Thinking back to my childhood, growing up watching westerns with my Dad, (or 'cowboys' as he would say), the blacksmith was always a big muscular hunk of a guy.... usually sweaty and just plain sexy!! mmmmmm.... is that you too Jay-T? ;) :D

Muscular? nope just average size
sweaty and sexy you bet! at least the wife thinks so lol!

These are a couple of the sharp and pointies we make.
Every March I have a master knife and sword maker come from the frozen north and stay with us until mid June.We set up at a couple of Renn Faires for 6 weeks .

mmmmm.... thanks for that image Jay-T. Lucky wife. :)

A claymore in process

I like the look of that claymore. What are the dimensions on it?

Whats a claymore ?

Either (in this case), a huge, heavy longsword made for the purpose of opening cans (that is, actually penetrating late medieval/early renaissance body armor). Nasty anti-elitist personnel weapon.

Or, a directional land mine named after the sword. The mine is bascially a brick of plastic explosive, backed by a steel plate, and fronted by a large number of steel pellets. Nasty anti-personnel weapon.

Which ones?

The claymore sword wasn't just anti-armor. It was anti-cavalry. The blade is usually exceptionally long and heavy, so that when the horses charged they could either set it up to spear the horse's chest or swing it and take out the horse's front legs.

As an anti-cavalry device, it was inferior to pikestaffs and other "standoff" weapons.

True, but it was more versatile than the pikes/spears. The shaft of a spear would snap under the crashing weight of the horse and rider. Whereas the sword, if swung, would be able to continue the fight.

Not if you have a horse sitting on you. The word is "standoff". Many pikes were just sharpened saplings, cheap and disposable.

Still have the chance to get run over and landed on by a horse with a pike. Horse can jump you know. Since the claymore is more maneuverable than a pike which would have to be braced into the ground, if the horse jumps you still have the option of hamstringing it, or going for the rider instead. The force of the blow versus the momentum of the horse would easily knock the heavily armored rider off. He wouldn't be able to get up very fast since his armor would be an extra 150-200 pounds, so he'd be easily taken care of.

Though I think we might have to concede that this is a difference of opinion and just simply agree to disagree.

Damn, this was just getting heated (and fun).

We'll wait for the next opportunity.

Poor horses!!!