SAN JOSE, Calif. -- It’s 1 p.m. on a recent Thursday in San Jose, and Steaphen Fick is intently watching two grown men swing unsharpened steel swords at each other. One of them is apparently not striking the other with enough force. Fick interrupts. “Don’t be afraid!” he says, like a character going into battle in “Lord of the Rings.” Fick jabs a finger at the other man’s headgear and neck guard — called a gorget, French for “throat” — and turns to his opponent. “That’s what that’s for!” The click-clacking of swords resumes. Fick is no stranger to these swords. He started practicing Historical...