[Feanaro]

This might seem silly(does to me) but could ballistic gel(skin) and bamboo(bone) be used to tell how deep you/the sword can cut and thrust? I doubt it would be practical but it would be a fun, weird project. But I'm not sure gel would work well with swords, compared to bullets.

You could stack blocks of gel and put bamboo in it, making a skeleton and then have fun with it. :D

[Soap]

I think it would not be worth it since any half decent sword with an edge will go through ballistic gel without incident. For cutting practice, I prefer hard targets like tatami mats, bamboo, etc. The Conan wannabes use pizza boxes though :p

[RON in PA]

What about watermelons?

[Kjay]

Besides mats you might consider pool noodles (pool toys). Use them just like the rolled mats. Yes, watermelons and other such will work. Some like waterfilled milk containers and pop bottles. I like the pool noodles - cheap, available, and fun. :p

[Feanaro]

I didn't seriously consider ballistic gel a good practice material but I wondered if a suitably calibrated gel with some kind of bamboo skelton would be a good imitation of flesh a bone. I highly doubt it, but I thought it was funny. And the idea seemed interesting, not only for the sheer fun of seeing the big slice you made clearly but so we could have .45 vs 9mm type debates.

"Katanas can go through XXX inches, with all the chest bones sliced clean!"

"The H&H swords can make a bigger wound channel and crush the bones"

"Two handers can make a real big hole" :D

BTW I have actually tried pool noodles. The foam gets stock on my sword though, lotta hassle.

[Navy joe]

Probably best to stick to whacking mats. I got bored and limbed out a few felled trees with mine. Besides, if you make the gelatin thing work we'll have to endure "What sword is best for killing Gumby threads"

[Don Gwinn]

The other big problem is that with the sword, penetration and cutting are not really objective tests. If everyone used the same test medium, that might make it a little more uniform, but at the end of the day, the same sword will cut more of your test media in John's hands than mine because he knows more about how to use it and has developed the skill. Guns are a bit more uniform, at least when measuring penetration and wound channels.

[Feanaro]

Obviously, but you could take both trained and untrained persons of different sexes and weights, then average it out. It's highly impractical, agreed, but some of us are very, very bored people. :D

[Arcli9ht]

Yeah, like me :D

Where does one get their mits on some of this gel... for attacking with swords, shooting, throwing at friends, etc?


/Arcli9ht

[Jim March]

The Society for Creative Anachronism came up with a standardized competition for real swords called the "bottle chop" - 2 liter soft drink bottles full of water are hung from a 3ft rope. Judging is based on a mixture of "style" and cleanness of the cut, which is generally diagonal across the bottle.

[Byron Quick]

If you've got a friend about to butcher a hog...:D

[Feanaro]

Considering my reputation with sharp objects I doubt they would let me near a hog they wanted to see again. ;)

But perhaps if I go deer hunting I'll be a bit more creative with my butchering.