i feel kinda dumb asking this, but here goes...

[battousai16]

so yeah, i've looked on the forum and couldn't find the answer, so i looked elsewhere on line and couldn't find it, and i looked through all my books, and the library's closed, and there really aren't any chinese martial art places within a half hour from me, so i figured i'd bite my tounge and as the question in fear of it being really obvious and stupid:

 

i was watching a kung fu movie marathon movie with my friends, and i asked myself "self, why are all the weapons so floppy?" at first i thought the movies just had poor props, but then i realised no, in my experience the weapons really are floppy, aren't they? or am i just totally dumb? please excuse my ignorance, i was just really really curiouse. so, to recap, why are chinese weapons, like broadswords and staffs and straightswords and such... floppy? anyone know? or does everyone know but me?

[Warp Spider]

Well, I can't say for sure, I can give good speculative answers though.

 

1) The orient did not have very sophisticated mettalurgy when compared to Europe back in "tha day."

 

2) Floppy weapons can deliver more force on impact because there is potential energy stored in it when it flexes. If you bend a pen and release it close to something you can observe that it strikes that object with a measurable amount of force even though you didn't swing it. This can combine with the force of the actual swing to make a stronger impact. The downside being that energy is consumed flexing the weapon, making it slower to swing.

[battousai16]

well, but japanese swords didn't bend from the same time period. and when i'm talking floppy, i mean, like, with the broad sword it flops side to side, not up and down, so there really wouldn't be any additional force to it, would there?

[Shorin Ryuu]

I'm not sure myself. Maybe because it makes it harder to determine its precise impact point?

 

I heard somewhere that some weapons were adopted over others because they were easier to mass produce. I don't know if this is a reference to how thin they are or not.

[IAMA_chick]

i haven't seen any floppy weapons! the bo staffs we have aren't floppy.

[SBN Doug]

In my opinion, it's a cinematic trick to exagerate the force being applied. If someone blocks a strike with a staff, and it bends a lot, it looks like the strike was really powerful.

 

No, there are few weapons that are designed to be "floppy", and the sword is definately not one of them.

[SaiFightsMS]

Specifally which weapons do you think were floppy.

[Pacificshore]

I know just from seeing ads for chinese made weapons that there are usually 2 catagories of metal they use. One is called combat steel, and the other a spring steel. The spring steel often has a flex to it, meaning that the blade is allowed to bend to a certain degree, while the combat steel is more sturdy. As for the bo's, the waxwood or rattan bo's usually have flex to it which probably allows for more power upon impact, especially on whipping type strikes. Hope this helps

[Blade13]

Yeah, Pacificshore is right. Spring steel is VERY flexible and very light. Its also known as Wushu steel. Most metal weapons used in Wushu are made from spring steel. The spring steel swords are not used in actual combat as far as I know. I certainly wouldnt use my spring steel broadswords in a battle. They're really thin and couldn't do much damage.

[battousai16]

i guess the spring steel swords are what i was reffering to. i just can't imagine why they'd be floppy. even if they are only for show.