I think Mr Easton is going to be recognized in HEMA history as having single-handedly revolutionized the entire modern sword design and manufacturing industry ... along with being the single best source of historical weapons related information and education. Thank you for your service to education ... and FUN. Cheers!
To his credit and I've met him in 2005 in France, he moved up from an already very knowledgeable and deadly fencer, to the actual Monument of bladed history and close rival to the Wallace collection I terms of old rare stuff hanging on his walls. Matt I'd love to fence you again I Dijon when you come back👊
Hes a gem. I'm not a history guy at all really but I've been watching Matt for like 9 or 10 years. Down to earth dude with so much knowledge on cool subjects
If you're a "Rapierist" the banana could be in the cup, where it screws into the nuts or the dainty flanges. Two fingers through the hole gives you the most control, although some grips swell into the hand. The stiffness is reassuring because when you thrust someone, they STAY thrust.
Congrats Mat. Welcome to the world of rapiers. They are hella fun to fence with. One thing you could try is swap the blades if you like the old one better. Cheers.
Bought an 1840 NCO sword recently and found your videos very educational! I found your video about it after my purchase. Thanks and I'm a fan. Always had an interest, as I am now in my 40's I have a bit of extra money. This is helpful for my future sword purchases and I'm a subscriber.
Considering that you're less versed with rapier than things like saber, you should try using that rapier with your saber styles, and against another sabreur. It would be an interesting experiment. You could really see how the aspects like weight, reach, and momentum affet your performance, and it might highlight some ideas about saber design as well as the rapier. I'd certainly be interested in seeing such an experiment. In fact, you could do the same thing with all kinds of swords. Use mismatched weapons and fighting styles against someone using matching weapons and styles.
Thanks, Matt. I have Kvetun’s old rapier, which looks a bit like Thibault’s: symmetrical rings and such. It handles well, but the thought of greater hand protection *and* a lighter weight is very appealing. Which is another way of saying: stop this! I have enough swords!
16:18 My old model cup hilt rapier from kvetun weighs about 1070g. I think your rapier is on the heavier side of kvetun's cup hilt rapiers since the weight on their website was (I think) 1100g. 18:06 I found that going against heavier rapiers is difficult because they can push and bully your blade from the center line.
I heard you say the spanish made cup hilted swords with broader blades, not just rapiers. They sound very cool and interesting, maybe some more info on them?
Did you know That LK Chen has a rapier out? It's called a Saxony German Rapier. And they plan on doing a Smallsword in the future. I emailed them about the Smallsword. They responded with that they needed to do more research.
I ended up selling my old kvetun rapier because the blade was just too springy. Parrying and blade control were quite hard with a sword that kept flopping all over the place. A stiffer blade might be something they should look into. edit: spelling mistakes
This is a common, but incorrect notion, and I hope it's alright I take the opportunity to correct it through commenting on you. The problem with the old Kvetun rapier wasn't the flex, but how heavy the tip was. The blade flops around about the middle part of the blade because of this. In essence, there's actually too little flex, so to speak, at the last part of the blade, and the fix is not to make the blade stiffer - because you'll have the same problem if you uniformly make it more stiffer, just less pronounced. What Kvetun needs to do is to taper the tips better, as I know people have done themselves to fix the issue.
@@tanterouge no man, i agree with the other guy and i tell you why. i own a destreza rapier from destrezania and a kvetun (which i never use cause it feels an useless antenna to me). Last week i met in Dijon a guy with a kvetun which he cut at 96cm of blade for destreza. And I was curious cause i thought i could fix mine too. So we sparred destreza, me with my awesome destrezania rapier and the other with shorten kvetun, and then we swap rapiers. Shorten kvetun was still horrible cause the blade is just slim and springy, couldn t bind at all. So I d say it is a useless expensive rapier. Matt do business with em so I understand why he s not trashing it but still... Oh and the other sparring partner shared the same feeling.
I think that the fact that this one bends more when hitting simulates a bit what would happen if it entered the body, the old one allowed you to push people away to avoid afterblows, which wouldn't really be possible irl right ?
yea but some people practice hema as a sport so they want sport advantages like for example in tournament I was in, some people took heaviest sabers allowed because their plan was to hit hard first few rounds even if they loose them, to make you feel pain and make sure that you block their feints :D And yea when someone has stiff blade its very unpleasant to go into their range if they're good at thrusting
gorgeous sword, i've held rapiers own a few, but they all feel weird i am not a fan of how balanced towards the hilt they normally are and they don't feel like anything i'd want to use in a fight and i would never choose it over my Mortuary hilt backsword or my sabers and while cup hilts always look goofy to my eyes its very nice looking
There are 3 options of blade on their site for this rapier, as you say. soft (standard) strong +50 euro, and superd +100euro. I expect your old one has one of the stronger blades.
I am not sure that they had a standard type - I assume that they all provided their own swords, according to what was fashionable in France at the time, which includes quite a wide range of rapiers.
Are there any sharp, realistically stiff rapiers of good quality ? i almost always only see training ones, with bendy blades for safety and covered points.
45" is nuts :P a taller gent like you with such a blade, i would not want to fence against, it would be dominating...an equally long blade would be a minimum requirement for even standing a chance, and most people's nowadays aren't that long. You say its accurate for Spain, but Spanish law regulated blades to 40". So a cup hilt with such a blade is a little strange, I think. Maybe in some places it was a thing.
@@charlesparr1611 what do you mean? I was mostly asking Matt as he sometimes replies, but you can Google Alexander Panaskin + "Khazarian Warrior" and have a look.
A question from a Metal worker, Britta is my girlfriend. If you cut the thread (?)/ Gewinde, did you made the remaining thread a bit longer with tool ( in german Schneideisen)?
Off topic question : Were Horseguard and Lifeguard cavalry swords of any use on foot ? And woud they stand a chance against a rapier on foot since they got a long reach ?
Do they make sharp blades for this one? Both the old and the new? Every single cup held that I have ever found is either meant for Hema or it is a set piece, I am looking for one that is sharp or has sharp blades available to switch them out for cutting and actual thrusting practice.
I had my Kvetun “Mock 1” rapier welded in a local shop. The rattling bothered me. I had the bowl welded not just to the quillons but also to where the screws attached to the guard. The screws kept coming unscrewed, I couldn’t keep them tight. Very happy with the results. You can disassemble the rapier. The bowl and guard are one unit though. I did contact Kvetun and sent pictures and asked them if they could make a rapier welded in like manner. They said that they could but I never got around to ordering one. I may get around to ordering this one. I am very much interested in the swollen grip. I prefer two fingers forward also. (By the way, the sail dagger is a very sturdy and awesome piece of kit. I would highly recommend it. I did have to have a custom grip made independently though.) Mat, do you have any experience, knowledge or opinions on Kvetun’s leather rapier gloves? They look interesting. Are they worth the dosh?
It's a bit too long for Destreza that I'm practising. IMO, the blade is a bit too long for a single handed sword. But for a 114cm blade, it's not that heavy as you would expect. It's only 70g heavier than their Spanish rapier with a standard 104cm blade.
@@Bermuda-e7f They have to sacrifice the blade's strength so that it's not overweight for a single-handed sword. If it's as rigid as a 104cm blade, I suspect it may be heavier than 1300g.
Got the new 'version 2' rapier. All well and good except one thing - the pommel. Too large and round, it presses against the arm and impedes many techniques. Now that the grip is shorter it makes things even worse. I dumped it and replaced it with old Leon Paul pommel which is slimmer and longer instead. Pls advice those guys to make some changes to the pommel (use the small sword one or the one from the twohander).
Funnily enough, this matter was noted at the last training session, as everyone else has left hand daggers and I don't.... but I do now have two matching rapiers! Seems a bit OP....
@@scholagladiatoria being op is better then being an loser. show those bozos what it means to weld two swords! well.. your non dominant arm might start cramping quick.
@@scholagladiatoria ...... Makes more sense to have a different sword on another hand so those that are good at smacking and moving in can't just smack both points offline. Basically the fencers version of halberd mixed within a pike square.
G'day, To indicate propensity, add "ist" as a Suffix...,eg Rape + propensity to do such = Rapist. Likely to play with Rapiers = Rapierist... To indicate ACTUAL EXPERTISE... Add "ologist" as a Suffix. An Oncologist knows lots about Oncology ("Cancers"). A Rape-ologist knows a lot about Rape - ideally from an academic scholarly statistical perspective, if not from a Theraputic point of view. Sadly though, Nobody can write "Therapist" Without writing The Rapist...(!). So, Obliviously..., One who underconstumbles all there be to know about Rapiers...; Would be a Rapierologist... Quod Erat Demonstrandum. Personally, I have an entire Playlist dedicated unto Aeroplanology...(!). Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
