Im looking to purchase a pair of Fire Swords to practice with but I am admitidly ignorant about much of technicalities, meaning ive seen a variety of style of sword which i can depict for myself but when it comes to balanced and unbalanced im not quite sure which to choose from. Also, ive seen a katana style blade and was curious if i buy 2 single blades as aposed to a pair together if it really matters. Thanks for any help and tollerating a silly Q's.
Roar
Roar
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Roar
Biggest question you need to ask is what do you plan to do wth the swords? if your going to to stage combat you will need a combat grade sword they are pricey for the real nice ones .
Unless your planning on spending about 400 bucks on a matched pair of swords there is really no need to buy them toghter but if your really wanting high grade matched swords they need to be bought as a set .If your going to by a mass produced sword they will be very close but not a perfect match ..
alot of the talk you hear about balancing is edge or side balance in the higher grade swords you will find them center balanced as well.. edge balance means the swords will stand on its back with the edge sticking up that is what belly dancers like to use .side balance which is the most comman amog mass produced cheaper swords means the blade will fall over to one side.
I belive center balanced means the swords wil stand on edge and balance at the pomel (sp) hand gaurd I am no means a sword smith but this is the little i have found out in the last few years of selling swords -
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Thanks for the info, it's a huge help already. I plan on dancing and mixing dance with combat-like style and moves. what kind of swords do you sell? thanks again,
Roar
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Agreed. another thing to consider is if your swords are full or "partial/rat-tail" tang - the full tang ones, with the (almost) full width of the blade shaft going into the pommel, are more appropriate for combat. however, be wary of the cast steel/aluminum ones, which are prone to shattering on impact. For non-contact uses, the rat-tail tang ones (the ones with a simple screw holding the blade onto the pommel), are relatively adequate, but ya have to be careful with the screw unscrewing (or getting somewhat damaged by the heat from the blade. Remember, the entire blade is held on only by a single nut!
Matched swords aren't entirely necessary if you're going to wick them - remember that the wick wrapped around the blades will somewhat distort the "single blade" illusion
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I've been using chinese broadswords that I wicked up for flame.
www.cc.gatech.edu/~sam/sam1.jpg
Yeah. if you DIY, leave a LOT of area for the flames to come up, so they don't run up. Also, see if a hand-guard is your style. With my Chinese Broadswords, the blade surface is rather wide, which just draws the flames up to my arms.
Balance really hasn't been that big an issue for me. I'm not really riding into combat with them.
With my swords, I bought a pair of "Double Broadswords" which have right and left hand grips. Good stuff, sometimes. -
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I use (and make) these:
www.bearclawmfg.com/t_sword.html
I've found that any long wick can run up the length causing a leaping effect of the flame. And gurad you get that isn'ta foot long can offer only so much protection. Best to just learn not to point your sword (or clubs, or snake poi) downward for more than a second. -
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not that I'm a dangerous one. Well, okey, I am...
I found one of the coolest freezes you can do with the swords is to have them down at a 30-45 degree andle and with your palms up, and the flames will run up the blades, and lick really close to my arms, but not burn (for a bit, it's warm though). It creates this amazing effect of my arms being completely ignited. Though, I like to absolutly soak my arms down before doing moves like that...
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Thank you very much for your response, it's quite helpful. Im also glad you attached the link because those are the exact swords I was looking at purchasing. Ill be ordering 2 katana-like blade(the blue one) and welded later, but i was also wondering, how ling do the katana blades burn for? thanks for everything!
Roar
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A nice pair of elbow-length heavy leather fencing gauntlets [the kind that ren-faire geeks use] can do wonders. . .
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Thanks alot man, i just ordered 2 swords, AND I CANT WAIT TO START PRACTICING!!!!!
ROAR
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I made my fire swords from wasters. Wasters are medieval practice swords made from wood. Not a boken. They can hold up to sparring (as their design is intended) and you can easily attach stuff to them since you can drill holes through the wood and revit it on or use bailing wire secure it in a nice pattern. To protect the wood I used Aluminum tape from home depot and just covered the whole blade in it before adding the kevlar wick along the edges leaving the middle empty. The nice thing about wood is that it is quite light and gets rid of heat really fast (wood is a poor conductor of heat)
As far as balance is concerned if your doing combat type moves then having a counter weight in the pommel is way superior as it helps your recovery and aids in wrist type movements. Balance points about 1-2 inches past the guard [onto the blade] (use one finger and balance the middle of the sword on it moving it till its balanced) are good for sword fighting as it helps to give you more blade control. I am not sure if it would be advantageous to be blade heavy or not overall in doing fire sword dancing, (not enough experience) I would say NOT, but its certainly not good for fighting unless your trying to really penetrate armor. So if you want your sword blade to move fast, have lots of tip control and recover well from circular strokes then make sure you have a counter weight in the pommel and that your balance point is not too far down the blade.
