Db Sword Club

Since gun-geeks have their own club, I thought we could make a thread about swords as well.

The sword in my collection that I like best is a replica of Hadhafang, the sword used by Elendil's line in the Lord of the Rings movies (yes, I used to be a LotR fan once). The replica that I have would be quite useless in proper combat, but it has such a graceful shape that it wouldn't be shameful at all for it to remain solely as decoration.

The other replica that I have is of a gladius. It is not of the highest quality - it has a plastic hilt - but when you wield it you can easily imagine how suited it must have been for mechanical thrusting and slashing at the enemy from behind a scutum and in-between a rank of disciplined legionnaires. The gladius that I have has an eagle engraved on one side of the cross-guard and the wolf of Rome with the suckling Romolo and Remo on the other side.

I almost forgot about the three Japanese replicas that I have. They are a tanto, wakizashi and katana (I think they're called like this) of the same make - red sheath and hilt with a dragon engraved on the metal pommel. These turned out to be cheap replicas as well: the wakizashi's blade is wobbly and the string wrapped around the hilt of the other two is coming loose, so I don't even display two of them. However, I have held in my hands a true katana, and I can tell you that, even though I am no sword expert, that sword felt like the highest form of bladed weapons existing.

The last replica that I have is a small knife from Thailand. It's one of those tourist souvenirs, but its still nicely-decorated enough to hang on a wall.

I also have the two Force FX lightsabers of Darth Maul, but those aren't very interesting.

Hanged together with Hadhafang and the gladius I have my father's saber, that he used (or more probably just wore) during military service. It has a simple basket hilt and a gold tassel; the blade on the other hand is very nicely decorated, with the coat of arms of the Italian Republic in the middle. I think the edges of the blade were once meant to be sharp, but now only the point is so.

The last three in my collection could almost be called antiques. The first is a very heavy curved dagger, with bronze pommel and sheath. The pommel is in the shape of a lion's head, while the hilt itself is black with five gold stars set into it. On the sheath is carved a warrior wielding two curved scimitars and below it an antelope-like animal, all surrounded by flowers and vines. I think this one comes from Thailand, but it's most surely not a tourist souvenir.

The second is a straight single-edged dagger (still umbelievably sharp despite its age) with a leather sheath. The hilt is engraved wood wrapped half-way along its length by copper wire. The blade has three 'suns' engraved on it. I don't know where this one comes from exactly, only that it was brought by my granmother's brother from the East.

The third is a Malaysian kris, with wooden hilt and a metal sheath engraved very intricately with vines and leafs. I have always felt its serpentine blade (rusted but still sharp) to feel almost wicked. I imagine that the Malaysian pirates used these weapons as much to scare their victims as to rip open their flesh.

I've heard of a few other brethren that have swords, so it would be interesting to hear what you have (but please, don't describe your mother's kitchen knives, no matter how many times they have cruelly cut your fingers)

Mmm, between this and the gun thread, i'm going to need to get the camera out.

I come from a family of sword nuts.

Now, a caveat: I do not consider wall-hangers or decorative sword-like objects swords. I go in for the purity of the thing. Nothing I own that is a sword is made of stainless steel or any of that rubbish.

I have a 17th century reproduction Italian three-ring rapier from the guys at armor.com. Despite what most people may think about a rapier, this is quite adept at cutting stuff, quickly, and with finesse. Now, I've never taken fencing classically, so it's more of a piece for the collection rather than something I use with any regularity.

What I do practice is MSR Iaido and suemonogiri (practice cutting to test your skill) is hella fun.

I have a Katana/Wakizashi set from Cold Steel. I'm not generally a great big fan of Cold Steel, but these are nice. The Katana has bo-hi (what are called 'blood grooves errroneously here in the states) so it makes judging your cuts remarkably easy even without actually cutting. The bohi makes the stereotypical sword noise from movies when your angles are right. Otherwise, no sound, or weird noises. Kind of a cool deal.

I also have a custom daito, a nice long japanese sword. This one is my favorite, and will be passed down to my children when I die. I have it in some mounts from Bugei, and...well, let's just say i could have bought a car, instead of getting this sword.

Continuing down the collection, I have a 16th century katana, with papers from the NBTHK. This is a serious piece of metal. There's a little bit of damage from where it must have chipped armor or something, but there's enough history in this piece anyway.

On top of that, there's a reproduction of an 8th century viking sword, but done up quite nicely in damascene steel with the polished fuller showing off the grain. not terribly accurate in that regard, but still, very sharp and shiny.

And then there's the basket-hilt claymore. Every Scot has to have one, it's almost a requirement. This is a pretty straight-forward affair. Beefy, broad blade, steel basket hilt, and the fabric/leather inset bit. pretty nice.

I have more knives than I really care to admit, but since we're talking swords, i'll not get into those here.

Maybe the government should ban guns, then honorable sword fighting (meeting your opponent face to face) would go back into practice.

No, if the government banned guns you'd pull out your sword and get shot in the face by someone who doesn't care what the government says.

And Etah secures the win. You honestly think a nice piece of legislation is going to poof away hundreds of thousands of guns? And that we'll return to the Dark Ages because of it?

I doubt it.

I would obey the law and get rid of my guns right away!!!!!!

That's cool. I didn't figure I'd meet many other people interested in iaijutsu, Muz... I'm doing Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu, the sibling of MSR. So far, I only have a bokken pair (daito and wakizashi lengths; wooden practice swords), but I'll probably buy an iaito (unsharpened katana) for myself before the end of the year. We have a few sharpened swords between the older students at my dojo, which I'll get to use at some point. I'm looking forward to it.

Otherwise... eh, nope. I don't own any swords yet.

And the laws will just discourage people from using guns, if they even went that far. But, knowing how a two-party government functions, they'll never end up getting a full-out ban passed -- even if they did, it'd probably be overturned or so shot (pun) through with holes like military and police service rights... it wouldn't last.

If the world reverted to the dark ages, hypothetically, I would like to have a sword handy... and know how to use it.

I have a very small, not so impressive collection, but everyone's gotta start somewhere.

The first sword I ever bought is actually a stage sword replica - something you can actually use in the theatre. It's not much to look at - standard long blade (thick, though, to take impact), standard curved handguard, wrapped grip and pommel. The wrapping is sort of interesting, though, like they used a kind of copper wire to hold the cloth in place, and make grooves where you can grip.

I also have a cheap Excalibur replica, brass handguard with decorated carvings (same goes with the pommel), but a cheaply wrapped grip and a blade that wobbles in the hilt. Then there's a pair of standard sai I got from Chinatown in San Francisco, not much to say about them since they're not incredibly special.

One of the best swords I have, though, is a short sword I received for Christmas from my cousin (who used to be a sword nut like I am). It's a really sturdy short sword, and if I intended to cut something with it, I could. It's got a beautiful carved wooden grip, polished and curved brass handguard and a pretty interesting looking pommel. The one thing I'm not sure of, though, is its origin - it looks like it has a Eastern influence, but I've asked my cousin and he doesn't seem to know, either, 'cause he got it from his friend first.

The latest thing I bought was a dragon-headed sword cane. The head itself is pretty straight forward, steel head and blackened tongue and red eyes. The cane itself is easy to unscrew, but the blade is pretty light and thin and rather unimpressive. I'm sure there are plenty of sexual jokes one could make about the failure of expectations, but moving on. The last sword I have is actually one I got very recently, a Viking-style sword also from my cousin because he's been keeping his swords away in storage and doesn't really bother with them anymore. Again, the grip is wrapped pretty cheaply and needs repairing, and the handguard and pommel are in dire need of some cleaning, but again, very straightforward blade, and strong, too. That sword, along with the Excalibur replica and the short sword I got for Christmas, are the only ones that came with scabbards or sheaths - the first sword I got I keep mounted on a nice wooden plaque.

And that's it for me. Not as exciting as some of your guys' collection, but I'm just getting started. I've still got plenty on my list, like a katana and a Celtic war sword (which my customized lightsaber was based off of).

I have a katana that, for some reason, the maker decided to extend the hilt so it is far longer than the standard two-handsbreadths or so...I also have a tai-chi blade with a ridiculously beautiful red tassel on the hilt. I also own a replica of Auron from the Final Fantasy series' sword, and replicas of Jet Li's 'Hero' sword and Mugen's sword from the 'Samurai Champloo' anime.

My brother and I have decided to pool our collection and mine are added to his katana (obscenly sharp, that) and his replica of the sword from the 'Ultraviolet' flick. We've also got a beautiful set of butterfly swords in there and I'm currently looking for a good quality replica of the Hessian's sword from the 'Sleepy Hollow' movie.

I also have one of Darth Maul's FX sabers, and an Anakin FX that I've actually gutted and put in an 5W Blue LED soldered to the original sound board, so that I can display it on my desk; good conversation piece!

Was really exited to see that FX has released the Obi Wan episode I version and the Asajj Ventriss pieces.