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Hi! So totally random newbie, but I just started taking German longsword classes and I'm really liking it a lot. Trying to get back in shape(ish) and it's a fun way to unwind. I found a school that seems pretty chill and everything looks good on that front. Then I started looking into getting my own equipment and I'm just staggered by trying to internet research this. First I don't even know what I need, really. Obviously I have to get a sword to practice with at some point (which from googling means I should get a feder for sparring but there's also some kind of weighted much shorter thing for inside that might also be good since I live in a pretty small apartment???????? Also gently caress if I know which ones are good.) Then there's protective gear of some fluctuating amount required for different things (I can ask my teacher what's good for class, sure, but what if I ever want to mess around with anyone not at my school? Also the unknown quality thing again). I'm not really interested in tournament stuff (just to dodge the argument I read skimming the last few pages to come in with context), more interested in just like working on my technique and some sparring for fun and exercise. But considering all this stuff is super expensive, it'd be cool that if I later decided to do a tournament that I didn't have to rebuy everything. Help? I tried looking at measureandweigh.com, which was really cool and good but seems to be pitched more at somebody already established, plus it's very new. Then I checked a bunch of the links from HEMAA and then checked links at their sites and on and on until I got even more confused. Like, the school I go to would just sell me a sword or whatever, but if I'm paying 2-300$ for a thing, I want to put in some research to make sure I'm going to get one I like. Also, since this stuff is pretty expensive, I'd prefer to buy it a little bit at a time so I want to know what's most important to have to get started. I know this is very whiny and annoying but I really like this new hobby and I'm either an idiot (well, I am regardless, but you know) or this is very hard to just dive into. I have a big list of poo poo I read and my own thoughts, but I'm assuming those are mostly garbage so I'm not mentioning them so advice comes like a blank slate.
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Aug 13, 2018 04:21
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| # ¿ Apr 16, 2024 20:25 |
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I asked a similar question in a LAN thread because I remembered somebody posted there and it was Verisimilidude, so we're now PMing, but happy to read any other advice! Also, yeah, obviously I read your post. Still god drat terrified about having buyer's remorse with a feder I don't like. THERE'S SO MANY AND A LOT OF THE PAGES ARE IN POLISH. I DO NOT SPEAK POLISH.
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Aug 13, 2018 04:35
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Penn State again, really?
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Sep 13, 2018 15:42
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Is sexual misconduct in the water like god drat Hep A?
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Sep 13, 2018 16:12
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Protip : longsword to the thumb loving hurts. Still very happy with this hobby. Gonna buy some real hefty gloves for next time an idiot decides that their turn holding Longpoint in a practice drill is their opportunity to practice cutting hands. This post brought to you entirely by my left hand in what I presume to be a novel reason in the history of the internet.
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Sep 16, 2018 02:34
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Yeah I know. I’m just salty cause the club has loaner gloves that we weren’t wearing cause the exercise really didn’t need them and this was another student being dangerous for no reason. Like if I punched someone during a math test levels of unexpected and not needed. Like not even salty at anyone cause the club is good intentioned and the other student is obviously dumber than a box of hair. Just generally sour. Okay. Slightly salty at her.
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Sep 16, 2018 03:26
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How big are your hands? I have pretty large hands and would eventually be upgrading at some point.
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Sep 21, 2018 04:45
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I’m a shlubby office drone, and while I definitely feel it after a class, it’s a good workout that’s helping me get back in shape. I really, really need to quit smoking though. And workout more. Not to be trusted too much cause I’ve only been doing this a few months, but as an example of someone in a similar situation, plus a little time. Also they’re not kidding about how sore your forearms/hands are gonna be. I probably should’ve figured that out when I walked into the club and everyone had god drat Popeye-forearms. Verisimillidude wrote an awesome post about gear a few pages back that I recommend checking out too.
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Oct 4, 2018 22:05
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Anyone have experience with St James feders? I tried another club member’s today and it just really felt good in my hands (with the warning that I’m an idiot newb so what do I know). They seem to be entirely facebook based which seems weird but again what do I know?
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Oct 14, 2018 05:35
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Thank you. Yeah I’m continuing to have decision paralysis just because I’m dumb and new. So I don’t know what is me learning and me making a stupid judgement. Like just today I learned I liked waisted hilts, but I have no idea if that’s a good thing.
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Oct 14, 2018 06:11
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Verisimilidude posted:I'm currently in the process of making a beginner's longsword video series on YouTube. I'll be sure to link the videos here as they are released. Uhh yes please. Hell yeah. You need any help? I have audio-visual experience and am down as hell.
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Nov 13, 2018 03:56
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Feder chat : Okay I have probably spent way too much time doing online research and asking/annoying people at my club about what feder to buy first and I think I know but wanna run it by you all just to have an outside perspective. Please be harsh. Conclusion : I’m an idiot noob who hasn’t figured out anything (I’m just getting with comfortable with schielhau for gently caress’s sake) so I should just get a bog standard regyenyei, maybe modify the hilt next time I get access to a lathe and just admit that I’m not going to be 100% happy with my first feder and this is me experimenting so I can buy a perfect second feder. Also this is going way in advance, but is there a breakdown of the various tournaments? I might be vaguely interested long term and am curious. From a very cursory google, the only tournament here is something called Fecht Yeah! (great name), but it’s only open to women and LGBTQ minorities. Which is awesome and good but kind of useless to me except that I definitely want to go and cheer there, cause I am the straightest whitest most privileged being to ever live.
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Nov 13, 2018 05:48
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Yeah I like the Albion Meyer a lot, but also the Darkhorse armory Workhorse is really good and borrowing a clubmate’s St James, it just feels really right in my hands. But those are all waaaaay more expensive and I am but a PhD student making lovely numbers so going with something cheaper so I can train for a year and sock away the money and come up with a more informed opinion sounds good. Also thanks for the video links and the tournament breakdown! Would totally go to Long Island Point but I’m getting on a plane to Japan then so... No.
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Nov 14, 2018 07:03
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But the Black Horse feders are so sexy gently caress. Can we do a goon-fund to give me every feder? gently caress.
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Nov 18, 2018 06:06
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Dumb question for more experienced longsword people : Am I ever going to be free from minor hand injuries? Like, ever? I don't even mean from getting hit, I just mean from chafing the poo poo out of my palms, even with gloves. Like, first I got one layer of calluses, then it would hurt the neighboring parts of my hand until they had a callus and then etc. Should I just get used to the fact that I'm going to spend a decent amount of time with little bits of gauze on my hands held on by gobs of medical tape? (The injuries are absolutely tiny, but they all have been on joints of my hand that bend all the time so I put poo poo tons of tape on them so I can get through the day.) Is this my poor technique, my hands being weak* or is this just the default state for everyone? I say this having already noticed lots of little band aid's on everyone's hands at the club and having a good guess at the answer. *I worked construction for like 5 years! This hobby is really fun and I love it, but god drat it's almost as bad as using a chainsaw for a couple hours.
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Dec 5, 2018 05:11
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My left hand is all blisters. And I grew up chopping firewood and then doing construction. What the hell did I do wrong? Am just a wuss?
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Dec 5, 2018 08:35
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I have a pair of PurpleHeart Armoury gloves that are pretty well fitting (I think), but still need a lot of breaking in ; I've had them a few months and they still stain my hands blue sometimes if I'm sweating in a harder sparring session. They'e decently tight, requiring a bit of oomph to get on ; way tighter than any work glove I've ever used before. Lots of people at my club use something that looks kind of like golfing gloves (I don't know what they actually are. Super thin gloves ending at the wrist. They could be driving gloves for all I know). Like once a month just a chunk of my left palm rips off, usually no bigger than a dime, but it takes weeks to heal because I type a lot at work and it keeps getting reopened. Like, I tape it but the tape is entirely because it's my palm between my thumb and my index finger and that's a part that bends and unbends if you're doing basically anything with your hands. The tape is just to keep the itsy bit of gauze to stay on so it's not bumping into poo poo. Currently it's a chunk of the base of my thumb that was unhappy from doing too many zwerchaus last night and decided it'd preferred to not have skin. Which is basically nothing except then I go to touch my face any my beard gets in there and it's a very not happy space. From your perspective, it sounds like I'm gripping too hard and I'm going to talk to my teachers. Friday is the holiday party so it seems like a good time to bring it up. Thanks!
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Dec 6, 2018 07:08
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I have these : http://www.woodenswords.com/Gloves_Padded_Leather_Fencing_Gloves_Black_p/glove.p.htm They’re actually black but the dye comes off as blue because I have no idea. I’m colorblind. People have told me my hands are blue. They seem to fit really well. Like, you know, a glove. If this was a pair of gloves for anything else I’d say they fit perfectly. Like they’re the size of of my hands. You know, as gloves are supposed to be. But still so many blisters. I’ll show the gloves to people at my club tomorrow and ask their opinions and maybe they can workshop this in person.
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Dec 6, 2018 13:48
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Still and always an ignorant idiot, but I got to play with a Kvetun feder the other day and jesus christ. I want to just make a video of it with sexy saxophone music. Probably not the best feder, sure, but well made and the weight just feels nice in your hand. (Thanks senior student who randomly handed me his!) To my uninformed hands it certainly felt really good. I also like the schilt was big enough to actually protect my thumb but without being enormous.
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Dec 20, 2018 05:23
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What would honestly be the problem with learning to play the cello by yourself? Yeah, obviously, it’s gonna be harder than with instruction but yeah sure those are the crappy cards a dude got dealt. I mostly taught myself the mandolin and I’m pretty happy. It’s like mocking someone for doing Rosetta Stone instead of moving to Italy for immersion. Sure that’s a more effective method but not everyone can do that and you’re being lovely harping on that. Maybe we could spend more time being cool sword-friends and less time as judgey douchebags?
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Jan 3, 2019 06:08
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Sword Santa was very good to me and I got a super nice jacket and gloves and... Jesus gently caress these things are bulky to pack. Shockingly the padded jacket full of armored supports and the gauntlets made out of un-loving-who-knows-ium don't fit nicely in a duffle bag. I just barely got everything to fit into the largest duffle bag I own, one I specially bought to help me move into this apartment on foot. I don't want to talk about how I got it home. There was a serious debate about it being easier to wear the jacket on the train than pack it. But on the upside! I'm now finally almost kitted out! I'm a feder and some very small things (e.g. I should get a gorget) away from never having to borrow gear again! Yay! Now I can fully and totally have the poo poo kicked out of me (until I learn to kick poo poo back)! Frubgious day and hopefully minimal snicker snack!
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Jan 5, 2019 00:54
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Whelp. Guess I got more poo poo to buy. I've got a cup, a jacket, gloves that look like they're for handling radioactive materials, heavy leather gloves and a mask. What am I missing? A sword, obviously. A gorget, I want something to protect at least my messed up knee because I like walking*, probably a chest-protector, what am I missing? O and I need back of the neck/over the head covering for the mask. I quit smoking to afford this kit but just listing it is making me want to smoke. Jesus. *I've just been wearing my old brace but I just know it's a matter of time until something goes wrong and I've had my fair share of knee surgery, thank you.
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Jan 5, 2019 03:17
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Ain’t gotta tell me twice! I had to walk with a cane for a couple years. The red text is from not properly documenting my physical therapy as I tried to climb the three flights of stairs to my apartment. Knee injuries ssssuuuuck. If getting everyone to just never swing at my left leg was an option, I’d take it in an instant. Barring that I want the biggest gently caress off knee protection made by man. I’m not opposed to going into sparring with one leg in a loving M1 Abrams tank. If you got deets on good knee protection let me know.
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Jan 5, 2019 05:04
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I’m still just rocking generic exercise pants so I’m totally flexible. Gonna run your suggestion by some friends to sanity check it (since they know my sitch better) and then probably get one of those. I really love having two mostly working knees. I’m a real big fan.
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Jan 5, 2019 07:41
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Ataxerxes posted:I bought their arm and shoulder guards to fit into my SPES Officer Jacker so I can do longsword with it and at least the armguard pieces are fine, I took some rather solid hits without really feeling it. I could post a photo of my current longsword kit, arms and pants are Neyman, jacket is SPES, gloves Leon Paul, legs KneePro+hockey shinguards. Yes please. edit : my school apparently starts the new year by doing 1,000 cuts. I definitely didn’t come back from class and drink wine on the floor before taking a 45 minute shower. (It was actually a great work out and made me think about form in some cool ways after krumphau #250 ; I’m thinking that I should just do this once a month. But also ow) Xiahou Dun fucked around with this message at 01:26 on Jan 6, 2019 |
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Jan 6, 2019 01:21
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Protip : 1,000 cuts is a lot of cuts. Still planning on doing this regularly but ow. Do this but don’t plan doing anything the next day.
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Jan 7, 2019 06:08
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I’m really not getting the spinning. What?
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Jan 8, 2019 06:35
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It's taken me like 8 months but I finally have honest to gently caress sword calluses! Lots of people in my club wear gloves to prevent blisters but some last tiny coal of Catholicism made me deal with the pain and now I can just swing a wire-wrapped sword nbd forever bare-handed. Hells yeah! Also there's a separate HEMA thread? Where is that? Like give me a sub-forum and I can find it myself.
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Jan 27, 2019 01:53
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Don’t doxx me 
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Jan 27, 2019 03:58
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Uh never mind. Is it fallen off the forum or am I blind/an idiot?
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Jan 27, 2019 04:02
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O so it did just fall off the forums. Thanks!
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Jan 27, 2019 04:11
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Uh they have guns. Uh. Also they’re not matchlocks??? So I don’t get how it works and it’s inaccurate.
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Mar 23, 2019 05:29
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When in doubt, flechee. (I'm a longsword fencer and this is from when I did epee like a million years ago. It's not a good strategy against anyone who knows what they're doing, but will mess up a newb once.)
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Nov 12, 2019 15:50
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How'd that go with your son and that girl in his math class, by the way? I know that's kind of creepy to ask but it's also a really adorable story.
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Mar 21, 2020 04:06
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I naturally want to say that obviously she should get to choose who she sits next to in math class cause it's not 1600, but it's so low stakes and so cute I just can't help myself. Get that kid a half-cape and a giant floppy hat with a feather in it. Hell yeah. (Also good on you for respecting his privacy.)
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Mar 21, 2020 04:31
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And if she ain't want to, I'll be her champion. Keep in mind I'm 31, 200 pounds and do longsword, and my knee is really achey lately so we might have to do some weird Medieval hole in the ground judicial dueling thing to make it fair. (No I'm obviously not threatening to assault your child I'm just going with the joke.)
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Mar 21, 2020 04:40
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Is there like an Olympic-style fencing version of pell drills? It's been a solid 16 years since I did that but I remember my fencing teacher making like a target post-thing that slowly got turned into like an ersatz Wing-Chun dummy. Obviously not a replacement to real practice but beats thinking happy thoughts. But I also might be having a stroke. Idk.
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Mar 21, 2020 06:34
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ImplicitAssembler posted:So, while kendo (and all other martial arts) are shut down, fencing isn't....so I'm having a trial lesson on Wednesday. You know you have to do the joke at some point, right? Fencing left-handed when you're right-hand dominant requires the joke.
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Dec 29, 2020 06:18
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ImplicitAssembler posted:Is Absolute Fencing gear worth it? I mean, I'll get the 350N gear, but it still seems very cheap. I do HEMA, not like fencing-fencing, but I have their mask and gloves and they're really good. The mask is super breathable and with good visibility, and both can take a hit from a longsword like a champ. So I'm assuming that if they can protect me from a feder they're gonna be more than good enough for foil/sabre/epee. Except you obviously don't want those products in specific (definitely not the gloves) ; I'm just noting that the brand is good.
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Dec 29, 2020 23:03
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| # ¿ Apr 16, 2024 20:25 |
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That's totally fair and valid. I specifically don't like Olympic-style saber cause there's no mass to the blade, but at this point we might as well be talking about competing ice cream flavors or something since it's just personal preference. When I did Olympic I mostly stuck with foil and epee so which one you prefer is kind of up to you. Epee doesn't have right of way which cuts down on some silliness and has a stouter blade that I like, but since the rules are kind of metal laser tag it can lead to some absolutely ridiculous behavior in practice, e.g. thrusts with no power from a bizarre angle at a pinkie toe or some bullshit. Foil is in some ways trying to be "more realistic" with the right of way rule to prevent double kills, but it's also the one with the smallest target zone and the reediest sword out of a sport already made of glorified car antennas*. If your club is anything like the ones I went to, you could basically show vague interest in either and someone'll be happy to lend you a bit of kit and gently caress around for a while and maybe drink a beer later and let you ask questions. Possibly their loaner stuff might not be electric but if you're just messing around for technique and fun, who really cares? *Not trying to be lovely to Olympic fencers. I think it owns as a hobby and is a good work out. But we can admit that a foil is god drat tiny compared to even like a smallsword. Not throwing shade, just sword smol.
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Feb 2, 2021 08:35
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