by I’m addicted to watching the History Channel program Forged in Fire. One of the highlights for me from the 2020 SHOT Show was that I got to meet Doug Marcaida who is one of the judges.
Season 7 had a Super Champion Edition where a previous champion beat other champions to face show judge and historic weapons specialist David Baker. They had to make the Russian Cossack shashka saber.
I’d never heard of the shashka before and thought it was an interesting saber. It certainly will cut when wielded properly.
Then I stumbled across this Cossack shashka competition from Russia on Reddit. I especially liked the one competition which had a half dozen competitors racing down a lane cutting and hacking as they went.
After seeing that, I understand why the Cossacks were considered the terror of the steppes!