[QUOTE=CYMac;1128250] it is not a sharpened sword. [/QUOTE]
I don’t like un-sharpened sword. All my swords are sharpened. When I run around and swing my sharpened sword in my front yard like a mad man, no burglar will try to break in to my house.
[QUOTE=YouKnowWho;1128290]I don’t like un-sharpened sword. All my swords are sharpened. When I run around and swing my sharpened sword in my front yard like a mad man, no burglar will try to break in to my house.[/QUOTE]
What if the burglar came in when you are not home and stole all your swords? 
then you hunt him down like a rabid dog and put him down with a kitchen knife.
[QUOTE=YouKnowWho;1128290]I don’t like un-sharpened sword. All my swords are sharpened. When I run around and swing my sharpened sword in my front yard like a mad man, no burglar will try to break in to my house.[/QUOTE]
Yes. It cuts both way.
If you drop your sharp wepon by accident during practice.
You may lose toe.
Big ouyi.
[QUOTE=CYMac;1128273]A kitchen knife is already sharpened, and so you use it to chop your meat and bones. Why do you need to “test” all the time? You learn from chopping “real”, not test.[/quote]
If you think using a kitchen knife to chop meat = properly wielding a straightsword, then you either butcher your meat from 3 feet away with a long double edged blade from multiple angles while it hangs from a hook, and can cut yourself a side of ribs, a filet, and a steak at will with the false-edge of the blade… or you’re not being quite honest with yourself about the skills needed to wield a sword properly.
Granted, perhaps using a kitchen knife will give you some experience in chopping downward with a Butterfly Sword.
Practise with sword with your proper techniques are already giving you a good cut movement
From my experience, it gives you the proper APPEARANCE of good cut movement.
but cutting with a sword on object is more a Japanese style practice, not Chinese swords’ tradition.
The keyword here being “more.” While it’s true that Japanese swordsmanship formalized “Tameshigiri” (lit. “Test-Cutting”) into an art in and of itself, it’s also true that test-cutting IS a part of Chinese swordsmanship, although certainly not as formal and ritualized… and certainly not separate!
If you realize, human are not like bamboo or the rolled tatami that Japanese use for their sword cutting. For human flesh to cut apart, even with a 12 years old girl’s hand and a school use exacto knife.. it will cut apart with no skills. In the past, swords are use for fighting because it is a “weapon”, and so no matter how you cut, the sword is already lethal if is it made for the use.
Not quite so. First of all, a short blade is MUCH easier to control, and secondly, even the sharpest of swords will only deliver a surface wound without proper technique. You might even bend your blade!
You shouldn’t take my word for it, though: try for yourself! See how cleanly you can cut a pool noodle at chest height with a:
- R-to-L horizontal [INDENT]"True Edge" cut "False Edge" cut [/INDENT]
- L-to-R horizontal [INDENT]"True Edge" cut "False Edge" cut [/INDENT]
- R-to-L downward diagonal [INDENT]"True Edge" cut "False Edge" cut [/INDENT]
- L-to-R downward diagonal [INDENT]"True Edge" cut "False Edge" cut [/INDENT]
- R-to-L upward diagonal [INDENT]"True Edge" cut "False Edge" cut [/INDENT]
- L-to-R upward diagonal [INDENT]"True Edge" cut "False Edge" cut [/INDENT]
You have very good camera equipment: maybe you could even film it for us. Don’t worry, the pool noodle will not damage or bend your blade no matter how badly you muck up a cut.
I know places like dragon well or cold steel makes swords that are “battle ready” but then it is not the same as what you can find in history anymore.
Wait, aren’t your swords supposed to be from Dragon Well?
[QUOTE=SPJ;1128305]Yes. It cuts both way.
If you drop your sharp wepon by accident during practice.
You may lose toe.
Big ouyi.[/QUOTE]
Apologies for the crap quality.
[QUOTE=CYMac;1128292]What if the burglar came in when you are not home and stole all your swords? :)[/QUOTE]
When the burglar breaks in, I can shoot him with my 1911 and not my Magic taoist gun nor do I have to gut him with my real, sharpened swords.
Living in the USA has HUGE advantages over nations that do not allow the people who pay for the nations to exist to arm and defend themselves. I feel for all the sheep in the UK, Canada, and Australia who let their Government tell them they cannot defend themselves from criminals.
People that play with toy martial arts weapons, un-sharpened swords and toy guns are playing at being a warrior/soldier/martial artist.
Beginners need to learn without cutting their hands off and should use a safe beginners weapon, but someone such as yourself CYMAC, who makes big claims as to being a martial arts teacher should go to the next level, or you are just playing at it like a child.
[QUOTE=Dale Dugas;1128343]
Living in the USA has HUGE advantages over nations that do not allow the people who pay for the nations to exist to arm and defend themselves. I feel for all the sheep in the UK, Canada, and Australia who let their Government tell them they cannot defend themselves from criminals.
[/QUOTE]
You… do… realize that Canada has more firearms per capita than the USA.
The difference is that we didn’t make it a right, so if you commit a crime, you don’t get to use guns any more (legally anyway).
It’s a privilege but not one hard to exercise if you are a law abiding citizen.
And that small cultural difference means that Canadians are much less likely to shoot each other over stupid shit.
So, you go right ahead and feel for all those people you just wrote off as sheep.
We’ll just keep shaking our heads at the gun-mad yankees and the cult of things that go bang.
[QUOTE=Xiao3 Meng4;1128267] developing proper power but also (and more importantly, really) for developing proper technique.[/QUOTE]
one word
cable machine
[QUOTE=bawang;1128362]one word
cable machine[/QUOTE]
Yes, cutting through a cable machine will develop strength and power.
Also, math is good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUY1TKqkfaM&feature=related
you will be chopping heads like william wallace
[QUOTE=Dale Dugas;1128343]When the burglar breaks in, I can shoot him with my 1911 and not my Magic taoist gun nor do I have to gut him with my real, sharpened swords.
Living in the USA has HUGE advantages over nations that do not allow the people who pay for the nations to exist to arm and defend themselves. I feel for all the sheep in the UK, Canada, and Australia who let their Government tell them they cannot defend themselves from criminals.
People that play with toy martial arts weapons, un-sharpened swords and toy guns are playing at being a warrior/soldier/martial artist.
Beginners need to learn without cutting their hands off and should use a safe beginners weapon, but someone such as yourself CYMAC, who makes big claims as to being a martial arts teacher should go to the next level, or you are just playing at it like a child.[/QUOTE]
Unsharpened swords (metal) in kungfu are not toys. Toys are made of plastic. If you kid the metal sword that are unsharpened, you can for sure see some tragic stuff happen. An unsharpen sword can also kill. I used to practice sword fighting with my student in 2006-2007 with these unsharpened spring steel swords. Not the wushu stuff, but dragon well stuff. He used to got his whole forearm bleeding and stuff and it was too dangerous even I am being careful, mind you that we are going at full speed too just to be fun and practical. So I was the one who say we gotta stop doing the practice with metal sword unless his skills is about my level, or else it would be too crazy.. and so we stopped the practice. he was enjoying it though, lots of bleeding and stuff. “with unsharpened swords”.
Don’t look at things like that, you ae underestimating unsharpened stuff. LoL!
For full strength striking practice, use a pell
.
a 5 to 6 foot single post of wood of 7"-10" outside diameter will do.
to test your blade sharpness, use rolled tatamis, rolled cardboard or if you can afford it and don’t mind being wasteful, a whole pig. 
(or simply cut a piece of printer paper with it by running it along the blade.)
But having a pell is key to understanding what happens to the sword and you and your hold upon the sword as you strike with it at full force as if really using it.
It’s a centuries honoured tradition.
for chopping and hacking
we use katana or broad sword.
narrow straight sword is for piercing or ci mostly.
when I was in high school in taiwan
after sword practice we were so thirsty.
I actually used the practice sword to chop water melon
I sliced it good,
so every student got a piece or slice of water melon to quench the thirst.
but for chopping pork on a board
we use wide and heavy knife or butcher knife and not long thing knife.
each has its utility.
now I am hungry and thirsty
I miss sugar cane, water melon and the hot summer days in taiwan.
I love to swing my Mao Diao in the woods like a mad man and chop off as many tree brenches as I can. If my Miao Dao is still sharp after that, It’s a good useful weapon. If not, I’ll throw it away ASAP.
[QUOTE=MasterKiller;1128231]Something odd about this…[/QUOTE]
Taoism is rich with magic and violence while This quaint fellow’s mind is devoid of Any intellect, taste, skill in photoshop, oral hygiene, the use of tact, soap or style. I’m not saying this because of all your witless taunts, mindless barbs and pathetic jabs, I’m saying this be cause I care.
Teh bar of human compassion has been raised just a teeny bit here:D
Speaking or exorcism Your exercise program is really working out buddy!
[QUOTE=Dale Dugas;1128343]When the burglar breaks in, I can shoot him with my 1911 and not my Magic taoist gun nor do I have to gut him with my real, sharpened swords.
Living in the USA has HUGE advantages over nations that do not allow the people who pay for the nations to exist to arm and defend themselves. I feel for all the sheep in the UK, Canada, and Australia who let their Government tell them they cannot defend themselves from criminals.
People that play with toy martial arts weapons, un-sharpened swords and toy guns are playing at being a warrior/soldier/martial artist.
Beginners need to learn without cutting their hands off and should use a safe beginners weapon, but someone such as yourself CYMAC, who makes big claims as to being a martial arts teacher should go to the next level, or you are just playing at it like a child.[/QUOTE]
Remember with a burglar it’s not WHAT YOU DO it’s HOW YOU TELL IT ON THE POLICE REPORT! (the difference between a manslaughter beef and self defense..)
This is another sword that is in the collection called “Hero Sword”, it’s a movie replica sword but it is quite good too. The grip is nicely wrapped with some good grip tape and so you can really get a good grip with it. The blade is tough, we have had accidental hit on hard objects and metals and no damage at all. Great sword that doesn’t get loosen over heavy use too. No wobbling, no loosening and it is sturdy, heavy good sword. THIS IS STRONG.
I gave one of these away once:D the over sized pommel (knob on the end) impedes your ability to thrust effectively.
[QUOTE=Lokhopkuen;1128489]I gave one of these away once:D the over sized pommel (knob on the end) impedes your ability to thrust effectively.[/QUOTE]
Not really, depends on how you strike and thrust with different skills. Different swords designs give you a different feeling, technique, skills, and insights as well. Opens your mind up alot when you try different swords. That’s the fun in sword art~
, ,
, …
When you feel the designer of the sword, you know what they have in mind, and you will fall in love with it when you get the feeling too.