http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJWmyIOEHOs
Cutting done by Garrett Chan of http://jin-shi.com/
Garrett has been in my Chinese Swordsmanship Study group for about a month and a half. As far as I know we're the only study group studying Michuan Swordsmanship as taught by Laoshi that exists in Canada. With any luck and hard work I hope it can grow to even 1/4 of the popularity of Linda's group in Australia....you have to start somewhere!!!
I'll have to test my Huanuo's on some lamb shanks!!!!!
cutting meat!!!!
Moderators:Scott M. Rodell, PaulC
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Linda Heenan
- Rank: Chang San feng
- Posts:617
- Joined:Tue Nov 23, 2004 3:58 am
- Location:Australia
- Contact:
Re: cutting meat!!!!
I'm afraid my mind immediately turned to the sword oil that would now be all over the roast 
.
My group may not be so advanced as you think. The adults are mostly widely scattered and practising alone. 25% of Australia moves every year. I find myself teaching new beginners over and over again. What is really flourishing is the kids group. Some of them are now adults after 3-4 years in training and are still training, so we've had to grow it from the ground up. So keep working away there and don't be discouraged when people move on. The most important thing is that you are training.
.My group may not be so advanced as you think. The adults are mostly widely scattered and practising alone. 25% of Australia moves every year. I find myself teaching new beginners over and over again. What is really flourishing is the kids group. Some of them are now adults after 3-4 years in training and are still training, so we've had to grow it from the ground up. So keep working away there and don't be discouraged when people move on. The most important thing is that you are training.
Contributions welcome at the Chinese Swords Guide - now with RSS http://www.chinese-swords-guide.com
Re: cutting meat!!!!
I'm not sure what Garrett uses but I use Camellia oil which is plant based and I believe used for kitchen knives too!!!
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Linda Heenan
- Rank: Chang San feng
- Posts:617
- Joined:Tue Nov 23, 2004 3:58 am
- Location:Australia
- Contact:
Re: cutting meat!!!!
Well .... that's alright then 
Contributions welcome at the Chinese Swords Guide - now with RSS http://www.chinese-swords-guide.com
Re: cutting meat!!!!
Well, for that reason, we use the oil in the glass on swords. 
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Scott M. Rodell
- Site Admin
- Posts:1364
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Re: cutting meat!!!!
A few notes on test cutting...
Meat is one of the easier things to cut, but, for obvious reasons, is a perfectly fine choice as a target for practicing test cutting. However, a cheaper & more practical medium is rice straw mats, which have the same consistence as flesh when soaked in water. (for more info see - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=231&p=3232&hilit=caoren#p3232). The nice thing about mats is that they can be set up so that one can practice several types of cuts & multiple cuts. One of my favorite methods is o build a simplified caoren (grass man) by wrapping a single mat around a 1 1/2 to 2" bamboo stalk, see photo below.
Those interested in practicing test cutting should differentiate the difference between cutting that tests the sword (as shown in the above linked video) & cutting that tests both the sword & the practitioner. Those looking to improve their understanding of swordsmanship should cut unsupported targets (i.e. not on a bench) in the same method that they would execute the technique in free swordplay. For those of us practicing Chinese Swordsmanship, this means taking basic cuts straight from our forms.
BTW, I've heard good things about Jin-shi's swords & both Philip Tom & I have been giving feed back to Garret on sword design & are looking forward to the next generation of his swords, he's promised to send me one for testing...
Meat is one of the easier things to cut, but, for obvious reasons, is a perfectly fine choice as a target for practicing test cutting. However, a cheaper & more practical medium is rice straw mats, which have the same consistence as flesh when soaked in water. (for more info see - viewtopic.php?f=9&t=231&p=3232&hilit=caoren#p3232). The nice thing about mats is that they can be set up so that one can practice several types of cuts & multiple cuts. One of my favorite methods is o build a simplified caoren (grass man) by wrapping a single mat around a 1 1/2 to 2" bamboo stalk, see photo below.
Those interested in practicing test cutting should differentiate the difference between cutting that tests the sword (as shown in the above linked video) & cutting that tests both the sword & the practitioner. Those looking to improve their understanding of swordsmanship should cut unsupported targets (i.e. not on a bench) in the same method that they would execute the technique in free swordplay. For those of us practicing Chinese Swordsmanship, this means taking basic cuts straight from our forms.
BTW, I've heard good things about Jin-shi's swords & both Philip Tom & I have been giving feed back to Garret on sword design & are looking forward to the next generation of his swords, he's promised to send me one for testing...