Wasters as Art

Vier Leger has just received two new wasters, made by our friend and fellow swordsman in the USA, Jeffrey Robinson.

The wasters are made of a single piece of high-density plastic with a clear-vinyl-sheathed metal cross. They will be used both for those beginning their training with us, and also as a great training analogue for our steel blades in pell-work and other drills and applications.

These wasters are practical works of art - not only do they have a remarkably sure and springy feel, they are great to look at too!

A short bio on Jeffrey:

I live in Sarasota, Florida and manage to squeak out a living as a sculptor/bronze caster.

I've been interested in edged weapons (swords in particular) for as long as I can remember. It's only been in recent years, however, that I've been able to realize my long held dream of actually learning how to properly use them.

I spent several years in various martial arts then stumbled upon an Iaido (Japanese swordsmanship) class. It was intriguing enough to hold my interest for a couple of years but I still wanted something more 'usable' where I could learn actual sword-on-sword tactics.

Then one day while researching information on heat treating blades, I came upon a web video of some people doing German longsword. I was amazed! I began to read everything I could find on the subject. I ordered Christian Tobler's book Fighting With the German Longsword and found translations of Dobringer, Ringeck, Von Danzig, Meyer, and generally anything I could find on the Liechtenauer tradition.

After locating a few like minded training partners I was able to put all the research to use. I made a number of hickory wasters to begin with. I made my own because the ones I was finding available for purchase were too light and improperly balanced when compared to a steel longsword. These were satisfactory for a time but we found that the wood wasters bounced too much on impact with each other, they don't flex at all, and they don't slide against each other like steel does in the bind.

The breakthrough came in the happenstance discovery of a dense, high performance plastic that is very tough (they are holding up far better than my hickory originals), has some flex to it, and slides in the bind very much like steel but is far safer than using a steel blade.

I made a few for my little study group and have since made several for fellow longsword practitioners in other parts of the world.

Above is a picture of me with two of my less practical creations. They are based on a pair of swords from a video game a friend of mine played. The blades are hardened and tempered high carbon steel. Hilt fittings are bronze. Grips are leather covered hardwood. One blade has etching along both sides.

And this is a picture of the high performance plastic wasters.

Thanks again to Jeffrey for his efforts in creating these amazing wasters. Jeffrey really went "above and beyond" in getting these to us - and we just can't thank him enough! They are a fine and welcome addition to our collection of training weapons.

If you would like more information on Jeffrey's wasters or to explore his sculptures and bronze works, please visit his website.