Balance on Wooden Jian

J HepworthYoung · Post by **J HepworthYoung** » Sat Sep 16, 2006 4:06 pm

I am making a wooden jian for form practice. I am using a 36 inch hickory sledgehammer handle though now it is about 33 inches. As a means of making it balance I have left a good deal of room below the grip point as that the balance is still close to center on the piece, though some shaping has moved it a bit towards the handle.

Since this is not for sparring I am not worried, yet, about a guard on the hilt. What I want to know is if having the center of gravity on the piece about 5 inches or so above my hand is improper. So far the weight is around 2 lbs. Also will having 6-7 inches of handle protruding from the grip area, for balance, get in the way of any Michuan movements? Thus far it seems that it would only do so with improper technique, but I have had no initiation into proper technique myself and have little but Laoshi's book and biomechanics to go on.