Half-swording - Why grabbing a sharp blade in a sword fight is not crazy
Why Worldbuilding Stack Exchange recommends it
Worldbuilding Stack Exchange answerers and commenters link it as evidence that gripping a sharp blade is safe and historically real when questions ask about handling or fighting with swords.
Recommended by 1 people across 1 different months, 2015 to 2018.
What it is
Skallagrim, a swordsmanship hobbyist and HEMA practitioner, explains half-swording, the historical technique of gripping a sharp sword blade with the off-hand. He covers why it was used against plate armor, how the Mordschlag (murder stroke) and wrestling uses work, and demonstrates it bare-handed on camera with two swords.
What people said
Recommends vsz · 2018-03 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “Handling a sword blade (directly) to stab”
@TylerDahle : Nope. You won't cut you hand. And Nikola Stojanovic, no, there was nothing more than maybe leather on your palms. And there is no such thing as "chainmail". Here is a video demonstrating the technique without gloves and with a sharp sword: [this video]
Cites PipperChip · 2015-02 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “What would be favoured weapons and weapon styles of a four-armed human?”
As a student of the Italian School of Longsword Fencing, and a student of medieval weapons in general, I would say this: Extra Arms need not be occupied with weapons. It was common practice to grapple opponents [LINK] , even while wielding a longsword. In fact, Fiori de Liberi recommends pommel-strikes [LINK] at close distance. Having extra arms could result in special disarms, or grabbing their sword while attacking with your swords. (And yes, people do grab swords in combat, such as when half-swording [this video] !) You can cut "with your body," or using your body's momentum. Additional weight in the form of arms can increase already considerable momentum. Four-armed individuals may just decid
Cites vsz · 2015-07 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “How well would a soldier or army do with one of their hands replaced with a sword?”
Bad idea. Among all close combat weapons, swords require the most agility. Despite videogames conditioning us that swords require strength and bows require agility, actually it's reversed. Despite movies and videogames showing us fighters who hack at each other sloooowly and with full swings just as if they were chopping wood with an axe, swords were never used for chopping. They were used either for thrusting or cutting, both requiring great wrist agility. See it for yourself in this video [LINK] . Think about how you could perform those quick motions with a sword rigidly fixed to your arm, without your hands. Against armor, you would be in even deeper trouble. Using sword against armor is
Cites PipperChip · 2017-07 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “Weapon design: a conceivable superheated sword capable of cutting through most things”
The Problems I See As a HEMA practitioner [LINK] , I don't think this is very practical for a few reasons: It is common in many styles of swordsmanship to block other weapons with your own weapon. If you block edge-on-edge and successfully cut through the other weapon, you may find the part you cut off flying into your face! Yes, I know edge-on-edge blocking [LINK] is looked down upon by certain people, but it's common enough that I should mention it. You cannot reliably enter into a bind or parry with this blade against a weapon. A changing center of mass is very tricky. There are situations where you may want to very quickly turn and cut, or you rely on the blade's speed (such as German lo
Cites Shifty Fingers · 2018-03 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “Handling a sword blade (directly) to stab”
Yes it is possible, it's called half-swording and it's quite common in a good amount of longsword manuals. With a proper way of gripping the sword you can half-sword safely even without a pair of gloves and sustain no damage to your hands. Skallagrim has a video in which he does exactly that [this video] , half-swording with his bare hands then Mordhau-ing a rubber tire, although he admits that wearing gloves give a psychological advantage to half-swording.
Cites Pahlavan · 2018-03 · Worldbuilding Stack Exchange · on “Handling a sword blade (directly) to stab”
You're not wrong, but the danger of using a sword at the blade can be overestimated. There are videos of people performing full-powered murder strokes (both hands holding the edge striking with the hilt/pommel) with bare hands and a sharp longsword without any injury (e.g. [this video] )