Academy of Historical Fencing

I have been studying Giganti, and need some tips.

I am using the Hanwei Practical Rapier Link which is a very flimsy blade. I am sparring against very strong blades (such as those from Darkwood Armory). I find it almost impossible to bind with their swords so have resorted to avoiding their swords and relying on my dagger (when used), or my other hand to parry their blade.

For the most part, I have been very successful with this technique, but was wondering if there were other tactics I could use?

Thanks!

Hi there,

It is indeed a weakness of the Hanwei practical range, in that in an attempt to make a safe thrusting blade they have created one that is to whippy, a small price to pay though for such a bargain sword.

We regularly use Hanweis against Darkwoods so I have plenty of experience of this. Simply put, if you are having problems engaging the blade because of the Hanwei's flexibility, then you are engaging in the wrong place. The Hanwei practicals are perfectly rigid enough along the first half of their blade, which is where you should be engaging and controlling your opponents blade from.

With this in mind, Darkwoods are a little more forgiving in bind work, and most historical rapiers would be as rigid as this, but the Hanwei will allow you to make all of the same actions, you just need solid form to ensure they work.

A common problem in this flexibility issue being that parries are made too close to the body for example, such as using dui tempi defences instead of single time. If you do not get the forte of the sword extended whenever meeting an opponents blade you will inevitably suffer. This becomes extremely noticeable when fighters use withdrawn guards more akin to sabre or the sixth guard of Capo Ferro, and then try to parry from their current position, rather than pushing their blade forward, in order to meet the opponents blade with the forte, as well as create a stronger arc of defence by parrying further forward of the body.

Another problem you may face is the use of the flat. The hanweis flexibility is clearly on the plane of the flat, and therefore, pressure against it will bend your blade, whereas with edge on binds you will have the correct rigidity. Now, rapier engagements can be done with edge or flat, but I always teach flat engagements to more advanced practitioners, as they can quickly lead to sloppy technique. So certainly work more on engaging with the edge, they will always be the stronger engagements no matter what.

Certainly if you can at sometime in the future, upgrade to a Darkwood, they are a major improvement, but despite that, only 10% of the rapier users on our club use anything but the Hanwei 43", it isn't perfect by any means, but its a damn good peice of kit that will allow for perfectly good technique providing you know its weaknesses.

Thanks for the help!

I appreciate the affirmation of my rapier and the reminder of how I need to attack!