Posted on 09/15/2009 5:23:51 AM PDT by JoeProBono
When I was a kid growing up in DeFuniak Springs, FL. the local library had a nice, very large collection of armor and weapons from Scotland.
The collection had been doanted by a resident whose last name was Bruce and who was once the U.S. Ambassador to Scotland. I suppose there no longer is one to the various countrieds making up the UK but apparently there once was.
When I was a kid I would study it with some fascination. One thing I thought was that those ancient Scots must have been super strong as the swords were huge. Of course I now realize they were intended for two handed use.
That's a healthy perspective. I've handled a lot of different edged implements in my day, but I recall my first experience with the Japanese tachi and being keenly aware of how incredibly dangerous it was. I have seen people accidentally cut by these and they didn't even feel it. Even in the hands of an amateur, they are quite fearsome -- in the hands of an experienced swordsman, deadly beyond belief.
I’ve practiced a little w/ sword work during my MA days. It’s much harder than firing a gun and probably why the samurai got all bent out of shape at the idea of peasant armies training w/ guns.
I have never trained with any edged weapons but their history and uses have always been of interest.
The interesting thing to me is so many different warrior cultures used a wide variety of weapons.
The Romans with their short swords, The Gauls with their tomahawk type axes, The Scots with the huge Claymores, the Samurai with their slightly curved swords, and perhaps the toughest of them all, the Spartans with their Dory or stabbing spear.
I think it goes to show that they all can be deadly if used by someone used to their weapon.
I think the Scottish Army which William Wallace used to defeat a far larger English army at Sterling Bridge were mostly using their farm implements with which they were extremely familiar.
Well, there is the screaming and stuff...
Ah yes, the Prussians and their duelling scars!
Not if used properly. $:-)
Don’t go to a surgeon if you don’t want an operation.
Thailand?
[Somebody had to.]
Man this story really cuts to the chase, and gets strait to the point.
“the student told the man he found in his garage to leave and the man accosted him. That’s when Guglielmi says the student defended himself, cutting off the man’s hand and causing a severe laceration to his upper body.”
It works, but it is extremely messy!
Maynard?
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