Seconded. There is nothing wrong with cool looking display items, and history is filled with bizarre fantastical cermonial weaponry (for palace guards and such) that is unsuitable for actual combat.
I own a no-frills combat quality dao, but am also wanting to get a pimped-out display sword, with tassles, dragon engravings, and such.
Thirded.
I prefer my swords wieldable, but anything that is or looks really cool is fine.
I’m still looking for a swept hilt rapier that’s balanced near the hilt.
The Buster sword is sweet, but I just got Legolas’ Knives and convincing Mrs. Gnu of the need for a new sword so soon would be impossible.
[geek]Me too 
Force FX or a replica hilt?[/geek]
Meh. Gimme Anduril anytime, baby.
http://www.ninja-weapons.com/Swords/Lord_of_the_Rings/images/9245.jpg
I’ll go ahead and fourth the sentiment, with one caveat.
Display pieces, are great for collectors, however, some feel their decorative pieces should be swung around and (ogg forbid) used to cut things. With rat tail tangs and stainless steel this is a recipe for disaster. Also, passing off wall hangers as historically accurate replicas is probably one of the reasons people (even history professors) still buy into the 20 pound medieval swords nonsense.
I don’t believe the OP to be one of these types of collectors, and that’s great, enjoy your new piece!
No, no, no. I’m not trying to trash your hobby, and I sure don’t want to pit you (or be pitted) over it. I agree that the stuff on that site looks cool, and I wouldn’t even mind owning some of it.
My personal preference in cool-looking runs towards down-n-dirty functionality, like your basic black cloth and wood katana, or the H&K MP5. This is not meant to disparage your taste in any way.
I was having a fairly crap day yesterday, and I apparently came off as sounding far harsher than I meant to. Apologies for that.
Shake?
Sure. No offense was taken in the first place, though.
Hee hee! You people and your hankering for fantasy swords is so cute! This is all very funny…
:eek: lusts I take it back. Well, that’s something else to save up for…
Fair enough. The invitation to take it to the pit made me think otherwise. Ah, internet, you wreaker of mischief.
Ah. I didn’t mean to take it to the pit. I just meant that MPSIMS or IMHO was a more appropriate forum for sword discussion than CS.
I totally read that as “Dude, I can’t say here in CS how I really feel about you, so if you wanna open up a pit thread, I’ll take you on.”
My moronic co-workers are getting to me. I’m assuming everyone is a dense and argumentative as they are.
(Semi-hijack)
I always thought it was so cool that those Chinese swordmasters wore their swords on their backs, until I realized what that meant in terms of how short those blades would have to be for them to be sheathable. (Unless, of course, you could use telekinesis. )
Was reading a thread on another board ( dedicated to such things ) and apparently there isn’t much evidence anyone ever wore a sword like that as a matter of course. Or at least not near a battlefield - it seems it just wasn’t practical.
It arrived today. It looks just absolutely awesome above my living room fireplace! Well worth the $36 +SH. Since I am in the process of redecorating my basement anyway, I think I may go with an FF theme and use the Buster Sword as a beginning.
Nerd alert!
Actually, it looks kinda cool.
Ok, now I have to get one!
Some swords in actual real-life use were so long that they had to be carried in an over-the-shoulder rig: nodachi (like the big sword carried by the low class guy pretending to be a samurai in the fairly accurate Seven Samurai) and just about all of the two-handed swords in the late middle-ages and Reniassance. There’s no way to carry a sword that big other than over your shoulder or on a horse. Usually that wouldn’t have been your only weapon, and those big-assed swords were usually only used in military situations, so you’re right that, in general, that kind of thing isn’t very practical.
To be workable, back sheaths for regular-to-long blades can’t really cover the whole blade. If there is a slot in the side of the sheath, you can actually draw a long blade from over your shoulder. It’s not fast, but it lets you get to the blade without having to get out of the whole harness. As far as I know, no one can prove without a doubt that such rigs actually existed, but there is some evidence that they did. Chinese martial-arts masters, whether appearing in a movie or not, probably use (would have used) something similar.
My own youthful experiments with a (zinc) katana convinced me that anything close to full length blades can’t be carried cross-back with a full sheath unless you have arms like a gibbon. I actually do have longer than normal arms and I can’t pull a normal blade length for a Japanese from a cross-back sheath (i.e.: point at left hip, hilt at right shoulder, right hand draw). When I hung it on the left shoulder, hanging straight down, however, I could just clear the throat of the saya without stretching. Just for fun, I tried the same thing with my iaitô a couple of months ago and even though the blade is longer than average for Japanese katana (average is 2 shaku 4 sun, mine is 2 shaku 5 sun 5 bu), so that it fits my body proportions, I can still draw it if I carry it slung over one shoulder. Realistically, I’d just shrug it off my shoulder, catch it in my left hand, draw it, and drop the saya if I were in a hurry. Then again, I wouldn’t be carrying it over my shoulder if I were interested in getting to it in a hurry.
Rolls with a sword on your back are just about impossible, by the way. Believe me, when I was a stupid 13 year old I tried just about everything to get it to work. The sword falls out; you can only roll in one direction, opposite the shoulder the hilt is on; if the blade is lower than your hip you can’t roll at all in either direction; and it bloody well hurts to roll over the scabbard. Plus, if the harness is tight enough to feel secure, you’d be lucky enough to be able to squat, much less bend your back enough to do a decent roll. Ninja super-bounce-ball gymnastics would seem to be unworkable in real life, not that that’s any surprise. You can roll if you carry a sword at your hip, like normal, though it takes some practice to avoid tangling yourself up.
Some fantasy blades are both cool looking and practical. Most of the Lord of the Rings blades are very nice. I especially like the elven swords like Arwen’s, Strider’s original sword, and Sting.
So…is it a vampire Buster Sword? Does it not show up in photos? hint, hint, nudge, nudge
Don’t know about “proof” but back in the 90s I was visiting my aunt in Germany and while there visited one of the inumberable little museums they have all over the place. In this particular one they had some artwork from the medieval period and one of the paintings had a dude with a heck of a large sword strapped to his back (easily as tall as him). But it wasn’t in a full sheath. Looked like 2 leather clasps or hoops holding the blade attached to the strap.
Emailed my aunt to see if she remembers the name of the museum.
No memory of the museum, but the town was Gosler.
Sooooo, can I hold it for a sec?
Swords of that size were really not part of the medieval period. The large dopplehanders are renaissance swords.