How to Hold a Sword - Not as Simple as You Think!

-Hey, Skall, may I ask a question? -IT DEPENDS

When I was a young teenage sword nerd I felt so proud of myself figuring out that placing your index finger over the crossbar of a rapier gives you substantially more control. I really thought I was the first person to figure that out... gawd I was so arrogant.

Each grip is akin to a whole new way of wielding, with new strengths and weaknesses. About time a big youtuber made a video on them. Thanks Skall!

This is really useful information for animators and storyboard artists

Take my like for featuring a correct spanish grip. It feels like Destreza is almost non existent outside Spain :( and these small ft are gladly welcome ^^

>Obligatory innuendo about thrusting to my heart's content.

alright that "it depends" edit was smooth

Oddly enough, it’s the opposite in blacksmithing regarding the hammer grip. You loosen your grip on the hammer as you strike the workpiece and grip it on the rebound to lift the hammer above your head. Great video!

Obviously you hold it by the blade and strike with the pommel

With those longer handled "Choppers" it might be best to treat them as an ax, instead of a sword. Start with the hands far apart, then slide the top (forward) hand down with the swing to gain more power

Appreciate the "you can switch grip" bit. Never tried hema, not even cutting with a proper swor, but 've played tennis (not so much, but a few years), and you can change grip by pure muscle memory when the situation needed it, I supposed for sword that allows it, it will be the same.

That cup-hilt is gorgeous!

That segue into the 'like, comment, and subscribe' bit was smooth.

When handling weapons, there can sometimes be more nuances in the grip like how hard you grip the handle and even going down to how hard an individual finger grips the weapon. With a Japanese sword, for example, you mostly grip the sword with your wrists turned inward and hold the sword with ring finger and pinkie to create straighter, more powerful archs while cutting. Noticing how your opponent grips their sword can also be extremely advantageous since a hard grip can make the other fencer more susceptible to getting the sword beaten out of their hands. It may not seem like it, but they way you grip your sword can drastically affect how a swordfight goes.

The bloopers in this video were actually audible-laugh level hilarious, thanks for putting them in

SKALLS FOR THE SKALLTHRONE BLOOD FOR THE SKALLGORITHUM

This helpful as I’ve just begun HEMA training and sparring. Thanks.

Thank you. It's always interesting to learn about the finely detailed, nitty-gritty nuances of any skill set, art, or job.

Thank you for this simple yet informative demonstration. Much like with firearms, stance and grip styles are keys to success, and somebody needs to teach you these things as there are subtleties that books can't teach you about.

It is surprising how nuanced this topic is. One would think you just grab the thing and swing it or poke with it. This was well presented. In jian play, there is another grip yet. A grip where two fingers, usually the middle and ring finger, are clasped by the thumb and the index and pinkie are a bit looser. This is to create an almost ball-and-socket effect. Or like second wrist. Objective being to have a certain fluidity and freedom of blade movement as well as a certain yielding quality. Li Jinglin, famous swordsman of fairly recent times called it the "lively grip." Indicating that the jian is dead without it, in a sense. But same is also true. You switch it up depending on your action.