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The best solution for longswords
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<blockquote data-quote="Ancalagon" data-source="post: 7378535" data-attributes="member: 23"><p>I said earlier that I would come back with some research and here I am!</p><p></p><p>According to wikipedia (which quotes two book on the subject), long sword blades were in the range of 33 to 43 inches in length. Another author, after consulting some of the old fencing masters, came up with 35 to 47 inches. </p><p></p><p>One thing that was noted by some of said fencing masters is that there can be too long a bade length - you definitely want to be able to hold your foe with one hand and stab with the other - if the blade is too long you won't be able to get any leverage. Another consideration is drawing the blade - too long a blade makes getting the sword out of of the scabbard quickly a challenging task.</p><p></p><p>Another site did a statistical analysis of historical long-sword sword and blade length, and found mean values of 35-37 inches, with the longest blade measured at 43.5 inches.</p><p></p><p>From personal experience, I have trained with a 34 inch long blade (perhaps a bit too small for a long sword... more of a hand-and-a-half sword really) and had no troubles handling it one handed. </p><p></p><p>So in conclusion, I think your 48 inch blade-length estimate is a bit too long. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I do agree here with an important concept, which is the one of scale, or spectrum. There is a wide range of sword length and size, and there will always be swords that are... in between. "is this a small zweihander or a large longsword?" "A large dagger or a short short-sword?" etc etc. Or to quote wikipedia again "The "longsword" type exists in a morphological continuum with the medieval knightly sword and the Renaissance-era Zweihänder." There will never be a "perfect" answer.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ancalagon, post: 7378535, member: 23"] I said earlier that I would come back with some research and here I am! According to wikipedia (which quotes two book on the subject), long sword blades were in the range of 33 to 43 inches in length. Another author, after consulting some of the old fencing masters, came up with 35 to 47 inches. One thing that was noted by some of said fencing masters is that there can be too long a bade length - you definitely want to be able to hold your foe with one hand and stab with the other - if the blade is too long you won't be able to get any leverage. Another consideration is drawing the blade - too long a blade makes getting the sword out of of the scabbard quickly a challenging task. Another site did a statistical analysis of historical long-sword sword and blade length, and found mean values of 35-37 inches, with the longest blade measured at 43.5 inches. From personal experience, I have trained with a 34 inch long blade (perhaps a bit too small for a long sword... more of a hand-and-a-half sword really) and had no troubles handling it one handed. So in conclusion, I think your 48 inch blade-length estimate is a bit too long. I do agree here with an important concept, which is the one of scale, or spectrum. There is a wide range of sword length and size, and there will always be swords that are... in between. "is this a small zweihander or a large longsword?" "A large dagger or a short short-sword?" etc etc. Or to quote wikipedia again "The "longsword" type exists in a morphological continuum with the medieval knightly sword and the Renaissance-era Zweihänder." There will never be a "perfect" answer. [/QUOTE]
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