Very Old Firangi with Rapier blade in need of restoration.

[fernando]

Hi David,
As Jens days, not any man could handle these things.
Concerning their fighting style, while the experts don't post their saying, you may have to consider one of options, in my humble opinnion.
If this were a basic khanda, a two thousand years old hindu weapon, the blade would be straight and single edged, some times with its back reinforced and adorned. The blade shape could widen towards the tip, thus only being efective for thrust if the adversary was not body armoured. Its slashing power, however, was most feared throughout Asia ... one blow could mutilate an arm, armoury included. Remember this is a sort of "bastard" or "hand and half" sword, with that extra spike in the hilt. Such hilt being padded, could absorse the impact. If it were a Firangi with a wide blade, the function could well be the same. But being mounted with a rapier blade, maybe the option could tend, at least partly, to thrust fighting, following the original blade purpose.
On the other hand, those guys didn't use left hand daggers, nor did they go for fencing. When they used a support device, that would be the shield, very often a minuscle one. The Portuguese used to call it "rodela", to remind its round small size.
Concerning the blade marks, it's the usual lottery; some were blank ( maybe most of them ), and others were single or even profusely marked. I would recomend you to check on the thread opened by Jim on this theme
http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=5453
I hope all i said doesn't sound nonsense
Fernando