That is pretty cool. As I understand it, there's a little bit of a dirty trick to breaking ice. My Soke says that every time he's seen an ice break, the ice has been sitting out for a while, warming up-- the middle starts to thaw and the ice is easier to break. You can tell whether the ice is solid all the way through or not by looking at the block. If it's got a cloudy-white center, then it is not as solid. I don't know if this actually makes the ice easy to break, but it is supposed to make it less difficult. I also cannot testify personally to how true this is (I mean scientifically, I have no reason to doubt my Soke,) but it certainly sounds believable. I thought of another cool break for you to try. This would, necessarily, be a speed break. What you do is, you take a regular taper candle and two sheets of notebook paper. You cut a hole in each sheet of paper and suspend the candle between them. The object is to break the candle and the wick without tearing the paper. I've seen this break done successfully twice, and about a dozen times without success. Good Luck!
I must say that this Spider break does sound interesting, and I very well might try that one. I am thinking of changing the first one at the LEAST because at least that way I can get a few hand strikes in as well. I find that it needs to be balanced as well, but I am well am still lost as to what I sould do for it. Ah well, I suppose that I can think of something before too long.
Ice breaking . . . the middle doesn't melt first as it's the outside environment that acts on the ice causing the outside to melt first. The white you see in the middle is caused by a temperature difference between the outside and the inside I believe, not because it's melting first. Breaking ice of course looks really cool, but once again some people leave it melt a bit first, which of course makes it a bit easier. The trick to breaking ice though is to hit dead on with proper technique or you might slip with your attacking tool. The danger to this is that ice is brittle and shatters when hit. This can create some sharp shards of ice that can easily slice the skin if a person hits wrong.
I'll checkwith my soke again and see what, exactly, he has to say about it. He has actually done ice breaks before, and, I admit it, I have not. I may have misspoken (-typed?). At any rate, the basic idea is true-- the temperature difference makes the ice easier to break than otherwise.
Once Ice begins to thaw the entire are is begins to melt outside to the inside, but sometimes air finds the imperfections and heats the iside gas that is trapped and cracks the isides a little bit after some drippage has occured. A really cool break I had the priviledge to hold for: Side ariel kick break.
I bet I could train you to accomplish a 720 degree kick in 2 weeks, alas...you are not here. As for demo (didn't read entire thread), do you hae any (as many needed) holders? Yes, then..... What are going for? Timing? Speed? Power? There are a multitude of possibilities. Sorry for being so blunt, but can you tell me (age, level (can and can't do presently), and anything you think may be of importance <no worries on PC>. Cheers, Dae-han
