[TML] Personal Armor Noise was Re: Current USAF fleet

[Knapp]

On Sat, May 3, 2008 at 10:26 AM, Tom B <kaladorn at gmail.com> wrote:
> >  And then 5 more centuries of mythology about their characteristics.
>
>  Their was mythology about them in their time of origin, so it is
>  hardly surprising their is further mythology later.
>
>  The best among them were pretty amazing (no carving through concrete
>  pillars though, Duncan MacLeod....). I'm sure far less amazing
>  examples existed. Yet with the way they were constructed and their
>  social niche, even the least among them was bound to be manufactured
>  to a high level of artistry. In a sense, they aren't a proper military
>  weapon in that they weren't ever mass-produced. They were an elegant
>  weapon for a warrior caste. There's no reason to suspect they were
>  magically superior to the best swords produced in Europe (the finest
>  rapiers, for instance, are quite wonderous constructions as well).
>
>  The point wasn't about their awesomeness, but about the social dynamic
>  involved with them. The social dimension affects who can use which
>  weapons and that makes it significant in understanding the history of
>  weapons development. Certainly, they are not vorpal swords...

I have trained a bit with Japanise swords and have had an interesting
experience.
I often trained by taking a 3l coke bottle and filling it with water
or a one gallon milk container and hanging it with a rope from a tree
and then cutting it. My training sword was a nice 440 stainless
reproduction of a Japanese  sword.  It would cut through the bottles
with no problem and the top bit would swing back and forth as the
water when flying all over. This sword was very sharp. I also have an
old real Japanese. sword. One day I thought I would take it out and
try it on the bottles. I cut the  milk jug just like I always do but
nothing happened. I thought that I had missed. I was sort of surprised
because it is sort of hard to miss a still target. Then all of a
sudden the bottom fell off the jug and the water fell out. This
happened in a fraction of a second but it was really odd. The samurai
sword is not all that sharp but for some reason it cuts differently
from the 440 blade. I tried this cut a few times.

Also about armor. In Japanese MA when you face armor you don't tend to
punch or grab much. It is more about turning him upside down and
dropping him on his head to break his neck.

-- 
Douglas E Knapp
http://sf-journey-creations.wikispot.org/Front_Page