2200-Yr-Old Chinese Zweihander - LK Chen Striking Eagle Review w/ Ballistic Gel Human Analog Cutting 

Much appreciated!

Hi Sifu, have you reviewed this sword yet?

Thanks! The gelatin target is hell a lot of fun to beat up, it just takes too long to prepare and space to store. But, it's totally worth it. Give it a shot.

Been looking on ebay and having trouble finding. Where do you get yours from? Also, must say, excellent historical detective work. The 2nd half of the vid was fascinating, too

The gelatin? Search for "Yogti pure beef gelatin Powder 907 gram" on Amazon Canada. It's easy enough to make the gel. Just add roughly 4 liters of water to a pot and heat it up to almost boiling, and then turn off the heat so it wouldn't evaporate too much. Add 15% of the water's weight worth of gelatin powder (600 grams in the case of 4 liters of water) to the hot water little by little, while stirring it, preferably with an electric hand mixer. Once it all dissolves, wait for it to cooldown somewhat warm, but not too hot to touch, pour it slowly into a 4L milk jug or a water jug. Cut a wooden dowel as high as the jug and put it in there. Wait for it to cooldown more, and store in the fridge for 24 hours. For a standard milk jug, the circumference is 22 inches, which is a bit thinner than my thigh, but somewhat representative of an adult human male's thigh. I recommend using 1/2" dowel as it's dry and hardened, unlike living bone that's flexible, easy to cut and hollow to be filled with bone marrow. A good cutting sword should cut it in half without any problem. You can get multiple cuts out of it, as 15% gelatin makes it tear resistant, so when chunks fall, they don't shatter. You can easily recycle the pieces by heating them up in aluminum pans in an oven with 200 Fahrenheit heat, after cleaning the pieces., so you don't mud and debris mixed in. When it melts, you can pour it into another jug for a new thigh analog. Give it a shot!

Absolutely recommended. Both the Roaring Dragon and the Striking Eagle!

Absolutely right!

It is truly incredible, isn’t it? Indeed the progression of technologies isn’t linear in human history. So much can be forgotten and people sometimes fall backwards and get stuck in places for ages until one day certain archeological finds see the light of day to show other possibilities already achieved by humans millennia ago.

Thanks!

Thanks so much! There’s so much nuggets of historical fan-facts to fill in to appreciate this sword. It was done to the point that it was even a bit exhausting to take it upon myself to introduce it. 😅 Glad you enjoy it!

The breakdown of the historical aspect of this sword is truly enlightening.

Thanks!

I would love to make that comparison but only if and when I can acquire an accurate historical reproduction of an odachi, not just an over-sized uchigatana.

Yes, it was actually documented in detail in historical records. The emperor of Qin was on his way to conquer the whole of China, and when military campaigns and diplomacy failed to thwart him by the alliance of the 6 other kingdoms, they sent in an assassin, who masked as a diplomat to negotiate treaties. He managed to grab the King of Qin’s sleeve, but the king managed to pull him away from the dagger-wielding assassin, but couldn’t unsheathe his longsword with only one hand, only when his personal doctor who was in the throne room at the time threw his medicine box at the assassin to distract him was the king able to free his hand and unsheathe the sword and cut down the assassin.

An assassin defeated by a king with a longsword? What kind of assassin is this allowing the target to unsheathe his weapon and fight back? Howdy, from a fellow professional.

​That is captivating,@@FortuneFavoursTheBold !

Thank you. I try my best!

Indeed, this style of two-handed swords were carried by extremely high-status individuals, even the First Emperor of Qin, who has trouble unsheathing it to defend his own life when there was an assassination attempt.

That is an amazing tale.

I know this tale well as I played the First Emperor who had trouble unsheathing the sword in a school play in the 5th grade, some 30 years ago.

Thank you!

Thank you kindly!

Thanks!

Thank you very much for the understanding and encouragement. Your channel is awesome and a great source of information when it comes down to the history of swords and arms and armor in general! Indeed, it took quite a few months with a few twists and turns to film all the segments of the review. I received the sword in August after alientude was done with his review, but the scabbard was broken so KK kindly arranged another scabbard to be made and sent to me for this review. Meanwhile I’m getting myself familiarized with the swords and more history behind it to prepare for the review. I had certain knowledge with Chinese antiquity since childhood, as I read the entirety the Records of the Grand Historian, Twenty-Four Histories, Intrigues of the Warring States when I was in elementary school as pastime, back when an Asian student’s entire life missionary is to prepare for the standard exams for college entrance, and any entertainment was out of the question. I had some more reading done when I laid my hands on some of the LK Chen swords in recent years, such as the Roaring Dragon. I filmed the footage of its review 3 years ago and haven’t really got around to editing everything to publish it. Somehow I was also working on a few other reviews such as the Wo Yao Dao and some rather unique Japanese swords people sent. I saw these as great opportunities to talk about some interesting parts of the history and interaction between China and Japan, how the 2 cultures’ trajectories converged and how they imprinted onto each other. I might not just be me chopping through a few bottles and show some 4K close-up, and perhaps fewer viewers are actually interested in hearing just which one of these can cut through a planet better to reenforce their biased wishes, but it is what I’m interested in exploring. Way before I could finish up these per projects, Matthew Jensen courteously reached out for a collaborative review of the Albion Maximilian. I thought it was also a great opportunity to compare that late medieval two-handed sword with this 2200-year-old Chinese two-hander as not only did I do similar tests with them, but there are indeed many parallels to be drawn. So I prioritized this review over the projects I was working on. Meanwhile KK sent another scabbard but the courier utterly destroyed it, so a third one was commissioned and sent but somehow was lost in transit so KK had to send his own scabbard from the US. Some crazy stories. I’m glad this review was done. As usual, I had to wait until 4AM for it to finish rendering on the day of release. People who appreciate this kind of discussions are always going to enjoy the nuance and contrast, and haters who are terrified of having their biased and unfounded wishful thinking are always going to come in here, bury their heads in the sand, not watch a second of the review but leave some gibberish instead. Can’t say any veteran of the Internet will be surprised. Thank you for the kind support!

@@FortuneFavoursTheBold There is always a bigger unseen story behind every video. I am glad that KK was able to get you a new scabbard made for this one! Even though LK Chen’s products are not immune to quality control issues, their customer service is top notch!

@@thescholar-general5975 they are almost the only company that actively seeks out customers’ feedback and listen to them to make regular improvements.

Thanks!

You've got good eye, Arthur. I'm a bit over 6'1", so indeed this very longsword reaches my sternum. The 41.5" blade makes me constantly aware of the tip in order to avoid hitting the ground, but it's clearly easier to do that than using a heavier sword like the Albion Maximilian even though their blade length is almost identical.

I was gonna ask about his height. It doesn't look like a very long sword when he's holding it.

@@thescorpioimpact9462 lol he's pretty proportional so i guess it's hard to just look at him and be like yup 6'1

Lol I have been told before that I have such an enormous head that it makes my body looks not as big as it should have😆

I think more than the head-to-body proportion, most people’s perception of height relies on the proportion of the upper body and the lower body. Maybe it’s related to the clothing one is wearing as well?

Yeah only when you do the comparison and contrast can you get the context and how significant a sword design is in history.

Bonjour and merci! I'd imagine that what went on in the person who created or commissioned this kind of swords was similar to the mental process of people who made two-handed swords in Renaissance Europe--for high-status persons to show off their wealth and martial prowess, when they have access to high quality armor to protect themselves from head to toe to forego shields.

Unfortunately there is little--next to none archeological evidence to support this observation. One example from Iron Age Indian I have seen over many years is a relatively long bladed sword at Egmore Museum in Chennai, it has a blade that's 1.5-2 times the length of a period short sword, and maybe 2-3 times the length of a spearhead. It is bigger than anything found in places that would be known as Indian today, but it's highly unlikely that it was intended to be a two-handed sword--at least not a functional one, as the tang is quite short, definitely can only support a one-handed grip, unless it's somehow glued to a two-handed grip. There's no data on this piece. No length, or weight, or anything. For all we know, it could weigh 30 lbs, or 1 lbs. No hilt furniture or scabbard furniture was ever found alongside it. It could just be a one-off curiosity item, or a sculpture that's meant to impress people with. What we do know is that even if it was ever functional and used, it was the completely opposite of being prevalent or well-known. There is no written record found about swords like this or anything similar, whereas in China, pretty much every nobility of note would want at least one of these, and they are well described by period records, there are archeological finds throughout the country on similar swords. Double-edged blades that are at least one meter long, made of bronze or steel, with a octagonal cross section. Bronze, copper and jade hilt and scabbard furniture pieces were found still attached to the blade, in some cases, even the grip and cord wrap partially survived. They are found today in museums, and private collections. Known historical figures were recorded extensively to own and use these swords. That is evidence of existence--not third-hand accounts where they could have even got it wrong with all the fog of war, maybe mistaking bladed polearms as two-handed swords.

Indeed. And although they looks simplistic from afar, there's complex geometries on the blade such as the octagonal cross section, the hollow ground edge bevels, and prominent degree of distal taper to ensure these long-bladed swords are lightweight and nimble.

Thanks! That’s the idea!

Glad that you enjoyed my analyses.

I made the target myself from adding 600g gelatin powder into 4000 grams of hot water over the course of 20 minutes while stirring it with an electric beater. After it cooled down to room temperature I pour the solution into a milk or water jug, and add a 1/2" wooden dowel to the center to simulate the bone. The circumference of the jug is 18"--roughly the same as the thinner part of an adult human thigh. I used a 22" jug before that is a bit thinner than the thickest part of my own thigh. The wood is thinner than a human femur, but it's solid instead of being flexible as filled with bone marrow as living bone, and also hardened. All in all it's a decent analog to an adult human thigh. Cutting through a target like this cleanly with one blow doesn't 100% guarantee cutting through a human thigh, but it's very comparable.

You mean narrow? The blade is actually fairly thick at the base but distally tapered to a relatively thin foible.

Nobody, literally. It surprised me.

Understatement of the century. Essentially the reality in a nutshell, cue the “Leonardo stands up and applauds” meme.

@@FortuneFavoursTheBold Without getting into politics a lot of that is modern China's own fault but you wouldn't judge ancient Roman weapons and armor on what Mussolini did. I wish more people would be able to make that distinction lol

@@efafe4972 Exactly right. Some of that reputation is rightfully earned by the shady practices out of that country. However, nowhere near the majority of the businesses are doing it. In some sense, China is the paradise for libertarians in terms of domestic economic policies, next to zero regulation--there are some, but one can easily go around it either by bribing the correct people, or gaming the system. The results are you have everything from one end of the spectrum to the other end. It's possible to get some of the best-quality products on a bargain, or literally getting something so comically defective while being a complete rip-off of something that's known for their quality. That, plus the clear-cut two-tier justice system they have there, is clearly an cautionary tale whether the West wants to go down the same path. You might think that there's no way, but with the current trajectory, countries like the US are speeding towards it.

Cool. You would be the first to review it.

Yes, you should modify your techniques to parry more with your blade, instead of relying on the crossguard. Obviously if you use techniques prescribed for longswords and two-handed swords with complex guards (side rings, parrying lugs, finger rings, swept-hilt) with 14/15th century longswords with a simple crossguard, it won't work as well, either.

You used a sword with live edge and tip to spar? That sounds like pure fabrication. Also what weapons were you “sparring” against? These were used against spears, pole weapons and swords shorter than this.

I believe it's a type of Indian sword with a double-edged straight blade with a diamond cross section and some progressive profile taper, right? Often having European-made blades.

Yes and they are very deadly swords.

Really? What is your experience with handling the Albion Maximilian? How long have you owned it and how frequently do you handle it?

Due to the entire month of silence, I'm guessing that you don't have any experience with either the Albion Maximilian, or the two-handed Chu jian. Well, luckily, I have. I have months of drilling with both swords (and swords of similar sizes and weight range), and test cutting on media of different hardness and mass to familiarize myself with them. My test definitely shows that the Maximilian does not cause more damage to large mass of organic material than the Striking Eagle. The damage is affected by the momentum and the kinetic energy the weapons carry when they meet the target. Furthermore, the talk of how the Striking Eagle "cannot withstand a serious blow from a heavy sword" just shows your fundamental lack of understanding how to the interaction between two swords works. Whether it is a static block, or a re-directing parry to keep your opponent's tip and edge off-line depends on the structure of the user's stance when two weapons meet. Swords are not disembodied independent projectiles that flows in the air, they are supported by the skeletal structure of the fencers. The fact that the Striking Eagle is also a rigid solid steel bar that's also very loooooong, but also connected solidly to the user's body through the arms and how the long grip provides tons of leverage, it can definitely displace or even stop heavier swords like the Maximilian. HEMA practitioners have already tested this. Even rapiers (notice they are one-handed) can often displace cuts with zweihanders if you are fast enough to parry with the forte of the blade. And many swords are definitely fast and nimble enough to get into place and set up a rigid structure to either stop or re-direct the heavier weapon. Zweihanders' advantage over other swords are mainly its reach, in this case it's neutralized given the Striking Eagle has an equally long blade.

Comparing any two swords are apples to oranges. No two swords are completely identical, yet comparisons are made to distinguish them, to set them apart. Why can't you compare the two? They are both two-handed swords of similar sizes. Kane showed in his video that this sword cuts large hard targets just as well as the Maximilian, you didn't even watch before making this comment. Isn't he the one to make the claim which one is more powerful when he is the one that owned and reviewed both?

@FrostMocha exactly! They are different, that’s the point of comparing them. I think the couple of people here protesting comparing the two are just terrified to see the results. There is actually no one better sword in this comparison but different swords fulfilling different missions.

First of all, I didn't say "China was more 'advanced'", Jg Rsb. I said the first two-handed sword with a blade 40" long and overall 60" was made by someone who resided in what would become China. It was China at the time, and the achievements of a few individuals living in the land which would be known as China doesn't represent what an average Chinese could accomplish. I never claimed two-handed swords like these are more "advanced" or "better" swords than swords like gladius. Just like you shouldn't claim Barrett M95 Anti-Material Rifle isn't a better weapon than, say FN Five-seven pistol. It is just more difficult to make with consistent and reliable heat treatment. Although the Celts in classical antiquity was able to make longer-bladed swords than the average gladius, the average blade length is between 20" and 24", with very rare examples reaching as long as 28", a bit of difference still to this sword of 40" blade and 60" overall, wouldn't you say? About fighting with a shield, that was done by any culture at the time, the fact that a small amount of these very long two-handed swords were made indicate that they were used by people who could afford foregoing the shield--AKA people who were clad in significant amount of armor. Why did other cultures not make swords as long? It could be that their armor technology does not afford such protection, but I lean towards that the reliability their heat treatment of steel wasn't adequate enough to make blades these long. Just because they can make steel short swords, does in no way mean "if they wanted to, they could have made longer bladed swords". If one understands anything about sword making, he would know making longer bladed swords absolutely is more demanding on the familiarity and equipment to heat treat steel. The fact that no longer bladed sword made in Antiquity was excavated means that they simply couldn't make them without them constantly bending or shattering upon impact. The last point is completely invalid. Renaissance two-handed swords were NEVER used to bash armor. Edged weapons were ALWAYS used against soft targets such as flesh and textile protection like gambeson. Landsknecht doppelsoldners used two-handed swords against unprotected body parts of the majority of their opponents, which would be pikemen, arquebusiers, and halberdiers, which were rarely protected by plate armor, and even when armored, would only be wearing a simple cuirass. Absolutely ridiculous to suggest swords were used to bash armor, not rooted in reality even one bit. About their usage against pikes, I already provided ample analysis in my review of the Albion Maximilian. They were used primarily to knock aside pike shafts, not destroying them. That has already been debunked by serious historians and people in the HEMA community with period accounts, treatises, and empirical studies. May I ask, what is your experience using Renaissance two-handed swords? What zweihander/montante/spadone do you own and practice with? Whose treatises and traditions do you follow? How often do you spar with two-handed swords? How often do you practice cutting with two-handed swords?

Roman swords, prior to adopting the Gladius Hispaniensis, verged on the larger end. Italic Xiphoi finds are demonstratively larger than Hellenic and Macedonian examples of the same sword type, with blade lengths hovering over 55-60cm. There is practically a ~10-20cm difference in blade length. La Tene B swords were also in widespread use by the Romans. In fact a lot of swords of the La Tene B typology are associated as being Roman-made items. Their blade lengths could reach ~65-70+ cm. Gladius Hispaniensis blades differed widely... but ~60-65cm blade length is not an unreasonable estimation. I would not call this a 'very short' sword as you put it. From a Greek/Macedonian perspective, practically all Republican Roman swords would have appeared to them as being quite large. It seems to me quite evident that the Republican Romans worked with longer swords and quite liked them. You only see a reduction in blade lengths circa ~1st Century B.C. I have always found it funny that people like to call the Gladius Hispaniensis a 'Short sword'... It gives me a good laugh. Heat treat is mentioned here. That is a fair point, though I'd argue that there is also a gulf between the Romans and Chinese from a 'Metallurgical' perspective. One side is working with what is essentially blast furnaces and is developing finery techniques while the other side is working with blooms. Take a guess which side is which... When it comes to Ancient China... I like to think that China was lucky enough that an Overpowered Isekai protagonist was magically teleported there and had access to a smartphone and then shared their knowledge... because It's so goddamned ridiculous to think about. Europe developed their own native Cast iron circa the 14th Century A.D, but China was developing Cast Iron by the 8th Century B.C!