cutting ballistics gel

I will not expose his identity but will say he is (obviously) a wealthy and is well connected man that is well respected.

As far as it being a national treasure, I can say that it took some people convincing with money and a 3rd party was involved getting it to the states. Now how you want to interrupt that is up to you, because I'm not going to reveal the details of that part of the story.

But I merely brought this up in light of what Tom said about certain blades back then that were able to cleave 7 bodies, and reinforcing the statement with an existing blade today.

Weather we want to believe it or not, there are things out there that do defy modern science and what little understanding we have on physics. The Japanese held shintoism in the highest regards in the day, and were very ritual and spiritual about the process of making their swords... especially swords made for lords. Example being this story:

"One of these stories tells about two famous swordsmiths, named Muramasa and Masume, who were considered almost equal in skill. They decided to have a contest to see who could make a better sword. As a test for the sword, Muramasa held his sword upright in a swift running stream. Every dead leaf that drifted against the edge of the sword was cut neatly in two. When Masume put his sword to the same test, the floating leaves avoided its edge passing unhurt on either side; Masume's blade therefore was declared superior to its rival as it clearly possessed a spiritual and/or mystical power."

"Swords were thought to have miraculous powers and lives of their own. As a result a strict code of etiquette was developed for handling and maintaining swords. Soldiers defeated in battle prayed at the shrines of the war-god Hachiman, asking why their swords had lost their spirit. Many stories have come down about the spiritual powers of notable blades as well as the keen sharpness of the blade."

I know everyone was having fun bashing the 'Fight Science' clip there, but I gotta chime in and give it a little defense.

The 'sweaty karate guy' in the video is actualy Bren Foster, a Tae Kwon Do trained Martial Artist. Why they gave him a katana and let him make an ass out of himself is beyond me... but that segment is the worst part of the 2 hour program.

The rest of the show, while having many faults, has some worth while info in it.

On the whole... the show is not the 'end all and be all' of scientific info on martial arts that it presents itself as being... but it is more informative and interesting then it seems in the one segment presented in the clip.

Just thought I'd toss that out there.

As for the 2 inch katana drop cut slicing an arm off... yeah, I call BS on that. Not saying that Trevor was not told that by his friend, I'm sure he was... but it's still BS. Physics are physics and, tho I play D&D and have an open mind to the spiritual... I don't belive in 'magic katana' that cut beyond the ability of reality.

Carry on.

Cool Debbie! Thanks! I figure if we can reuse it then it would cut down on cost - and waste. Once it fails to set properly I'll flush it down the toilet.

I am afraid that too many conclusions are made in such a manner.

I have been working with swords since 1975 and I don't have enough information to comment on this matter.

Whoever smelt it DELT it my friend...

Seriously tho, I would think at least 90% of us here would say this 'magic sword' thing is BS.

To bring this back to the subject at hand I’ve just had a go at cutting up my first block of home made ballistic Gel. I can't say if the home made stuff is similar to the real thing, but it felt fairly solid. I don’t think my batch had set properly because if I push my fingers in to it if i push hard enough, and when I cut it, itjust feels like its to easy and there is not enough resistance. Ill have to try another batch to see if I can get it closer to the real thing.

I think something went wrong while it was setting, it felt very solid if I pushed my finger vertically down on to it but if I pushed from the side I could push my finger through it. It felt like it had settled in to layers.

Dude, discuss it elsewhere, we've already hijacked the thread so stop talking about it.

Mythbusters ballistic gel, purchesd from www.gelita.com/

I’ve had a quick look at their website and it just appears to be normal gelatine, nothing special so presumably(though I might be completely wrong) its just about getting enough gelatine to dissolve in water and making sure it sets properly