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Vintage Test Cutting with Chinese Swords- Chinese Swords and Swordsmanship

Scott M. Rodell is the first contemporary practitioner of Chinese Swordsmanship to cut with Chinese Swords, resurrecting this largely forgotten aspect of the art.

Recorded nearly 20 years ago, Rodell laoshi presents cutting with both Chinese Jian and Dao in this vintage GRTC Video.

Looking for Reality in your Sword Training?

Scott M. Rodell takes a close look at the Ryan Sword Double Dragon Jian and puts it to the test cutting 2” thick bamboo. His review covers every aspect of this weapon, for fit and finish of the blade, fittings, and scabbard, to how well it preforms in test cutting.

Looking for Combat Oriented Sword Training?

Evaluating Cutting Swords:

The Structural Analysis Test

While I am happy to see so many practitioners learning the value of test cutting, most are rushing into the practice without much knowledge of safety measures or methodology. One essential practice whenever anyone gets a new sword meant for cutting is to do a Structural Analysis Test. It might be a surprise to learn swords break. When they do, the broken piece can fly any direction, including back at the cutter. Even professional forges with excellent reputations can unintentionally produce a sword with an unseen internal flaw. So for safety's sake each sword should be individual tested by its owner. This Structural Analysis Test is preformed by cutting into a relative soft wood, such as pine. I use a long dead pine tree. A block of 4 X 4 lumber in a vise will work just as well. One cuts repeatedly into the target starting with relatively light blows building to full power. Full power in this situation is as hard as you would cut with the sword to go through a typical target at the tougher end of the spectrum. An example would be a single rice mat wrapping a 2” diameter green bamboo stalk, or a dried 2” diameter stalk.

If the sword can deliver 100 solid cuts in a row to your pine block without damage, it is unlikely to fail. Note however, that passing this test is not a guarantee the sword will never break and when cutting, spectators should always be kept at a safe distance. During the testing process, one should pause frequently to check the entire blade edge for cracking. Given that the blade could break, the cutter should wear heavier clothes and eye protection at a minimum. Paul Champagne, a well known smith who taught me this, would test his sword to the point of destruction. This would include striking into his anvil with the sword. Something one would not do with a sword meant for cutting even tough targets. He recommended wearing more protection and donned his welding mask and leather apron when he tested swords.

All the best to everyone in their practice, train safely…

The Four Parts of a Correct Cut

Keeping in mind that there are two types of cutting, one the simply tests the sword and another that tests the sword and swordsman, a swordsman’s proper cut has four parts. These four parts relate to how a cut is used in actual combat, in other words, how a swordsman wields his weapon when facing a committed opponent.

The Four Parts are:

The Ready Starting Position

The Alignment with the Cut

The Cut itself

And the Follow Through

Each of these parts or phases the cut moves through is of equal importance.

For the swordsman, test cutting is essential to knowing that one’s techniques might work in real dueling situations. That means that when cutting, the sword should begin from a position that one would take in free swordplay. That is either an on guard position that protects the swordsman, or a position that one just deflected into. This is your Ready Starting Position. Beginning a cut with the sword cocked back further than it would be when facing an opponent does not provide the swordsman with a context that helps him or her improve his or her cutting skills.

Standing in the Ready Starting Position, for example a position where one might have just deflected, the blade will begin its acceleration toward the target. However, depending on the cut one intends to use, the blade may also have to realign, orienting to the proper angle to deliver the cut effectively. Beginners and those who have only practiced forms, often make the error of rotating the blade over the entire arc of the cut, from the starting point to the moment the edge strikes the target. This just in time edge alignment is problematic in a real sword fighting and often results in it being misaligned as it impacts with the target. This misalignment will cause the blade to bounce off, or to continue its rotation and bind in the target, quickly arresting its movement as it becomes bound up in the target material.

Once the practitioner has aligned the blade with the target, bringing the edge angle parallel with plane of the cut, the weapons accelerates toward the target cutting through it. A cut should not be launched like an arrow, where all the power if at the beginning and the sword flies to the target. Power should build throughout the length of the blades arc to the target, accelerating, adding power during the last third of the movement before reaching its goal. Before beginning the cut, one would have already gauged the amount of power necessary based on the toughness of the target and the type of cut being employed.

The follow through after the blade has sliced through the target is where the swordsman most clearly demonstrates his or her skill level. The sword should finish its movement a short distance through the target in position where it could easily and quickly deliver a follow on cut or deflection. In other words, the cut ends in a position that would be useful if the target had not been an inanimate object, but an experienced swordsman ready to counter. A powerful swing that comes to rest well past the target is, in terms of swordsmanship, a poor cut regardless of whether the target was cut through.

Practicing cutting, the swordsman should remain in the mind set of facing another swordsman. Cut in a manner that delivers an effective blow while creating as little opportunity for an intercepting or counter-cut. Avoid flashy movements that might please an unschooled crowd, but have no use when actually crossing blades.