Test-cutting

[Stolenbjorn]

The first thing i did when I got home with my ultra-cheap ass wakazashi ($90 after discount) was fill a 2 liter pepsi bottle with water until it was full and sealed it. Then i chopped it in half..

Just know that what I call "wallhangers" are dangerous to do stuff like this with, as they are ment for hanging on walls. They may snap without warning (there's a cool TV-shop-vido demonstratning this fact, where the salesman taps the corner of the table, and the katana-wallhanger snaps at the guard and the blade hits him).

It's a reason why it cost $90 after discount, you know:eusa_naug

[Neildo]

Mine was actually full tang, and quite sharp. Shocking, i know.

[Iscariot]

Just know that what I call "wallhangers" are dangerous to do stuff like this with, as they are ment for hanging on walls. They may snap without warning (there's a cool TV-shop-vido demonstratning this fact, where the salesman taps the corner of the table, and the katana-wallhanger snaps at the guard and the blade hits him).

It's a reason why it cost $90 after discount, you know:eusa_naug

Yeah, I've broken a couple of these pieces of ****, people should not hand them to me and say "Go on then swing it properly". Fucking useless piece of **** rat-tailed tangs.

[Permalost]

Cold Steel gives away videos demonstrating teir swords and knives going through various mediums. Some of the targets used: big pieces of meat on a hook, rolled up rice mats (sometimes with a wooden dowel through them), cardboard silhouettes, particle board silhouettes, watermelons, 2 liter bottles filled with water, a metal trash can full of water, cardboard shipping tubes, free hanging manilla rope, and ship mooring cable. The cardboard tubes are a good medium for swords and such, as they aren't as hard to come across compared to the rolled mats.
Their swords seem to be built around test cutting rather than maneuverability, but they make good stuff. Their barong is good.

[Neildo]

I remember one January, the garbage men failed to collect our christmas tree.

So i went out back with my wakazashi and went to work on the tree. It took less than a minute. I held the tree up and cleaved off all the branches in a few slashes, and then made quick work of the trunk with diagonal strikes. It all went in a garbage bag after, but the sap stains never came off the blade.

I miss my wakazashi. (got stolen)

:(

[Sir Ocelot]

[Cold Steel's] swords seem to be built around test cutting rather than maneuverability, but they make good stuff.

I'd say their swords are "overbuilt". They sell a few replicas of military sabers, and everyone I've heard of who's had a chance to compare one against its original has said the original is lighter and handles better. For example, here's a thread comparing the 1796 Light Cavalry Saber to an original; in that case, the Cold Steel version is a full 17% (6 oz) heavier and has its point of balance an inch and a half farther from the hilt.

I have a CS 1830 "Napoleon", and I also have four different models of antique saber; in terms of handling, every one of the antiques is better than the CS. (Unfortunately I don't have the model CS based theirs on, so I can't do a direct comparison.) I don't plan on test-cutting with the antiques -- mainly because I don't want to resharpen them -- but if I were willing to do that, I think they could hold their own with the CS, because every one of them gets more speed more easily than it does.

On that note: I do some cutting once in a while with plastic bottles (usually the harder kind of plastic, like juice bottles). Cutting them is mostly about edge alignment and blade speed; a slow, heavy hit just bashes them in. My CS 1830 doesn't work nearly as well at this as my Atrim 1547 longsword, even using the Atrim in one hand. I'm not 100% happy with the Atrim either -- something about its handling has never quite agreed with me -- but even though it's almost five inches longer in the blade, it's significantly quicker. I've used it in preference to a machete for clearing brush and very small trees.

[TCDD]

we got some not safe for consumption halfs of sheep a year of so ago and used them for projectile and blade practice.

its scary how easily a thrown bayonet will go straight through a side of meat, and also surprising how easily you can go through a rib with a good stab. the worst of it was seeing how you can slide a blade along a rib to seperate the meat really easily

when we had done th skill stuff we attacked them with the big blades, khurkris (spelling) were the best for just hacking them to pieces, my mate who does a lot of traditional sword stuff was rather disappointed with the long blade as it got caught in the sinews etc.

If you can get the meat definately give it a try..i suppose its just one step closer to ...well...

[Permalost]

If you've ever handled a Cold Steel torpedo, you get the impression that throwing it at a living thing would cause all sorts of damage.