Korea swords and cutting

by Don
(Green Bay WI)

QUESTION: Hello Sir
I am a 3rd degree black belt in TKD. I started training in 1998. I have had a little practice in the use on the Katana but have not done any cutting. The style of TKD fits me well because I have to use a Wheelchair all the time. But I am fairly competent in board breaking and weapons.

One of my seniors steered me to a site that makes Korean swords. I study among other disaplins TKD and since it started in Korea and came to this country I would love to have a functional Korean sword to learn to cut with.. The sight is MartialArtSwords.com the custom made swords there are over $1200. I can afford that if that is a good site for a Koran sword. The ? is has anyone ever tried to perform a cut while sitting. If it is not possible to do that I will take a pass on that and look for another site or buy a unsharpened Korean sword because that is a lot of money for something that I can not use and just is pretty to look at. Can anyone out there help me out please.

ANSWER: Hi Don,

MAS have a good reputation for making very durable and high quality blades. There have been some rumblings on the faviour sword forums that their fittings are not quite matching the quality of the blade - but considering that the choices in Korean swords is currently so limited, there really isn't another option...

Now, as to cutting while sitting - I do not think it will be a problem. With a properly balanced and sharpened blade (which MAS do) I honestly don't think you will have any issues at all. ^_^

Hope this helps.

- Paul