Back when I was a kid, both me and my brother used to love wooden swords. We would get them at the state fair every year. They were not the wooden practice swords that you see in martial art supply stores. They were actually pretty rudimentary weapons, but we both loved them. They were realistic enough to add some authenticity to our imaginary battles, and we would usually whacked them and each other despite parental warnings. We both wanted to keep our wooden swords as long as possible, so we would inevitably do our best to hide the injuries that we gave each other.

I suppose that it was this early fascination with wooden toy swords that led me to the martial arts weapons training that I went through in later years. Wooden sword play is a lot of fun. If you have never done it before, you can't possibly imagine. It combines aggression, strategy, technique, and all-out brutality into one seamless whole. In addition, it requires restraint, as it is never a good idea to whack your opponent too hard. If you do, he is likely to whack back, and then everyone is going to go home bruised and banged up.

Most of the martial arts swords use in training nowadays are wooden swords. Although their assembly is much more refined than the wooden toy swords of my youth, they are surprisingly similar. Even the most sophisticated martial arts masters usually start with a wooden sword when they are kids. You can pick them up at Army Navy surplus stores – often for less than 20 bucks – and get a feel for them yourself. Just by holding one, you can get a small little taste of the thrill that sword fighting is.

Of course, wooden swords aren't just good for martial arts. They are also excellent for cos play. If you have never been to a Renaissance fair before, you really have missed out. Watching all of the people walking around in period costumes, swords held at their sides and shields cavalierly displayed from an arm is enough to make any medieval buff become overcome with emotion. Although not everyone there uses wooden swords – some of the abuse authentic reproduction medieval swords – wooden weapons still are popular. They are lighter to carry, safer, and they afford one the chance to do battle. And battle, after all, is a big part of the point of dressing up as a knight.