DWolfhunter wrote:Not to put too fine a point on things but...We all hit too hard at times. It's a result of several factors. Usually when we are excited, we tend to hit harder. If we have issues with the opponent we have drawn we tend to hit harder. If we have decided for some reason that we simply will not lose to so-and-so, we hit harder (I have seen this a lot, don't even try to deny that it happens).
So we are all guilty of doing it at some times. As for altering weapons so that they hit harder or fly faster...drilling out your rattan will not get you the desired result of hit harder. Sand bags? Never heard of that one. Lead weights in swords...seen them in handles but never in points. Seems to me that it retards the weapon, not augments it.
As for the old vaccuum and glue story...yeah...it works. But the sword is REALLY heavy. It throws like a pig and hits like a truck...it also f*x up your wrist. In the old days we used to do mace heads with toilet paper, linoleum and metal epoxy in the heads. We also did mace heads that were just rubber mallet heads. Again, they hit like a train, but flew like a rock.
There have been other such less than successful innovations. The old elmer's glue and pantyhose re-inforced swords lasted longer but they were much heavier and took forever to make. Other arcane things like fiberglass resin and epoxy were tried, but no joy. They all made for heavy swords that tired out the fighter and were no fun to use.
These days, I use just plain old rattan with two layers of strapping tape over it and then duct tape. There is some strength from the tape and that's all I really need. I blow through a sword about every six months. To me it comes down to a matter of "If you want to hit harder, practice throwing shots faster. Speed equals power. But if you want to fight well, work on shot placement."
I hear "the other guys hit harder" all the time. It all bollocks. There are harder hitting groups/kingdoms, but not to the degree IMHO that folks seem to think. I usually catch myself saying that when I have lost a sloppy or unsatisfying fight and I am looking to blame anything but my own performance for losing...yeah, I do it too.
I just try not to make it a habit. Face facts, we are all human and we all hate to lose. but we have to accept that someone had to win the fight...this time was thier turn...next time is ours.
Baron Hamish
Feel free to ignore this, but here's an interesting little question: Does the SCA hit too hard in general?
There are two force components in any strike with the edge of a sword: force perpindicular to the target, and force tangential to the target. These two forces are on a disconnected, sliding scale. You can have a blow with a lot of both, a lot of one, or even none of one.
Because the latter force (tangential to the target, i.e. a slice) has absolutely no value in SCA rattan combat our fighting systems tend to emphasize the generation of the former force. In other words: we are developing combat systems optimized for clubs, not swords.
You got to meet the nicer kinder more mature Cameron.