us have been waiting for this collaboration.
Another great example of museum curator bias is Ewart Oakeshott's own collection. From studies of it, he definitely preferred very light weight examples of each type of blade he collected (too a degree). The large majority of his medieval arming and long swords fall within the lighter weight side of the statistics of medieval pieces. Was pretty neat to see compared to examples in many other museums.
Oh! That´s interesting. i didn´t know of that.
Nice to see the two of you doing something together. I shall skip over to Part 1 now.
Oink!
= @ )
Enjoy!
Awesome discussion Matt and Skall! Great having both of you to chat about sword stuff together.
Also, tangentially: Matt, I have been communicating with the curator at the Museum of London trying to find pictures of A1785, which is not published anywhere....And here you go dropping video of it right here! What a silly looking singled edged sword with a port and ball pommel! I appreciate very much that you included it in your B-Roll =)
Hah, what a funny coincidence! Before the museum closed for relocation I went and took lots and lots of video footage. Some of that will be finding its way into videos in the future.
I would love to see more Skallagrim/Matt Easton crossover episodes too.
This collab should go on
This is a dream come true. Love both u guys
Makes me very happy to read that, thanks!
Just subbed over from Skall's fuller/channel.
Scholagladiatoria is on point.
Simplest plausible answer for the paucity of edge damage in archeological pieces: by analogy, why don't we find many old automobiles--of any make and model--that are significantly dented up?
Because they were functional objects that, *in their time* , experienced damage that was either (1) fixable, in which case they were, or (2) unfixable--in which case they were junked or parted out.
Edge damage to a certain level can be polished out. To the level where they exceed comfortable blade integrity, the sword was probably turned into other objects and reusable parts, like guards, grips, pommels, saved and put on other swords.
The ideas of swords as collectible objects, and especially to be saved as objects of scientific study--especially to know whether/how much edge damage occurred? Mostly unknown and of no concern to those in period.
Hence there is a serious sampling error, that will never be overcome.
This is the dream team collab; fascinating stuff. Would love to see more of you two together.
Great to see the two of you collaborate on a video and on such an interesting topic.
This is a great collaboration, glad to see you two together.
Love the Part 2. More please. :)
As i said on Skall's video, this was a great colab, very nice to see you both having a nice chat! I enjoyed it a lot Matt! You guys should do this more often! In fact i havent said this on my comment on Skall, but the two of you + Sir Jason Kingsley should make a podcast i could listen to the 3 of you having a conversation about anything histircal/ archeological / medieval / hema related for hours!
Pretty sure there's a few videos in this channel in which Dr. Capwall discusses his own reasons for choosing museum pieces. They're a perfect complement to this one, and they are some of my favorite scholagladiatoria videos, too.
Been waiting for a Collab like this for a while.
I sure would like you to discuss other topics! One topic both of you touched in the past that is "Are big two-handed swords really pike counters?" and I thought maybe you could bounce your findings out of each other, because it seems your opinions might be different
The museum I work in definitely has some on display that are well used. I do work in a History museum, so there is definitely some context that is being provided by the weapons (such as a sword from Merriweather Lewis)
Loved this
A collaboration between my two favorite historic weapons channels . Excellent
@scholagladiatoria. much appreciated. Merry Christmas!
Thank you both for the video ⚔️
Absolutely looking forward to future collabs! I've been a fan of you both for years, and it's great to see you matching thoughts.
Sweet! I'm glad you guys did this!
These two videos have been fun! Two channels about historical arms & armor I respect teaming up? Blessed my timeline on my day off. Definitely hope you two get back together for more collabs down the line.
Royal Armouries cinquedea?? That's going to be awesome
Obviously this will sound like bias, but I do think it's really awesome. The original and the replica.
A fascinating insight into museums and what they display. This was a fun watch; I'd love to see more collaborations between you two as well as Todd.
Great video!
Thanks!
Great to listen to you both. Facinating.
Nice cooperation on this video guys, it was really interesting watching.
When I walked through the British Museum I was intrigued to see the edge damage on some of the Bronze Age swords
Heck yeah!
Even more conversation with the two people reasonable for reigniting my love for historical arms and armor!
Awesome video!
Cheers!
I've been anxiously awaiting this! Super excited!
Two great channels with similar but slightly different content. Great collaboration.
Awesome collaboration and I would totally love to see more!
This is Chris from over at Sterling Armory. I was just watching part one and posted over there about hoping you guys might dive into survivors bias a little when it comes to museum pieces. Seems you guys did dive into here in part 2! I mentioned there I have been fortunate enough to travel to lots of museums in the US, UK, and a little in mainland Europe, and also been lucky enough to get behind the scenes in many of them to study various pieces of interest. I think it should be noted that what you see out on the display area of most, if not all, museums is there nicest most pristine examples of pieces from any given time in their possession. When you go to the rest of the collection behind the scenes, you do see a lot more damaged pieces. I've lots more edge damage, guard damage, bent pieces, broken pieces, etc when studying more pieces behind the scenes. Also, the more fragile pieces are also usually kept in the back, which is often the damaged ones. It would be great if someone could do a paper or study on this topic in general. I would love too if I had more time. It's certainly an eye opener for many who many not understand yet that swords are indeed tools that wear out over time and use.
Two great channels, lets go!
Both videos had real world analysis from experts in HEMA and archaeology. Very great and unique insights. Thank you.
Definitely you guys need to do this more!
Nice work guys! Can’t wait for the next one! 😎⚔️😎
Why did Dr. Capwell leave the Wallace Collection? I just found out he isn’t there anymore? Did he take a new position? I loved his videos and work!
Urk! Hope you find out.
i was in the "altes zeughaus solothurn" recently, and was thinking about that topic, not swords especially, but all the equipment. they have a nice collection of armors there, but nearly none shows signs of use in war or conflict. it's documented that a lot was sorted out somewhen, only the stuff in good condition was kept and much was sold to private persons
good video, really enjoyed it. i think a discussion on historical armour damage could be a good one between you two :)
Nice two-parter! Very casual but also very informative. You two work well together and the new world curiosity + old world knowledge is a great combination.
(No, this is not to say that either is lacking, just that living in the new world makes you more curious because you don't see swords in every collection or castles on every other hill)
I have used exactly one sword in a real-life context (wild boar hunting). Obviously the boar wasn't wearing metal armour, but this is the closest to real conflict any of my early medieval swords have seen. It shows zero edge damage.
Great encounter. Love to see more of that.
Enjoyed the collab, please do more with Skall!
The Polish Coronation sword that Matt is talking about in 7:30 ish. Is named Szczerbiec, from Polish "Szczerba" meaning gap, dent, chip. Lovely sword too, seen it twice in person :)
The two sword-tubers I can feel COMFORTABLE watching as a black man 💯👍🏿⚔️
If you know, you know.
The Landeszeughaus in Graz has some interesting blades with severe signs of usage
here in New Mexico museums, there are a few beat Spanish swords that were refitted, modified, reshaped/re-ground over time because they might have been used as a sword for some time by a civilian or Mexican soldier, but then another century with a farmer or shepherd as a tool
Love the collaboration! Skal needs to visit Europe
Good discussion. Thanks for including us.
Out of curiosity. Did you and Kvetun design the dumbell cross section of your Kvetun sabres as a method to minimize "edge" damage?
It was one of a number of benefits we saw, but the inspiration was the original 1864 practice sabres that I have a few of. I have an article about them here: www.antique-swords.co.uk/1864-pattern-practice-sword-or-gymnasium-sabre
Derby Museum and Art Gallery currently has a fantastic exhibition of arms and armour from the Derbyshire Yeomanry's collection of pickups and bring-backs. Refreshingly they have LOADS of interesting examples of battlefield damaged weaponry. They have a revolver with a hole in the barrel and a bayonet with a bullet-hole in the handle. Well worth a visit.
When around 13, I went into the basement of my gr aunt's house in Virginia and found on the work bench mixed amongst tools...3 swords. 2 were civil war and 1 from earlier. The best preserved had 3'' of the tip cut off and everything else perfect. The other sabre had incredible gashes deep in the guard and the sword edge. To my eyes...these were beauty marks...the tell tale signs of an honored veteran of battles. I left with all 3 and still have them today.
More recently I learned about and handled authentic Katana. The sellers and collectors were all about pristine perfect examples and looked at me as odd for asking to look at flawed and damaged blades. I always wanted to see one with an arrow strike and shuddered at the thought of such history being polished out. Sometimes the polisher will work around interesting and historic battle damage so as to keep that intact.
Since then I have taken some Iaido training but couldn't stomach the unrealistic absurdity of kendo. I then found my true love in HEMA Long sword sparring. Now I look at swords with a very different eye.
That was fantastic, thank you for doing that! Would love to see you two together again. Maybe something about HEMA as a sport, where you both see the sport going?
Independent of curation, there's a selection effect just in survival of a historical weapon; a damaged sword is more likely to be scrapped or discarded or reforged than a pristine one. This applies especially to swords passed down in collections, but also to a lesser degree even on swords and fragments which are discovered archaeologically. Swords and steel are not without value in the period and so one would not expect them to be commonly discarded, but instead repaired or recycled.
And I don't think Matt's experience with Nineteenth Century sword damage is really very indicative of what sword damage of medieval swords would be like, since in that era a sword is much more likely to encounter other blades or metal armor than in the gunpowder era.
In short, I don't think that surviving examples have very much to tell us about edge damage to medieval swords. I think that written sources and real-world testing of authentic recreations will probably tell us much more.
Would love to see more Mattagrim collabs. Cheers, mates!
I prefer to call them “Skallagladatoria”
@@IvanBarsch Oooh, that sounds fancy!
Great discussion!
I think I suggested this to Tod already but I think it would be cool if you tested out a jagerstock (light double-ended spear) against multiple opponents the way Pascha suggests it can be done in his manual.
Great collab by the way!
My two favourite UA-camrs together I'm living the dream for 20 minutes
Wholesome Konversation ❤
Two of my favourite youtubers ,do i want to see them working together more often??..Hell Ya!!!
Please do more of these. You two work very well together, coming at the topic from different angles.
Also, I can’t wait for you to do that collaboration with James Elmslie. All hail the Falchion Pope!
More of these conversations, please! Maybe as a semi-regular series even? (you coudl alternate episodes on the channels or such)
Yes, more of these videos, please! =)
Great to see you both in one video, lads.
Hi guys, thank you so much for this.
Have you got content on how to look after and maintain swords (sharps and HEMA blunts).
Maybe how this was even different historically and how people look after their gear on the road?
This was a great collab
Great subject. Thanks.
I could see you two doing a video discussing preferences in protective gear for sparring :)
Please make more videos together, you two are my favorite creators from this community.
Great to see you crazy kids collaborating.
My two favorite swordtubers together!
I am normaly not really interested in colabs, but this one was just perfect.
Great collaboration
Great videos!
I love reptiles and invertebrates,! I have to ask, what is in the terrarium behind you?
Good work gentlemen
Totally agree about the sword fights probably only lasting 30 seconds to maybe a couple of minutes. Also, it was absolutely common for men to have multiple swords. I mean, for example, i live in the 21st cen. and even i have a Viking age sword meant for battle and a Viking age sword meant to show prestige. I also have a Viking age axe meant for battle and a Viking age axe meant to show prestige.
My recollection of the Met (NYC) - the curators *seem* to be concerned more with weapons as art objects, and had a bias toward more ornamental weapons rather than items representative of the norm.
You know those "erosion displays" some places have, for example showing side by side how much water erodes stone over 10, 20, 30, 50 years?
I think something like that done with swords could be an interesting project for museums.
Choose a place and time period, forge a bunch of swords commonly made around then with historically accurate techniques and materials, keep (at least) one as example for "fresh out of the forge" to compare against, and use the rest simulating what the life of a sword could have looked like.
Sparring/use in combat, repairs, weathering, etc, while taking out samples or taking pictures of them in set intervals, showing different kinds of damage caused by contact with different things, like other swords, shields, etc, how the profile changed over time due to repairs, and so on.
The matchup of the century lets goooooooo
I would love to see another conversation between you both how the american and european reproduction market varies, or if its the same overall across budgets.
I really hope your working on a Type XVIIIc to go with that Cinquedea, they make such a beautiful pair.
Based podcast
With regards to museum selection, something that I'm surprised was not discussed was the fact that, at least in the US, most of the museums that have historical European arms and armor are art museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago. Needless to say, a museum with an emphasis on artistry rather than history is going to have different priorities. Perhaps this was not brought up because it's obvious, but I also wonder if this tendency to find arms and armor in art museums is less true in Europe, especially Britain.
After like 10 years, my two favorite sword channels finally collab lol
Yeah, we waited WAY too long. We tried to make it happen a few times before, but we never pulled it together! Hopefully we won't wait another 10 years!
I've been in the back of field museum in Chicago and they have WAY more swords not on display than our in the viewing area.
I'm told that there is limited space available and they prefer to focus on textiles and non weapons.
I wasn't given a good reason for that attitude.
It would be interesting how access to repair, building it in first place, environment, and materials effect design more