shiny
all right today I want to talk about
these EPW practice weapons stand for
Exiles padded weapons these were sent to
me for review quite a while ago actually
last year so that they apologized to XEL
for taking so damn long to said I
haven't found an opportunity to test
them extensively I actually even now
I've only had one sparring session
recently where we tried these out at
Plum iron where I practice we use these
some the synthetic practice swords
they're made of nylon this is kind of
the standard go to practice weapon in
the Hema community alongside balanc
steel blades of course there was
interested in trying these because they
offer something different each practice
tool has its own pros and cons its
limitations you know even belong steel
blades some of you might think you know
why don't all the Gmail colleges use and
put on steel swords because that's the
best right but not necessarily they
certainly handle and feel best in a lot
of ways but there are some other issues
it tend to be more expensive than
synthetic ones for example and that
budget is of course a concern to
students and clubs want to outfit a
large number of students or make them
available as loaner gear and the other
thing is also they can be very unsafe
when they break so if in a thrust the
the blade snapped soft and you're
suddenly left with something more or
less pointy and if the thrust continues
goes on that that can be very dangerous
also in terms of durability the
synthetic ones are actually superior
because they don't get Nicks all over
the place you don't have to continually
file them down to make sure that the
edges are still safe and all that so
just as an example
everything has pros and cons that's the
same in this case so these are there are
two different versions this one here is
the older
this is the newer version of the arming
sir I don't think you can you can tell
any difference they don't agree look
different it's just what's inside so the
older versions are made with plastic
tube of the core and the newer versions
have a metal core and so these are more
durable the edges are dense foam you can
see all I can push them in they're
substantially harder than LARP weapons
they're covered in this reflective tape
which gives them a certain degree of
realism at the very least at a distance
at first glance so they look a little
nicer than the white synthetic blades
the pummel and guard I'm assuming or
plastic I don't know for sure what
material it is a few little bit cool to
the touch ROG doesn't seem to be steel
and well it's definitely not a magnet
doesn't stick to it I'm assuming it's
some form of plastic and the pummel is
pinned you can see there's a metal pin
going through right there
so cannot be unscrewed no rightly and
then the grips are wrapped in cord it
feels well to be soft I'm wondering if
it's some kind of silk cord again don't
know for sure the cross-section is
pretty good it's oval and feels good man
you can definitely tell where the edge
is when holding it the longsword is
really quite similar it's the same type
of pommel they also offer a variety of
other swords they offer the Japanese and
Chinese and all kinds of things really
and I think you can contact them and ask
for custom sparring weapons so one nice
thing about these is that they actually
have a bit of an edge I mean of course
there is a certain thickness here but
they noticeably taper from the center of
the blade towards the edges so that's
quite nice and that along with the
padding also makes them able to bind one
of the major problems with synthetic
blades is that they slide a lot
so they're very slippery which makes
some techniques a little bit difficult
especially compared to sharp steel
blades but even belong steel blades
don't slide anywhere near as much as
this they will slide on the flat of
course but not so much on the edge
whereas these ones here due to the
padding of the way the edges shape these
actually stick a little bit they can
still slide along each other which is
exactly how sharp swords act as well
they can they can also slide unless you
strike them together and they create an
arch in late they cannot bind very
strongly that way which can happen here
too if you strike strongly and keep the
pressure on there definitely stick
pretty well so on the flats not so much
so that's they they're definitely
there's more friction on the flats they
don't slide quite as well as steel does
but well enough really where as as soon
as you you raise them up to a certain
point that the edges start sticking like
this so this is quite nice if you
practice a long sword or with any kind
of sword techniques that rely a lot of
binding and winding this is a pretty
good tool for that because you don't get
that sort of feedback with anything else
other than sharp steel swords and you
don't want to I mean some people do that
and if you are on instructor level you
can say if we do that but for most
students that's not safe practice at all
the other thing is that they obviously
don't hit as hard because they are
padded and there's also a certain degree
of flex in the direction of the edge
then the nylon blades are completely
rigid they don't give at all in the
direction of the edge whereas these here
you can see they do move a little bit I
don't know how well you can see that see
that is the new version so there is
definitely some give they will still
hurt
strike somebody unprotected but you can
do low intensity sparring with these in
just a t-shirt if you were practicing
your solid cutting mechanics and you put
a certain amount of force into the cops
and I would absolutely recommend sensing
jackets and of course the regular gear
mask gloves elbow and knee protectors
that sort of thing they are actually
correctly balanced and they have the
same weight as an actual steel arm
absorb we have to figure out exactly
what you can and cannot do in which gear
but of course it goes without saying
that's the same for any kind of gear
murder strokes are out for very obvious
reasons this is a hard guard you don't
want to do that unless you want to
seriously mess somebody up same with the
the pommel part as well but I mean it's
not like you could do that with a
synthetic either well I was actually
debating with myself whether I should
call this a first impression video or a
review or a preview or what-have-you in
fact at the time of this recording I
still haven't quite made up my mind
simply because on the one hand I'm going
into some degree of gaps here but also I
haven't tested them extensively I said
I've only used them for one sparring
session so far and well a bit of slow
work as well but really not much so in
order for an actual review I would need
more experience with them to test out
the durability now I've been talking to
XEL and the durability can be a bit of
an issue depending on what you're doing
with them especially if you were to use
them with something like a steel buckler
for example or you know steel helmets
anything like that I would chew them up
fairly quickly so that's generally not a
good idea trusting everybody favor topic
of course there are a few concerns and
just like with synthetics something
synthetics are not terribly safe for
thrusting in fact some of them aren't
safe at all because they are way too
rigid look the older
version he said that the older version
is marked with a blue sticker and as of
this this one here is actually quite
rigid very much so I mean like I can I
can barely flex it at all
so it's really in this case it's just
the point that the bends and this could
be quite dangerous whereas this one here
which apparently is the NuvaRing with a
steel cord these do flex quite
substantially in fact they flex mainly
in the last you know
6th or so of the blade I'll pass that it
gets fairly rigid but this is a lot
better so definitely safer this way now
eggsy also told me that if you like
strong thrusts may be a bit of an issue
for gear ability if they flex past 45
degrees that can cause them to not last
as long as they otherwise would
so generally with rust you have to be
somewhat careful Czar's durability is
concerned I cannot make any definite
statement yet because I need to use them
a lot in order to really figure out how
they perform they will of course not be
anywhere near as indestructible as
synthetic blades I mean these here you
can you can use over many years they
will outlast steel because of this kind
of material it is not going to break
anytime soon these would probably be the
least durable out of the available
options just because of the way they're
constructed because that the phone can
can be torn up over time or can be
compressed too much and well the
construction of the hills I don't know
yet we ought to see how that goes that
the tin construction here seems pretty
solid the guard is as it is right now
rock-solid well to see how that goes if
it loosens up over time if they
definitely seem well-made and well
designed when you get them there are no
obvious flaws
the only thing maybe is the the guard
here is just wrapped in tape which is
you know look pretty
is them it's a little bit it'll get
chewed up fairly quickly so in fact it's
already started here the edges get a
little bit torn up and rolled over so
this is not going to look terribly nice
in a while but otherwise the way the
tape here is applied is pretty good and
with one of the major concerns here is
of course that the seam here comes open
and then it loosens up so far I can
definitely say that it's very securely
glued in place so to see how that goes
long term but so far I don't think that
is going to cause problems in the near
future as far as safety is concerned
aside from potential issues with heavy
thrusts v seam overall pretty good
I say overall because apparently I just
got unlucky and the first sparring match
we had with these my thumb got sprained
because I received a cut directly on the
thumb like this and it kind of jammed it
down I think it was caught like this and
and that's that can cause brain very
easily the sort of thing where the
gloves that I've tried so far don't
really do much because they may protect
the the fingers against their the pure
impact but if they're still jammed down
into like the joint is compressed stuff
like that can still happen so that
certainly wasn't very pleasant but
otherwise any hits to the body were just
fine and I've seen people spar and just
t-shirts with these and with hockey
masks that also reminds me this is
something to consider if you if you just
happen to have a hockey helmet lying
around but you don't have a fencing mask
you don't necessarily need to find
mention of a fencing mask has and these
shouldn't dent masks or helmets so I
think you have a wider variety of
equipment to choose from that would work
with this but yeah that's pretty much as
far as the first impression is
concerns this is not the final word so
to speak because I'm definitely going to
have to use them more to get a better
idea of them but I would absolutely say
they are worth looking into even if you
just want to do drills with them and
just do to this quality of them binding
very well that's certainly helpful they
are not perfect no doubt about it
I mean nothing really is I said even
Blum steel swords have their drawbacks
for practice I haven't found any really
glaringly obvious problems with them and
they seem to perform so far I'm just
cautious because I see about the
durability but otherwise worth looking
into the my opinion anyway I hope you
found this interesting and I shall end
the video
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