The Armour Archive

I've been working with Christian Darce' of Purpleheart Armoury to develop new and interesting waster weaponry. Here's our latest - Langen Messers:

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[img]http://www.therionarms.com/reenact/com321.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.therionarms.com/reenact/com321b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.therionarms.com/reenact/com321g.jpg[/img]

length: 34"
blade: 27"
blade width: 3"
blade thickness: 7/8"
grip: 6"
guard: 6"
weight: 1 lb 13.0 oz (avg)
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This style of long knife / falchion / short sword has been mistakenly labelled a "grosse messer", but that term was not used in period. Instructions for fighting with langen messer are to be found in Paulus Kal's Fechtbuch circa 1460, Hans Lecküchner's Fechtbuch circa 1482, and Christian Egenolph's Fechtbuch compliation circa 1482.

We have right-handed and left-handed versions available.

Check out the <a target=_top href="http://www.therionarms.com/reenact/index.shtml"> Reproduction Arms & Armor</a> catalog for more details (and more cool toys )

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Hal Siegel - TherionArms
http://www.therionarms.com

[This message has been edited by Therion (edited 06-26-2003).]

Odd question, but I've been wondering, how do you guys secure the crosshilt on wasters? I've never examined one up close and so was wondering if it was grooved or glued or what...

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Obsessive dilletante.

Turn on, tune in, Toob out!
The Toob

The fit is quite exact thanks to computer aided design tools and meticulous woodworking precision with ridges and grooves on the body and guard. Some designs are further strengthened by dowel/pins, and we add a bit of industrial-grade wood glue for the final touch.

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Hal Siegel - TherionArms
http://www.therionarms.com

Sold. I need two: am hip deep in working on Leckuchner's messerfechten, and this looks like a better simulator than what I currently have.

But I'm playing hookey from work, on a bad day to do so... can you drop me an email, Therion, so I can get with you 2nite on payment?

Email sent.

Are there any copies of Leckuchner available, other than the online version in the ARMA member's section?

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Hal Siegel - TherionArms
http://www.therionarms.com

Follow-up note to my own question - I spoke with Russell, who told me that there were no translations yet available, and that trying to figure out the system just from the illustrations was a nightmare (as is the case with most of the German and Italian systems ).

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Hal Siegel - TherionArms
http://www.therionarms.com

several of Talhoffer's books also show messer use, and the movements themselves make sense, but they're a mite hard to put together into a more comprehensive approach to use. Thank you for helping to make these messer wasters! I like the side guard, which allows for things like the ward with the turned around wrist seen in Mark Rector's translation of Talhoffer.