Editing Dusack (section)

==Practice weapon==
[[Image:Dussack 01.jpg|thumb|250px|Depiction of a German fencing school, with a pair of fencers using ''dussaken'' shown in the foreground right.]]
[[Joachim Meyer]] in 1570 depicts the ''Dusäck'' as the practice weapon with broad, curving blade and a simple oval grip. 
The dussack represented a short, single-edged weapon in a training environment. As usage of the dussack became more widespread, various schools turned use of the dussack into a sport as opposed to training for a real weapon.<ref name=Amberger>{{cite book|title=The secret history of the sword: adventures in ancient martial arts|last=Amberger|first=J. Christoph |pages=185–186|publisher = Multi-Media Book|year= 2000|isbn=978-1-892515-04-9  }}</ref>

Practice dussacks had a short, thick, single-edged blade measuring between {{convert|25-38|in|abbr=on}} long. A dussack was usually made of wood. Additionally there is a single reference to dussacks also being made from leather, and there are a small number of simple metal {{lang|de|dussacken}} known to survive.  The dussack was gently curved and brought to a point at the tip.  The dussack often lacked a hilt.  Instead, the handgrip was merely a hole cut inside of the blade; without a [[Hilt#Pommel|pommel]] or upper [[Hilt#Guard|guard]], it looked something like a large hole for gripping scissors.<ref>Amberger (2000), p. 222.</ref>

Egerton Castle claimed that dussacks were used by the French Navy up through the 19th century.<ref>Castle (1885), p.247.</ref>

No wooden (or leather) practice dussacks are known to have survived; unsurprising given the perishable nature of these dussacks, and only woodcuts and training manuals from the period document their existence.