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Hi!

I have been beavering away, with more or less success, on rebuilding my blog into a more useful resource. The only reason I haven’t pulled all my hair out is because I don’t have any left. But it will be worth it in the end (he tells himself) because it will make the 500+ posts into a manageable, easy-to-navigate, library. I’m creating a “Start Here” page with the highlights, and specific hub pages for the key topics (Fiore, Capoferro, etc.). I’ve also rationalised the 550+ tags down to about 80, and am sorting out the categories too.

The Wiki development is still on pause while the installation of the MediaWiki content management system is incrementally done. Turns out you can’t just skip 5 years of upgrades in one go. So that’s on the backburner for now.

When it comes to actually producing useful sword work, well, my Smallsword Obsession is still in full swing. I’m about 80% of the way through editing the audiobook of Angelo’s 1787 The School of the Sword, and producing a modernised, cleaned up, machine-readable (so easily searched), version of the text. This is not fun, but a necessary step in creating a useful resource for historical fencers.

I’ve also planned a couple of very exciting related trips. I’ll be visiting The National Fencing Museum to re-shoot photos of the plates in both editions of The School of the Sword (the large-format 1763 edition in French, and the 1787 smaller format version in English), as well as photograph some smallswords and foils from the period for the eventual book.

And I’m visiting my friend Sergio Muelle, a local knife maker, to produce some figure-8 foil guards. I have an antique foil and it’s clear to Sergio’s blacksmithing eye how it was originally made, so we’re going to try making them that way.

I want a pair of such foils for the video shoot (documenting my interpretation of the entire source). I’ll write up the process, and probably blog it, as well as produce an appendix on the process for the book. I’ve done a couple of “make a knife in a day” courses with him, so it’ll be fun to be back hitting hot metal.

Do you like polearms?

If so, my friend Esko Ronimus has you covered, with a couple of new short (and very affordable) courses:

Introduction to the Bolognese Pollaxe: Part one

This course is a practical introduction to the fundamentals of the Bolognese pollaxe. You’ll learn the basics of handling, core plays for defending and creating openings, and specific actions from Marozzo’s Opera Nova (1536). The course is designed for all levels — starting from the essentials and building toward functional skill with the weapon, along with a framework for your continued development.

Introduction to Bolognese Swordsmanship: Fencing Against Polearms with One- and Two-Handed Swords

This course focuses on using both the unaccompanied one-handed sword and the two-handed sword against polearms. It provides a practical framework for approaching sword-versus-polearm encounters and for developing effective training methods for these scenarios. In addition, it offers an in-depth discussion of the realistic assumptions and limitations involved in training fencing in this context.

Sword for sale

If you’re feeling flush with cash, and want a really, really, beautiful katzbalger sword… JT Pälikkö made this absolutely gorgeous beast for a customer in Germany:

The essential measurements (in cm) of the sword are: length 84cm, blade length. 69.5cm, total weight 1.26kg. The organic part of the hilt is Finnish moose antler.

Sadly circumstances change, and the owner is selling it. The asking price is a very fair 5,000€. You can contact Stefan at metafenrir@icloud.com if you’re interested.

On The Sword Guy podcast: Physio for Ninjas, with Erick Ellison

This episode is with Erick Ellison, who is a Bujinkan instructor and physiotherapist in Helsinki Finland. Regular listeners will already have heard of him as the person who fixed very old injuries in my shoulder, my knee, my neck and various other places. He qualified as a physiotherapist in 2007 and has been running his own practice since 2012. His list of professional credentials is both very long and very varied, incorporating modern medicine and traditional Japanese approaches.

In our conversation we talk about the history of Ninja, their strategies and techniques, and some of the misconceptions around them. We also talk about physiotherapy and the training involved, and how a practitioner like Erick chooses which technique to use on a person.

Erick also shares a set of movements called the Five Tibetan Rites, which he believes are a great general guideline for maintaining strength and flexibility.

cheers,

Guy

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