she's got a name

[anotheranon]

I call it "Vera" ;)

After a loan of almost (over?) a year, one of my historic fencing coaches offered to sell me the rapier I've been using at a hideously good discount. It a Paul Chen practical rapier - not as posh as a Darkwood Armory but still pretty damn sexy! And after all this time with it, I know what it feels like and how I can handle it.

Total armory = 1 practice foil, 1 electric foil, 1 dueling saber, and now 1 rapier. Let's hunt some orc!

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

Pretty rapier! I don't generally care for those 40+ inch blades, but perhaps that taper helps to make it weildy.

[thatwordgrrl.livejournal.com]

Forty inches is about my limit (no snickering!).

Anything more than that, and what I gain in reach I lose in speed.

I once test-drove a - ghods help me - 52-inch blade at a Gulf War. Holy Mother of Mercy, did it take me *forever* to pull back in line if I got parried. Danulf swears by it, though. Of course, he's six-four and built like a beanpole...

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I suppose there are some people who can use them, but in general the whole movement toward the smallsword happened because the advantage in speed was quite often a life saver. Thus my general preference for 35 inch musketeer blades.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I've fenced some rapierists (what IS the word for a rapier fencer?) who favored 1630s/40s shorter (like, 30") blades and yes - the technique is completely different from the earlier periods. The techniques we study (primarily Capo Ferro/Fabris) rely heavily on lining up to "take" the opponent's blade and lunge/advance in one motion. Parrys are rare and feints are accomplished by constant changes of line.

I've found it a hard weapon to learn and use, but the logic and geometry continues to interest me. It's also rather helpful that it's different enough from modern fencing that it doesn't impact my foil game (much).

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

There is a lot to be said for the practice of making sure the blade is proportional to your height - I think the rules of thumb I've heard at my club is that the blade should be no higher than your waist, or, alternately, no longer than your shoulder to the end of one arm.

By that scale, yes - at ~43" (I should probably actually measure it), it's a bit long for me, but for the period of rapier we practice (1600-10) it's fairly standard. 52" sounds insane for ANYONE though - our tallest fencer is about 6'4" and his blade is still only ~48"!

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

no longer than your shoulder to the end of one arm.

Er, make that the width of your shoulders PLUS the length of one arm. See how excited I get, it makes me type too fast!!