Random Thought Thread

bluemax_1 said:
Just a bit of advice;

Ideally, sword forms, kata, iaido etc. should be practiced with a practice sword (eg. a bokken or unsharpened blade).

There's an inherent (practical) cautiosness when handling live/sharp blades, which absolutely makes sense, as you can easily cause serious injury with a fast moving 3 foot razor.

The problem is that when you learn with one, that natural cautiosness will cause you to move differently, and you'll potentially be altering your sword cuts without even being aware of it, and thus training it into muscle memory, which makes it much harder to unlearn.

There's a reason students in Japanese swordsmanship drill endlessly with bokken before ever moving to shinken.

The good news, is that it gives you 5 years to decide on a shinken if you ever decide to get one.
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the kata is presented with a live blade so I'm just thinking ahead.
thanks.
 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
the kata is presented with a live blade so I'm just thinking ahead.
thanks.
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Understood. Not uncommon in iaido to use an iaito (unsharpened sword) for practice, and a shinken for demonstrations or grading.

As mentioned, it gives you ~5 years to decide on a shinken.

FWIW, the Paul Chen swords available on Bugei, are actually pretty good shinken.

The Old Pine and Peace katanas are available in the ~30” blade range (I’m assuming your instructor has explained blade sizing to your proportions).
 
bluemax_1 said:
Understood. Not uncommon in iaido to use an iaito (unsharpened sword) for practice, and a shinken for demonstrations or grading.

As mentioned, it gives you ~5 years to decide on a shinken.

FWIW, the Paul Chen swords available on Bugei, are actually pretty good shinken.

The Old Pine and Peace katanas are available in the ~30” blade range (I’m assuming your instructor has explained blade sizing to your proportions).
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IMG_8892.gif
 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
so. it turns out that I'm learning a sword form Kata to present at my black belt test in (if all goes well) 5 years.

anyone know where I can get a sword with about a 30'' blade?
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In addition to what bluemax stated: The Hanwei Practical series are great for practice. The Practical Iato (27” unsharpened stainless blade) has a nice bo-hi which lets you know by sound if you are actually swinging correctly. Most people take quite a while to actually make efficient cuts and practice is key. I have seen ‘practice’ katanas fly out of hands, as well as fall apart while students practice.

Edited to say I was writing when bluemax wrote the second time!
 
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bluemax_1 said:
Understood. Not uncommon in iaido to use an iaito (unsharpened sword) for practice, and a shinken for demonstrations or grading.

As mentioned, it gives you ~5 years to decide on a shinken.

FWIW, the Paul Chen swords available on Bugei, are actually pretty good shinken.

The Old Pine and Peace katanas are available in the ~30” blade range (I’m assuming your instructor has explained blade sizing to your proportions).
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yeah that's why I'm looking for a 2.5 footer
 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
yeah that's why I'm looking for a 2.5 footer
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Nathan the Machinist said:
The original design, I was trying to minimize any risk of a gap at the end of the scale, I wanted the screw near the end to pull that scale flush at the end.

That ended up being a non-issue.

But people who throw their knives (there are people who do that. Ugh) benefit from some space between the butt of the knife and the screw hole. The micarta is very durable, but it is physically possible to crack it with enough tomfoolery. And it is warrantied for that.
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“Sufficient Tomfoolery” would be a great name for a band.
 
So..... crazy story

A former shop tool salesman had his step son working on the truck also.....

Both had a weird vibe more so the step son... he used to always want to hang out with me.... but I could tell when I first met him the vibe wasn't right....

The salesman was fired from his route months ago... then this story just popped up in the news....

I knew there was something off about the step son, thank God I never let him near my house


 
Random thought;
I'm thankful for Flonase.

Seasonal allergies usually hit me towards the 2nd half of May - early June. It started warming up so early, I've already had to mow 😝

Started dosing Flonase the 1st week of April (takes a couple weeks for maximum effectiveness). 1st of May, and I'm already seeing a coat of pollen on the vehicles. That usually doesn't happen until the 2nd half of May.

Good thing I started the Flonase early. Instead of sneezing nonstop the moment I step outside, I was able to mow the yard and run some errands with only a bit of stuffiness that didn't last long, and minor eye itching instead of wanting to scratch them out. Works a lot better than Claritin ever did.
 
bluemax_1 said:
Random thought;
I'm thankful for Flonase.

Seasonal allergies usually hit me towards the 2nd half of May - early June. It started warming up so early, I've already had to mow 😝

Started dosing Flonase the 1st week of April (takes a couple weeks for maximum effectiveness). 1st of May, and I'm already seeing a coat of pollen on the vehicles. That usually doesn't happen until the 2nd half of May.

Good thing I started the Flonase early. Instead of sneezing nonstop the moment I step outside, I was able to mow the yard and run some errands with only a bit of stuffiness that didn't last long, and minor eye itching instead of wanting to scratch them out. Works a lot better than Claritin ever did.FWIW from a pharmacist. I used Flonase for years but have recently changed to Asterpro(Azelastine) with very good results for the following reasons:
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FWIW, as a pharmacist with chronic sinus problems, I've recently switched from using Flonase to Astepro (azelastine) for the following reasons.

First, azelastine, like cetirizine and Allegra is an antihistamine, but as a nasal spray it goes directly to where it is needed as opposed to your entire system which can cause possible side effects like drowsiness.

Second, flonase, although probably being fine for short term use is a steroid which can potentially reduce your immune response, resulting in additional infections.

I admit I'm not an expert in this field, but I received this info from an ENT and it made sense to me so I made the switch after many years of using Flonase. So far I've had very good results, much better than when using Flonase.
 
ac3boyz said:
FWIW, as a pharmacist with chronic sinus problems, I've recently switched from using Flonase to Astepro (azelastine) for the following reasons.

First, azelastine, like cetirizine and Allegra is an antihistamine, but as a nasal spray it goes directly to where it is needed as opposed to your entire system which can cause possible side effects like drowsiness.

Second, flonase, although probably being fine for short term use is a steroid which can potentially reduce your immune response, resulting in additional infections.

I admit I'm not an expert in this field, but I received this info from an ENT and it made sense to me so I made the switch after many years of using Flonase. So far I've had very good results, much better than when using Flonase.
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My wife is a pharmacist as well, and really believes in Astepro. Very rapid results.
 
ac3boyz said:
FWIW, as a pharmacist with chronic sinus problems, I've recently switched from using Flonase to Astepro (azelastine) for the following reasons.

First, azelastine, like cetirizine and Allegra is an antihistamine, but as a nasal spray it goes directly to where it is needed as opposed to your entire system which can cause possible side effects like drowsiness.

Second, flonase, although probably being fine for short term use is a steroid which can potentially reduce your immune response, resulting in additional infections.

I admit I'm not an expert in this field, but I received this info from an ENT and it made sense to me so I made the switch after many years of using Flonase. So far I've had very good results, much better than when using Flonase.
Click to expand...
I’ve considered trying it, but Flonase has been working well for me, and I don’t need it year round. Only in the Spring, until I stop seeing that coat of pollen on the vehicles (usually done by some time in June. Since it’s started earlier this year, hopefully it ends earlier, too).
 
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