We are super excited to announce to the HEMA-sphere that our friends at the Haitian Machete Fencing Project have released a book!!! Â
You can order this beautiful book over on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Haitian-Machete-Fencing-Family-Method/dp/1948529246Â
Written by Michael Dylan Rogers & Reginald Turnier
Photography by Charles Espey
âExplore the heart of Haiti's cultural heritage through Haitian Machete Fencing: The Avril Family Method-a unique blend of history, art, and combat technique, passed down through generations. Haiti is a country rich in culture, though economically poor. In the countryside, where time-honored traditions thrive, a legacy of African ancestry continues in music, dance, spirituality, folk medicine, and-perhaps most intriguingly-martial arts.â
âIn case you couldnât tell, we adore these folks here at Gotham. As many of you know we hosted Michael and Reginald this past August for an intensive two-day workshop. It was an absolute blast, and ultimately encouraged me to refine our Bauernwehr program in new and exciting ways. I highly recommend picking up a copy of this amazing book and support this important project today!â â Peter Haas, Program Coordinator, Senior Instructor, Gotham Swords.
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"The best solo practice is exercise..."
â Kat H., Sword Fitness Instructor
Welcome to the first Bauernwehr weekend workout challenge! Kat and Peter get a lot of requests regarding methods for individual solo-practice, and thus have dreamt up the Workout Challenge!
Initially designed to be a guide for weekends without classes, you can use these challenges to level-up your physical routine any day of the week!
WARM UP
Taiso
Jog in place, getting the knees as high as possible x 120 seconds
SET 1
Wall Sits x30 seconds
Bodyweight Squat x12
Rest 30 seconds
Repeat set two (2) more times.
SET 2
Bodyweight Forward Lunges x15 (for each leg!)
Plank x30 seconds
Rest 30 seconds
Repeat set two (2) more times.
SET 3
Pushup x 15
Bodyweight Backward Lunges x15 (for each leg!)
Rest 30 seconds
Repeat set two (2) more times.
SET 4
Full body crunch x15
Bodyweight Standing Calf Raise x 15
Rest 30 seconds
Repeat set two (2) more times.
COOL DOWN STRETCHES
We've created some instructional videos as well! If you need help with anything, don't hesitate to reach out to us on the Gotham Swords Discord server or directly via e-mail (bauernwehr@gmail)!
ĂdĂĄm Bodorics â All Steel Bauernwehr and Scabbard
This stylistically unique and custom crafted Bauerwehr bt ĂdĂĄm Bodorics has a sharpened and well tempered blade which is solidly constructed and matched to a hilt of steel. The dagger comes with a scabbard of wood hich is sheathed in steel and completed with a steel hanging belt loop. The dagger feels quite capable and authoritative in the hand and its blade has a thick spine to ensure it has excellent durability. Below are ĂdĂĄmâs own thoughts on his custom creation:
The Bauernwehr is the dagger-sized relative of the Messer, and it also exhibits noticeable variation. This specific piece has no historical analogue as far as I know, rather itâs an interpretation of a trend present on a variety of different sidearms from the period. All-metal and full-steel sidearms appear with some regularity from the end of the 15th century.
We see it on an early rapier, a glorious Kriegsmesser, several quillon daggers, stortas â so to me it made sense to create a Bauernwehr in this style. The blade is hand-forged and ground from 80crv2 and is heat-treated to 54-56 HrC. It has a minimal amount of distal taper to avoid making it too hilt-heavy. The false edge is also fully sharpened. There is a narrow and shallow fuller on both sides along the spine. The tang extends into the hilt only partially and is heavily tapered. The entire hilt is forged, ground, filed and chiseled from a single piece of mild steel. The âbolsterâ and âpommelâ areas are marked out with pairs of filed lines, further decorated with chiseled lines. The fuller extends from the âbolstersâ all the way through the âpommelâ, with the sides further emphasized with a filed border. The âgripâ area is lightly decorated with chiseled diagonals, emulating the puff&slash fashion slowly coming into vogue by the end of the century. It is secured to the blade by five steel rivets peened and filed down. Three rivets are along the tang, one at the edge end of the âbolstersâ and one at the spine end of them.
The Nagel is also embellished by filework and chiseling, and is peened on the other side, with the peen filed down very close to the fuller of the grip. The entire hilt was cold-blued with a light touch bringing out the high spots, highlighting the details. The scabbard is based on a variety of dagger scabbards, redesigned to fit the curved blade. It has a wooden core and a mild steel cover fabricated from multiple pieces. It emulates the puff and slash fashion of the 16thcentury and has a relatively simple and subdued finial. The suspension is a chain made up of strips and rings of steel, based on a period original, terminating in a steel belt loop. It is also cold-blued and highlighted to match the hilt.
A few weeks ago I ordered a very reasonably priced Bauernwehr from Tod Cutler. I received it in what must be record time from the UK (faster than most US domestic packages), but only just had a chance to take it out for some work. The leather thong on the scabbard was a good match with the leather tab on the back of my Peg and Awl Hunter Satchel. The knife hangs easily behind the bag while walking, but remains accessible.
Bauernwehr (âfarmerâs knifeâ or âfarmerâs defenseâ) were common in Europe from the 14th-16th centuries. From Todâs product page:Â
This bauernwehr style of medieval hunting and working knife was popular from the late 14thC to the early to mid 16thC, especially in the German and Swiss lands and Bohemia, but certainly also with other nations. Â
Very similar knives are found in quantity in museums, but also in artwork by Gaston Phoebus and Breughel.
They are always of stout construction and have the knuckle pin or nagel has a very characteristic feature, meaning that their intention was also for fighting.
I ordered the knife with a sharp edge, and then did some light honing. My first task today was processing a good-sized windfall oak branch, then spent most of the afternoon cutting and pulling up invasive ivy -- the knife handled both wonderfully.Â
The nagel is undoubtedly meant as knuckle protection, but I also realized after a couple hoursâ work that looping my index finger over the nagel allows for more control and power when using the knife as a chopping tool, something Iâm sure medieval farmers also appreciated.
Overall, the knife performed extremely well as a working tool, although I havenât had a chance to do any brawling with it, so canât really say how it works as a weapon.
[I received no compensation for this review, neither from Tod Cutler, nor from Peg and Awl; I just like their stuff.]
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Things I finally got in the last few days.
A new bauernwehr with a totentanz motif sheat and a pair of dussacks, these are from Landsknecht Emporium. I wanted to put the leather on the dussacks myself, already finished with one, though it was a questionable decision in hindsight.
The book is the âLandsknechts on Campaignâ from Nadel und Faden Press which I preordered and arrived today. Only skimmed through it so far but Iâm already sure it worth the price.
A short reflection on our practice of THE GAME: An essential component of our Bauernwehr training program, the Game comes to us through the Haitian tradition of Tire Machèt and the amazing folks at the @haitian_machete_fencing Project. In this exercise the Mentor, or leader of the practice, gives hits to a Scholar, who is (almost) exclusively focused on defending, replying to each attack with the correct protective action â always abiding the Core Principles.
The Game is infinitely adaptable and open to students of all experience levels. Mentors slowly adjust the intensity and anticipated responses for each individual Scholar, who, in turn, is able to experience their skills in action. Our major objective is to champion the spirit of a defensive-first mindset:
"Resistance isnât about winning battles but about surviving. If you can survive as a committed antagonist, victory is inevitable." â Haitian Machete Fencing:Â The Avril Family Method (p.216).
Grab your copy of Haitian Machete Fencing, now available!
Gotham Swords is excited to welcome back Michael Rogers of the Haitian Fencing Project for an intensive six-hour workshop this July!
In Haiti, the traditional art of machete fencing goes by many names, among them Tire Machèt (âPulling Machetesâ). Tire Machèt has roots in the Haitian Revolution, when the revolutionaries were often forced to fight with fewer guns than soldiers. Its combination of ancestral African combat systems proved highly effective both in battle and as a means of individual self-defense.
Tickets are $225, with all proceeds from this event benefiting the people of Haiti through the nonprofit organization Cultural Capital Haiti. We hope that you can join us once again for this unique and amazing experience and help do some good in the world:
TIRE MACHĂT WORKSHOP WITH MICHAEL ROGERS
Sunday, July 13th, 12pm-6pm
520 8th Ave., New York, NY
Tickets Here
Interested in Learning More about Haitian Machete Fencing?
Buy the official training manual!
Haitian Machete Fencing Project ⢠Gotham Swords ⢠Bauernwehr
The Manual
Haitian Machete Fencing is a functional martial art with deep roots in Haitiâs struggle for freedom. Over the course of a ten-year apprenticeship with master fencer Alfred Avril in Haiti, we were privileged to document this art form in ways never seen by the wider world.
Now, in collaborating with his children and other committed students, this book provides a deeper and more technical exploration of Haitian Machete Fencing than anything available so far, while preserving the respect for tradition upon which our teacher always insisted.
Lush photography by Charles Espey captures thrilling and informative images of Haitian Machete Fencing in action, as well as lovingly rendered portraits. Oral histories and essays â including an extended interview with Professor Avril that has never-before been made public â provide essential insight into the spiritual and cultural significance of this art form.
All author royalties benefit the people of Haiti through our nonprofit organization Cultural Capital Haiti.
GET YOUR COPY TODAY
About
Michael Rogers (Fencing Instructor & Program Coordinator) Michael is an assistant professor of humanities at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. He first traveled to Haiti in 2002 and has spent over four years living and working there. He is the only non-Haitian known to have mastered the art of Haitian machete fencing, and is featured in the documentary short Papa Machete, which he worked on as a consultant from concept through post-production. He holds a PhD in history from the University of Cambridge.
Gotham Swords: The Gotham European Martial Arts Collective is NYCâs premiere historical fencing social club. The centuries old Art of Swordsmanship offers countless challenges, rewards, and opportunities for personal growth. From general fitness to tournament training, Gotham Swords look forward to being a part of your journey! www.gemac.club
Gotham Bauernwehr â invites students to experience a unique fencing system of Ringen (wrestling), Messer (machete), and Stock (Stick) outside the context of the ânobleâ historical duel; favoring defensive approaches to an engagement. Our program is greatly influenced by the Avril Family Method of TirĂŠ MachĂŠt, a living tradition of Haitian martial arts which serves as the heart of our practice. https://www.gemac.club/bauernwehr