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How to grip a langmesser according to Lecküchner
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Grips for Lecküchner’s langmesser • There isn’t that much explicitly written about how the langmesser should be gripped, but we can still know something about it. Sometimes the grip is explicitly mentioned, we can use the many illustrations and we can try to figure out what the described techniques implies for the grip. As there is a lack of descriptions, this will contain a bit of gap filling and speculation. The type of grip you use will have an impact on your reach. The more in line with your lower arm the messer is, the longer your reach will be. However, when you are extended to your maximum reach you also have the least lateral strength. • Hammer grip • Wrist is in its neutral position and the hand is closed in its neutral position. This makes for a strong and stable grip, but your reach will be shortened. It is possible to cut this way and there are systems that cut this way, but it does not seem to be the way Lecküchner cuts or thrusts. In the illustrations the end point of thrusts and cuts are typically shown with the blade more in line with the lower arm. Still, this grip has its place for example in guard and some defensive actions. • Handshake grip • In a handshake grip the back of the handle rests against the meaty part at the base of your thumb and we go into ulnar deviation. This puts the blade more in line the lower arm and thus gives us a longer reach than the hammer grip. You can get from a hammer grip to a handshake grip by squeezing the two bottom fingers. Squeezing the fingers like this can be used to launch the tip forward in a cut. • Thumb on the back of the grip • It is not described in the text, but in some of the illustrations it really does look like the thumb is sometimes placed on the back of the handle. This type of grip is also used in some of the much later saber systems. This grip can be seen as a variant of the handshake grip, where the blade comes even more in line with your lower arm, which increases your reach further. • Thumb grip • In a thumb grip the messer is rotated 90 degrees in the hand and the thumb is placed on the flat of the blade. This shortens your reach, but gives you other advantages. The lower arm is now behind your outside flat, which means the direction of your strongest push is with the outside flat. The extended thumb on the flat also lengthens your contact point with the handle, which provides some extra stability. This increased pushing potential of the thumb grip is used in for example Zwinger and some thrusts from the bind. • The rotation of the grip also puts the edges aligned with pronation and supination - that is twisting the lower arm. This property is used in both Entrüsthau and Zwinger. • • More basics for Lecküchner's langes messer: • Lecküchner basics • Images from Cgm 582 are courtesy of Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.
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