Dojorat
27th January 2001, 19:38
Greetins,
I had an interesting insight to my sword technique. I was trying to find a spacer for my sword handle. This meant I had to remove the handle from the tang. Not wanting to expose the blade in public, I removed the peg, held the sword up still in the scabbard and, in order to loosen the handle from the tang, tapped on my wrist with my other fist. This all worked fine to loosen the handle. The additional insight came when I looked down at the counter top which I was facing. There, in a neat pile, were the shavings that I had been slowly but surely carving from the inside of the saya over the years with each draw and each return of the blade. I have always paid particular attention to the mouth of the scabbard and the risk of cutting through the scabbard. I've examined the mouth for cut marks and, happily, have not seen any to note. However, these shavings are coming from nowhere else but the inside of my scabbard and they're not coming from any other person handling the sword. Now this is not the original scabbard and it wasn't made specifically for this blade. So, there is some difference in curvature and fit. But, I don't know if this can explain it all. Maybe so, maybe not. The next class I also noticed that the sword was drawing much easier/smoother. My buddy said the shavings had been helping to hold the sword tightly in the scabbard and now that they were gone, the fit was looser. A plausible theory.
Anyway, I just wondered what that pile of wood shavings on the counter top was saying. Maybe nothing, maybe volumes.
Any similar experiences?
Cheers,
Anyway,
I had an interesting insight to my sword technique. I was trying to find a spacer for my sword handle. This meant I had to remove the handle from the tang. Not wanting to expose the blade in public, I removed the peg, held the sword up still in the scabbard and, in order to loosen the handle from the tang, tapped on my wrist with my other fist. This all worked fine to loosen the handle. The additional insight came when I looked down at the counter top which I was facing. There, in a neat pile, were the shavings that I had been slowly but surely carving from the inside of the saya over the years with each draw and each return of the blade. I have always paid particular attention to the mouth of the scabbard and the risk of cutting through the scabbard. I've examined the mouth for cut marks and, happily, have not seen any to note. However, these shavings are coming from nowhere else but the inside of my scabbard and they're not coming from any other person handling the sword. Now this is not the original scabbard and it wasn't made specifically for this blade. So, there is some difference in curvature and fit. But, I don't know if this can explain it all. Maybe so, maybe not. The next class I also noticed that the sword was drawing much easier/smoother. My buddy said the shavings had been helping to hold the sword tightly in the scabbard and now that they were gone, the fit was looser. A plausible theory.
Anyway, I just wondered what that pile of wood shavings on the counter top was saying. Maybe nothing, maybe volumes.
Any similar experiences?
Cheers,
Anyway,