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Post by 28shadow on May 14, 2018 16:56:16 GMT
Was having a conversation with a friend on Facebook and he mentioned something rather interesting. He believed that one of the possible reasons that has added to the current sword buyer's market drought was the death of the backyard cutting community. Made sense after he said it. Less people cutting, less friendly competitions = less need to buy swords that can do those things required of those competitions and challenges.
With the collapse of the UBC forum and the premature deaths of both Facebook Freestyle Cutter movements, there's really not much in the way of recreational cutting communities, and as such not many people have been getting up and out for an afternoon or morning cutting session. I'll admit, after my injuries I laid off the cutting for a while to heal, but also because I was a bit standoffish to getting back at it.
All this pre-lunchtime hunger ranting leads to me asking: What keeps you from cutting? Is it a need for competition, something to strive towards? Lack of time, space, money for targets? Don't know how to cut or how to have a well sharpened sword or is it something else entirely?
I know lots of people still cut and might not record it and that we all enjoy a session for different reasons, some people are into the martial aspect and some people just want to enjoy getting a silent on a free standing water bottle. I just thought I would ask the community.
Also I'm starving so I'm going to go to lunch.
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christain
Member
It's the steel on the inside that counts.
Posts: 2,835
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Post by christain on May 14, 2018 17:15:05 GMT
My main reason is fear of damage to my blades. I've cut with all my swords at least once, some more so, just to know the feel of it. If I were to accidently hit something hard and damage or break ( ) one of my blades, I'd feel like I've lost a favorite pet...and they're ALL my favorites.
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Post by elbrittania39 on May 14, 2018 17:26:43 GMT
Inconvenient honestly. I live in an apartment so I have to drive out to some woods no one goes to every time I want to.
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on May 14, 2018 17:37:58 GMT
The same here, apartment, no garden, don't know how long I have to drive until I'd find some lonly wilderness. Also in Germany you need an appropriate reason to carry a longer blade in public space and I'm not sure if cutting things for fun fits.
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Post by William Swiger on May 14, 2018 19:18:46 GMT
Small patio (no yard) and a spouse who tolerates me having them as long they are in their room....lol
She hates guns as well and thinks I only own 1 revolver.......
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Post by William Swiger on May 14, 2018 19:27:29 GMT
UBC (Was a member) was destined to not be around long. It started out if I remember as more of a anti-SBG created forum by some folks upset with the site owner and an importer relationship that went sour. Don't ever want to open that can of worms - dark times indeed. Since the main focus was on cutting, it had a limited active membership. In the end, UBC could not make the cut. Hats off to Morpheus for trying to keep it going as long as he did.
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Post by Jordan Williams on May 14, 2018 19:55:22 GMT
Lack of time, space, money for targets? Yup. Work, class, and not being able to afford/willing to spend 20ish dollars or an hour or two to buy tatami or rolled newspaper. Also, the period and styles of swords I'm interested in really doesn't have any good reproductions for cutting. The only decent one that accurately replicated an original is what, 370 once imported to the U.S.? And for that price I could buy an antique and appreciate not only it's potency as a weapon but also it's engineering and history of the piece. But of course you can't really guiltlessly cut with an antique. At the end of the day you're it's steward and you ought to take care of it. Unfortunately, apart from the one replica out there isn't substantial demand for high quality 19th and 18th century sabres and swords. Bad blades, bad hilts, Poor attention to detail. You either go antique or go custom most of the time. If I were still into medi or Asian stuff - I'd have a field-day. Tatami, newspaper, fun stuff.
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stormmaster
Member
I like viking/migration era swords
Posts: 7,647
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Post by stormmaster on May 14, 2018 20:10:45 GMT
Work overtime, final exams, final papers
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pgandy
Moderator
Senior Forumite
Posts: 10,296
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Post by pgandy on May 14, 2018 20:12:51 GMT
There are a number of reasons for me.
• Fear of damaging a blade. So I stick to soft targets rather than those that will show me just how tough my sword is. Also a reason that my favourite swords stay in the rack seldom used. A Windlass or the like costs me about as much as many people pay for a VA sword (old model).
• Aside from the expense I never know how the authorities will react to a new sword least I damage one. Sometimes they send me through hell and high water even needing a lawyer and other times it’s a piece of cake, just high importing costs.
• Price of importing mat.
• Lack of interest in my country regarding history, swords, cutting, and everything that goes with those.
• I don’t have much space but that isn’t really a problem as I just use shorter blades. One reason that I started with and in many cases prefer tool/weapon type blades. I can go over 30”, but that is the limit of my comfort zone.
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Post by MOK on May 14, 2018 20:14:56 GMT
Unfortunately, apart from the one replica out there isn't substantial demand for high quality 19th and 18th century sabres and swords. Bad blades, bad hilts, Poor attention to detail. You either go antique or go custom most of the time. Which seems kinda weird, because most sword schools I know of seem to practice some style of 18th/19th century saber fencing, and judging by the number of active saber fencers I see around online it's actually fairly popular.
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Aikidoka
Member
Monstrous monk in training...
Posts: 1,451
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Post by Aikidoka on May 14, 2018 20:47:23 GMT
Unfortunately, apart from the one replica out there isn't substantial demand for high quality 19th and 18th century sabres and swords. Bad blades, bad hilts, Poor attention to detail. You either go antique or go custom most of the time. Which seems kinda weird, because most sword schools I know of seem to practice some style of 18th/19th century saber fencing, and judging by the number of active saber fencers I see around online it's actually fairly popular. Yeah, there are quite a few people in the large HEMA club that I belong to who like to practice fencing with sabers. They have only shown a passing interest in cutting with them, though.
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Post by Bryan Heff on May 14, 2018 21:45:28 GMT
I cut the occasional milk jug, that's about it. A pumpkin here and there. I have cut with an Albion or 2 from my collection but generally cut with cheaper swords that interest me in "how they cut", just to see. I would love to cut something heavier but frankly just don't want to spend the money on tatami mats. I spend money on swords like a drunken sailor on shore leave...but I personally find it hard to justify buying any cutting medium. But that's just my own little quirk.
Plus my 'hood is a close knit group of houses and I don't want to scare my neighbors into thinking I am a sword wielding lunatic....I know, I know....I shouldn't care but its easier said than done and all that.
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Post by howler on May 14, 2018 22:53:00 GMT
I cut the occasional milk jug, that's about it. A pumpkin here and there. I have cut with an Albion or 2 from my collection but generally cut with cheaper swords that interest me in "how they cut", just to see. I would love to cut something heavier but frankly just don't want to spend the money on tatami mats. I spend money on swords like a drunken sailor on shore leave...but I personally find it hard to justify buying any cutting medium. But that's just my own little quirk. Plus my 'hood is a close knit group of houses and I don't want to scare my neighbors into thinking I am a sword wielding lunatic....I know, I know....I shouldn't care but its easier said than done and all that. Ah, but you are (like ALL of us) a sword wielding lunatic, but that is OUR secret on this forum. Shhhhh. I was not here, and I didn't say it.
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Post by Jordan Williams on May 14, 2018 23:53:50 GMT
Unfortunately, apart from the one replica out there isn't substantial demand for high quality 19th and 18th century sabres and swords. Bad blades, bad hilts, Poor attention to detail. You either go antique or go custom most of the time. Which seems kinda weird, because most sword schools I know of seem to practice some style of 18th/19th century saber fencing, and judging by the number of active saber fencers I see around online it's actually fairly popular. Yeah, for some reason most of the people I've talked to in my club aside from maybe one or two really don't have interest in cutting for one reason or another. Then again there was one fellow who fell into believe that military sabres were all 10 pound monsters. Which seems kinda weird, because most sword schools I know of seem to practice some style of 18th/19th century saber fencing, and judging by the number of active saber fencers I see around online it's actually fairly popular. Yeah, there are quite a few people in the large HEMA club that I belong to who like to practice fencing with sabers. They have only shown a passing interest in cutting with them, though. A shame in my opinion. I think my cutting practice has really helped in my sparring and understanding how sword fighting should work.
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Post by Jordan Williams on May 14, 2018 23:56:53 GMT
With all the nut jobs running around out there shooting and even swords from time-to-time, the PC crowd is watching. You might ask what can they do? Well, I work for the government and was joking with a co-worker in private about firearms. Another co-worker thought I was a threat and turned me in. The local police and my agency security people were at my house at midnight pounding on my door. Filled out a report, was on paid leave for over a week while I had to go through 3 different 3-hour sessions with security, a 3-hour interview with psychologist and then a 3-hour poly. They were not only interested in my gun collection but my sword collection as well. When it was finished, I was back at work but treated differently by some people. I looked at a gun review on the tube on my break (not illegal) a couple weeks later. Was turned in again, computer confiscated and had a 5-hour interview with security. Psychologist interview will be in a couple weeks as she is off at a conference. They dig deep wanting to associate you with some type of hate group or whatever just because you own weapons (any type of weapons). Humiliating experience for a 25-year Army veteran with combat tours. Just received my latest evaluation and they rated me a 2 out of 5 for Leadership and Integrity. Of course there was no mention of why. So - I will say there is a hard core movement against anyone who collects weapons. They did not find anything on my computer but it does not matter. Once reported, you are singled out as long as you work there. There are other guys in my office who check out firearms on their breaks but they were never reported. Just me. That sounds horrific. But yes there is a pretty decent bias towards people who collect weapons, especially edged weapons. Can any interest in history, you're just the weirdo with swords now.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2018 0:34:34 GMT
With all the nut jobs running around out there shooting and even swords from time-to-time, the PC crowd is watching. You might ask what can they do? Well, I work for the government and was joking with a co-worker in private about firearms. Another co-worker thought I was a threat and turned me in. The local police and my agency security people were at my house at midnight pounding on my door. Filled out a report, was on paid leave for over a week while I had to go through 3 different 3-hour sessions with security, a 3-hour interview with psychologist and then a 3-hour poly. They were not only interested in my gun collection but my sword collection as well. When it was finished, I was back at work but treated differently by some people. I looked at a gun review on the tube on my break (not illegal) a couple weeks later. Was turned in again, computer confiscated and had a 5-hour interview with security. Psychologist interview will be in a couple weeks as she is off at a conference. They dig deep wanting to associate you with some type of hate group or whatever just because you own weapons (any type of weapons). Humiliating experience for a 25-year Army veteran with combat tours. Just received my latest evaluation and they rated me a 2 out of 5 for Leadership and Integrity. Of course there was no mention of why. So - I will say there is a hard core movement against anyone who collects weapons. They did not find anything on my computer but it does not matter. Once reported, you are singled out as long as you work there. There are other guys in my office who check out firearms on their breaks but they were never reported. Just me. They dig deep wanting every make and model of firearm you own. Any you have on order. How many swords you have. Deep personal questions about from the day you were born. Marriage questions and everything you could think of. I called the FBI once, to ask if they had a file on me. After a brief pause, the response was; "We do now!" ````````````` With most of my stuff twenty minutes away and now as another apartment dweller, cutting has been limited to events and other invites. I should be more active, after two foot alterations but age has somewhat caught up with me as well. I could be cutting up books instead of reading them, then shelving them for reference. My enthusiasms were greater a decade or so ago and still have some euro repros and a couple of cats. Some sabres I cut with but it has been a more historical interest for a dozen years or more. I haven't cut anything with a sword for a couple of years now. With the ever expanding market, I would hardly call the interest a drought. Rather, it is the discussion boards themselves. A friend just posted yesterday of the Hurstwic group feasting, doing some archery and some cutting but it was all on Facebook. None of them at all regular on discussion boards. Yes, co-workers and companies can be a fickle bunch. Once labeled, it can be impossible to shake that tag. Not just a few have asked to have profiles changed and even entire texts removed from "public" boards and profiling anything but an old practice. While impossible to be anonymoys in my current situations, it seems most prudent to run a little lower in profile. In a complex of some hundreds in this building, simple hellos suffice for the most part. I di need to relocate the bat cave to be closer at hand.
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pgandy
Moderator
Senior Forumite
Posts: 10,296
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Post by pgandy on May 15, 2018 1:08:13 GMT
Unfortunately the US has turned into a police state.
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Ouroboros
Member
Imperial, Mysterious In Amorous Array
Posts: 570
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Post by Ouroboros on May 15, 2018 1:44:24 GMT
Even before the snow left the ground I was cutting. I launched back into this whole heartedly to cut again. My targets include poolnoodle and newspaper strawmen with thin dowel 'joints', water bottles, milk jugs, saplings (already cut from the ground), thin cedar branches etc. I have swords I will not cut with and swords that will eventually become only wall hanger' gifts to friends once I'm satisfied they're not safe to cut with any more. I do not go out with the intention of destroying or damaging a blade but to see what the blade is capable of. I could probably fix most minor issues with the japanese blades I own (rolled edge, resharpening, polishing (no, I'm not good at it but can passably polish a blade with modern materials), minor dings and scratches no problem, bends/sets with some help from the lads and their experienced eyes). There are those swords I cut with and those which I'll never unsheath with the intent to swing at a target for the love of the metal and the work that went into them. I'm a country dweller, thousands of acres of farm field across from me. Nearest neighbor almost 1000 feet behind a row of 50' cedars. I can cut until the cows come home (and sometimes they do) and no one complains or says a word. The nearest thing I've had to interest was a group of bikers slowed down one day and hollered out: "No one gonna f' with you!" when I took apart a strawman with the dojo pro 14 I aquired form teeman. Cant say there's any cutting community here. There are dojos in the larger towns twenty minutes away and lots of them in Ottawa but time constraints keep me from reaching out and joining a club there. I'm cutting to ponder Yugen and to try and achieve Mushin--it's therapeutic to try and achieve one moment of perfect beauty. Cheers, Keith
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Post by elbrittania39 on May 15, 2018 1:45:57 GMT
The problem is, you get the opposite scenario sometimes where investigations aren't done into credible threats. Parkland Florida shooting being a very recent example. FBI had reason to suspect the shooter was unstable and dangerous, didnt follow up on it, 17 dead kids later they realized they screwed up.
Obviously owning weapons doesnt mean your a bad person or should be treated like it, but the government has a responsibility to its citizens to try and protect them if they have reason to suspect there's a threat. Heck, go a Hobbs route and we could argue thats the only reason we form governments at all.
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Post by howler on May 15, 2018 1:51:40 GMT
With all the nut jobs running around out there shooting and even swords from time-to-time, the PC crowd is watching. You might ask what can they do? Well, I work for the government and was joking with a co-worker in private about firearms. Another co-worker thought I was a threat and turned me in. The local police and my agency security people were at my house at midnight pounding on my door. Filled out a report, was on paid leave for over a week while I had to go through 3 different 3-hour sessions with security, a 3-hour interview with psychologist and then a 3-hour poly. They were not only interested in my gun collection but my sword collection as well. When it was finished, I was back at work but treated differently by some people. I looked at a gun review on the tube on my break (not illegal) a couple weeks later. Was turned in again, computer confiscated and had a 5-hour interview with security. Psychologist interview will be in a couple weeks as she is off at a conference. They dig deep wanting to associate you with some type of hate group or whatever just because you own weapons (any type of weapons). Humiliating experience for a 25-year Army veteran with combat tours. Just received my latest evaluation and they rated me a 2 out of 5 for Leadership and Integrity. Of course there was no mention of why. So - I will say there is a hard core movement against anyone who collects weapons. They did not find anything on my computer but it does not matter. Once reported, you are singled out as long as you work there. There are other guys in my office who check out firearms on their breaks but they were never reported. Just me. They dig deep wanting every make and model of firearm you own. Any you have on order. How many swords you have. Deep personal questions about from the day you were born. Marriage questions and everything you could think of. Sweet Jesus! What a nightmare. Don't know the details or the nature of your job, what you said, what the co-worker heard (or thought they heard) but it better be that you claimed to be the kidnapper of the Lindberg baby, Oswald's co conspirator, and an extraterrestrial who escaped from Roswell, all rolled into one. I'm looking behind my back and under the bed as I type these words after your HORROR story.
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