The companies that bring us knife steel

Re:The companies that bring us knife steel by vkou on Thursday October 08, 2020 @01:41PM (#24721625)

> It could not deal with the heavy armor seen in the West. But many Western swords could not either. Some could because they were heavier or pointier... but that would have made them poor against unarmoured or low armored targets. You couldn't use it on horseback either, but the Japanese had longer versions for that.

That's what different sword grips were for, though. It is common to grasp a sword by the blade, in order to parry, or to use it as a kind of spear, or even to reverse the grip on the weapon, and striking with the edges of the cross-guard - as you would with a hammer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGr0aE7UQpQ

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Re:The companies that bring us knife steel by dragontamer on Thursday October 08, 2020 @05:13PM (#24724011)

> That's what different sword grips were for, though. It is common to grasp a sword by the blade, in order to parry, or to use it as a kind of spear, or even to reverse the grip on the weapon, and striking with the edges of the cross-guard - as you would with a hammer.

In a serious battle however, you'd simply call the squire to fetch you a war-hammer, a spear, or whatever other weapon you needed.

European weapons are fascinating: they had a different weapon for every kind of battle situation. One polearm to pull people off of horses. Another polearm to break through shields and armor. Etc. etc.

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