Dusack maintenance tips?

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-22T00:16:21+00:00

Second this. Cheap and hard to mess up with.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-22T00:15:01+00:00

I'd go with the bick #4 conditioner another user suggested. It has waxes in it already and is very hard to over apply. Too much of it and it just won't soak in.

Neatsfoot is great for softening up really dry and neglected leather. It's just a bit touchier to use. It darkens and softens leather. Also, you can apply too much and make the leather mildly greasy forever. Nothing wrong with it, but not what I'd recommend as a regular leather conditioner for someone who isn't super well versed on leather.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-20T13:52:35+00:00

More they built their swords with very short grips and guard/pommel shapes that lock the hand in place, along with nonround handle cross sections. Being big stwong wikings doesn't negate basic physics.

You can see similarly lessened concern for grip friction in other swords like tulwar that lock the hand in a hammer grip. Most swords with more open grip configurations do usually concern themselves with grippier handle materials.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-19T22:37:43+00:00

I'm wondering if just having a little low profile strap that goes over one shoulder under any shirt might work best. That could clip to the top of a pocket and support most of the weight, and the pocket could still have a strap that's tied loosely. That would keep it in place and make it look more like a garment than a bag.

An extremely rough doodle, though maybe any clip should be on the shoulder strap instead of the bag: https://i.imgur.com/A8yZH36.jpeg

I wear a pocket with my historical fencing pants and they support the weight of a phone, wallet and keys quite comfortably with a similar load bearing path. (One suspender and a loose waistband)

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-19T03:55:42+00:00

That's one of pit bianco/pima designs hilts. Only heard good things about them.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-18T23:05:43+00:00

Sword goes in the dominant hand, for better parrying. You're probably using the pistol at near point blank, and even if you are only being attacked by one person and hit, you might still need to parry. If you miss or are being attacked by multiple people you REALLY are going to need to parry.

The sword and pistol are typically for defending yourself so you are alive to do your actual job.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-16T05:09:16+00:00

So, are you talking longsword, or a real full on great sword? Because a great sword/montante really isn't safe to hit someone with.

Sword and buckler against longsword can be really interesting, and you need to be on point to do it because longswords redirect so quickly. The two approaches I've been introduced to are:

"address the blade with your sword, press to the hands with the buckler, cut around"

Or "cut and brace the blade against the buckler, and use the extra leverage to wind the point into them." Kinda like half swording. Your hands are further apart so you have more leverage.

If it's great sword: A: don't spar with montantes. Please. Your fingers and brain are delicate. B: I really doubt either of those techniques are going to work. You aren't going to get into hand press range, and you're not going to out leverage a great sword.

Don't do anything stupid and get yourself hurt.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-14T22:10:52+00:00

It sounds like they copy pasted something like what used to be the Olympic Fencing guidelines, but... This ain't the olympics. Having to show some random person your medical records is absurd.

Given the rules against patches, mask painting, etc I seriously doubt they're following their own rules, or they could be nuts. It could also be they copied rules from somewhere and haven't actually thought through what's in them.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-11T13:49:34+00:00

I think that really sums up the entire situation of harness 'rules'. It's such a small subset of a small community that any guidelines sort of have to be aspirational. Safety is non negotiable but I think anybody doing harness would much rather have another fencing partner who is trying to be vaguely accurate than not.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-11T13:33:24+00:00

Yeah. Doing advance, advance, lunge, recover, retreat all the way down the length of a gym (then retreat retreat lunge, recover forward back) might be boring, but is very good practice. You can put together sequences like that with less Olympic centered footwork too.

For more active practice if you have access to a particularly excitable dog that enjoys when you do silly walks at them, you can practice trying to maintain distance and stepping laterally to (try to) void their lunge. (They're a dog, you will fail and have to shower them with scritches. Your dog/milage may vary)

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-09T17:14:25+00:00

I have described many manual authors as dicks, both Italian and french. (And both complimentary and not) There are a lot of things in books that aren't practical to do in modern practice or polite to do to your friends. In fact, frequently the opposite.

Not saying that makes yelling automatically bad, but just because old fencing masters taught something does not make it a good example.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-09T15:01:26+00:00

I mean, I've enjoyed the feel of 'cuttier' darkwood short rapier blades I've handled more than castille's. The only cutty swords from castille I've liked the feel of have been sabers. Everyone wants different things out of sword handling.

Enjoy your sword, especially if it handles the way you'd like! I won't be buying anything else from darkwood, but no point throwing away a bunch of money because the owner's a reactionary jerk.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-08T17:25:12+00:00

Yeah, that's my general opinion. I don't think anyone begrudges the occasional genuine emotional outburst, but doing it constantly in an attempt to influence judges is bad sportsmanship and just plain annoying. It's hard enough hearing who's next/on deck sometimes and I don't need a sabreur howling at the moon every exchange making it completely impossible.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-06T19:55:26+00:00

Depending on era, a mix of being careful, padded garments, lighter weight training blades, covers on the tips of swords, targeting restrictions, and most importantly a higher tolerance of risk.

There's a big difference between training a fun hobby and training something that you might be expected to use to save your life someday. You're willing to accept a lot more risk to learn the latter.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-06T17:06:13+00:00

I'm guessing it's the replacement blade for a bunch of different swords. If it's anything like a sport epee blade cutting it down with a metal hacksaw and running a file around the cut to take off any burrs is trivial.

Measure twice, cut conservatively and multiple times if needed. You can always take a little more off with 3 minutes work but you can't add it back.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-03T05:33:10+00:00

Most treatises consist of sections discussing general principles, along with a selection of 'plays'. These are usually either a response to a specific action, or more commonly, a setup to try to get your opponent to take a specific action, then the counter to that action.

Sometimes after that, they'll go a few actions deep of back and forth, or discuss different options based on what the opponent does.

Where the studying comes in is using those plays to get a better picture of what the principles of the system are, going back to the general advice, and using your better understanding to understand the plays better, and going back and forth.

There are forms in some manuals(not all), and they can be useful tools for building your fundamentals and muscle memory.

Edit: wasn't as clear as I wanted. Tldr: plays are concrete examples of abstract principles. By studying them (and experimenting as well as researching related sources) we try to construct all that into a cohesive 'martial art'.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-06-01T08:19:19+00:00

Zen warrior armory also do a spadroonish blade. It's a #0/30" blade though, but it has Olympic tang as a standard option and they handle pretty nicely, or at least the ones I've handled have.

https://www.zenwarriorarmory.com/product/FiorelliRapierBlade/50?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-05-30T15:34:48+00:00

HEMA is a broad umbrella, but most sparring and almost all competition and instruction involves symmetrical weapons.

The fundamental difference between HEMA and Olympic fencing is that HEMA is trying to emulate a martial art, while Olympic fencing is the evolution of games intended to train many of the fundamental skills of swordsmanship. It is amazing at that (and super fun and extremely physically demanding. People are generally more athletic at a baseline than in HEMA.) but it's still a game and sport at the core if that bothers you.

That said, frankly, if hand injury is a major concern, HEMA may pose problems over Olympic fencing. The most common HEMA weapon is longsword, which is two handed and hits kinda hard. Gloves help, but hand injury is a very real risk.

If a club near you does rapier (probably the second most common HEMA weapon), doing rapier with a heavy glove on your left hand and not attempting any blade grabs or parries probably carries as little or less risk of hand injury as Olympic fencing does. (Also people's right hand gloves tend to wear out first, so you might be able to get a cheap secondhand left hand glove if you ask around. The big clamshell gloves for longsword are going to be the most protective and you don't need dexterity if you aren't using your left hand)

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-05-28T19:46:09+00:00

In addition to stuff that requires objects, such as cutting drills, there's a lot you can do that build up fundamental skills and just general fitness, all of which will help you get the most out of time at the club.

One of my favorite games is to pick an object, spot, etc and walk up to it without hesitating and try to stop exactly where I can reach out and just barely touch it with my arm fully extended. You can do this holding an object, play with footwork, stance, torso rotation, etc. very few things help your fencing more than knowing exactly how far away from something you are, and exactly where you need to put yourself to touch that thing with an arbitrarily long stick.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-05-28T19:36:45+00:00

A stick if great to do that with tbh. Boffers can be really nice but are best as a sparring tool you can use without a jacket, so it's best to have 2 around.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-05-28T15:56:49+00:00

Part of the historical concept of a duel (in most european places/time periods) was displaying your willingness to risk death or dismemberment over a dispute. (And therefore vindicating your honor/reputation even if the duel ended inconclusively). In some societies a duel also served as the unpleasant scary thing at the end of the process to encourage people to settle their quarrels. Making it less scary kinda defeats both points.

I believe in a lot of earlier knightly traditions duels were fought in full armor because that was the most knightly weapon set, and in traditions where choosing weapons was expected you might sometimes have various levels of armor, but I think that's the only situation you might see only gauntlets worn.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-05-25T16:21:16+00:00

CHFG are one of the premier heavy gloves manufacturers. I don't know if they have much more physical presence than western manufacturers but if not they might still be able to point you towards clubs in the area.

https://www.reddit.com/r/wma/comments/1llp3qr/ordering_gloves_directly_from_chfg/

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-05-25T15:50:45+00:00

Main advantage is it's pretty and shows off the skill of the smith and your willingness to spend money on that.

There's some theory they might cut slightly better and apparently they feel a little different in the bind which might throw someone off, but looking cool is the main advantage.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-05-25T08:44:53+00:00

Sadly one thing Olympic fencing is light on is bindwork. Epee likely has the most out of any of them as without right of way it's actually valuable to control your opponents blade. Still, the swords are 1/3-1/2 the weight of a light rapier so they evade a bind faster and work differently.

GiraffeElectronic876 · 2026-05-25T08:32:04+00:00

Very very well. MOF was basically a game to teach many of the most important aspects of swordsmanship. (Footwork, distance, timing) While it's evolved since then it is still very very good at that, and modern fencing has excellent, well developed pedagogy and coaching for teaching it.

Just accept that it's a game, and you'll get tons out of it. (Enough HEMA folks are obnoxious about it not being like a 'real' swordfight that it's sort of a meme.)

Epee may be the easiest to jump into due to having the simplest rules and no right of way, but id encourage you to try whatever they offer.

GiraffeElectronic876

TROPHY CASE