Cutting vid

[Michael Edelson]

Hi all,

We at NYHFA just posted another cutting video. There's nothing ovelry fancy, it just shows how some of the meisterhau (and other strikes) can be applied to tatami. Comments are welcome.

Thanks for watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNEBpu8eDsU

[KeithFarrell]

Some nice smooth motions there. Good demonstration of the effectiveness of some of the techniques: I was impressed by the smoothness of cut in the Krumphau, in particular. It looked like the Zwerchau from right to left with the false edge was a little awkward compared to the other cuts - was that in fact the case, or are my eyes deceiving me?

[Michael Edelson]

Some nice smooth motions there. Good demonstration of the effectiveness of some of the techniques: I was impressed by the smoothness of cut in the Krumphau, in particular. It looked like the Zwerchau from right to left with the false edge was a little awkward compared to the other cuts - was that in fact the case, or are my eyes deceiving me?

Thanks!

The false edge zwerch, the first one, way okay. The second one was rough. Zwerchhau is the hardest cut to do against Tatami, and mine has a long way to go. But hey, at least it works.

[KeithFarrell]

It certainly did work - I would not have wanted to be that bit of tatami

[bigdummy]

Good cutting as usual Mike, your stance seems a little stiff. Is that intentional?

I'm very jealous of that blade, how is it holding up?

BD

[Michael Edelson]

Good cutting as usual Mike, your stance seems a little stiff. Is that intentional?

I'm very jealous of that blade, how is it holding up?

BD

Thanks!

If by stiff you mean less upper body movement, then yes, very. But if I was stiff stiff then I wouldn't be able to cut very well.

They are holding up great, thanks for asking.

[KeithFarrell]

I was doing some cutting practice today with my group, and (for the first time) I tried cutting with some of the meisterhau other than just the zornhau.

Some of our members have been taught by other HEMA groups to perform the krumphau with very high hands, so I tested that against our plastic milk bottle filled with water. We were using a sharp Albion Count, and the krumphau with high hands bounced off the bottle causing only a little cut. Perhaps I was not doing it quite correctly, but when I tried mimicking the way you cut your tatami mat with lower hands (lower being a term relative to hands held at head height or above when delivering this strike) I went right through the bottle with a very clean cut.

Whenever any of us threw a zwerchau from right to left, striking with the false edge, the blade cut cleanly through the milk bottle at whatever angle, diagonally up or down, or horizontal. However, every time a left to right zwerchau with the true edge was tried, the blade rebounded from the bottle, again causing only a little damage instead of a proper cut. Perhaps our technique isn't quite right with this one; I train this technique every day and can land a lot of power with it against a pell, but apparently I have difficulty cutting with it. Looks like I need a lot more milk bottles and a free afternoon to see how best I can throw one of these strikes to cut the target effectively!

Learning points from today's cutting practice:
- the krumphau works better with the hands held lower than other HEMA groups have taught some of our members
- the schielhau with lower hands works very nicely, this clean cut (again with hands lower than have otherwise been taught to some of our members by other HEMA groups...) surprised quite a few people with its effectiveness
- the false edge zwerchau works a charm
- the true edge zwerchau needs a lot of practice!

We also have a couple of the sharp winged Viking spears from BattleMerchant, and one of the "safe for re-enactment" halberds from GDFB. Let's just say the halberd would quite happily go through any of the plate harnesses owned by anyone I have ever met, it is not in the least "battle ready", and the winged spears were even more devastating than the halberd against the poor milk bottles! It was interesting to see the effect of a sharp spear on the target, I have never had the chance to actually stab things with a sharp spear head before. Our spears now scare me....

[Michael Edelson]

It's great that you're practicing cutting with an eye towards validating your technique.

A word of caution at this point. Just because something makes a cleaner cut does not make it necessarily correct. The key factor in getting the most out of cutting practice is to make sure that drills, cutting and free play all work the same way. Something may not cut because it is a bad interpretation, or because you need more practice at it. If something that cuts better works poorly in the other two areas, then that's probably a clue that the answer lies elsewhere.

Keep the balance of the three in mind and you'll do great. If I can help in any way, let me know.

[Michael Edelson]

Just added another vid, some new stuff in this one. It's from our cutting presentation/demo at the 2010 anual NYHFA/MEMAG/VAF/NoVA Assalto/Steve Hick Gathering (yes, yes, we need to come up with a better name ).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hmw3qec3ATo

[Harry]

I liked combo... nice cuttings also for the rest, but the combo at the beginning I liked best.

with what kind of martial art did you start? HEMA is not your first try in martial arts, at least it seems so...

[Michael Edelson]

I liked combo... nice cuttings also for the rest, but the combo at the beginning I liked best.

with what kind of martial art did you start? HEMA is not your first try in martial arts, at least it seems so...

Thanks!

I've done a bunch of them when I was younger, karate, tkd, aikido, hapkido, mma, kung fu. I also studied JSA for a long time, and cuttently study Toyama Ryu (battodo). Formal training, particularly in a weapon art, was immensely beneficial to my understanding/pursuit of HEMA. I highly recommend it. Even a few months will go a long way.