How much POWER do you need for a Sword?

[@anonymouslee2083]

True. You don't need a lot of power if your sword is sharp and your edge alignment is good.

[@divineterabyte5181]

Regardless, you don't need a lot of power. If your blade is too dull to cut by force, adding more force is only going to increase your chances of missing the alignment; you need to draw your cuts, and allow more focused blade exposure to the target. I use a non-bladed iaito to demonstrate this to fellow students that ask for my advice; you won't leave more than a mark on a mat with force, but if you draw that cut, it'll get a third of the way through without even having a blade.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

The stroke and draw do a lot of the cutting work, as well

[@irrelevantfish1978]

That's only true if the target is minimally clothed. Put a kimono on that tatami and it will take a lot more oomph to achieve the same result, _superhuman_ amounts if the edge isn't well-sharpened. Both experimentation and IRL accounts prove this, showing that the efficacy of a blade against clothing is incredibly dependent on the fineness of its edge, and that most conventional fabrics will significantly impede even "shaving sharp" blades.

[@lundenmartin1802]

Tf is edge alignment

[@anonymouslee2083]

@ getting the sharp edge of the blade lined up with the path of the cut so the blade will cut efficiently.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

Thank you for pointing out different forms of cutting. This is why a sword is a finesse weapon despite the brutality it brings

[@hundvd_7]

@@twilightgardenspresentatio6384 this is why, in RPGs, Swords should depend on Agility and Bows on Strength. Not the other way around

[@Kiroana]

​@@hundvd_7Tbh, both should depend on both. Minimum strength to wield, agility to aim, strength and agility for damage with a sword. (Only agility for a bow, as meeting minimum strength means you can fully draw it back)

[@heavenlysteel8337]

​@@hundvd_7 i think a certain strength value should just be a prerequisite for bows, and weapons in general. You still need hand-eye coordination and those are obviously AGI/DEX. Although, bows should never scale with strength I think Souls games do it right on certain weapons. Most of the swords closest in size to real life weapons mainly scale with AGI, and only a little bit on STR.

[@chrisdiokno5600]

@@heavenlysteel8337 TBF for bows, IIRC, longbows at least required a pretty sizeable amount of strength

[@dragon12234]

@@hundvd_7 Nah, Swords still require strength, epecially when you are facing tougher targets, where you might have to rely more on the momentum and the fact that the sword is also a long metal rod. Same reason you use a cleaver to cut through bone, and not a filet knife

[@tanewoodley9806]

Videos like this are quite terrifying. It's one thing to know that swords are dangerous, it's another to see how little effort it takes to maim and kill with one. Excellent work, thanks for posting.

[@josephwait7384]

We are fragile sacks full of blood and guts. The difficult part of warfare has never been the killing…. The hard part is keeping your own guys alive.

[@thelelanatorlol3978]

@@josephwait7384 We are fragile, we can make ourselves not fragile by wearing armor. Plate armor specifically for cold weapons like swords and spears. R.I.P if the opposition has a blunt force weapon or god forbid they cooked up napalm in their kitchen

[@totally_not_a_bot]

I mean, go to your kitchen and cut some veggies. Now imagine the knife weighs 2-3 pounds and is the length of a broom. You could kill someone with a casual poke.

[@unukbigwall2279]

@@josephwait7384 thats a reason, why our defense is always weaker to our offense, the moment, for example, the plate armor, the moment we reach that level, gundpower become a popular thing, and this will always be the thing, the moment we reach to survive headshots from a .50, trust me we gonna really fast invent some thing to break that armor in half or much more faster than that, and is all the reason we are from base, as you say, is really keep our people hard to kill, since if the armor break, we are done

[@chedsd2clips465]

wait until you hear about guns

[@toxi87]

Also, not to mention that even a shallow tatmi cut is more than likely a disabling or lethal attack. It is hard to remember that sometimes when we do tatmi cutting but even a "failed" cut is a kill. Great video and demonstration

[@weeeetry]

In this situation CURVED swords like Persian shamshir and talwar act like a cheat code.

[@Sir_Crumpet21]

Yes, but they don't have as good edge alignment

[@CantFeelMyEyesBruh]

@@Sir_Crumpet21clearly you don’t know that curved swords like the katana have auto aligning edge technology, if you were a real swordsman you should know that !!

[@Sir_Crumpet21]

@@CantFeelMyEyesBruh I'm not a swords man at all

[@fielgch4256]

the way heavily curved swords cut are different from a straight sword. a spectrum of drawing vs hewing. neither is necessarily better than the other.

[@charmzee8749]

@@CantFeelMyEyesBruhThey don’t automatically align themselves, they are just shaped to allow your body to align itself to make a near perfect cut with every swing. It’s got axe technology 😂 swing and don’t miss and you’ll get great results out of the box.

[@angrybirder9983]

Power doesn't even necessarily require a whole lot of strength. In golf, power generation is mostly technique. If you know when to swing with which part of the body, the ball will fly way further than if you strike with brute force.

[@anon2427]

Same is true of boxing and kickboxing!! Can confirm

[@MagicianDisco]

Do the master cuts in varying degrees of intensity and test whether or not they are viable hews outside of the context of civilian dueling. I did this in my academy and it was brilliant. The students loved it. We tested zwerch, zornhau, shielhau, and absetzen, and duplieren in a battle scenario against a zombie head with chain mail on. Then we tested italian false edge cuts in much the same way. Spoiler: apparently Italian longsword is much more energy efficient and destructive than kdf. Fiore really does love us and wants us to be happy.

[@divineterabyte5181]

Well shoot, time to download fiore's 1st i guess

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

Liechtenauer's teaching literally said, don't use crown guard like those filthy casuals (Which was used alot in Italian treatises)

[@TryinaD]

@@divineterabyte5181oh well, I am sure it would serve us good!

[@MagicianDisco]

@jaketheasianguy3307 I actually really like crown, honestly. I modify it by holding it a little left of the fight line, but I dig it. That and bicorno. I've confused more opponents with bicorno than pretty much anything else 😄 🤣

[@brookelord3448]

He literally said he's not going to do that because other people already have done it 😂

[@Joeseph113]

Great video. As a dedicated cutter I love when our more public members give a little attention to my most enjoyable part of HEMA

[@hexa138]

Last cut sounded EXACTLY like taking damage in Minecraft

[@dominicstewart3850]

Ngl this is one of my favorite yt channels

[@TheIcelandicGamerXx]

I entered into Cutting at HLO for 2025, never held a sharp. Will see how far we go with no experience...

[@SellswordArts]

With a sharp sword and good mechanics, you'll do just fine!

[@synthemagician4686]

Best of luck!

[@TheGoldenBear79]

@@TheIcelandicGamerXx Good luck with your cutting Sir. Stay safe, learn what you can, and enjoy the experience. Best wishes to you and your family. ✌️🇺🇸

[@TheHunt99]

If you've ever split wood, a lot of the times the weight of the axe is usually enough to get through most wood types. Only for really knotty stuff or twisted grains do you have to put some serious effort in. It's also mostly edge alignment and accuracy. Maybe i should get into swords with all the time I've spent splitting wood 😂

[@Cooper-vi7yj]

This episode felt so much more "behind the scenes"

[@Roy_In_A_Safe_Space]

Ngl you'd be a great VA for Joshua in a future twewy game. You've got the perfect range for it imo.

[@Irate_Beau]

i was taught a similar concept in woodworking: let the blade do the cutting!

[@7heTexanRebel]

If you think about how much a sword weighs then it also makes sense. You cant actually put a whole lot of power into something so light before it's moving too fast for you muscles to effectively add more power.

[@TryinaD]

Me watching this in preparation for my first tatami cutting session lmao. So nervous, especially since I just qualified for basic messer.

[@Bored_Overthinker]

It’s always cool when you cut through something, but what a lot of people don’t fully understand is that you don’t even need to cut through something, because I guarantee you that getting hit by a sword, even by a relatively weak cut, is going to leave some serious damage.

[@Ovasiig]

It’s not a matter of power it’s a matter of technique. If you try to brute force it you’ll just break your sword. If you learn the techniques and edge alignment you’ll feel like you’re cutting slightly colder butter. Least from my experience over the past 15 years in kendo.

[@Lftarded]

Yeah, that technique is called "structure" and "edge alignment"

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

Except kendo has nothing to do with cutting practice, they used mostly snap cuts most of the time which won't go through tatami mats like how David demonstrated (minus something like Men kaeshi do)

[@Ovasiig]

@ as I said technique is what is being highlighted. Even if you’re not really training to cut mats if you learn the technique for proper cuts you can do it with applying the correct technique. The way my master used to describe it to us is “the style is itself but the techniques are plug and play”

[@sparrowhawk81]

Yeah but that's no fair. We're stuck with our big clunky euro trash swords. We don't have access to the finest folded Nippon steel.

[@Lxyu8170]

@@sparrowhawk81 lmfao

[@NotHUSTLE]

Just bought the sword you used in this video a couple days ago, can't wait

[@ProphetofGermaine]

Those Matt’s are equivalent to the resistance of a human arm. That shit is no joke

[@shadowmancy9183]

My thoughts on power required- it depends on the edge and the target. My sharp doesn't have a razer edge, but even before being sharpened, I could get through tatami, while other could cut through the same material with a katana or other very sharp edge, but not mine. Structure beats strength, and mechanics are a fundamental part of structure.

[@seanheath4492]

Been flipping through my Exalted RPG books, and you'd probably like how they handle physical combat. Attack rolls are generally based on Dexterity, while damage is based on .Strength (for muscle-powered weapons) with a bonus depending on how well you did on your attack roll. And yes, this includes bows.

[@ChildEater_404]

You don’t need a lot of power to cut with the sword, but you do need enough strength to handle the sword swiftly and to sustain your speed for an elongated amount of time. That is not easy for beginners.

[@fat_hercules]

I love when an expert in a thing says “Yeah, but there is a-whole-nother skill cliff in this highly specialized area, and I just some scrub.” Pal, you are the SELLSWORD ARTS GUY! You’re AT LEAST expert-adjacent!

[@rommedegraauw4060]

To be fair, the question of power is still relevant in the context of breaking through an opponents guard (but obviously nowhere near what most non-HEMA people think)

[@ReaperXxK]

When he said power at the beginning he reminded me of Mirio from My Hero Academia No I'm not sure if the mats were soaked in water, but it makes it easier to cut and more realistic when simulating cutting a person.

[@kennysiu-HK]

critical is force of "sliding" at the same time of hinting.

[@kustomationstudios]

I literally just got a random recommendation for swords, and i'm already enjoying it

[@juhel5531]

Sergio Olivia Sr. tanked a .few 38 caliber point blank in the chest and gut. It didn't even mortally wound him. The bullets couldn't penetrate his muscles. Considering that, one has gotta wonder if there were also absolute genetic anomalies like him in the old days. Dudes that could tank a sword cut/thrust with pure muscle. The type of people that a knight/man at arms would go "it was like cutting into a wild boar."

[@totally_not_a_bot]

A friend of mine is descended from berserkers and witches. He told me of an ancestor of his who would come home from battle with spears in his back. The guy was killed by the flu.

[@ERIK-457]

Yeah, swords and blades in general are really efficient, sharpness in general, only to smash or cut REALLY strong things you need a lot of power, like to hit and actually damage someone in plate armor, but most thing's you're practically gonna hit in combat, going through it anyday without even trying

[@thomasflores7817]

When I was learning Korean sword, most of the emphasis was on just being able to cut as strait as possible

[@TristianPearson]

Technique gives rise to power, in a way raw power never could

[@Afrologist]

Power matters more for blunt weapons since edge alignment matters more with a properly sharp blade.

[@seththegreat1760]

i've found that as long as you have a sharp sword that has enough weight to it (and balanced weight), you can cut about anything you would need to without a lot of effort. its a lot more of the weight that matters than you think. but still, you do need it to be sharp

[@dorkmatter4076]

An edge exists just to focus the force of the swing into a small area specifically so that you don't need force much to be effective

[@geloscopy5736]

You should use tatami mats to experiment with diifferent forms of power generation you debunked already, would be cool to have a visual. For example, comparing spin attack, reverse grip attacks, and jumping attacks

[@KazeKamiFooDjinn]

For thicker targets, if you pull back at impact point, you add a slicing action to the cleaver action. Also, for even thicker ones, a foot lift and a stomp right before that hip action you mentioned, followed by the pull-back slice, does wonders.

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

unnecessary. The arc of the sword swing is more than enough to create the drawing back effect, just have to maintain that edge alignment. In fighting, you want to fully extend the arms when cutting from a far distance anyway.

[@fielgch4256]

The pull-back into a draw cut might be true of a katana, but it’s not as effective for a longsword as having a good arc for the hewing motion.

[@KazeKamiFooDjinn]

@jaketheasianguy3307 It really depends on what you're cutting. A cucumber can be easily chopped, but a tomato requires a slicing motion for clean through and through. There are always three elements to consider. You, your opponent, and your environment, everything else can be divided into subcategories.

[@KazeKamiFooDjinn]

@@fielgch4256 Kitchen knives come in all shapes in sizes, curved and flat. I can slice sushi with a butcher's cleaver. It might not be the best tool for that particular job, but if I chose it for other reasons, such as if I entered a contest of turning a tuna into a dainty sashimi dish, I might choose the cleaver over a sushi knife because I learned how to finesse with a cleaver. Or you can choose the sushi knife and use the tip to stab and yank downward to do the work of the cleaver, I can do both, but I would probably choose the cleaver in this situation.

[@rheicistmann]

always remember: blades (or any melee weapons) are power multipliers. they multiply your minimal strength to produce explosive power

[@RatedX29]

Congratulations!

[@kuzurihanma5963]

If you want to have power and strength be a factor, grab something like StormBreaker, Axe/Hammer. Or a polearm, although I have heard that the glaive is sometimes like a sword on a spear shaft… which makes me wonder, does hema have divisions for spears and such?

[@IzanaG1z]

Really good cuts. Try a schielhau some people says that its a bad cut...

[@UwU_Tarot_XV]

I was laying down and watching this, but when you went for the cut, my hip tried to go with yours, as if it was me in the video XD

[@leftylattin]

Some of those real machete fights in places like south america will show very clearly it takes almost nothing when edge alignment is good. Saw a video the other day where 2 dudes are going at it, one gets knocked to the ground and from the ground, from his back he just kinda throws a swing out there and zip. Other dudes entire hand just flys off. Nothing reminds me to avoid a real sword fight at all costs quite like watching real ones. Id rather get shot.

[@ex0duzz]

Link to video?

[@leftylattin]

@ex0duzz its been scrubbed off fb. Kinda mad i didnt screen record it, should have known it wouldnt stay up for long. Pretty wild though, i missed what actually happened first watch because he never stopped swinging at the guy on the ground. Eventually they seperated and the dude who lost his hand starts calmly walking, occasionally yelling and talking s*** to the other guy out of frame, and goes over and picks up his fking hand like he dropped his phone and was walking back to pick it up. It was shared in a group chat of my fma school. They share vids like that every so often as a sobering reminder- dont get into real life sword fights. Even if you are probably winning all it takes is some hail mary from the other guy and suddenly you are looking down at your arm seeing the flesh of your forearm flapping in the wind and you are looking at your own skeleton. Hard pass.

[@gabrieladonai9427]

Try draw and push cuts next, just to show how power affects it!

[@spencer1980]

Body mechanics man. Body mechanics matter so much more than just raw strength. It would be fun to see a body builder do some cutting. They move so stiff, I don't think that power is gonna do much.

[@karelcruzporto1672]

The grace of Long Sword fencing comes from moving opponents who defend themselves. And practice, is not need to cut through any one

[@miklosernoehazy8678]

... next video... ...have a try at demonstrating the 'Suio Ryu wave slicer" technique, featured in Kozure Okami (Lone Wolf and Cub)...

[@Roma_Roma-YT]

Im am need to see how powerful is jump attack and reverse sword on this doll 😅

[@Shabingus_gaming]

Get it you're good at cutting, GET IT

[@baggelissonic]

On other news, swords are indeed very sharp.

[@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145]

🤔 personally, for myself, it depends on the sword type, how sharp, what I'm cuttingb& how good or bad my edge alignment is that day 😂

[@austinlowrance5943]

Like Shifu used to say, " I fear the man who has practiced one move a thousand times over the man who practices a thousand moves once." Strength and speed are wasted without form and control.

[@amancalleddave.3547]

The type of bloke who can’t help look at his reflection in windows of cars when walking past.

[@lucasgaming-hl1mj]

You should play blade and sorcery

[@DimiLeventis]

The shaper the sword, the less force you need to put into the cut, it's very simple physics

[@ethanburn8574]

Only in a situation like this is the phrase "I'm good at cutting" not horrifying 💀

[@NexusKirin]

“Depends on the weapon, and the man.” - Kratos(?)

[@renascitur7051]

I'd like to actually see the cuts done in HEMA shown against tatami mats or even ballistic dummies. Not the intentional straightforward cuts as could be seen when using a saber or the like; more the fast, glances done by zwerchhau or some other non-conventional cut where you don't actually have a clean slicing motion all the way through your target/are being careful of afterblows.

[@jeremykiahsobyk102]

The Gauls once smashed the Romans' wooden shields to pieces with overhand power blasts. ... so the Romans redesigned their scuta with iron, trained their legionaries in specific countering techniques, and cleaned house the next time.

[@Jay_Hendrix]

How much damage a sword deals doesn't come from the force it hits you with, but WHERE it hits you

[@tonyjoestar2632]

Movies make people think swords are blunt sometimes

[@Daffach25]

What a cool sword

[@theprancingprussian]

i wonder how well cuts can be made after the point has been thrust within, cutting from inside to out with more drawing motion

[@timothyamihan8857]

MORE!!!! POWER!!!!! -crazy futuristc wizzard palpinetine

[@maddamame]

Thanks, wise wiezemin

[@sparrowhawk81]

I would take heemuh cutting competitions a lot more seriously (or seriously at all) if they did interesting stuff like your trying to make a small cut. They could put a post on either side of the mat and you would be judged on how well you can cut from that distance. They could have two mats tied together side by side and the goal would be to cut as far as possible into one without cutting through to the other. They could mark them with lines at certain angles and you have to match the line with your cut. Maybe they do some of these things I don't know, but a lot of what I've seen seems to reward cuts that are ugly and that you wouldn't really have time to deliver in a fight.

[@synthemagician4686]

*HEMA. I REALLY like the idea of drawing a line on the target and trying to hit the right area and match the angle though. I am totally gonna try this, thank you for the idea.

[@sparrowhawk81]

@synthemagician4686 make sure to wear that hat. It helps 😁

[@ImmortalLemon]

“Noooo snap cuts aren’t as powerful” True. But imagine if that was your arm…. Or your soft squishy bits…………

[@markmatherne7322]

The more your trying to cut through more power needed

[@Benary-1]

Swords are sharp leverage sticks the whole point is you don't die in a sword fight by not getting hit by a sword, they are _really_ deadly

[@JTornado-d2n]

Does anyone else see the blood on the sword

[@mrhalfsaid1389]

If you're using your sword correctly you don't need power, but it's there if needed. You'd only use power if your opponent has some form of armour, and frankly that'd be the second option, not your main weapon.

[@NevTheDeranged]

Bottom line, three feet of steel will do terrifying damage to mere flesh and bone, you absolutely do not want to get hit with one even once.

[@stevenle9960]

yea the point of using a sword over a blunt weapon is that the fact that an edge exists allows you to deal a lot of damage with very little applied force

[@fistofbuuda]

I would say it also boils down to the style of soldier using and the weight of it.

[@82Dfresh]

Looks like a hand and a half from CS. Is that accurate? Mine is quite impressive for the price point. Good cutter and durable.

[@skylarcollins940]

And the type of sword and cross section design all comes down to blade geometry.

[@samueldavidcepedapalacio9953]

Now, try cutting the sword with the tatami

[@boxofmadness2511]

NOW THIS IS THE KIND OF CONTENT I LOOKING FOR!

[@BraydenGoluba]

A quad edged rapier could be a decent day to day carry....

[@kanmeridoc1784]

*ahem*... "sppppeeeeEEEEEEEEED IIIISSSS KEEEEEEEEEEEY!!!!!!"

[@ashtonstired]

How do you sharpen your swords?

[@theenderden2781]

You don’t need POWER?… *Vergil disapproves*

[@planterafinalform7836]

Day 3 of asking for Guilty Gear Sword analysis or something

[@rem_0]

That's cool and all, but have you tried to cut using talk no jutsu?

[@V3lk0n]

Use a fake leg (an exact replica with bones and everything) for this test.

[@jaketheasianguy3307]

Soaked tatami is more consistent than cadaver, hence it was used for limb simulators. Frozen meat and bones got a lot harder after the animal died, which is unrealistic as live target simulators

[@sus_men7837]

Nah I thought you were Vergil for a second

[@sterlinggecko3269]

everything is a cutting edge if you push hard enough

[@Jay_Hendrix]

Swords are finesse weapons

[@AmazingMrMe123]

Do draw cuts work well on tatami mats? Ive never seen someone test it and it might just be because it doesnt really work. As of what we're trying to do, off with their head, always, im too deadly for non-lethal techniques /s

[@Blurgamer17]

Once again, DEX > STR on swords. 😅

[@nionashborn7626]

I heard: "are we trying to cut through, or are we trying to cut the disabled"

[@longthedraco]

I would become gojo satoru if I faced one of these guys

[@TNTYOD]

U swinging jump forward graze and slice horizontally Or swing upwardly and dart back?

[@juancarlosgonzalez8950]

It's curious that executions by beheading failed so many times and required several tries.

[@rutrwer8220]

They measured the speed of the tip of a long sword and it was almost 300 kmph

[@marcosphillips4232]

Depends on what you are trying to cut.

[@Meatball996]

Most of the time you're cutting people, who are squishy.

[@marcosphillips4232]

@@Meatball996 and wearing various items. Items that can widely affect the efficiency of a cut. Like armor.

[@LuEynch]

​​@@marcosphillips4232if your trying to cut chainmail or plate armor then your wasting your efforts no swords can cut through a properly made armor, although if your trying to cut a gambeson (padded armor) all you need is a little power and a good edge alignment

[@Meatball996]

@@marcosphillips4232 If you're cutting armour you're doing it wrong anyway. Most armours wouldn't get cut with any amount of power you could reasonably put in. Armoured combat uses half-swording and stabs

[@psychromaniac3525]

It's the same with knives when you're cutting vegetables. You don't need to muscle your way through it, just let the blade do all the work.

[@windspast]

What about no hips at all, only arm? How much can you cut with nothing but an arm swing

[@alexisespinoza-desjardins6362]

It’s like getting kicked in the thigh/hamstring. It really doesn’t take a lot. I mean, Eddie Hall got hit by a kid and he felt it. I tried it with one of my friends, I stopped before it got dangerous, but it hurts like a bitch.

[@CDKohmy]

I personally don't think even that much is needed in actual combat. I'd rather both me and my opponent to be alive. Plus, one doesn't need to lop off a limb to stop a fight, sometimes all it takes is to break the skin.

[@djgamingdragon969]

@@CDKohmy you have no time to think about that when blades are drawn on you. It's a dog eat dog world out here