In a push pull cut your arms do not really move the sword along the cutting trajectory in a meaningful amount. You just move your hands forwards to get more reach. The movement along the cutting trajectory comes from your hands manipulating the grip of the sword, generally pulling the pommel and/or pushing with the dominant hand. This causes the rotation for the cut to be somewhere around your hands. In a text book push pull cut it will be between your hands. With proper technique the rotation for the cutting arch is between your shoulders. This allows for a stronger structure, better follow through and more power generation. The more specific theory is explained in the video but basically the further the point of rotation is from the point of impact the harder you will hit.

Depends on the indoor trainer. The longer the blade and flatter it is the better, ie a spatulated instead of a thick one should produce better sword wind. I’ve personally just used a broken feder with roughly half the blade left to train indoors. As long as you can get an idea of what the difference is between your indoor trainer and a sharp sword/feder/blunt you should be good to go. Then just periodically confirm that you are getting proper result with the actual full length trainer.

@LIERHEMA thanks for the reply. I initially have just been using an aluminum pipe to train indoors, but I'm thinking investing in something with a proper edge would be beneficial

Anything with an edge profile will definitely help. Training with pipes etc can also be beneficial, especially in the beginning. It absolutely helps with things like power generation, using your hands correctly, and in general most of the body mechanical stuff you need to get right for effective cutting. Only thing you don’t get is edge alingment. It can also be a nice way to build cutting specific strength and endurance. Even for a more advanced peeps using a slightly heavier than your sword dowel/indian club/etc every now and then can help. I’m talking about 2kg dowel if your sword is 1.6-1.8kg. The science doesn’t really support training with overweight implements but personally it helped me with power generation and endurance.

They are generally 180*70-90cm. For reference I think the upright of the cutting stand I use in the videos is a 4"x4" so the rolled mats are roughly 8-10cm thick after soaking.

@@LIERHEMA Thank you. Do you have any idea perhaps of how wide the individual grass strands are?

Based on some months old dried up pieces I found in my sword case they seem to be 2mm or a bit under.

@@LIERHEMA Great. Thank you for the help.

Yup, I’m from Finland :D

The links are in the video description. Nine circles links still go directly to the tatami. Swords and more link leads to a removed item page but if you just search for "tatami omote hohe" in the store you'll find the correct tatami.

I would not call it schnappen in the way hanging parry oberhaw riposte is usually done. That is, with a larger motion to the opposite side. My interpretation of a schnappen is that you close the line while cutting around your opponent’s sword from a bind. To fulfill that requirement the hanging parry riposte should be done so that your hands and sword stay in close proximity to your opponent’s sword and you are able to close the line or even stay in contact with the sword. As such you could do a schnappen from a hanging parry but the common way of doing a hanging parry riposte is not a schnappen in my opinion.

I would not call it schnappen in the way hanging parry oberhaw riposte is usually done. That is, with a larger motion to the opposite side. My interpretation of a schnappen is that you close the line while cutting around your opponent’s sword from a bind. To fulfill that requirement the hanging parry riposte should be done so that your hands and sword stay in close proximity to your opponent’s sword and you are able to close the line or even stay in contact with the sword. As such you could do a schnappen from a hanging parry but the common way of doing a hanging parry riposte is not a schnappen in my opinion.

@charlesmartinez8125 Sadly I don’t own a Warwick nor do I know anyone who does.

@PedroPanetto I'm very much at the limits of the size for the gloves. Sadly at the opposite ends of the scale for different measurements. The width of my palm is 95mm which is the maximum width allowed for a fit. The total length of my hand (from wrist to tip of the middle finger) is around 192-193mm, the minimum allowed is 191. Naturally there is some play with the measurements. Because of this the fit is not perfect but good enough. The only noticeable issue I ran into was having to pull the glove on every few exchanges.

@@LIERHEMA Thank you very much for your reply! I bought a pair, let's see what happens. Greetings,

@Simon Stepsys That is a very difficult question to answer. The very tldr; answer is "It depends", but don't worry I'll give some opinions a bit later. Firstly what is considered "this length"? Should the measurements be exact or is there some leeway? Should the total length be the same or is the blade length important but the handle length not so much. Also the definition of "best handling" is very subjective and depends on the application. Are you ready to sacrifice some cutting performance for nimbleness or the other way around or should it have good balance of both. In that case what is "good balance" becomes the issues. Should it be good for thrusting or is that of no concern? Here are some some swords from the top of my head. I also have videos on all of these on the channel. And please do note that my experience with swords is very heavily Albion centric so there is a wide array of swords I have not handled. Albion Alexandria is a bit shorter in general. It handles very well but is definitely rather cutting centric, meaning it has more presence in the blade thus losing some nimbleness in transitions and such. Albion Brescia Spadona is a bit longer in general but the blade is a bit shorter. It is more of an all arounder and handles very well. Much more nimble than Alexandria. The Kvetun Longsword Prototype with a short handle and long blade is a bit longer in general, evenly from hilt and blade (this is the one I really like in the preview video). It is very nimble and cuts extremely well but the blade is less rigid so it loses to previous swords in thrusting capacity. It is also not yet available For cutting performance from those three I would pick Alexandria or Kvetun depending on your preferences. I personally like the Kvetun one better as it handles better in my opinion and has a bit longer blade. I know people who would rather have the Alexandria. Brescia is definitely the best when it comes to thrusting. If you want a sword more capable in the thrust or in general an all arounder go with that. Again some people would pick it for cutting over the previous two. I personally like both Brescia and Kvetun more for cutting purposes than the Alexandria. Though if I need to cut very thick targets etc I would pick Alexandria as it is simply better for that in my opinion. As said, it depends. If you can try swords out you can find what kind of handling you like and then start from there. Try to specify what the application for the sword will be and/or what kind of handling characteristics you like. Do you want the blade to feel light or have a lot of presence. Do you want it to feel light and nimble in the hand, especially during transitions, or do you want it to feel like it wants to just cut anything on its way. Do you want a sword which is excellent when winding and binding and thrusting and so on. And as said, there are so many good swords on the market that my experience is very limited.

@@LIERHEMA thank you for your helpful and very detailed reply! I really appreciate it, ok so I’m thinking I want a good well balanced and comfortable sword 🗡️ good for waving 👋 around and practicing the art, if that makes sense? I also want high quality, sharp blade for cutting etc, so comfort, balance and cutting in that order… I have a sword 🗡️ (Marshall sword) my first sword low price just £140 it’s quite heavy but good to look at and to wield but it’s handle is quite small and tiring after short use, also because of short handle it catches the side of your hand and cuts into your hand side! Now my next sword 🗡️ I want to be sure of top grade high quality, desirable and I don’t mind paying the money for it… in other words I want quality over quantity. I did like your bastard sword video and I still might buy this as well as a top grade sword as I do like the look of the bastard! Haha 😆

@Simon Stepsys In that case I would not pick Alexandria. It is not that good for practice as it has a very quiet sword wind. The handle is also short and I find it uncomfortable, especially in a thumb grip. In prolonged use with the Alexandria I run in to the sore side of the off hand issue you described. Brescia Spadona is pretty good for this but the pommel can be a bit of an issue. I've scratched my forearms with it quite a few times. For training the sword wind is nice but not great. The Kvetun, when it becomes available, is the most comfortable in hand from these. It also has a pretty nice sword wind. The weakness as mentioned is that in thrusting and cutting it is very heavily leaning to cutting. Albion Earl is also a very nice sword for general practice. It handles nicely, a bit more on the strong blade presence side. It also happens to have a pommel which tends to be a bit prickly. I've also cut my forearms with that multiple times. Between Brescia and Earl I prefer Brescia in general but Earl is better for practice. It has louder and easier to read sword wind and it is not as good of a cutter as Brescia is. From training perspective Brescia is so good that it tends to hide your mistakes. Earl is really good for cutting practice as it isn't too hard to cut with but it also doesn't give you too much slack. Brescia is also double the price of Earl and you don't get double the value from purely functional point of view. I didn't mind paying the museum line premium because I really like the original but from purely usability and quality stand point it makes no sense. If you really want, and I wouldn't, you can file the points of the Brescia's pommel in just a mil or two and gone are the pricking issues. If you would do that to an over $2k sword is another thing. As said those are the swords I have personal experience with and I think would suit your needs. If nothing Brescia and Earl should be useful for comparisons sake. Other people who know those swords might now something similar which possibly fits your needs better. And might even be more readily available. Albion swords are great but the queue is quite long.

@@LIERHEMA thank you 🙏 how long the wait for a Albion sword? I like the earl I watched your video and looks super cool 👌 the earl looks good value compared to the double price of the Brescia?

@@LIERHEMA which makes the best wind noise? You can’t beat a good LOUD sword wind noise!

Albions tend to hold their value rather well. Especially as the order queue is rather long you could possibly get your money back on an albion which is in good condition. I wouldn’t really concider any sword an investment. Rather unlikely to get more than you paid for, especially concidering inflation etc. I’d be surprised if any sword, outside some completely random cases, would beat a basic index fund. Naturally you can make a profit in some rare cases when it comes to out of production models or such.

@@LIERHEMA Thank you for your reply. I hold a common interest as you in long swords and appreciate your content. I think I'll stick with Albion. I'll look into Mateusz Sulowski also.

I don’t know. However I’ve never heard of factory customized Albions (outside of grip color) so my guess would be no. Send them an email and they’ll tell if it is possible.

They will not. I directly asked, and was told they are under contract not to change Peter Johnson's designs. Just a theory, but Johnson has a prestigious name to uphold, and if they change his designed and that sword becomes inferior for any reason of weight or harmonics, I imagine it could look bad on Johnson's design careen.

Yup, all was done with that one. I didn't have the mats to cut with all of them so I just went with the best one and had some fun :D

:D But honestly knowing your feders/blunts I wasn't surprised that the swords were good. I was surprised how ridiculously good cutter the short gripped one was though.

If my memory serves my first cut with any of the three swords was with that specific one and my reaction was a mix of disbelief and giggling like a child. You guys might have it on camera :D

@Jason Ashley Both are great swords. I have cut with the Agincourt a bunch and even though it is far from a great cutting sword it is still surprisingly good. I have only briefly handled Crecy and it feels really nice but I haven't cut with one. From what I've heard from people it is a good cutting sword. In the end it is up to what you want from the sword. If you want the better cutter get the Crecy. If not you can't go wrong regardless of which one you pick.

@Alessandro Inguscio Thank you! I use Danzig, Ringeck and Döbringer. I also have a basic course style fencing lesson on Krump here kzbin.info/www/bejne/pITVXpR3mbqbitE If I want to attack with the Krump I use the extended point version seen here as it has better reach and is stronger from body mechanics viewpoint. This allows you to make a rather powerful cut. For a parry riposte situation in which the Krump is used as the parry I tend to use a more windshield wiper style movement. This is simply as it covers more are in front of me thus making the parry easier. I also tend to riposte from that by bringing the point back and then around and having the point pointing more to the side to begin with makes that easier.

Yup, working fine. Had to ship them for fixing and they have been working great since then. Haven’t had enough hours in for a review yet as I took the summer off from fencing but looking good so far.

@TheNadOby Thank you! For the parry height. You want to catch the attack on the strong of your sword (the half of the blade closer to the cross). This is simply basic mechanics. If you parry with the weak you have to fight a larger lever, thus making it more difficult to stop the attack. Thus if your opponent cuts to your head you want to have your hands high and if they cut at your waist you want to have your hands low. When it comes to rotating your torso you want to have your center (middle of your chest) pointing towards the attack for the strongest parry. You also want to have your arms extended to almost straight and have your hands centered (in front of your chest). This gives you the strongest possible parry. This is naturally not always necessary and parrying closer to your body definitely has its advantages.

@@LIERHEMA Thanks, your analysis is in accord with what I was thinking about this. Will have something to discuss at training.

@ebflagg Thank you and a good question. Let's try to break this down and see if there is something we can do. First the step back and cut to the hands case. For this there are two things which are important. Distance and intent. If your opponent is in Alber they have only one option when it comes to attacking. They need to bring their hands and the sword up. Let's only concentrate on the case in which this is done roughly in front of them. If they decide to bring the sword up at their side or behind them there is no threat to us and we can ignore the sword. In the case where the sword is brought up roughly between you and your opponent you want to get your sword down and block your opponents sword and arms. If they can't bring the sword up it will reduce the things they can do. I would see this as cutting a Schielhaw rather low so that you have your point pointing at their lower stomach/pelvis area. I would recommend lower stomach in training as it is safer. This will keep you opponent's hands and sword low enough that their targets are limited to your hands and thrusting very low, basically yor thighs. If you can get your sword this low it is very difficult for your opponent to land any meaningful cut to your hands. Especially if you have the point of your sword thrust to their lower stomach. The point tends to stay there and prevent your opponent from rising their arms (especially true with a sharp sword). When you cut a Schielhaw you want to have the sword more or less in line with your non-dominant shoulder and step to your dominant side. The end result would be you controlling the center line and leaving only your hands as a target. You want to make this cut with proper intent. No hesitation and use a strong cut. Generally this will cause the opponent to go for a parry instead of trying to trade. Just having intent won't work if your opponent thinks they can safely get out of distance and hit your hands. From this we get to distance. If your opponent is in Alber and you are in Vom Tag prepared to cut a Schielhaw you can get very close. If your opponent decides to start attacking when you are closing in you can just immediately cut the Schielhaw at their wrists and then continue with a thrust by stepping forwards. I have found this to be rather effective in practice. When you get close enough so that you think that your opponent can't backstep out of distance go for the Schielhaw with proper intention. Remember that generally it is slower to step backwards than it is forwards and you can generally also step much further forwards. If at this point you opponent decides to be suicidal and trade anyways there is not much you can do but hope. In my experience Schielhaw makes it less likely to get hit to the hands than if I'd use an Oberhaw but I have not found a sure-fire way to not get hit if your opponent ignores protecting themselves. In my opinion you need to have the cross pointing more or less down anyways for the cut to be effective and trying to re-orient it some other direction doesn't really help. From this we get to knowing that your opponent will try to cut at your hands regardless of whether they get hit or not. If you know this is the case feint with the Schielhaw and when your opponent goes for the hands cut turn the attack to a parry and then riposte. If you have the reflexes for it this will also work in case you notice the cut coming after already starting your Schielhaw with the intention of landing the attack. This has the negative that if you fail the parry you get hit and your opponent doesn't but that is the game you need to play with suicidal opponents. Feint to trigger the attack, parry it and riposte. If your opponent stands in Alber so that their point is more to your dominant side you are pretty much out of luck with the Schielhaw. In this case your opponent's sword would end up on the inside in any case so I would not suggest using the Schielhaw. You can do a Schielhaw like Krumphaw but I would rather use a thrust which closes the line. Note: I have very little experience of using Schielhaw against Streichen (or getting Streichen used against me in general). When it comes to Streichen if it is done from your dominant side (your opponent's non-dominant side in case you are both same handed) both Oberhaw and Schielhaw work equally badly. When it comes to Streichen from your non-dominant side they work differently and I wouldn't call one better than the other. Schielhaw has a bit higher chance of getting cut to the hands if the Streichen is more horizontal and low. If the Streichen is high or more vertical there is a good chance that it will miss the sword as Schielhaw goes rather directly very low. Then it is up to distance if you get hit or not. Oberhaw tends to get caught up in the Streichen pretty consistently and it is up to the structure of the cuts for what happens.

@MortenStampe Tldr; It has its pros and cons but it definitely has uses. Now the longer answer. In this context I will take "thumbing the blade" to mean the following. Your forearms are on the side of a flat of the grip instead of on the side of an edge. You might have your thumb on the flat of the blade or not. A common example would be being in an upper hengen with the flats pointing up and down and having your arms under the sword with your thumb on the blade. A second common example would be standing in a non-dominant side Pflugh so that the long edge is pointing up and your forearms are on the inside side of the blade. To get the non-dominant side Pflugh with the long edge up case out of the way this is simply how I interpret the Danzig description of non-dominant side Pflugh. As such I would say that thumbing the blade in a hengen is manuscript correct. I would say that it is also correct to deem the end position of a Zwerchhaw to be a hengen while thumbing the blade. Then to the general pros and cons. In my experience I tend to get hit to the hands more if I thumb the blade. I also find it more difficult to make a strong parry in a hengen when holding the sword like this. In the non-dominant side Pflugh case I find it much more easy to wind from lower to upper hengen on that side if I am thumbing the blade. I also personally think that this is why the Pflugh is described this way in Danzig. Same goes for side to side winding in the upper hengen if I am thumbing the blade. As a feder specific thing a thrust which is done with the flats pointing up and down is more likely to make the blade bend. This is as there is usually force directed upwards (and less often downwards) just because how arms tend to move in a thrust. This tends to make the thrust feel less nasty on the receiving end as some of the energy is absorbed by the bending blade. Then as a difference which is not really a pro or a con is that thumbing the blade makes some techniques easier and some more difficult. For example if I'm in the dominant side upper hengen and I'm thumbing the blade making a Schielhaw is easier but cutting a dominant side Unterhaw is more difficult. The same goes for thrusts in opposition, some of them are easier one way some the other. So as a conclusion I find it very useful in some situations and I think you should know how to do it. You should also know what are the trade offs and based on that when to use it and when not. Based on the fact that fencers prefer different ways of doing this and can argue both ways I would say that this is to rather large extend personal preference. Try out both ways and see what works and when.

@@LIERHEMA Thank you for your excellent answer. I have been thumbing mostly but will try the variations you show. I think you are correct and have noticed I automatically do not thumb when a strong parry is needed. I will go and think about it 👍.