D&D Ranger recent youtube video

[Tengu]

I dont think JRRT went into it in that depth

 

[TeeDee]

Just to go back to original point
What are peoples thought son using a machete as as backup weapon for a ranger type.
Would a Tomahawk be better

Northern arboreal/europe environment
with a Bow as a primary weapon.
And wanting to travel light.

So really boils down to would a long thin bladed but flat wide machete style sword ( falchionmesser) be usefull for woodcraft.

My own machete is short and quite thick as its the small british army one
and while machetes have been used as weapons even used in armies easpecially africa and the tropics

Whya rent they used more in northern arboreal?

If you want to look at it from a martial viewpoint an axe offers some advantages and some disadvantages over a machete. I'm not pretending to be a super skilled mall ninja here but Kali can show how an axe can offer one distinct advantage over a machete if you are talking about actual fighting - and that thing is - Trapping.


By trapping you can lock joints and create disarms , with the reverse spike on a tomahawk you can snag and pull an opponent towards you or off balance or pull them into and onto something short and spikey..

Machetes are slashing weapons - big broad strokes and no trapping ability.


Watch these to see what I mean.

That all being said , I think if one had to actually fight , a machete is far easier to use and implement and no-one likes big bits of sharp steel coming their way.

hth

 

[Corso]

I think a lot of other factors play into that other than the availability of metal tools.

Metal tool for the win though

They allowed for alot past just surviving

Not sure anything else did?

 

[Wayland]

Agriculture was the big one which lead to settlement which predates metal by some time.

Settlement builds community which leads to social care and basic medicine too. The first survived surgical trepanations were performed with stone tools for example.

I'm not saying that metal doesn't make things easier but I do think it is wise to know how to get by without it at times.

 

[Erbswurst]

@TLM
We had indeed tomahawk similar fighting axes and spike hooks but they died out.

Unsure if you also had it, but I think so.

The field spade was used in this purpose for sure in WW1, probably also in WW2.

 

[TLM]

We had indeed tomahawk similar fighting axes and spike hooks but they died out.

Yes war axes of various types have been dug up but as far as I know they are associated with armed burials. I don't remember seeing anything like tomahawks in records of tools of historical times.

 

[Laurentius]

For a start he is wearing a ridiculously long sword over his shoulder that he could not possibly draw. Fail...

Actually you will find he has invented a sheath that does allow him to draw the sword from over his shoulder, of course it is not historical, but he has demonstrated that it works.

 

[Laurentius]

Well blurring the lines between medieval, fantasy and bushcraft, I have wondered whether a Tod Cutler Breughel Messer would be any good for bushcraft. It is a historical weapon/tool carried by peasants, you can certainly use it for batoning, but it would not replace a good machete/slasher/billhook however if you are an adventurer out in the wilderness and that is all you have, it could be a decent all rounder and quite possibly was.

 

[TLM]

Well blurring the lines between medieval, fantasy and bushcraft, I have wondered whether a Tod Cutler Breughel Messer would be any good for bushcraft. It is a historical weapon/tool carried by peasants, you can certainly use it for batoning, but it would not replace a good machete/slasher/billhook however if you are an adventurer out in the wilderness and that is all you have, it could be a decent all rounder and quite possibly was.

Looks very much like some hunting swords. Depending on where one is and the season I would think that sufficient. For me the "problem" is that I was brought up using an axe, had I been a Sami I would be using a big Leuku happily. I understand that some people have tried using Kukris and Parangs with no problems so I don't think either solution is really better, just different traditions.

 

[neoaliphant]

I dont think JRRT went into it in that depth

He did in some of the otehr books like silmarillion, tehers were the middle earth forum get a lot of info from.

 

[neoaliphant]

If you want to look at it from a martial viewpoint an axe offers some advantages and some disadvantages over a machete. I'm not pretending to be a super skilled mall ninja here but Kali can show how an axe can offer one distinct advantage over a machete if you are talking about actual fighting - and that thing is - Trapping.

I found these as well in my research, quite agree with combat advantages of the axe, I used to use one in saxon reenactment and it was very versatile. Axe and knife against sword and shield is a bit uneven match, but i think a lot of tomahawk/knife fighting was against people with muskets/rifles or in close quarters. I saw that in vietnam the tomahawk was reversed and held upside down above the head and used a a billy stick in really close nightime combat.

 

[neoaliphant]

Well blurring the lines between medieval, fantasy and bushcraft, I have wondered whether a Tod Cutler Breughel Messer would be any good for bushcraft. It is a historical weapon/tool carried by peasants, you can certainly use it for batoning, but it would not replace a good machete/slasher/billhook however if you are an adventurer out in the wilderness and that is all you have, it could be a decent all rounder and quite possibly was.

I wondered this a few weeks back, he did a recent video on one of his messers that I thought looked very practical. almost cutlass like. I remember someone saying at battle agincourt falchions were used by archers to sharpen their defensive stakes, but for killing french knights they bludgeoned with mauls in to the mud and drowned them. A falchion was designed to go against cloth armour mostly. I think the messer looks better design tho.

I think practically the messer beats falchion because its a more sensible length for other purposes.
In shads video what annoyed me is he only counted his own australian prickly bush, not otehr environments. As mentioned earlier in this thread, would a ranger want to make a hugh swatch of destruction showing where he had been.

So to discount shads falchion idea

better discussion is

Breughel Messer VS Tomahawk/Knife

 

[neoaliphant]

Actually you will find he has invented a sheath that does allow him to draw the sword from over his shoulder, of course it is not historical, but he has demonstrated that it works.

The Shabbard!

But why doesnt he simply put quiver on back and sword at side, or perhaps not have such a long sword. Having a Long bow and a long sword is a bit too much in my opinion

 

[TeeDee]

 

[neoaliphant]

Awesome find, Ta