The Armour Archive

Which is better?

I'm looking into buying a nice waster for training- I've got plenty of bokken, but nothing european yet.

So far, the best looking wasters I've seen are either here:
http://www.woodenweapons.com/

Or at Purpleheart armoury.
www.woodenswords.com

I like the variety of sizes woodenweapons offers, and some of their weapons are ARMA approved.
As for use, I mainly intend to do single person practice with this thing, and some medium-contact sparring with a friend of mine. So it's not going to be used to beat up trees or anything like that

Here's my opinion: and I have VERY strong opinions on the subject of wasters.

Are you hanging with ARMA and training in their method?

If so-- get the stuff they recommend. I haven't hung out with them since I became PNG with their head honcho, but unless something's changed dramatically since then, you won't be sparring with them, but with some boffers heavily engineered in order to compromise between safety and performance (and when they're built right, they're pretty good). In that context, it's like training in any martial arts school -- you use the tools they tell you to, or, at best, your training suffers, and at worst, you get hurt.

If not-- seriously consider what you want the waster for. If you want a really good feel that approximates a sword, save up and get aluminum -- I own wasters that handle with much the same flex and spring as a sword, but you're into serious carpentry (and the prices they entail) to achieve that. If you want a low-barrier-to-entry training tool that will continue to be useful if you stay with it, and won't break your bank if you don't, either will do.

Between the two, I have a track record with the Purpleheart gear, and would likely stick with them. Both seem fairly solid, but I can personally vouch for Purpleheart's service and that they listen to their customers.

I can pretty much echo what Russ said. I have several Purpleheart pieces, notably one longsword waster that is going on 4 years of service, no serious nicks in the edge, still works excellently. However, over time you will want to switch to aluminum, which behaves more like steel, especially in regard to blade-on-blade contact. Playing with that is a very subtle thing, so it might work better to get a waster now, spend a few years learning the fundamentals, then spring for the aluminum when it becomes more useful to your current training.

We don't have an ARMA chapter in Halifax at this time, but I like their training methods. I also want to construct some of their padded weapons to play with too.

And I've been thinking of aluminum, but so far the only aluminum swords I've seen were the ones from Valentine armoury and I've heard less than stellar things about their performance. Know where I can get a good aluminum sword?

Another issue is that I sometimes like to practice in public places, like the Halifax commons. Aluminum might not go over too well, due to its resemblance to the real thing. Wood's a little less likely to frighten anyone unduly. I've carried a bokken fitted with handguard openly before, with no serious problems.
I think the best thing is to own a variety of training tools for different exercises and situations- padded, wood, and aluminum all have their pros and cons.

I've been handling swords for a long time now, but my experience has been mostly with asian weaponry- I'm still eagerly anticipating the arrival of my Tokugawa katana from Hanwei forge. (Backordered, damn Last Samurai!

Why aluminum? It would seem steel is even closer, if you're going the metal route. I quick look at the maker's specs mentioned above and it looks like there are steel blunts in the same weight range and price catagory.

It's a safety issue, Tim: steel on steel tends to sharpen itself, unlike aluminum. Blunts made in such way that this cannot happen tend not to behave like real swords do. Until such a time as that circle gets squared, aluminum is by far the best compromise.

Note, that I'm not saying that any of these are bad -- I have a very particular bias against most wooden wasters: they feel like clubs to me. And most blunts feel even worse to me. And the kind of fencing these tools inspire is... less than subtle. But they're all potentially valuable practice tools, within a training regimen that makes sense.

The other side of it is... a waster don't have to be pretty. I made a Byzantine cavalry sword for Bob's wife out of a stick, some leather, and some string, and etched into it "don't laugh, I cost two dollars." Any branch, a good blade, and a little time will allow you to make a waster that will serve you well for a long time.

I've had good experience with my Purpleheart Armoury wasters.

Regards,
Jean Richard
Ansteorra

i train with ARMA and we do still make extensive use of wooden wasters. Most of them get them from wooden weapons, I however have a purpleheart- which has worked great for me. Go on over to the ARMA forum and ask around - there are a few other brands that people are experementing with. As far as I know, no one uses aluminum. We use steel and have had little to no serious injuries that I am aware of.