Barbarian battle weapons

[Rakala]

Some of you may already know about this. There is a man going around as "Barbarian Dave" who makes foam and latex weaponry. He continually develops new technology to make it and I'm thinking about getting a couple of weapons. These things are great for beating on each other because it takes a great amount of effort just to do m ore than sting a little. If anybody else is interested it's a great way to get exercise with friends. If you want to order your own here's the website.

http://store.alvinclayman.com/bbcatalog/

The great thing for me is that they live near enough to me that I join the person who started it all in a weekly set of fighting games along with some of his friends. This includes a man who legally changed his name to Coyote. It is truly awesome, it's kind of like friendly wrestling. I haven't attended for awhile but for the longest time I was a regular attendee and I can actually sword fight now. It really develops all kinds of skills which I'm probably going to use for awhile.

[thegayhare]

I prefure axes and hammers myself

[Mao]

Pity you didn't mention the mace/hammer.  I'm quite fond of the idea of holding two of those.  However the spartan sword is closer to what I trained with so I'd likely use it out of familiarity.

[Rakala]

Okay, it's changed. You can say the hammer or mace now if you want.

[Vidar]

Lightsaber.



WHAAAT! Someone had to say it!

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Personally, I'd go for a spear. However, that's probably because I train with a spear anyway...

As for swords, anything with an edge. Preferably two-handed, or hand and a half at least.

[Cogidubnus]

Katana. 2.5 Shaku, 1100-1200 grams, chu-kissaki. About 1.5 centimeters of curvature.

Alternatively, as the great Musashi said, "My school is the spirit of whatever works". Different weapons are more effective in different circumstances. And as the great japanese salaryman who beat an assailant to death with a phone said, "A warrior uses what is at hand. There is no shame in this".

[Rakala]

Personally, I'd go for a spear. However, that's probably because I train with a spear anyway...

As for swords, anything with an edge. Preferably two-handed, or hand and a half at least.

They did actually use to have spears. I'm not really sure what happened to them. They had long, anti-cavalry spears and then shorter spears that are more effective against people. There are also some guys who bring their own, like one guy made a flail and a small shield. Boy is that combination annoying. And then somebody made shield really large that it covered from shoulders to knees on the one side.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

http://www.bullshido.org/Te_Mau_Taiaha

A spear like that.


And yes, I _am_ a little bit effective at it. Which isn't bad for 6 months training... Not nearly as effective as I'd like, though...

[Rakala]

Most fighting styles aren't as effective as they seem. I've fought somebody who's been trained with a katana, having only experience myself and no real training, and I beat him. It's all about fast and hard strikes. Simple strategy, knock their weapon out of the way and hit them in the chest hard enough to knock them down. It doesn't hurt. Trust me, I know first hand. They had this huge hammer (with the word ACME on it) that was about as long as a car. This guy had both hands near the bottom of the handle, hit me and knocked me over. The only pain I experienced was from hitting the ground.

[Brunhidden]

how can this list not include the ultimate barbarian weapon?

behold the BEARDED axe!



for all your axetotheface needs! guaranteed to split shields and splinter spears!

[Auragonian]

That is one Bad Axe, *Whacks self for pun*

But yeah, Hammers, Maces I like, But I prefer Claymors. I used one to hack up Freddy Kruger in a dream I had. But I'm pretty good with sumac stick swords, Might not be Barbarian but still effective in inflicting pain.

[Rakala]

Uh... We're not exactly talking real weapons here. >.> Besides, I did discuss it with him and he said that the shape of axes is difficult to get the right shape and still make it effective. An axe is meant to be a top heavy weapon that you bring down on somebody, well it ruins the point because he has to weigh it down and that inflicts some pain instead of just feeling an impact.

[Alondro]

Wormhole weapon... and I'd use it too!   

Uhm... katana...   

I actually have one.  It's really old too.   

[superluser]

Broom.

[Rakala]

Wormhole weapon... and I'd use it too!  

Uhm... katana...  

I actually have one.  It's really old too.  

Is it an old replica or an actual one? Because if you've got an actual one you need to make sure it stay in good condition. Because they are still unable to make katanas the same way they used to.

[Gareeku]

Might be an obvious choice from me, but katana. Because I think they're cool.

[rabid_fox]

Queers fantasise over weaponry.

[Alondro]

Wormhole weapon... and I'd use it too!  

Uhm... katana...  

I actually have one.  It's really old too.  

Is it an old replica or an actual one? Because if you've got an actual one you need to make sure it stay in good condition. Because they are still unable to make katanas the same way they used to.

It's an actual one.  At least 200 years old, maybe older.  The writing on the blade in the part that goes into the hilt is such an old form of Japanese, no one can read it.  One symbol appears to be 'life', but it's not certain.

It was presented to my grandfather when a Japanese general surrendered to him in WWII after a very hard-fought battle.  It has such incredible sharpness that when I just barely brushed the edge of the blade, it cut a slice of skin off instantly with such cleanness that the area of exposed dermis actually looked polished!

*thinks it must be Tessaiga!*   

[gh0st]

thats really cool! i can't even begin to imagine how they used to make those katanas, still if i had to fight it would be a toss up between a spear/staff, a katana, or a broad sword. though i can say i don't have training in either three . but still the katana is my favorite, as alondro has stated they are extremely sharp, like fillet your skin sharp and make it ever so shiny, so it could serve as a pretty potent defensive weapon even in the hands of someone as inexperienced as me.

[Rakala]

Actually the way they think katanas were made was a specific way to fold the steel. It increased the shaprness and durability. In fact they were made so successfully most samurai stopped wearing armor completely because it would just be sliced through. Same with the armor of knight. Before they started to die out their armor could withstand musket pellets easy. There has also been some speculation on whether a samurai or a knight would win. A knight's armor is impenetrable, but a samurai's katana slices through almost anything. It's a circular argument.

[Cogidubnus]

Actually the way they think katanas were made was a specific way to fold the steel. It increased the shaprness and durability. In fact they were made so successfully most samurai stopped wearing armor completely because it would just be sliced through. Same with the armor of knight. Before they started to die out their armor could withstand musket pellets easy. There has also been some speculation on whether a samurai or a knight would win. A knight's armor is impenetrable, but a samurai's katana slices through almost anything. It's a circular argument.

They know how to fold the steel, still. I could direct you to several places that describe the various techniques the older styles of swords were forged with, in fact - if there is anything we don't know about how the older steels were forged, it would likely be the temperature of the water used for quenching, and the exact ratio of iron-to-carbon in the hard and soft steels.

Trying to cut through plate armor would be a good way to ruin a katana really fast. As with anything, a knight fighting a samurai would depend on the circumstance and the fighters themselves more than the legendary sharpness of their swords or toughness of armor. I can tell you that a katana is a flesh-cutting sword and not an armor breaker. This is why in medieval Europe the warhammer and mace were popular weapons - a sword isn't going to cut through the armor, but a hammer or a mace will crush it or punch through it.

Warning - Wall O' Text

Katana are traditionally made from tamagahane, which is a purified form of the iron sand ore found in Japan. The smith takes the tamagahane, which looks somewhat like a iron-and-rock lump, and proceeds to heat it up and beat the shit out of it, which will force the impurities to extrude out of the iron. The folding process also occurs at this point, which layers the steel - you see this show up later with a slight wave pattern on the blade. This also serves to get rid of impurities, and ensure that the blade is pretty much just iron and carbon.

The sword is then beaten into the shape that it's going to take later - however, the old style of doing this was actually to forge the blade in two parts (actually, some older styles had as may as five or six individual pieces of steel, but two is easier to explain), a high-carbon sleeve, and a lower-carbon back to the blade. The metallurgy behind this is that a high-carbon steels are harder ,and low-carbon steels are softer. Hard things hold a great edge, but are very brittle, while soft things are extremely tough, and can't hold an edge worth a damn. The soft iron is pounded into the hard iron sleeve, and then forged into the general shape of the blade.

Before quenching, the sword is then coated in a clay mixture, thinner at the edge of the blade, which causes the blade to be quenched at different rates - slower at the back, but faster at the edge. A faster quench also causes steel to be harder, and reinforces the hard-soft steel construction used earlier. The clay paint also causes the pattern of the 'hamon', which is the visible line between the harder and softer steels. Because the steels are cooling at different rates, this is also when the sword acquires it's signature curvature, because of the stress caused by the steel contracting faster and slower, respectively.

At this point, the sword is sent off to a polisher, who makes the steel all shiny and sharp using true grit and polishing stones, and is then sent to someone else to acquire things like sword furniture and a handle.

We pretty much know how they made them back in the day.

[Rakala]

...... ah. Okay. Thank you for the history lesson.

[Jack McSlay]

I want a halberd...

[Rakala]

You could be LU BU! THE PRETTIET PRINCESS!

[Valynth]

In fact they were made so successfully most samurai stopped wearing armor completely because it would just be sliced through.

...FAIL!

Firstly, samurai wore armor whenever they could.  The only problem being that Iron (as well as other metals) is difficult to come across in Japan, especially in feudal/isolationist Japan.  What you see in Japanese samurai armor is really a rationing of the iron slats to points where they're the most effective at defense and using layered cloth (usually silk) that admittedly did stop the katana rather well in the rest of the areas.

Against a spear on the other hand.... Well, lets just say there was a reason the samurai tried to outlaw spears.

The could also be why Japanese guards in anime are typically seen holding a spear, but that's just my intuition.

[Rakala]

Actually several samurai used spears. In fact more often bows were used. The word bushido is commonly mistranslated as "Way of the Sword" where as people now look at it and believe it means "Way of the Horse and Bow". It's a little strange but many scholars are coming to that conclusion. In all samurai used all sorts of different weapons depending on their preference.

[lucas marcone]

battle axe! though war hammer is the closest to it

[Cogidubnus]

Actually several samurai used spears. In fact more often bows were used. The word bushido is commonly mistranslated as "Way of the Sword" where as people now look at it and believe it means "Way of the Horse and Bow". It's a little strange but many scholars are coming to that conclusion. In all samurai used all sorts of different weapons depending on their preference.

Bushi - Another term for Samurai, both can be translated to mean warrior.

Do - The Way Of

Bushi-Do - The Way of the Warrior.

This is always the way it's been explained to me, at least.

[Jairus]

Actually several samurai used spears. In fact more often bows were used. The word bushido is commonly mistranslated as "Way of the Sword" where as people now look at it and believe it means "Way of the Horse and Bow". It's a little strange but many scholars are coming to that conclusion. In all samurai used all sorts of different weapons depending on their preference.

Bushi - Another term for Samurai, both can be translated to mean warrior.

Do - The Way Of

Bushi-Do - The Way of the Warrior.

This is always the way it's been explained to me, at least.

Yeah... I've always thought it was "the Way of the Warrior" as well. "The Way of the Warrior is death" and all that. To be honest, I don't think I've ever heard it called Way of the Sword.

Besides, aren't Yumi designed that way to make it easier to use them from horseback?