Axes Knives and Swords

[Valamir]

Just saw this special on the History Channel tonight.  Pretty good accurate information.  They had some scenes of sword fighting, and as I'm watching I'm thinking "hey, those guys actually look like they know what they're doing"  "they aren't just stage reinactors, that move looks like something Jake was showing me".

Sure enough turns out to be John Clements looking like a human cuisanart.  They didn't say who the guy was whose butt he was kicking.

[Ingenious]

And what special, pray tell was this?
The show had a name and a title I assume.. rather than just the channel it was on.. this way I can browse through my tv guide and see what time it might be repeated at. Otherwise, how are people supposed to know what it is you're talking about?
Was it about the ARMA specifically, sword-fighting in general, what?

How does one respond when you do not clearly know what the topic is?
-Ingenious

[Valamir]

Ummm, the title of the thread was the title my friend.  Although I may have the order wrong.  $5 says you can go to HistoryChannel.com and search on any one of those terms and find it...probably for sale on dvd too.  It was a special on axes knives and swords.

The highlights were the scenes with Clements and the scenes with the swordsmith who demonstrated the entire process from smelting iron out of ferrous sand.  The axe portion had a strangly inordinate amount of time showing clips from an axe throwing contest and tours of modern axe making facilities with little historical content, and the knife portion demonstrated that the president of the Swiss Army knife company is about the biggest dork you can imagine.  There was a brief but brutal sequence demonstrating modern knife fighting technique.

[Salamander]

There was a brief but brutal sequence demonstrating modern knife fighting technique.

Yeah, knife fighting is VERY brutal. I am working on some stuff from the Dolfechten Primer right now and the more I read it the more it looks like my knife fighting training from my time in The Queen's Service.

[Jake Norwood]

Hah. I ordered that from the History Channel ages ago, but it never arrived. I should complain.

The guy John is wailing on is Jeff Basham.

The swordsmith guy is Paul Champagne, who is a heck of a nice guy and probably the finest swordsmith alive right now...and priced like it. When he came to one of our events in Provo two years ago he brought a blunt single-handed sword (arming sword) that he had made. It cut down a 6' diameter tree in three hits, blunt. It was light, fast, and felt like a dream.

And it was $4,000.

Jake

[toli]

It cut down a 6' diameter tree in three hits, blunt. It was light, fast, and felt like a dream.

And it was $4,000.

Jake

That's an expensive wood axe...

[Poleaxe]

Yeah, that was a great show.  I think I taped it.  It seemed pretty accurate too.  It also seemed like the stuff they've done on that show Conquest is pretty accurate too.  Has any seen it and could they confirm?  They've an episode on chain mail v. plate armor, medieval tournament, how to stop a plate armored knight, the battle axe, the longbow, etc.

Thanks,

Alan