I was wondering if the Federation carries its own model of fruit cutting sword? I some of the videos I have seen the Masters doing the cutting appear to be using a "short " Federartion jingum.

It's a special order item.

A never-before-mentioned special order item.
Is it basically a jingum version of a kokatana (also known as a chisa katana)?
Do you know what the blade length is?
And, is it trimmed up in the usual WHDGDF fittings?

It's a specialty item. I think it's safe to say a minority of eligible US-based HDGD practitioners possess even a basic bamboo cutting grade jingum (regardless of the brand or supplier). I think it's equally safe to say an exponentially smaller number own a samgakdo, considered to be a specialty item. How much of a market do you think there is for a fruit cutting jingum?

Yeah, you're probably right.
Especially true if it's a WHDGDF sword, and costs an arm and a leg.
But i am encouraged by the fact that they exist, so that means i could conceivably have a chisa katana and not have folks wondering what that sword is in my hand.

Since I only have two of each (arms, legs) I guess you gentlemen are telling me I need to grow at least one more set ??

Nah.
It's just a testimony to your incredible powers of regeneration.

If a regular jingum costs an arm and a leg, wouldnt a smaller sword just cost an arm ?


I wonder if you can cut bamboo with this sword, or if its stricly for fruit like the samgakdo is stricly for jipdan?

Depends on if you're talking 'before' or 'after' you've paid for it

I've yet to see one up close. However, I'm going to make an educated guess and say they're not heavy enough to cut bamboo. If they're made for cutting mobile soft targets one-handed, then wouldn't it stand to reason they'd be light in weight?

You have a good point. However I do recall seeing some demonstration clips from one of the Federation Championships where it appeared the Master was using at least one short sword to cut bamboo. Although something like that may be another special order item.

I'm sure they're available in a weight sufficient to cut bamboo and that those same swords are used by some to cut soft, mobile objects such as fruit, but I'm going to speculate that the lighter version is probably becoming increasingly popular among those engaging in fruit cutting. That's just a guess, though.

I have a Cheness Mokko ko katana now, with a 21" blade and normal length hilt.
The normal hilt combined with a 7" shorter blade puts the balance point only an inch or so in front of the guard, and the sword is very fast. It's like, once you decide to draw the sword it just sort of pops into your hand.
It cuts bamboo just fine, but with the light blade it's completely unforgiving of poor technique.

About lighter blades cutting bamboo, I have a set of Paul Chen wakazashi (that I got for working ssanggum becuase they were cheap) that cut bamboo just fine, despite their overly think charu and poor balance. I might have a video of that (?).

This reminds me of a play in which two men are shooting pool (billiards for those of you of foreign extraction) and the one complains about his stick being bent. They other says, you gotta shoot with what you got. If you can't shoot with what you got then you can't shoot anyway. I've heard people talk about exact measures for swords as if they couldn't use anything that wasn't tailored to their precise measurements, and I have always remembered that line.

Not that this has much to do with this post.

However, I frown upon using anything other than your regular sword to cut anything. If you can't do it with your regular sword, why bother doing it at all? (BTW, this has nothing to do with the size of your sword. I'm just saying that REGARDLESS of sword size, you should be able to do whatever with what you've got.) Using "special" swords to perform cutting tricks of this sort demean the art. Use the chingum and accomplish something.

When I was training in Korea, the instructors used to regularly do 5000 cuts per session (maybe they still do, we'll have to get a report from someone outremer). I have seen others scoff at doing 1000 cuts as some sort of dangerous and outlandish exercise. Much as with the chingum kyukgum thread, I think we are starting to become removed from what is really attainable through practice and ki (willpower). We often seem to believe the unrealistic and disbelieve what is (or was) actually a part of basic practice.

Though much is taken, much abides....