Warning, somewhat gruesome picture attached…

[Flying Crane]

So I managed to put myself into the emergency room on Tuesday night. I was working on my dao in the back yard and stabbed myself in the lower leg. Three deep stitches and eight staples to close it. It’s a wakeup call. I got inattentive and careless. It could have been much worse, in many ways.

I was the highlight of the night for the emergency room staff.

 

[Dirty Dog]

One note to readers: don't bring the blade. We neither need nor want to see it, and you'll get security all in a tizzy.
Heal fast.

 

[Flying Crane]

Nearly forty years of training martial arts, about 22-23 years with swords and other sharp weapons, and this is the first time I’ve taken a nasty cut or put myself in the emergency room. Pay attention to what you are doing folks. It can take a bad turn in an instant. Glad I did it to myself and not to a training partner or a student. Not sure I could handle that kind of guilt.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Nearly forty years of training martial arts, about 22-23 years with swords and other sharp weapons, and this is the first time I’ve taken a nasty cut or put myself in the emergency room. Pay attention to what you are doing folks. It can take a bad turn in an instant. Glad I did it to myself and not to a training partner or a student. Not sure I could handle that kind of guilt.

Making blades has resulted in more than a few cuts. Lucky for me, I can fix them at home. I don't really want to go to the ER and explain to my coworkers what I did.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

I worked in hospitals for years and never saw a wound from a blade, saw some form bottles, one guns shot, multiple car accidents, couple motorcycle, and various other bumps bruises and contusions...but never a blade

Practicing with my Dao I did cut the copper bracket of a copper water pipe in my basement. Luckily I did not cut the pipe. I also somehow managed to put a deep scratch in the lense of my glasses one, happy I wore glasses then, otherwise it might have been my eye. But that was back with I did Long Fist forms

 

[Gyakuto]

I sometimes wonder why people make the choice of using live blades in their practise. Some suggest a live blade helps with their concentration and attentiveness. If it takes a sharp blade to keep you concentrating, perhaps you need rethink your motivation and practise.

Live blades can cause serious injury so use a practise blade instead, keep Accident and Emergency departments quieter and use your will to keep you concentrated and aware!

 

[Dirty Dog]

I sometimes wonder why people make the choice of using live blades in their practise. Some suggest a live blade helps with their concentration and attentiveness. If it takes a sharp blade to keep you concentrating, perhaps you need rethink your motivation and practise.

Live blades can cause serious injury so use a practise blade instead, keep Accident and Emergency departments quieter and use your will to keep you concentrated and aware!

It is really really difficult, if not just outright impossible, to find practice blades that are truly the same as real. And if you do find a non-edged blade that is identical in all other respects to your live blade, it'll still hurt you. Wounds from sharp blades are easier to repair and heal better, generally.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

I use blunt swords for sparring and technique practice, a sharp sword for cutting practice. The handling isn't exactly the same, but it's close enough for my purposes. (To be clear, my blunt swords have weight and length and balance points within the normal range of historical blades, as does my sharp. They're just not exactly the same as each other. Historical European swords vary enough that it's difficult and expensive to get a set with a sharp and a blunt which are precisely matched to each other. Maybe some day if I come into money.)

 

[Gyakuto]

But why do you need ‘real’ blades at all? You are never going to need one. Blunted blades will hurt you but they’re not as likely to cut through tendons, nerves and chi channels

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Glad that wasn't worse. I've never been able to bring myself to do more than slow practice with a sharp blade. I simply don't trust myself enough.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

But why do you need ‘real’ blades at all? You are never going to need one. Blunted blades will hurt you but they’re not as likely to cut through tendons, nerves and chi channels

If you're never going to need it, why practice a sword, at all?

Once that question is answered, you can pretty much copy/paste it to answer the question of why a live blade.

 

[Dirty Dog]

But why do you need ‘real’ blades at all?

Two words. Zombie. Apocalypse.
That, and cutting is fun.

You are never going to need one.

You don't know that. I am unlikely to ever find it necessary to shoot someone either, but I'm not planning to stop carrying. And for those who do not have the option of a firearm, a blade is better than flapping your hands in the air.

 

[Steve]

I sometimes wonder why people make the choice of using live blades in their practise. Some suggest a live blade helps with their concentration and attentiveness. If it takes a sharp blade to keep you concentrating, perhaps you need rethink your motivation and practise.

Live blades can cause serious injury so use a practise blade instead, keep Accident and Emergency departments quieter and use your will to keep you concentrated and aware!

Agree completely. It’s like guys who are learning to juggle deciding they want to juggle chainsaws for fun. Unless you’re a performer, I just don’t get it. The skill is the same either way.

I guess some folks just want to take unnecessary risk.

 

[Gyakuto]

I use blunt swords for sparring and technique practice, a sharp sword for cutting practice. The handling isn't exactly the same, but it's close enough for my purposes. (To be clear, my blunt swords have weight and length and balance points within the normal range of historical blades, as does my sharp. They're just not exactly the same as each other. Historical European swords vary enough that it's difficult and expensive to get a set with a sharp and a blunt which are precisely matched to each other. Maybe some day if I come into money.)

May I ask if the variation much different as it might be between two live blades? I have several mogito blunt Iai swords and they all feel different as do my live bladed swords.

I’ve always thought that a truly excellent tennis player can beat anyone with a frying pan (?skillet?). I don’t know why I mention that……it does irritate your friend who’s just bought a £500 graphene tennis racket!

 

[Steve]

If you're never going to need it, why practice a sword, at all?

Once that question is answered, you can pretty much copy/paste it to answer the question of why a live blade.

Errr. I don’t think so.

 

[Gyakuto]

Two words. Zombie. Apocalypse.
That, and cutting is fun.

You don't know that. I am unlikely to ever find it necessary to shoot someone either, but I'm not planning to stop carrying. And for those who do not have the option of a firearm, a blade is better than flapping your hands in the air.

Dammit…the ‘Zombie Apocalypse clause’. I yield!

 

[Tony Dismukes]

But why do you need ‘real’ blades at all? You are never going to need one. Blunted blades will hurt you but they’re not as likely to cut through tendons, nerves and chi channels

For cutting practice. It's easy to look good swinging a sword around or even to be good at tagging an opponent during sparring, but have subtle flaws in your edge alignment which mean that you won't cut a solid target effectively.

Of course, it's unlikely that any of us will ever have to actually fight for real with a sword. It's something we do because it's fun and for all the additional physical/mental/spiritual benefits that can come with martial arts practice. I could save some money and keep things safer by LARPing with foam weapons or staging STAR Wars battles with light sabers. That would be fun too, but I get more personal satisfaction through trying to learn actual historical usage of the blade.

 

[Gyakuto]

If you're never going to need it, why practice a sword, at all?

Once that question is answered, you can pretty much copy/paste it to answer the question of why a live blade.

Why practise combat sports when we have thermonuclear weapons? Reductio absurdum.

 

[Gyakuto]

For cutting practice. It's easy to look good swinging a sword around or even to be good at tagging an opponent during sparring, but have subtle flaws in your edge alignment which mean that you won't cut a solid target effectively.

Of course, it's unlikely that any of us will ever have to actually fight for real with a sword. It's something we do because it's fun and for all the additional physical/mental/spiritual benefits that can come with martial arts practice. I could save some money and keep things safer by LARPing with foam weapons or staging STAR Wars battles with light sabers. That would be fun too, but I get more personal satisfaction through trying to learn actual historical usage of the blade.

I see.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

May I ask if the variation much different as it might be between two live blades? I have several mogito blunt Iai swords and they all feel different as do my live bladed swords.

The difference in handling between my sharp longsword and my feder (a type of historical blunt sword for sparring) is about as great as between my feder and some of the feders/blunts that some of my training partners own and that I have borrowed to spar with. I didn't have a hard time adjusting when I borrowed those other sparring weapons, so I don't think I'd have a hard time adjusting to fighting with my sharp. (Except that I'm a lot more focused and careful when working with the sharp blade.)

I actually traded my original sharp for a different one when I had the chance, because it was too different from my feder. They were both within the spectrum of historical weapons, but on different ends. My original sharp was designed for cutting competitions, so it was a beast of a cutter - heavy, wide, a bit more point heavy, and extremely sharp. If my goal was to enter and win cutting competitions then it would have been ideal. My feder is significantly lighter and more nimble. It's good for sparring, where the goal is not to inflict the maximum possible damage. I didn't want to develop different body mechanics for my sparring and cutting practice, so when the opportunity came up I traded my sharp for one which is closer in handling to my feder.