Wooden Swords
Dec 24, 2009 10:34:18 GMT
Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2009 10:34:18 GMT
I've noticed there are very few threads about wooden swords. These are absolutely necessary if you wish to learn any form of swordsmanship as drills and freeplay are required to gain true practical skill with a sword.
Most people buy the cheap wooden tai chi swords from a MA store. These are flimsy and easily shatter. I own wooden jian from Ravio (fellow in Estonia who makes the classic GRTC wooden jian for Scott Rodell's students), as well as examples from Raven Studios and Graham Cave of Tiger's Den.
The two most accessible sources are as follows
www.tigers-den-swords.com/
I recently bought a few of these swords for practice with my sword study group (Garrett Chan is a member). These swords in hickory weigh about 1.7-1.8 lbs (about 800g)...real sword weight. Their grips are 100% historically accurate as is shape of guard. The guard has necessary thickness to protect your hand. The thicker heavier blade tends to resist bounce so deflections have more of the 'bump and slide' quality of a metal blade. This sword is not recommended for beginners as the weight can strain your wrist. Graham is working on a lighter one...about 600-650g. Another thing is that with the exchange rate with English Pound, shipping, duty and taxes, these are expensive swords. They are extremely durable however
www.little-raven.com/RS/MA/Gim.html
Raven studios makes fairly good jian and price with shipping is about $100 CAD or so. Note that her basic ming/ching jian are not appropriate for sparring. Guard has no width, blade edge too narrow, point on blade. She will make one with thicker guard if you ask.
www.little-raven.com/RS/MA/gallery.html
#352...GRTC style jian and #351 TCSL style jian have proper blade and thicker guard to protect your hand.
her swords are made of hickory and tough. The grip lacks the proper lozenge shape compared to Tiger's Den. They taper the grip in width but not in thickness. This is a minor flaw, I've used them for years with no problems. Also note she measures blade length from front of guard instead of the proper method of measuring from where guard meets handle. So if you order from her get a 27-28" blade which is equal to the classic 29-30" blades of the modern standard length jian. Her swords are lighter and more appropriate for beginners and more than adequate for more skilled players too. There is more bounce as the blades aren't as massive as the Tiger's Den ones.
Note that these swords can easily approach or exceed 50% of the $300 USD standard of this site. However, they last for years if you oil them and don't abuse them. However in training sword, they are a consumable and will eventually wear out or break. They do serve a vital function in developing swordsmanship. My personal recommendation would be a GRTC style jian from Raven Studios (I suspect the TCSL style will be heavy like Tiger's Den). The GRTC blocky guard is compact and lighter than thickening her standard guards yet give good coverage.
In any case blade thickness at edge should be about 5/8"-3/4" to reduce injury. Some are 7/8" thick but are bulky.
Most people buy the cheap wooden tai chi swords from a MA store. These are flimsy and easily shatter. I own wooden jian from Ravio (fellow in Estonia who makes the classic GRTC wooden jian for Scott Rodell's students), as well as examples from Raven Studios and Graham Cave of Tiger's Den.
The two most accessible sources are as follows
www.tigers-den-swords.com/
I recently bought a few of these swords for practice with my sword study group (Garrett Chan is a member). These swords in hickory weigh about 1.7-1.8 lbs (about 800g)...real sword weight. Their grips are 100% historically accurate as is shape of guard. The guard has necessary thickness to protect your hand. The thicker heavier blade tends to resist bounce so deflections have more of the 'bump and slide' quality of a metal blade. This sword is not recommended for beginners as the weight can strain your wrist. Graham is working on a lighter one...about 600-650g. Another thing is that with the exchange rate with English Pound, shipping, duty and taxes, these are expensive swords. They are extremely durable however
www.little-raven.com/RS/MA/Gim.html
Raven studios makes fairly good jian and price with shipping is about $100 CAD or so. Note that her basic ming/ching jian are not appropriate for sparring. Guard has no width, blade edge too narrow, point on blade. She will make one with thicker guard if you ask.
www.little-raven.com/RS/MA/gallery.html
#352...GRTC style jian and #351 TCSL style jian have proper blade and thicker guard to protect your hand.
her swords are made of hickory and tough. The grip lacks the proper lozenge shape compared to Tiger's Den. They taper the grip in width but not in thickness. This is a minor flaw, I've used them for years with no problems. Also note she measures blade length from front of guard instead of the proper method of measuring from where guard meets handle. So if you order from her get a 27-28" blade which is equal to the classic 29-30" blades of the modern standard length jian. Her swords are lighter and more appropriate for beginners and more than adequate for more skilled players too. There is more bounce as the blades aren't as massive as the Tiger's Den ones.
Note that these swords can easily approach or exceed 50% of the $300 USD standard of this site. However, they last for years if you oil them and don't abuse them. However in training sword, they are a consumable and will eventually wear out or break. They do serve a vital function in developing swordsmanship. My personal recommendation would be a GRTC style jian from Raven Studios (I suspect the TCSL style will be heavy like Tiger's Den). The GRTC blocky guard is compact and lighter than thickening her standard guards yet give good coverage.
In any case blade thickness at edge should be about 5/8"-3/4" to reduce injury. Some are 7/8" thick but are bulky.
