{"id":136,"date":"2009-06-04T07:42:59","date_gmt":"2009-06-04T06:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/?p=136"},"modified":"2009-06-04T07:56:32","modified_gmt":"2009-06-04T06:56:32","slug":"uncle-pucks-doorway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/2009\/06\/uncle-pucks-doorway\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncle Puck’s Doorway"},"content":{"rendered":"

(6\/3\/2009)<\/em><\/p>\n

This article is a fencing tip for amateur rapier fencers.\u00a0 In Italian rapier\u00a0and classical fencing the arm is held straight from elbow to tip.\u00a0 Fabris favors an extended and straight arm, but he discusses the sword held at an angle as well.<\/p>\n

——————————————————-<\/p>\n

Those who hold the sword at an angle (with either the hand in third just above the knee or in second higher and outside the knee) do fortify their sword, but pay the price in giving the opponent much bigger openings and allowing him to come closer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fabris’ 1606 text as translated by Tom Leoni<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

And also this concerning the sword held at an angle:<\/p>\n

It is much better to hold the arm withdrawn and the sword straight so as to form a direct line between the elbow and the point.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fabris’ 1606 text as translated by Tom Leoni<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Compare that to this 1997 classical Italian text:<\/p>\n

In the completed guard the weight of the body should be distributed equally between the legs, with the torso profiled, and inclining slightly forward, head up and turned to the right, eyes on the adversary, shoulders down, right arm well extended and relaxed, elbow in line with the flank, hand in central position on the line of offense, midway between invitations in third and fourth, and forearm and weapon forming an unbroken line.<\/em><\/p>\n

Gaugler’s Science of Fencing<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

——————————————————-<\/p>\n

From these two quotes we can see that the Italians are wary of extending a bent wrist forward.\u00a0 A sword that is extended in a straight line from elbow to tip protects the hand behind the guard.<\/p>\n

\"Kevins<\/a>

Kevins straight wrist protects his wrist and arm behind the guard.<\/p><\/div>\n

From the front, the opponent’s perspective is more obvious.\u00a0 (Notice below that the swept hilt protects not only the hand but the entire forearm as well.)<\/p>\n

\"By<\/a>

By keeping his arm straight from elbow to tip, Kevin protects his wrist and arm.<\/p><\/div>\n

Most amateur fencers don’t\u00a0realize this target is exposed and they open\u00a0a line\u00a0to an easy attack that I call Uncle Puck’s Doorway<\/strong>. <\/em>On a swept hilt rapier there is a V-shaped notch where the rings meet the sweeps and the superior half of the cross.<\/p>\n

\"Uncle<\/a>

Kevin grips the sword at an angle with a bent wrist showing Uncle Puck's Doorway.<\/p><\/div>\n

When this angle exists in the wrist, it creates a nice landing pad for an attack to the top of the arm.\u00a0 The bend in the wrist acts as the perfect backstop for the attack.<\/p>\n

\"Kevin's<\/a>

Kevin's bent wrist shows the open door and the angle creates a nice backstop for the attack.<\/p><\/div>\n

An adversary who\u00a0holds a sword extended and forward with an angle in the wrist is the gift that keeps on giving.\u00a0 If you are an SCA fencer and you are aware of this line of attack, you can be very effective in tournaments and group combat because newer SCA fencers often make this mistake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(6\/3\/2009) This article is a fencing tip for amateur rapier fencers.\u00a0 In Italian rapier\u00a0and classical fencing the arm is held straight from elbow to tip.\u00a0 Fabris favors an extended and straight arm, but he discusses the sword held at an angle as well. ——————————————————- Those who hold the sword at an angle (with either the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,1,13,4,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":398,"href":"https:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions\/398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.puckandmary.com\/blog_puck\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}