Having received my Baron and done some tameshigiri cutting with it I decided to move on to the next step and try it on some real meat. I have always wanted to do this with my katanas but have not done so. My wife said I may as well get it out of my system Labor Day. We bought a a 25 lb brisket with a lot of grissle, set up the camera, laid down a plastic sheet and prepared to shoot. I would say that the Albion Baron cut very nicely although I looked none too good at it.

Here is the link for the video of the cutting session:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6RpMBLb62Y

Hope everyone likes it.

Regards,

Harry

Neat!

Scary impressive even if your cutting style is a bit ineffective. ;) :D :cool:

I'm far from experienced in actual cutting myself but I do have 4 to 5 years of longsword practice and mostly you are just using arm strength to try to power the sword through the meat and don't use your body mass efficiently: A cut using a passing step would help a great deal but I would be careful with a sharp until you got the motion sorted out as I think you sort of almost lost your balance during one cut.

I'm sure a cutting expert like Michael Edelson could in ten minutes with you improve your cutting efficiency by 10X or chime in and break down the details of your body dynamics in much more detail that I can.

As a general comment you did seem a little tense and uncomfortable being aware that a sharp has to be handled carefully and being relaxed usually is much better with cutting. ( Oh, and as the target got smaller, lost chunks, your aim seemed to improve ).

Just think of it as golf or tennis or baseball and that being over tense and stiff doesn't help your swing.

Hope this doesn't sound over critical and is only meant as useful friendly feedback. :D :cool:

hehe. every swordsman dreams to do this.
but what happened to the poor slices of meat afterwards ? i suppose there was no barbequeu, as most missed the plastic.

Hi Jean, yes, I need a lot more practice on meat cutting. The target was hanging too low and I was trying not to step on the plastic sheet...oh well...excuses..excuses...I do cut a lot better with a katana on tameshigiri though. As you pointed out I mostly power the cuts with my arms using the Baron which I felt when I cut tameshigiri with it as I felt more resistance when I cut thru the target.

The meat was gathered up and washed by my wife and is now safely frozen in the freezer but I suspect it is going to be some tough eating ( more excuses).

Regards,

Harry

Hi Harry,

Harry J. Fletcher wrote:

The target was hanging too low

One possible solution to this problem (in my experience) is to bend your legs instead of stooping forward. This will improve your balance and stability too when dealing with low targets...

Regards,

That would be one awesome BBQ! I have been able to some similar test cutting and it was a blast... we threw the meat on a grill nearly as soon as it was cut off and washed.

Thanks for the video! Looks like it was fun and you have to thank you wife for us for allowing you to make the video for us to see.

RPM

Hi Vincent, comment ca va?

Yes, bending at the knees would have helped but I suspect as you so politely didn't mention is that my balance is offset by the rather large amount of stomach on me which I am getting started on reducing and should help tremendously once it has been trimmed down somewhat. I guess this is a symtom of getting older which you younger men will learn soon enough. But thank you for the kind observation.

Hi Randal,

A BBQ sounds great but I have to forgo that option for now as mentioned above. Sounds like you had a backyard cutting party and lots of fun as these things tend to be.

Regards,

Harry