one accident that happened in our Group was the following...

in a trainig fight with steelblunts the two combatant came to lock each other very thightly to each others body side by side, with both swords locked by the other one with their points downward and their hilts upward infront of each others face...locked swords are no reason in our group to stop the fight and to start over. so both folks tried to bring the other to a fall. i happend, that both fell backwards and both hilts hit the guys teeths...two theeths were lost in this accident...so we started to use a protector for the teeth like boxers are using...

In honor of a recent request for people to report on their safety incidents, I'm bringing this thread back to the top. This thread was originally posted in 2005. What are your thoughts on it now? Do you have another story to tell?

I suppose my favorite question for those who do cutting exercises is this, so I'm going to ask it again:
What do you intend to wear the next time you perform solo cutting exercises with sharp swords?
A) I never cut with sharps. It's too dangerous
B) Full harness. You never know what is going to happen
C) Full modern safety gear: mask, fencing jacket, gloves, heavy jeans and steel toed boots
D) Boots, jeans, and a heavy shirt.
E) Tennis shoes, shorts, and a t-shirt
F) Sandals and shorts. No shirt.
G) Sharp things scare me. I never go near them.

1. Respect the weapon. Try searching Google Images for something like "sword wound" and pick out which scar you'd want to wear:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=sword+wound

2. Use the right tool for the job. Consider the kind of training you are going to engage in and the most appropriate weapon: sharp, blunt, waster, or whatever. Is using a sharpened blade REQUIRED to accomplish your training? Is there a substitute that is equal to the task?

3. Consider alternative training exercises. Most of what people think of as "test cutting" could be done as "test hitting" exercises on a pell with blunts. In my opinion that's almost just as fun but nowhere near as risky.


I was doing some FMA forms with a sharp tanto before I'd had my morning coffee (i.e. before I could think.) Before too long I was heading off to the E.R. to get a nice stab wound in my thigh sewn up. A few inches over and it would have been a *really* bad day. I learned my lesson to avoid sharps in daily training.

I received a sword recently packed in a box with packing peanuts, and inside that the sword was sheathed in a cardboard tube just the right size to stay tension fit on the blade. I thought it was ingenious and am keeping the tube until I get a scabbard made for it. Moderately safer than a bare blade and cheap.