I am planning on constructing sword for practicing weapon techniques. It would reach my earlobe if held at my side by the hilt in my hand and "blade" going towards my head. It is not a real sword but rather it will be constructed of PVC pipes wrapped in insulation, filled with sand, capped at the topped, and encased in duct tape. My goal is to make it heavier than a real sword so a regular sword would feel effortless...or manuervable with less effort. Any ideas or suggestions for this project?
Buy a saburi bokken, save yourself the time and effort (and possible problems) with the home made variety.
dont use sand go here http://www.thearma.org/Practice/weapons.htm or buy a heaveir wooden sword much easier maybe more expensive but easier. OH and its usually a bad idea to start out really heavy cuz u can tear ligaments and such. And get a pell( wooden post set into the ground is the most basic) so u can go full speed and power. i no from expereince going full speed and poweer with a heavy weapon will hurt.
Use a peice of Iron Rod. It's cheeper and does the job, but if you are going to train with it, start off with a light peice of wood, then practice with the Iron Rod for 3 to 4 minutes then go back to the lighter peice of wood. over a period of weeks increase the time you train with trh Rod, this way you build up your wrist muscles and minimise the risk of injury to you arm, wrist and ligaments.
Allthough the sagas from Iceland in the 11th century mentiones that the Norwegian kings men used slightly heavier weapons for training than normal, I normally advice people not to do it. Cudgel has allready posted why not. We've allready discussed heavy swords on previous threads, and the general advice was that strength-building is somthing you do at the gym; swordplay is about much more than strenght. If you decide not to heed our advise, I ask you to at least do slow kata's with your heavy sword, as fast movements is sure to wreck your arms in the long term. Nor will you be able to drill in the proper cuttingtechniques and the finer responsive moves with your heavier sword. Sparring with a heavier weapon is potenial lethal for your sparringpartner, as it is both more difficult for you to control your attacks/deflections, as well as more dire consiquenses if you do hit him/her.
I mentioned practice with an iron rod, Not Sparr. obviously this is stupid. But prcticing with an iron rod in the correct manner can and does increas strength and ability. It did me no harm having got my strikes with a stick at full power up to 6 times per second (won me a few works stick fighting titles too). It is not what you train with that counts, it is how you train with it that matters.
I wouldn't advice starting out with a heavier weapon either. The problem is getting the moves right, and you can practice that with a bokken too. Once you have the techniques right, you can use a heavier wooden sword to build forearms, but usually, once you move right, a change to a regular sword will be change enough. The real sword is heavier than the bokken, and at the same time it cuts through the air, rather than having a built-in airbrake. So, get the movements right, then practice with a real sword.
