Woo! Now thats sharp and amazing.

[Dave S.]

http://www.users.cts.com/king/e/erikt/iai/papercut.jpg

here is a picture of Miura Takeyuki Hidefusa, hanshi, 20th grandmaster of the branch of Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu Iaijutsu
Hes cutting ONE sheet of rolled newspaper and the bottom remains standing.
Sure the technique is a huge factor too, but thats really amazing to me.

One must remeber that he us using a japanese sword which does not have a bevel edge ot a chisle edge. its an appleseed edge polished. So its not a razor sharp blade. If anyone has ever touched (which one shouldnt do too much) a traditional katana, theyre not "razor sharp" as misconception commonly has us believe. A razor sharp blade with a razor thin edge would roll over as fast as hell when cutting mats or bamboo or bone.

Impressive, though.

 

[Climber]

Nice Pic, Dave...
Thanks for posting it.
Iaijutsu is pretty fascinating: it's too bad we can't post "Video Clips" here: it would be nice to see the whole motion, since iaijutsu movements typically start and end with the blade in the sheath!
Real "Samurai" skill is rare these days; it's refeshing to see an expert in the craft of sword-use. My Katana is pretty sharp; maybe that makes up for my lack of skill necessary to duplicate what Hidefusa is shown doing with the newspaper, if his is not !
He's got a focused expression, that's for sure.
Anyway, thanks for the glimpse.
C L

 

[blademan 13]

That is a cool test. A friend and I used to do this a lot to kill time at work. We would take a sheet of newspaper, fold it in half and then roll it into a 2" tube so that there were actually several layers to be cut through. The knife I always used to cut the roll was a Blackjack Trailguide. It would take a perfect effort to leave the bottom of the roll still standing. It would take a VERY sharp blade, perfect angle, a slight draw on the cut to do this. While I was able to do this, I have never got to the point where I could do it with an empty soda can. Close, but not quite