anotheranon | size matters: the French smallsword

Yesterday I had my first taste of smallsword fencing.

One of the regular coaches is extremely enthusiastic about the smallsword, and has been trying to get everyone to give it a go for weeks. On a whim, I decided to try it out:

What a smallsword is: it's the sword you saw in "Count of Monte Christo", primarily an 18th century dueling weapon. It's a teeny little thing - only around 30" long (my sport foil is 35"), with small guard and very sharp point (or at least the real ones were; we use blunted/rubber-stoppered blades for safety, obviously). Looks innocent, but is not - the small size and fine blade means it doesn't take much pressure or weight to stab effectively.

What it's not: it's not a foil. Foils were training weapons for the smallsword, but as smallswords are shorter you end up fencing much closer to your adversary so you have to be that much faster to keep from getting hit. It's also not an epee, though it uses a shortened epee blade with triangular cross section. (Obligatory Python bit: "saber is right out!" </silliness>) (Also foil/epee/saber differences here).

The coach told me weeks ago that there was no parry sixte (scroll down a bit for a diagram of what the hell I'm talking about) in smallsword. I was skeptical. Now I believe him - a parry sixte in foil is held too close to the body and completely miss the tip of the shorter smallsword, leaving you very much open to impalement :P

FAST weapon! Also swank in a cute kind of way, but I remind myself that 1) I can't afford new toys right now and 2) even if I did, it's a bad idea to buy sporting equipment before you know whether you're going to use it often and well.

We'll see.