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Post by Murffy on Jul 5, 2021 20:52:35 GMT
here's from yesterday, I cut with an arming sword. My visual posture is not really what I can be the judge of, however the sword is not generally that easy to cut bottles with,, it's a 2nds quality, doesn't really work out to get that sharp, and dulls quickly. So, anyway, these are very successful cuts overall. Impressive cuts! Although the style doesn't look very applicable to combat. |
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Post by tsmspace on Jul 8, 2021 6:53:04 GMT
here's from yesterday, I cut with an arming sword. My visual posture is not really what I can be the judge of, however the sword is not generally that easy to cut bottles with,, it's a 2nds quality, doesn't really work out to get that sharp, and dulls quickly. So, anyway, these are very successful cuts overall. Impressive cuts! Although the style doesn't look very applicable to combat. I don't practice any martial arts of any kind. I'm just swinging the sword. As I always say, as long as it makes me gladius. one problem is,, the sword is cheap, so its really not much for sharpness, and then I think for quite a while I'm going to need a pretty dramatic swing for a lot of bottles. A lot of combat attacks are smaller motions, but our bodies are able to be wounded a lot easier than a plastic bottle. If I hit a person with a much gentler strike, it's still likely to split the skin or at the very least be uncomfortable, but those bottles won't cut in half unless you really get them when the sword is like that. with much sharper blades (better blade steel) I don't need such dramatic motions. Well, also, that sword is really quite heavy for me. actually that could be what you're looking at. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 11, 2021 6:33:37 GMT
Tuck your left arm behind your back or hold close to your chest. Less power, more control. Let the weight of the sword work for you. Try some rising cuts, as you had with the 1840 nco. The arc of your swing adds a slicing motion in part but you can add draw. Rising cuts more so in motion. Kind of like casting while fishing. Cast out, draw in. Do keep the off hand behind you or to the body.
Practice until empty gallon water jugs and bottles cut and empty cracker boxes don't fly through the air.
Pickle chipping water jugs can go as far as forty pieces or so. Full rings? IIRC there was an old game here at SBG. Carried on by the defunct backyard cutting forum.
Cheers
GC
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Post by notthesharpest on Jul 13, 2021 21:28:23 GMT
Not to get all Matt Easton here, but I'd argue that there's context in play.
Swords were a weapon - generally of a society's upper/warrior class, so specialized tool/specialized social context meant specialized training - or at least an expectation of it.
But other types of blades were tools that saw occasional use as weapons. In that context, my belief is that people were expected to have a base-level of experience before they were taught to use their blades as weapons. "Go out and use it, understand it - then you might be able to learn to fight with it" was certainly what one of my teachers told me a long time ago. Which is why I became the guy who, in the words of my neighbor, "likes to prune his bushes with those weird looking machetes".
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Post by RufusScorpius on Jul 14, 2021 19:57:31 GMT
I also agree that context is important. There's a rather wide gulf between specialized weapons and farming tools. The angry peasant farmers can do some damage with their pitchforks and reapers, but they aren't taught to use them in defensive configurations. As Bruce Lee said "brick don't hit back".
While there is some benefit to having base level experience with sharp things in context of a working environment, a person with specialized training using a properly designed weapon will make short work of the peasant-soldier. But there are plenty of peasants compared to warriors, so they do have the weight of numbers which can be a significant force multiplier on the battlefield. Hell, even in feudal Japan it wasn't uncommon for a Samurai to be mugged by a gang of thugs and have is stuff stolen.
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Post by treeslicer on Jul 15, 2021 6:25:21 GMT
I also agree that context is important. There's a rather wide gulf between specialized weapons and farming tools. The angry peasant farmers can do some damage with their pitchforks and reapers, but they aren't taught to use them in defensive configurations. As Bruce Lee said "brick don't hit back". While there is some benefit to having base level experience with sharp things in context of a working environment, a person with specialized training using a properly designed weapon will make short work of the peasant-soldier. But there are plenty of peasants compared to warriors, so they do have the weight of numbers which can be a significant force multiplier on the battlefield. Hell, even in feudal Japan it wasn't uncommon for a Samurai to be mugged by a gang of thugs and have is stuff stolen. In his only well-attested appearance on a battlefield, during the Shimobara Rebellion, Musashi was knocked off his horse, and darned near killed, by a rock thrown by a peasant. Something to think about.  |
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Post by Bob B on Jul 15, 2021 7:57:59 GMT
I also agree that context is important. There's a rather wide gulf between specialized weapons and farming tools. The angry peasant farmers can do some damage with their pitchforks and reapers, but they aren't taught to use them in defensive configurations. As Bruce Lee said "brick don't hit back". While there is some benefit to having base level experience with sharp things in context of a working environment, a person with specialized training using a properly designed weapon will make short work of the peasant-soldier. But there are plenty of peasants compared to warriors, so they do have the weight of numbers which can be a significant force multiplier on the battlefield. Hell, even in feudal Japan it wasn't uncommon for a Samurai to be mugged by a gang of thugs and have is stuff stolen. In his only well-attested appearance on a battlefield, during the Shimobara Rebellion, Musashi was knocked off his horse, and darned near killed, by a rock thrown by a peasant. Something to think about. (rofl) I concur. There's alot of variables. While Koryu focus on confrontation with similar skill levels and sets, and it just doesn't pertain to swords but polearms, armor etc...The variables are too many. I would submit there are things like physical strength and endurance, Psychological barriers/factors, environment and more...etc. There's just too much to consider, I would suggest it's more than just sheer numbers and skill. Armor and skill only carry you part way when your worn tired to deal with a pitchfork (or untrained yari). Human instinct to survive can be crazy. And I'm just throwing this out there. On the humorous side....when my son was about 5 he came at me with a plastic golf club to duel......even kids can pull some crazy $hit one couldn't even imagine. Bob |
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Post by Murffy on Jul 15, 2021 15:54:50 GMT
In his only well-attested appearance on a battlefield, during the Shimobara Rebellion, Musashi was knocked off his horse, and darned near killed, by a rock thrown by a peasant. Something to think about. I concur. There's alot of variables. While Koryu focus on confrontation with similar skill levels and sets, and it just doesn't pertain to swords but polearms, armor etc...The variables are too many. I would submit there are things like physical strength and endurance, Psychological barriers/factors, environment and more...etc. There's just too much to consider, I would suggest it's more than just sheer numbers and skill. Armor and skill only carry you part way when your worn tired to deal with a pitchfork (or untrained yari). Human instinct to survive can be crazy. And I'm just throwing this out there. On the humorous side....when my son was about 5 he came at me with a plastic golf club to duel......even kids can pull some crazy $hit one couldn't even imagine. Bob This is more or less my take on things. Combat is a many-headed hydra and skill may take second place to other factors, not the least of which is the fact that death is in the balance. Fear can be pretty paralyzing or galvanizing and it's difficult to predict how an individual will react. And that same person who was paralyzed with fear in one instance may exhibit courage and level-headedness in another. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2021 0:49:51 GMT
If you can't find a teacher, some online sources arent too bad, especially if you have ever taken any kind of martial art, even boxing.
To be honest, I learned most of my cutting outside of a dojo, as I was in kendo and we didn't practice cutting targets with sharp blades as much, it was more about efficiency of movement and about being able to hit the other guy, as opposed to learning how to cut his torso in half.
Tameshigiri is great if you want to learn how to do back yard cutting, but please, practice with a blunt first. Kenjutsu isn't bad either I find, but without a teacher, it is hard to find out exactly how to swing the sword right, without over powering it, and with correct form. Once you learn correct form with a trainer, then its a bit safer to practice with harder strikes and eventually a sharp
When it comes to cutting, I prefer a bit of a draw cut to my movements, moving the blade in a circular shape. It isn't that different than using a kitchen knife, in the sense you want to slide the edge along your target as opposed to pushing it through. Imagine cutting a tomato, you dont jam the blade straight down
Of course, hewing cuts are very very different, but I dont really practice those enough. I always believed in using light cuts, just enough to cut arteries, tendons and skin, maybe a bit of muscle, and saving the good, strong cuts for a finishing blow. An imperfect draw cut will still cut skin. A light tap to the forehead (called "men" in kendo) can cause the forehead to bleed into their eyes, so you may deliver more hits, and eventually, a finishing blow or thrust.
But if you are just cutting targets, this is irrelevant, and you might have more success practicing japanese style sword cuts for two handed swords, and saber style cuts for one handed swords, as I find them to be easy to learn and quite effective at simply just cutting
I will find some good sources later on. Matt Easton (Scholargladitoria) has some great exercises to learn saber for a beginner, and I find saber techniques, cut from the elbow, more than sufficient for one handed back yard cutting
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Post by jf on Jul 26, 2021 2:43:32 GMT
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Nov 1, 2024 0:13:58 GMT
Nov 1, 2024 0:13:58 GMT
