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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tsyr" data-source="post: 1141086" data-attributes="member: 354">Anubis, you keep telling people to go out and get some experience, and that will prove you right.I've been fighting with swords in the SCA and independantly for several years now. I consider myself in fair, if not exceptional, shape. I have trained in several different styles, including a focus on both katana styles (Traditional kenjitsu, not aikido or any of the others), and european broadsword and shield. I own a wall of swords, most of them 'real' swords (Paul Chen, Windlass, or better. Only a couple junkers, mostly movie prop replicas for the hell of it). I have everything from european broadswords to two handers to bastard swords, axes, maces, two pole arms, chinese swords, japanese weapons, and some more exotic still. I have this mystical experience you speak of.You are wrong.If a broadsword seems to unbalanced and awkward and seems to weight a lot more than it should, there are three posibilities:1) You are too weak to use the sword2) The sword is a piece of junk and balanced poorly or made of the wrong materials in the wrong places3) You don't know what you are doing when you are trying to use it.Between skilled oponents, broadsword combat is every bit as furious and skilled as it is in kenjitsu.And as someone who has tried to use a katana in one hand, let me tell you: It just does not compare to using a broadsword. At all. Period. The blade is too long, too heavy, and improperly balanced for one handed use. It can be done, yes, but it is not suited for one handed combat. This is why kenjitsu teaches two handed forms, not one handed. This is why a shield was not part of the standard equipment for anyone who used a katana. And there is a reason musashi is famous for being able to dual wield a katana and a wakizashi, and it is NOT because it was easy to do.And to Enkhidu: Regarding forging out of braided steel wire: It works, but it doesn't produce a comparable result to damascas or folded steel, unless you fold it many times, in which case you aren't really saving any effort. Particularly if you made the cable yourself, or had it made for you, as opposed to scavanging it from a telephone company junk bin or something.Most of my forge work is knives, I've never tried a sword (My forge isn't big enough, I'm not good enough)... But I've tried the wire thing. It was one of the more enjoyable things I picked up from The Complete Bladesmith (To any fellow amature smiths, or any aspiring ones, I heartily recommend this book).And now I sign off before my lack of sleep makes my spelling any more horrid.</blockquote>

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