Staff tricks transferred to sword.

I recently picked up a katana. I've been doing some basic stuff with it and was thinking of adapting a few fire staff tricks to it. Anybody else done this? any advice?

Wook: you picked up a sword and want to transfer fire staff tricks to the handling of the sword... do I get this right?

Well IMHO the basic difficulty in this might be that a sword is fundamentally different from a staff and also behaves much different when manipulated - i.e. do not attempt to catch it in the middle

Excuse me for not being of greAt help, I'll try and let you know - in the meantime find me watching this thread closely

Yep, that's right. I'd have to adapt the tricks of course. I wouldn't need to hold the sword in the middle, it's centre of gravity is in the handle. Same as the way the centre of gravity on my staff is off centre so I hold and catch it off centre.
I was thinking of bouncing the flat off my body for contact moves.

sounds great - add a little wick and kero, light the entire stuff and see how the balance shifts

"bouncing the flat off (your) body for contact moves" ?

I assume you have no cutting edge, have you?

Ok im going to sound really anal here:

Dude - im with Tom - they are TOTALLY differant props, ive been spinning staff 5 years now and also have 2 fire bokkens....

The only moves transerable i can see are hand wraps (ie. continuous rolls) you can do halos and snes with a sword..... but then they dont really work you may as well just pick up a stick and be done with it

Swords are all about cutting and blocking, its putting these motions together that gives you a "visual spin" if you like......

I think your out on a quest here your not going to gain much from. But dont let me put you off......... get playing

i really cant see contact with a sword......

As meg recently reminded me, aparently there is more to spinning than contact apparently.
Anyway im kinda with you guys on not being able to transfer much but i recon its worth trying some antispin patterns with a sword.

They give a kinda thrusting motion anyway so should fit in nicly with some other sword stuff.

you can do sword on sword contact, as long as they're wicked up, to give a bit of friction.

Otherwise...

Does anyone remember the film Highlander? There's a scene where the Kurgen (sic?) assembles his sword then does contact with it. Rolls the hilt across his arms and chest with the sword point on the floor.

On thing I would say about swords though is that the cheap "fantasy" crap you pick up is pretty dangerous. The tang (the metal that extends into the hilt) is normally woefully thin and prone to snapping unexpectedly. In fact the metal used is most likely not tempered at all. Any drop or harsh contact could leave you with a hot chunck of metal flying off somewhere...

A two inch wide strip of properly tempered steel can be made to look like a sword, the lack of edges is irrelevant (plus safer!) if it's bound with kevlar and It'll be a lot safer to play with unless you fancy spending money on a properly forged sword. Which is always an option but even then I'd recommend you have the edge ground off.

I suppose certain doubles moves can be easily transfered to doubles katana swords or sai daggers where it is all in the flexibility of the wrist... Imagining flowers and antispin patterns galore!

Personally I'd use a thin sprung steel billet to make a sword from, forged steel may be strong, but shatters instead of breaking cleanly. Never use any sword with a weld in it, it will break at the weld.
museumreplicas.com
Has a good selection of high carbon steel, re-enactment quality blades, but like 333 says, stay clear of the "display tat". Get a blade that has a tang running the length of the weapon.

Also. Katanas are poo.

He's sort of right you know. Katana's are designed for a certain style of swordmanship and were perfect for it, but you might do better with a more symmetrical style blade, it'll have better balance for the sort of tricks you mentioned.

Damascus for teh' win!

Anglo saxon styee FTW!
Vikings am bestest 111!!!

Or your good ol (14th C) English/ German/ French war swords.
They'd be good. Nice long handle, and balanced for every which way round.

If you want to do any big style "flower patterns" or wrist rolls, you need a lightweight sword, or do a wrist twist.

If you have a lightweight sword, forget about the "tang", unless it's hardened stainless.

I don't reckon that in a medieval swordfight the knights were blocking their opponents with the sword, as a larger nick in the blade would makes it instable and prone to break - resulting in a slashed knight.

As far as my informations go, movie/ show blades are up to 5mm thick and 80 mm whide... and that's a lot of steel (wick, kero and fire excluded)... not to speak of the handle/ balance. I reckon it's unsuitable for manipulation.

Mine is 850mm long, 3mm thick and 50mm whide - tell you one thing: It's already heavy to manipulate (not even close to dream about any "wristing" or "antispin flowering")... but "tanging" is okay.

I'm onto making a new blade, that is light(er)weight (less thick and thinner), hardened stainless, longer handle (for the girls) I'll practice with it and let you know how it goes, results should be there by next week.

This "contact swording" (better not done with fire, but apart from that) looks really nice, I guess I remeber the scene you're talking about, 333

we use a wooden dowel with three wicks to make stage swords

if weighted 3-5 inches forward from the cross guard you can transfer most of the contact tricks in between the wicks.