Martial artists and fighters have used steel and wooden training weapons for centuries. Many of today's competitive Historical European Martial Arts groups (HEMA) rely on synthetic wasters as an integralpart of their total training spectrum. These synthetic wasters are suitable for most drills, sparring, and free fencing with appropriate protective gear for hands, head, and body.Every training tool is a compromise between shape, weight, cost, and performance. With the right material and careful distal tapering, Purpleheart's Type III wasters provide an excellent combination of these qualities. The blade flexes well in the thrust even in highly competitive environments. This means a greater margin of safety for your fencing partner.The blade flexes quickly and retains enough stiffness to permit dynamic and vigorous fencing actions with a minimum of unrealistic blade whipping. The durable synthetic material allows a blade thickness of .5" (13mm) -- half that of most wooden wasters. This allows for a closer approximation of winding with steel weapons. Atthe same time, the blade thickness helps distribute impact force compared to steel blade edges, making for a slightly safer training alternative.Purpleheart Type III synthetic blade durability is unrivaled. These training tools can stand up to years of daily, high impact training.They do not develop splinters like wood, or sawtooth notches like steel. In fact, some of our first production units are still in regular use after two years, yet show no signs of dents, nicks, orwear aside from superficial dirt and rust on the steel furniture.For best performance, store them as you would a steel sword when your equipment is not in use: in a cool, dry environment and resting flat or hanging by the crossguard. Heat, humidity, and resting a weight ontop can all cause the blade to bend and take an undesired set. Treat it well, and this tool will serve you for years with almost no maintenance.This is the most widely used synthetic waster across all HEMA tournaments in the world. This training weapon was developed in collaboration with some of the world's foremost HEMA instructors, American and European. Its dimension and weight specifications fall within the range of historical examples. It handles very well in both one and two hands, and allows the wielder to perform longsword techniques at the blade, in winding, and ringen am schwert with a minimal loss of fidelity from steel. Furthermore, with appropriate protective gear, the waster handles very well in thrusts -- preserving accuracy of technique balanced against safety for training partners.
