The Woodsman's Journal Online: 2025

Sunday, September 21, 2025

The Practical Swordsman’s Compendium, Getting Started – Part Two©

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource! To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE. Thank you and Happy Trails!

Moulinets have been recommended by sword masters since the days of Giacomo di Grassi, in 1570. Moulinets, from the French word for ‘little mill’, is an action where your arm is extended straight and the sword point is whirled around in a circle. In France, during the 18^th and 19^th centuries, the term moulinet was normally applied to the left and the right circling of the sword around the head, however English masters of the time, extended the definition to all circling of the point. Moulinets are also sometimes called Schwingung, Molinellos, Compasses, Circles or Figure-of-Eight’s. And they can be divided into three kinds: horizontal, vertical and diagonal moulinets, diagonal moulinets describes a sideways figure-eight, Ꝏ. This provides for six moulinets, two horizontals, right and left, and four vertical or diagonal moulinets, up and down.

Horizontal Moulinets are also known as ‘Circles’ and could be
made from either the right or left side of the fencer.

Diagonal Moulinets, can be either ascending or descending and could be made from either the right or left side of the fencer. A moulinet, which delivers a cut with the true-edge from above downwards, is a descending moulinet. A moulinet which delivers a cut with the true-edge from below upwards, is an ascending moulinet.

Vertical Moulinets are simply a modification of either a
horizontal or diagonal moulinet.⁶

In this movement your wrist exactly performs this figure ∞, which I strongly recommend to beginners the frequent practice of, as…all the cuts and disengagements are a part of it; and it will render the wrist pliant and flexible, which is an indispensable requisite in order to become a master of your weapon.

Captain G. Sinclair, Highland Officer, Anti-Pugilism, or the science of defences, Lesson XVI (London; J. Aitkin, 1790)

The purpose of a moulinet is fourfold:

As an exercise to strengthen and accustom the arm and wrist in
the performance of the cuts and in leading the edge.

As a means of disengaging prior to a cut.

To gather momentum and “add strength to the cut”.

And lastly, as a method of recovering to a guard position after an attack, where your cut has not met with sufficient resistance
to stop its forward motion.

From want of habit in the exercise of the wrist in common occupations of life, the weight of the sword will at first be found extremely irksome.

Major John Gaspard Le Marchant, Rules and Regulations for the Sword Exercise of the Cavalry, (London; T. Egerton, 1796) p. 3

AS an EXERCISE

Moulinets will both strengthen and “supple the joints of the arm and wrist”. Le Marchant, in Rules and Regulations for the Sword Exercise of the Cavalry, 1796, wrote that every aspiring swordsman should acquire a “suppleness in the wrist and shoulder, as without this indispensable requisite, no person can become a good swordsman”.

Additionally moulinets will “give dexterity in handling and whirling the blade” and will “afford facility in leading the edge”.

To begin practicing the moulinets, you should stand on the directing line in the second position, nine to ten feet from the wall, with his right foot on the line, pointing towards the target, on guard with a medium guard. You should use a cane, a single stick, or a wooden sword.

For this exercise, the moulinets should be performed with only the wrist and not with the elbow or the shoulder.

The moulinets, should be performed slowly at first, to ensure accuracy of movement and precision in directing the true edge. After the movements have become accurate and precise, the speed of the exercise should be increased and each moulinet should be repeated 10 to 12 times.

After practicing each of the moulinets separately; moulinets one and two and moulinets three and four should be combined into two continuous motions: a descending and an ascending ‘figure-of-eight’. These two figures of eights should be repeated 10 to 12 times each.

After practicing the two figures of eights, the swordsman should combine all six motions into one continuous movement. During this exercise, the point of the sword should continue from the conclusion of one moulinet to the beginning of the next, following the dotted lines, as shown on the target above.

The difference, between executing the six moulinets separately, versus executing them in one continuous motion “consists in not resorting to any particular guard after each moulinet”.^.

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “The Practical Swordsman’s Compendium, Getting Started – Part Three”, where we will continue talking about using moulinets, or ‘windmills’ to practice basic movements, control, and exercise your sword arm.

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource! To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE. Thank you and Happy Trails!

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE. Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube. If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site. I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Sources

Alfred Hutton, Cold Steel: A Practical Treatise on the Sabre (London; William Clowes and Sons, Ltd., 1889), p.29

Barbasetti, Luigi; The Art of the Sabre and Épée, (Ithaca, NY; E. P. Dutton & Co., 1936) p. 170

Burton, Richard F.; A New System of Swordsmanship For Infantry [London; William Clowes and Sons, Ltd., 1876], http://ejmas.com/jnc/jncart_burtonnewsword_0200.htm, accessed September 20, 2025

Gaspard Le Marchant, John; Rules and Regulations for the Sword Exercise of the Cavalry. Illustrated with Twenty-nine Engravings, Volume 1, [Dublin, R. E. Mercier and Co., 1797], p. 14 to 23, https://books.google.com/books?id=l05GddLDJqMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed September 20, 2025

Wayne, H. C.; Exercise For The Broadsword, Sabre, Cut and Thrust, and Stick, (Washington; Gideon and Co., 1849) p. 16

Mathewson, Thomas; Fencing Familiarized; Or a New Treatise on the Art of the Scotch Broad Sword, [London, W. Cowdroy, 1805], p. 2, https://books.google.com/books?id=8aC1N-nc5ysC&pg=PA25&dq=Thomas+Mathewson,+(Fencing+Familiarized,+1805)&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjI9MGk2-iPAxXdlokEHcyWMkIQ6AF6BAgGEAM#v=onepage&q=Thomas%20Mathewson%2C%20(Fencing%20Familiarized%2C%201805)&f=false, accessed September 20, 2025

Rowlandson, Thomas; “Half Circle Guard, Medium Guard”, [Henry Angelo, Publisher, September 1, 1798], The Metropolitan Museum, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/739522, accessed September 20, 2025

Taylor, John; Art of Defence on Foot, [London, C. Roworth, 1804], p. 22, https://books.googleusercontent.com/books/content?req=AKW5Qacg3Tbtrh1V0R5MPVboTAInEUPys5Sv8Z-fH5NKl6sWk22c8e6ohDy-E5Tl81yE_YOQZhDkazecPqRG1NfSc47Wlbocluo-DVfuwkY4jUPHymodlJwKU4sbxYUd-DwIWHO3qjHFrXw0EIYO6Pr6AlVQBszbaqUk0kzmo_FinUSlfjqrE_fWZPWdyxcLI6QGyJBckg1nNJgYcnAYcSnmQLVY5qDVSyyU7SiLuFJZ5uTWDXi8xekyoQWVB6dFZiTdF7eZsYx9PkRGFu3l1hui8nPyx8MSMQ, accessed September 20, 2025

Thompson, Christopher; Lannaireachd: Gaelic Swordsmanship, [Ceilidh House, 2001] p. 63

Wagner, Paul and Rector, Mark; Highland Broadsword: Five Manuals of Scottish Regimental Swordsmanship, [Chivalry Bookshelf, Union City CA. 2004], p 172

Sunday, September 14, 2025

The Practical Swordsman’s Compendium, Getting Started – Part One©

Getting Started

Swordsmanship is simple, but it is not easy. The basics of the ‘art of defence’ are Guards, also known as engaging - guards, stances or wards, Footwork, Attacks and Defenses. By learning and mastering these basics you will be able to develop your skills as a swordsman. This will take practice, discipline and time, as with anything, you won’t become an expert overnight.

“It must, nevertheless, be remembered that, to attain any sort of proficiency with the sword, a long apprenticeship must be served”.

Broad-Sword and Single-Stick, by R. G. Allanson-Winn and C. Phillipps-Wolley, George Bell & Sons , London, 1898 p. 32

To begin your study of the ‘Art of Defence’, you will need to acquire certain aides and training tools, with which to practice and develop your skills.

The Target

The first thing that a student of swordsmanship should do to commence their practice is to construct a practice target. A circular target about 14 inches in diameter, with a vertical line showing the ‘plane of combat’, drawn from top to bottom and another drawn from left to right across the diameter of the target to form a ‘cross’. This ‘cross’ forms a ‘fencing line’ and represents the high, low, inside and outside lines of attack. Draw diagonal lines running from the lower left edge to the upper right edge and from the lower right edge to the upper left edge, to form an ‘X’. The target should be hung on the wall with its center at shoulder level. Directly below the center of the target, a straight line should be drawn on the floor from the wall and at a right angle to it. This line is called the ‘Directing Line’ and should be nine to ten feet long.

The eight lines on the target represent all the possible lines of attack and the cuts associated with those lines. While there are eight lines, perfectly straight downward or upward cuts are seldom made, the cuts almost always being made obliquely, which is why early sword masters referred to the six cuts or, sometimes seven cuts, if a straight downward cut was being taught.

Best Form of Weapon for Ordinary Practice

Sword masters of the 18th and 19th centuries thought that all initial exercises were best practiced with a real sword in hand, to prevent the student from forming bad habits and to accustom them to the full weight of the weapon that they would eventually wielding in a potentially life or death situation. Since practicing sparring and ‘loose-play’, with real weapons or even with bated or blunted swords would be extremely dangerous, sword masters taught that for sparring, a student should use either a single stick or a waster.

However today, most of us do not have a battle ready sword just lying about, so practicing with a cane is the next best alternative to start with. So, to begin your training you will need to equip yourself with either a wooden dowel or a cane, which were historically known as either a ‘single stick’ or ‘cudgel’.

Using a cane or stick as a weapon is as old as humanity, and during the 18th and 19th centuries would have been known as practicing cudgel-play. Practicing with a wooden dowel or cane is invaluable way for the beginner to begin practicing basic movements, control, and is a valuable exercise for your sword arm. According to The Sword Exercise Arranged for Military Instruction, you will want to obtain a cane or simply a stick “of about ¾ to 1 inch in diameter, and 3 ½ or 4 feet long”.

Gripping the Cane

Henry Constantine Wayne wrote in The Sword Exercise Arranged for Military Instruction, that the gripe should “be held with the fingers clenched round the gripe, sufficiently fast to prevent the blade wavering, the thumb being either placed on the back or toward the left...The chief object is to hold the gripe securely with the forefinger and thumb...relaxing or contracting the other fingers according to its direction”..

The method of holding your cane or stick depends entirely upon its weight. If you are using a light cane weighing about one and a half pounds (about .70 kg), you may easily hold it with your thumb on the back of the hilt, as in Fig. 14. When your thumb is held on the back of the grip, with a light cane, you will have an advantage in speed when guarding and when making short quick cuts and points.

The “sharp” or “true” edge, would be opposite your thumb if you encircled the grip with your fingers and extended your thumb straight along the back of the hilt, bringing your middle knuckles, the second joints of your fingers, and the ‘true-edge’ into the same line. This is the hand position of third in fourth.

However, when gripping your cane in this manner and guarding with a hanging guard (Fig. 15), your thumb is likely to be sprained, especially if the opposing cane meets the lower half of your cane nearest its end, at a right angle.

Similarly, when using a heavier cane or stick, weighing about two and a half pounds (1.15 kg), keeping your thumb on the back of the grip, could again lead to a sprained thumb, so grip your cane as shown in Figure 17.

When you encircle the grip, with your thumb, then the “sharp” or “true” edge, will be in line with your middle knuckles, the second joints of your fingers.

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “The Practical Swordsman’s Compendium, Getting Started – Part Two”, where we will talk about using moulinets, or windmills’ to practice basic movements, control, and exercise your sword arm.

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Sources

Allanson-Winn, R. G. and Phillipps-Wolley, C.; Broad-Sword and Single-Stick, [George Bell & Sons, London, 18908, page 7, https://books.google.com/books?id=rNYLickaShIC&pg=PA51&dq=%22Broad-Sword+and+Single-Stick%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiZkM2j0NaPAxV_jIkEHd1wCccQ6AF6BAgLEAM#v=onepage&q=%22Broad-Sword%20and%20Single-Stick%22&f=false, accessed September 13, 2025

Hutton, Alfred; Cold Steel: A Practical Treatise On The Sabre, [William Clowes and Sons, Limited, London; 1889], page 12, https://amhebatesta.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/atelier-sabre-hutton-1889-cold-steel.pdf, accessed September 13, 2025

Miklaszewski, Jerzy; “Starzewski treatise ‘On Fencing’ in the eyes of his era”, 2021, https://www.academia.edu/45608547/Starzewski_treatise_On_Fencing_in_the_eyes_of_his_era, accessed September 13, 2025

O‘Rourke, Matthew J.; A New System of Sword Exercise, [J. Gray & Co., New York, 1872] page 48 & 68

United States Army; Provisional Regulations for Saber Exercise, [Government Printing Office, Washington, 1907], page10-11

Wagner, Paul; and Rector, Mark, edited by; Highland Broadsword: Five Manuals of Scottish Regimental Swordsmanship, [Chivalry Bookshelf, 2004], page 66.

Wayne, Henry C.; The Sword Exercise Arranged for Military Instruction, [Gideon and Co, Washington, 1850] page 3 & 7, https://books.google.com/books?id=zS8PAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA12&dq=%22The+Sword+Exercises+Arranged+for+Military+Instruction%22+1850%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj9iJn23daPAxVNk4kEHZKeCjIQ6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&q=%22The%20Sword%20Exercises%20Arranged%20for%20Military%20Instruction%22%201850%22&f=false, accessed September 13, 2025

Sunday, September 7, 2025

The Blob! ©

So we were walking along the shore Kinzua Reservoir, outside of Warren, Pennsylvania, when we saw it. It was big and icky, just wobbling there, all slimy, slowly drying out on the edge of the water. Oh my God it’s the Blob! Gross!

But what is it? Let’s find out. First off, let’s start by assuming that it’s something natural and not some sort of alien freak, mutant or radioactive monster that wants to eat us all and take over Pittsburgh. So, with that assumption in mind of few minutes of googling “lake blob”, got me nowhere, unless you wanted to buy a giant bouncy toy for the swimming hole. Okay, thinking maybe it really is an alien freak, I tried “alien-looking lake blob”, and that brought up a bunch of hits.

Turns out that I was right and it wasn’t an “alien freak”, “mutant brain” or even a “cursed gummy bear”, the large pile of goop I found was a colony of Pectinatella magnifica, a freshwater organism called a bryozoan, originally native to freshwater lakes and ponds throughout much of Eastern North America, from New Brunswick and Ontario, Canada, south to Florida and Mississippi. The native distribution spans throughout the Great Lakes region east of the Mississippi River.

These “alien-looking lake blobs” are really a collection of thousands of tiny, microscopic filter-feeding individual animals, related to corals, called zooids, , a term that refers to a single animal that's part of a larger colonial animal. The tiny individual organisms are no larger than 4 millimeters wide and float alone for some time before forming colonies consisting of thousands of individual zooids. Once together in a giant, squishy-looking blob, the colony begins to work together for mutual benefit, with each zooid taking on its own specific role. Bryozoan Colonies are usually no more than 2-4 inches long or high, but some can be 12 inches or wider. Colonies grow throughout the summer and reach their largest size in late summer or fall before dying off in the winter.

Bryozoans are also called “moss animals” because of their tendency to grow in colonies that resemble moss or, when they form large masses, they can look like yellowish-green, gooey, brain-like blobs. The yellowish-green color of the colony of bryozoans is caused by the algae living in symbiosis with the bryozoan colony. Their gelatinous and often complex structure is unlike common lake animals, leading to comparisons with science fiction creatures. These colonies are filter-feeders, which means they strain tiny organisms from the water to eat. The individual Pectinatella magnifica zooids have mucous-coated tentacles that trap diatoms, phytoplankton, and other microscopic organisms, where cilia, or tiny hairs lining the tentacles, sweep the food to its mouth.

Pectinatella magnifica can reproduce in several ways, they can ‘clone’ themselves by budding, but they can also create eggs and sperm and reproduce sexually. Like other freshwater bryozoans, they also form hard, round ‘statoblasts’ which function like tiny, seed-like structures having a hard casing that can withstand cold and dry conditions, This is unique to bryozoans and allows them to endure variable and uncertain conditions of their freshwater environments. Each statoblast can create a new colony. Statoblasts are created in the fall, which then scatter widely as the colony decays. The statoblasts attach to free clumps of algae or debris that sinks to the bottom of the waterbody. The following spring the statoblasts float back to the surface and germinate. The summer germination produces quantities of ‘larvae’ that look like miniature blimps and are free-swimming for 2-24 hours. After that they then settle on a suitable substrate and establish new colonies for summer.

Statoblasts are easily transported by water, on animal legs, in the guts of waterfowl, or with introduced fish or aquatic plants, allowing bryozoan colonies to spread. Also, if a piece of a bryozoan colony breaks off, that piece can continue to grow and will form a new colony. Bryozoans prefers the still waters of ponds and lakes, where it can join with others of its kind to create a strange, delicate colony.

Bryozoans have been on Earth for at least 480 million years. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “These ancient creatures breathe life into freshwater, capturing plankton and cleaning the water as they drift in slow-moving rivers and lakes”. And the U.S. Geological Survey writes “Pectinatella magnifica can increase water clarity by removing large quantities of suspended material from the water, including diatoms, suspended algae, and inorganic clay/silt. Over time, the clearer waters may promote algal and macrophytic growth that can restructure the ecosystem”.

Other than obvious ‘ick factor’ bryozoans are not dangerous, toxic, venomous, or harmful to people, though they can clog underwater pipes and screens. In fact these ancient colony creatures are downright useful. They definitely are not trying to crawl from the lake to eat you whole or drink your blood! So if you see one stranded on the shore, push it back into the water.

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Ten Essentials of Winter Camping ©”, where we will talk about how to camp in the winter wilderness and stay warm and safe.

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

Sources

Keane, Isabel; “Giant ‘mutant blobs’ found floating through US waterways”, Officials have now worked out what they are”, Independent, August 28, 2025, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mutant-blobs-magnificent-bryozoan-lake-huron-b2816094.html, accessed September 6, 2025

Tabor, Roger; “Bryozoan colony closeup”, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 08/25/2023, https://www.fws.gov/media/bryozoan-colony-closeup, accessed September 6, 2025

USGS; “Pectinatella magnifica (Leidy, 1851)”, U.S. Geological Survey, https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=2335, accessed September 6, 2025

About Me

I live near Buffalo, New York and have more than 25 years of experience in the outdoors. I enjoy being in the wilderness, paddling a canoe or exploring the woods, when I am not researching survival, woodcraft, camping skills or life on the Old Northwest Frontier of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. I am a published author and I have been a guide for Birchbark Expeditions and an Outdoor Skills trainer for the Boy Scouts since 2014. I am also a martial artist, having studied several different combat arts over the past 30 years. Currently, I am the author of The Woodsman’s Journal Online and BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.

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Sunday, September 21, 2025

The Practical Swordsman’s Compendium, Getting Started – Part Two©

Sunday, September 14, 2025

The Practical Swordsman’s Compendium, Getting Started – Part One©

Sunday, September 7, 2025

The Blob! ©

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