Classification	Practice sword
Time Period	ca. 1500 - 1650
Avg. Length	52" (132 cm)
Avg. Weight	3.5 lbs. (1.6 kg)
Blade Type	Rounded/edgeless, parallel, spatulated point
Hilt Type	Three-handed cruciform with pommel, thick ricasso

The Federschwert (German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 for feather sword, plural Federschwerter), or Fechtfeder (fighting feather, plural Fechtfedern), is a type of training sword

Sword

A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...

 used in Renaissance Fechtschulen (fencing schools) to train safely at full speed and power. They are used extensively in the fighting manuals

Fechtbuch

Martial arts manuals are instructions, with or without illustrations, detailing specific techniques of martial arts.Prose descriptions of martial arts techniques appear late within the history of literature, due to the inherent difficulties of describing a technique rather than just demonstrating...

 of the 16th century, particularly those of Paulus Hector Mair

Paulus Hector Mair

Paulus Hector Mair was an Augsburg civil servant, and active in the martial arts of his time. He collected Fechtbücher and undertook to compile all knowledge of the art of fencing in a compendium surpassing all earlier books...

 and Joachim Meyer

Joachim Meyer

Joachim Meyer was a self described Freifechter living in the then Free Imperial City of Strassburg in the 16th century and the author of a fechtbuch Gründtliche Beschreibung der kunst des Fechten first published in 1570.Meyer's book was reprinted in 1600, and may have been an...

.

Since so far nobody has been able to provide evidence for the historical use of the term Federschwert or Fechtfeder both terms must be regarded as modern.

Construction and Use

The sword consists of a very thin, rounded blade

Blade

A blade is that portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with a cutting edge and/or a pointed tip that is designed to cut and/or puncture, stab, slash, chop, slice, thrust, or scrape animate or inanimate surfaces or materials...

 with a large ricasso

Ricasso

A ricasso is a part of sword and knife blades. It is the section just above the guard or handle. It is sometimes unsharpened and unbevelled.The first unsharpened ricassos were found on Middle Bronze Age swords...

 and a heavy hilt

Hilt

The hilt of a sword is its handle, consisting of a guard,grip and pommel. The guard may contain a crossguard or quillons. A ricasso may also be present, but this is rarely the case...

 and pommel

Pommel

Pommel may refer to:* pommel, the raised area at the front of an equestrian saddle.* Pommel, the counterweight at the end of the hilt of a European sword* Pommel horse, an artistic gymnastics apparatus...

. Because of this, it has the same weight and Center of Balance

Center of balance

Center of balance is a point with respect to which the object in question is balanced with respect to applied forces. In particular areas the term may have specific meaning and special discussion, and may refer to one of the following definitions:...

 as a real sword, and handles identically. This odd construction also has the effect of moving the sword's Center of Percussion

Center of percussion

The center of percussion is the point on an object where a perpendicular impact will produce translational and rotational forces which perfectly cancel each other out at some given pivot point, so that the pivot will not be moving momentarily after the impulse....

 to a theoretical point beyond its tip. The tip of a Federschwert is spatulated and may have been covered with a leather sleeve to make thrusting safer, though no direct historical evidence exists of such use.

Recent use

Recent Federschwerts are different in construction than original ones, at least in the fact that blade isn't round, but flat as normal sword

Sword

A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...

, double-edged.

Federschwerts are used as competition swords also.