Test cutting on meat and bone

[Lance Chan]

Today with the help of my friend, I finally got to test cut on meat and bone. The result was surprising to me, who always cut tatami omote and bamboo (green and yellow). The feeling of cutting meat and bone is very different, which is relatively effortless!


Since I was afraid of hitting the metal hook, I was doing a half-hearted horizontal cut. Still it cut through the meat and bone in 1 clear strike!

I thrust through the meat for the first time, then hit the bone for the next time and split it open.


My sword ain't very good in draw cut. It can't slice open clothes but still it slices the meat down to the bone.



Two more slices.

[Jake_Norwood]

Lance-

Great photos and observations--thanks. What kind of meat was it, how hard was the bone, how fresh was it, and how much meat was it (weight or size)?

Jake

[Lance Chan]

It's a pork I think. the shoulder piece. Not as large as the one used in ARMA video, that's why I could only do 1 cut on it (not counting the thrusts and slices). It was still fresh I think, perhaps half or a full day. The bones were way softer than the bamboo I've encountered. I didn't know how much it weights. The size was as shown in the first photo. It was 1 piece. It became 2 pieces after my half-hearted horizontal cuts.

I would say from this observations that, swords really doesn't have to be VERY sharp to cut through meat and bones... but being sharp doesn't hurt. heheh. Moreover, many weaker cuts like false edges, upward diagonal that may not do well against tatami and bamboo will still do very good on flesh and bones. The result will not limited to "harassing" alone.

[Jake_Norwood]

Thanks for the prompt reply, Lance.

Here's a question for the general public, especially those with experience cutting at a greater variety of targets:

How much would factors such as skin, clothing, and muscle tension affect cutting at meat (yes, I'm talking about real people meat)? I'd think that it would change things a bit, especially the tension issue. I say this because I fear that we could find some people more and more convinced by a "softer" approach with the relative ease that raw meat cuts at. Anyone with wider experience wish to share?

Jake

[Lance Chan]

The next test cutting I will do on meat will be covered by modern clothing and video taped.

It has long been a question of mine also. I would suggest it will change the effect of the cuts tremendously. I may not be able to cut through whatever effort I use, but the effect will switch from a clear cut to blunt trauma.

We'll see by then.

p.s. no matter how hard you tension your muscles, it won't be harder than the tatami omote here that is hard grade, soaked only 8 hours, or bamboo. hehe. And it still cut, but only with more effort and very sharp sword. So I think the tension would not affect as much as clothing. I could be wrong though.

[steve hick]

Ah ha, not soaking the tatami omote enough. And using dry bamboo too? I need to find the source, but if I remember correctly, once through the skin, its pretty much clear sailing till you get to the bones. Clothing will have a significant effect on cutting, as Lance says, with better flexible armor (clothing - chainmail) the more the effect becomes blunt trauma.

Steve

[John_Clements]

Good stuff.

I would say that I've cut a substantial amount of raw meat and bone in the past few years with all manner of sword types (including antique pieces) with blades of a range of edge sharpness, and probably more so than any but a few people I know such as Hank R. And we've compared our experiences.

If you look back over some of the writing here on the site about this, you see we keep emphasizing a number of things: human flesh is highly susceptible to sharp metal things; swords inflict horrid wounds; swords do not have to be sharp to do terrible damage; armor and cloth are quite resistant to cuts and slices, test targets should be struck while hanging or anchored to a resistant yet somewhat mobile platform to simulate an animated object of realistic mass; and finally, strong blows are far more effective and gruesome than soft ones.

Besides, logically the stronger you can strike the harder it is for an opponent to displace the blow and the surer you’ll be of incapacitating them when you hit.
The historical record for sword injuries and deaths tells us people keep fighting unless they are given devastatingly debilitating wounds.

JC

[Guest]

Great stuff Lance. I'm hoping to test cut on meat before, or at least at, the international event.

I just rewatched the videos of John's test of that Norman sword, against cloth and chainmail, and how little even the cloth was affected by many kinds of cuts.

Last fall I cut some chainmail and can say this much- "butted" mail doesn't really resist cuts. At best, some links will get torqued out of place, but usually, you actually cut through it, embedding links inside the cut. Obviously, if you want to test cut chainmail, use mail that is rivited.

[E. Perez]

Lance,
What sword did you use for the cutting?

[Lance Chan]

Te cut in the photo was done with full follow through, just not full force (powered by elbow, 50% power). Next time I get a bigger piece of pork and will do some real full force cutting.

The sword used is my usual sword, the Tinker light XVIIIa bastard sword. Sharpness... well, I made it sharp enough to go through hard tatami omote soaked for 8 hours and green/yellow bamboo. Here are some pictures of the sword:



The edge




The sword.