Indoor sword testing
Jun 11, 2019 21:35:06 GMT
Post by markus313 on Jun 11, 2019 21:35:06 GMT
One of my preferred methods of testing a swords cutting ability and durability is striking hanging logs of fir wood. These logs have a length of around 6 foot and weigh approx. 5 kg, hanging on a string of about 30 cm. I hang them on a hook, inside a barn. The logs can be covered with all kinds of materials, using duct tape. This way I can strike the target with full power from the whole body and with varying amounts of force input coming from the target itself (striking the target high or low = more or less bounce; striking when it moves towards or away from the strike > more or less force on impact etc.).
However I don’t always have that opportunity, since I have to live in a city apartment most of the time nowadays (I could hang logs in my apartment – have a hook in my ceiling for my punching bags, but that log stuff gets really messy). So another, though less demanding way of testing I use is taking a wooden pole and simply hold that in my off-hand resp. hold it with one hand by one end and lean the other against another object, such as a couch, for example. This testing is much less hard on the blades than the hanging logs, but still much harder than what you usually get through cutting tatami, for example. So below you see some photos of some testing I did today, comparing the Cold Steel English Backsword with my modified Cold Steel Cutlass Machete.
The machete has a shortened blade and also reprofiled shoulders with a nice and sharp convex edge. The Backsword has its edge as it came out of the box.
When holding the pole with the hand, usually shorter blades fare a bit better than longer ones, since the long blades cannot be brought up to speed that well if the target is relatively near to the body. Also there is almost no hip action involved. So with the Backsword, I guess I could bring it not even near to 50% of its potential, and a bit more for the shorter machete. Still I’d say these cuts are comparably to common techniques as used in sparring, such as medium-power cuts to an opponent’s arm, for example.
Of course this not scientific testing. I simply struck the target in different ways, held in different ways. The target consisted of a wooden pole of fir wood. I started with three pieces of plastic pipe (these are very tough; used to build aquariums) duct taped to the pole, covered by wet news-/catalogue-paper, and then up to 16 layers of cotton on top of that (I had no denim at hand, I prefer jeans denim for testing vs. textiles). Both blades made it through the cotton and wet paper regularly, but just a few cuts scratched the pipes.
When I changed from newspaper to insulation tube and only eight layers of cotton, the pipes got cut into fairly well (though none of the blades made it all the way through the pipes). Even after removing all the material on top of the pipes, I couldn’t make it all the way through the pipes. I ended my session with removing the pipes from the pole and cutting the bare wood, destroying the pole rather quickly.
So take it for what it’s worth. I may be a bad cutter. The targets may not be realistic (although for the most part more realistic than tatami, I think). What may be interesting to some is that the CS Backsword wasn’t fazed even a little bit by that testing. No rattling, no noticeable loose of sharpness, no denting/bending, nothing. Barely a scratch on the blade. Same goes for the machete (not surprising of course). I have tested the Backsword before on hanging logs and blocks of Styrofoam amongst other things (Styrofoam to test the thrusting ability). On a block of Styrofoam lying on the floor (no give to the target) which was covered with many, many layers of thick wool (16 or 20, IIRC), the blade failed to penetrate, taking a set in the blade. I could bend the blade back to perfectly straight. The testing today left this exact blade totally unharmed. Only one screw of the guard loosened up a bit, and was retightened easily.
The CS Backsword is a durable, good sword, from my experience (or at least the one I tested the most by now, this is my heaviest one, I have three of them altogether), with good handling and performance. I think the heat treatment is done right. They seem to have improved on the construction somewhat or at least use a good epoxy in the hilt (no gap between blade and guard). I guess it would cut a bit better if its rather thick edge was thinned out a bit. It thrusts just fine, would do even better with the back edge sharpened. Imo, regarding a sensible balance between cut and thrust, this blade gets it about right. Perhaps a thicker forte section (just the last inches before the guard, and at the tang just some way into the grip) would be preferable. Maybe a thinner foible (at least on the heavy one). Some may like a tad longer blade (I'd like, at least 2" more wouldn't hurt, perhaps even more). But it’s not bad as is. Really.