I guess for me, there are other things I would reach for first when doing actual clearing work. Back home in Hawaii, the machete ruled. The general design lends itself to doing more work more efficiently. I don't need or desire a sword with this design for that kind of work. With a machete, I want a wide blade with a good deal of metal directly behind the edge -- something that will bite deep and chop well with the mass behind the edge, yet be light and agile enough for light vegetation and LOTS of swinging. And I want to be able to employ it effectively one handed, so my other hand is kept free to handle things. Combined with the proper machete technique, I'd take a machete design over a wakizashi design for that sort of work.
If I need to take down something dense and woody, I'll use an axe, a khukuri, or a saw. Even a good strong machete will do.
I confess that when I saw this blade, the first thing that went through my mind wasn't what practical applications I could find for it. The first thing that went through my mind, was "WOW! That is a bad ass short sword made by a bad ass company to do bad ass things."
To me, it is a short sword first and foremost. I'm not really into super tactical products, but my inner child has always wanted a real functional sword. This Waki looks to be it for me.
Do I think I'll ever use it as a sword in combat? I would say the chance is negligible. But I think a blade with this design would excel in that application, and I would probably prefer it to a machete or an axe, especially if I actually had some training with it. But I don't think it's ideally suited to most other applications. I mean, I don't see landscape guys carrying around waki's either, I see them carrying machetes and brush hooks or powered trimmers
.
I believe what Kaizen was trying to say, was not that it doesn't have any practical use at all, but that there are other tools that are more practical for mundane applications like brush clearing or chopping. That it isn't the ideal tool for the common tasks we encounter. That's not to say you can't use it for those tasks. I'm going to use it for those tasks sometimes, because I'm not buying a $400+ blade only to have it collect dust until the zombies or alien invaders come
. And it's fun to swing a two handed sword around and hack stuff up :thumbup:. I had the pleasure of playing with and chopping with a Busse AK once, and there's just something fun about hacking at crap with a sword.
And as for the possible basis for another large blade product, I only nodded towards something like a gladius or short leaf blade sword because of the price. I don't think many people could afford the final price of lengthier or thicker double-edged designs....
ETA: Whoops, looks like Kaizen already replied while I was typing.
ETA2: And yeah, with the advent of firearms, it probably isn't ideally suited for most common combat applications either.
