Nylon or steel for your first HEMA sword? What each one gives you, why polypropylene is banned at most clubs, and how to decide without wasting money.

Sabre is the most fragmented family in HEMA. Here are the patterns, the hilt types, what the curve does and the tip rules that decide what you can enter.

HEMA tournament gear rules explained: tip shape and diameter, flex tiers, why many events refuse blunt longswords, and how to read a gear document first.

Blunt trainers and sharp cutting swords look alike in a photograph and are not the same purchase. Edge, tip, steel and heat treat compared side by side.

Feder flex explained properly: how it is measured, why a higher number means a stiffer blade, what the four tiers mean and which one you should buy.

Seven rules for buying a first HEMA sword: ask the club, buy for the discipline you train, read the spec sheet properly and learn the warning signs.

A feder is not a blunt longsword. Here is the anatomy, the sub types, how to read the spec sheet and why the schilt and ricasso exist at all.

A sidesword cuts and thrusts. A rapier is built around the thrust. Here is what separates them in blade, hilt and handling, and which one to buy first.