Another theoretical question: what are those Central African swords used for anyway?

[Rivkin]

Originally Posted by tom hyle

Ariel, sorry to hear you don't know how to use a mambele; sorry to tell you that that has nothing to do with its effectiveness in knowing hands. It is a graceful and deadly sword, and particularly effective against sheilds. I don't find the short ones ineffective, either, BTW.

I think the biggest problem with martial arts today that you can say anything (like "japanese swords are the best in the world" or "mambeles are crap"), and there is no way to prove/disprove this, for most of the martial artists are not willing to spill the blood.

The only way to test how effective mambele is, is to start a match - Ariel with his favorite weapon (I would guess it's rapier or shashka ?) vs. mambele wielding Tom Hyle. I don't think that in this non-theoretical environment mambele will have much of a chanse.