NK - Falchions and rattan

Bethor2000@aol.com Bethor2000 at aol.com
Wed Oct 4 00:46:17 PDT 2000


In a message dated 10/3/00 4:22:29 PM Central Daylight Time, 
toadams at hotmail.com writes:
>I was kinda thinking, that it would be tougher, to keep the edge control.<

And Alton replies:
Yep, that's why we mark the edges w/ colored tape.  It helps you and your 
opponents to gauge shots and to keep from striking flat.  As you get more 
experience you can actually "feel" a flat shot.  Its really more like english 
on a billiard ball shot, the way the rattan can skip off of helmets.
 
Timothy continued on the same line of reasoning:
 {snip} >Between a handguard and the rattan, swords are not cheap to make.<
 
Most 9 foot sticks of rattan will run you in the 20 buck range.  Handguards, 
or basket(hilts) will cost somewhere between the $10 and $25 range depending 
on quality, size and materials used.  I would recommend that you pick up at 
least one 9 foot stick of rattan and a basket hilt at the next event and 
start experimenting with sword lengths, etc. 

Timothy then asked:
>Alton how do you decide what you like in a stick?  Weight, length, ??<
 
These days we have the delicious 7 1/2 foot unpadded glaives, so now I look 
for a nice "mid" weight stick.  Rattan that is really skinny (riding the 1 
1/4 inch rule) and dry can be a really fast weapon, but playing the glaive 
game (for me anyway), involves something I can generate some oomph with.  
However, the really heavy rattan, like the plus 2 inch stuff, is just too 
heavy for me, cause I need something that's going to be used for a few hours 
at wars and melees so I don't want to lug some log around with me. So I try 
and find something that is fairly straight, and has a nice "mid" weight and 
comfortable thickness to it.  
My best advice I can honestly give you, is try out everyone's weapons at 
fighter practice.  That's the easiest, and cheapest way to determine what you 
like before you go out and buy rattan, etc.  If you are at the same event 
with any of the Northkeep fighters, most of us spend an inordinate amount 
brain capacity on checking out rattan stocks that merchants have there, and 
most of us are more than happy to give our opinions on which sticks of rattan 
for sale are ok, and which ones suck.

hope this helps,
Alton



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