Ethiopian Shotel or Gurade to share

werecow · 21st October 2022, 08:33 PM

Oh, and as to how these handle: they are pretty front heavy (the grip is of course quite light) and they both feel to me with my limited experience a lot like draw cutting swords like tulwars and shamshirs, as if they want to be pulled around or along the body from the shoulder and elbow in a long slicing motion, if that makes sense. My guess is you wouldn't really do a western saber style moulinet with it (at least not with the shotel). The pommel reinforces that impression. But I could be wrong of course, as I don't know much about HAMA. The point on the shotel is a little terrifying to me when I carefully swing it around

(which ever way I hold it). I've tried to indicate the approximate point of balance in this picture (red lines). In both cases it's about a third of the way up the blade. And with the shotel the point of gravity is significantly in front of the hand (making it feel more like a forward curved blade like a yataghan), whereas with the gurade it is of course slightly behind the hand like a saber.

As a total layman, this flow kind of feels "right" to me for the gurade:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxJMODhcZk4

21st October 2022, 08:33 PM	#18
werecow Member Join Date: Sep 2021 Location: Leiden, NL Posts: 553	Oh, and as to how these handle: they are pretty front heavy (the grip is of course quite light) and they both feel to me with my limited experience a lot like draw cutting swords like tulwars and shamshirs, as if they want to be pulled around or along the body from the shoulder and elbow in a long slicing motion, if that makes sense. My guess is you wouldn't really do a western saber style moulinet with it (at least not with the shotel). The pommel reinforces that impression. But I could be wrong of course, as I don't know much about HAMA. The point on the shotel is a little terrifying to me when I carefully swing it around (which ever way I hold it). I've tried to indicate the approximate point of balance in this picture (red lines). In both cases it's about a third of the way up the blade. And with the shotel the point of gravity is significantly in front of the hand (making it feel more like a forward curved blade like a yataghan), whereas with the gurade it is of course slightly behind the hand like a saber. As a total layman, this flow kind of feels "right" to me for the gurade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxJMODhcZk4 Attached Images Last edited by werecow; 21st October 2022 at 09:10 PM.