Bear "Fun", "Jungle" Tools, Ideas and Special / Member Projects

There are at least a few of us here. But rattan is for practice swords. I prefer training with "Live Steel", and staff. (Polishes knuckles) something even a HEMA might understand.

 

If it's live steel, you just Think you are SCA! You use those those wee baby swords like your dueling squirrels on your profile?

HAHAHAHA!

 

Foil, longsword, bastard sword. Florentine. Sword and shield, staff, quarterstaff, and a few others.

 

Woah!.... @kellory now that is cool!

 

We use rattan because when it breaks, the fibers hold it together so a broken stick end doesn't come back at you. Think bamboo that is filled with long fibers. And because we go full speed full contact, rattan is "safer" than steel. We break about one stick a week each. I like rattan, but it has gotten so expensive.

You may not think too highly or rattan, but it is fast. And can deliver a world of hurt. One of my classmates would routinely break bricks out of the air with a rattan stick. I have never tried that because I figured it was a waste of bricks and I was too cheap to go buy bricks to break them. But I have broken other rattan stick in practice. So breaking an inch or so thick stick or a brick, I would hazard that a proper strike will break bone. One time while sparring, one of my classmates got a soft strike to the cheek and eye socket area. Man, he was down writhing on the ground for a long time. Lucky nothing broke. But he was done for the next week or so. And it was not a full contact strike that got him, just an accidental graze. A whack to the joint can take months to heal and is super painful during that process. Talking about a joint that did not get broken.

My Escrima teacher once told me that in the Philippines, when the tribes fought with knives and swords, if the enemy tribesman wasn't killed, he would often be back to fight another day after recovering from his wounds. But when fighting with sticks, they rarely fought the same guy twice. If he wasn't killed, but was injured, the injury would often be crippling. Imagine getting the bones in your hand broken. Not likely, you will wield a weapon effectively again. Don't know if it is a true story or not. But it made sense to me.

 

What is that?!?

Like you, @kellory, I train with live steel too. But I like my sticks too. Grew up playing with sticks and string. But also trained with live steel since I was a child.

My first Sifu would make his own weapons. He had a huge shed in his courtyard with all the long weapons and all the bladed weapons were in his house. He lives in a rough area. Once after standing down these three hooligans (they were teenagers to 20's) from the housing, my little cousin and I made our way back to his house. I knew they were following us and I already knew they were all mouth, even though they were bigger than us. My only "concern" was when we went into the alley leading to the house. But not really because it would act as a choke point that reduced their numbers to one at a time. So we went inside with our drinks. They originally tried to rip us off and failed. Then they started throwing rocks at the house.

A Mexican limo driver once told me he knew Mexican Judo and explained what it was to me. So we applied Mexican Judo on the three hooligans. Judon't know if I have a knife, Judon't know how many buddies I have with me... The three idiots didn't know all the bladed weapons were in the house. They didn't know most of the instructors were hanging out. They didn't know some of the instructors were bigger than them. They didn't know that those instructors would come boiling out of the house like bats out of hell. They didn't know they would all come out armed. I actually found it funny. I had never seen anyone ever run that fast before. Their expressions were priceless. Sifu was in his 70's at the time, so he sauntered out last. But he could have kicked all three of their young punk butts by himself.

Nothing like the surprise of a bunch adults with swords charging you when you expected two grade school kids with sodas...

 

More, kellory, more!

The styling is a little different than I am used to, but is that a "sugarloaf"? I was under the impression they are normally a bit bigger. How bad is the field of view?

 

I learned playing with live steel. No dojo or academy in these parts, even our SCA only has business meeting in the library once a month...
Back when me and my buddies could scrape up the coins to get something, it was either live steel, or protective equipment, and the latter is useless without the former. Learned a LOT that they don't teach you in a fancy school nearly getting my head cut off. Haha.

 

The field of view is quite good, because the helm was made by my hand to fit my head. The face plate is very close and the eye slots fit my vision requirements and no more. Most of my armor was stolen from my storage locker, but I have a few pieces still. Including practice swords, shield, helm and the chainmail is ongoing.

 

I know. I have a scar near my eye from a broadsword and no helmet.

 

I took a dirk to the knee once. There ended up being a clear division in our group. One of my buddies won almost every time using a grossemesser, and myself with a talwar and shield. Turned into a bloody stalemate, before our Goole-Fu improved enough to find these SCA guys...One look at what we were doing, and they wouldn't let us play with them, even using their kit. Funniest flipping thing. Haha.

Good days, and long gone now.

 

You guys are "animals"! LOL... take that from a "bear"

Quick clarification on my comment about using the head as a "breaker bar"... this is not intended in the mechanical sense where a heavy steel breaker bar is used to "break" free frozen items such as nuts and bolts...

It is intended for use as a breaker bar for breaking or preventing jaw or other grips by 4 legged other "animals" that may have "latched" on to or are threatening the carrier, a beloved pet, friend or loved one.

Hope that helps....

Have a great Wednesday all!

Take Care and God Bless,

Bear

 

Beautiful job @kellory ... what is it made of?... looks like brass or bronze from the patina....
Do you also use a ring roller for the chainmail?... That's a ton of tedious work...

 

probably just roughly handled iron...

 

Sheet steel, that has not seen any metal polish in a few years. Properly polished, she is silver bright. Every rivot is a cut down 16d nail, and peened. Rear lobster tail was cut down to be used for SCA heavy weapons fighting, but they wanted more alterations than I was willing to do. Armor standards for SCA are far more protective than period armor. They wanted an additional chainmail skirt to the helmet itself, which I refused. (It would interfere with use and function.)

Chainmail spinner can be used by hand, with a crank, but I use a cordless drill to spin up springs about 36" then hand clip, and weave.

 

I have a dragon weave chain hauberk some where... I also "play with the SCA, and at my advanced age tend more toward fencing in the round... I've been a kingdom Earl Marshal for thrown weapons. I have played with a few HEMA guys in the past it is interesting when the two styles meet... my current preferred weapon style is a schlager and boarding axe... my main armor for heavy weapons was a Wisby coat of plate...

 

Lol @Witch Doctor 01 I have no clue what you just said here or what @kellory and @AxesAreBetter are talking about.... but sounds like fun! What are the armorers called? or does everyone make their own gear like @kellory showed?
cool stuff!
Bear

 

People like me sell to those who can't make there own. But it is all based on a time period, location, and social standing of a persona. At least in theory, The safety laws often mock that, in my experience.

 

Oh, and they use pointy steel with handguards and an off hand weapon.

 

Being able to use two hands independently as well as synchronized is a big plus. As is being able to use your off hand.