Wednesday 27 July 2011

...so where do you put your hands?

Phew...been a fair spell ain't it? Sorry 'bout that and my apologies to you all.

So I was chatting with StevieT last night and he asks me just that question. At first I thought he was referring to this thread over on the HEMA Alliance, but no, he had an altogether simpler and perplexing question.

In relation to the crossguard/quillions on the hilt of a hand a half sword...where is your dominant hand (although I'd argue that either hand can fill that role in this case)?

Is it cozied up next to the cross? Or is there any space between the two?

Frankly I'd not thought much about this really...however Stevie had indeed done so, and found that he received far less cuts to the hand if he didn't leave it jammed up next to the cross. "Curious" I thought..."makes some sense" I concurred. He then strengthened his theory with the possibility of documentary evidence...so when I have the free time I fully intend to look into that side of thing.

In the mean time let's put this theory to the test. Let's put our "little grey cells" onto this theory and experiment with modifying our grip next time we have a sword in our hands.
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5 comments:

  1. Ben27 July 2011 at 08:10

    I can already attest to the efficiency of avoiding the common dropped cut to the hand in Och's if I let my hand slide further from the cross than it may otherwise be.

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  2. Johann27 July 2011 at 08:47

    Excellent....

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  3. Michael S27 July 2011 at 10:37

    I'll have a look at the sources when I have time, but it's also worth pointing out that bulky lacrosse gloves and whippy nylons probably don't help matters...

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  4. Sword Punk27 July 2011 at 13:00

    Well Mike that is a fair point...although I think Stevie has been working with a fair amount of steel lately (and apparently uses motorcycle gloves).

    If the "sword" hits the glove...but not me then there may be something to this (considering that the glove is substantially larger than my actual hands).

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  5. Peter S29 July 2011 at 09:11

    Bulky gloves especially don't help with small handled swords. Compare http://wiktenauer.com/w/images/1/17/Pisani-Dossi_MS_18v-a.jpg and http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/File:MS_Germ.Quart.2020_11v.jpg

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