Prototyping the Sword Breaker

This year we are proud to reveal our new Polypropylene Sword Breaker Trainer.

Lynn discovered an antique Sword Breaker on a trip to China a few years ago and he immediately saw the potential in this relatively obscure but powerful weapon.
Lynn made several prototypes of the Sword Breaker based on his notes taken in China, modifying it to his own exacting standards and improving the quality of the materials, making it stronger and more resilient before finally adding a needle sharp stabbing point.

Lynn gave his prototype to James Houston, (a fellow martial artist and friend of Cold Steel) to put it through it's paces. James broke Chinese Gim, Japanese Katana and numerous Western Swords (amongst others) with this devastating weapon.
By regularly training with the prototypes Lynn constantly adapted and improved upon the design until he was completely satisfied. The result of this research our Carbon Steel Sword Breaker has been a popular and much loved product for several years.



When developing a polypropylene trainer counterpart for our Sword Breaker, Lynn came across several design challenges. It had to be bigger and thicker than it's Carbon Steel brethren whilst still being comfortable to grip. Lynn was adamant that the trainer be made from one solid piece (rather than separate interlocking elements) and that it be remarkably lively in the hand and not simply a blade heavy bludgeon – in other words it must replicate the exceptional balance and liveliness of the original as closely as possible...

photos of the unfinished prototype



Lynn found it to be intuitive to use and incredibly effective, especially when used “with commitment”.
He found by utilising his many years of experience in Kali (Filipino Martial Arts) as well as in Saber fighting he could heavily beat the blades of his opponents, breaking or bending their swords with one fell swoop!
By literally beating the opponents weapon out of the way (often damaging or even destroying it at the same time!) he was able to wreck their nerve and concentration; destroying their composure just as surely as he destroyed their weapon.

No-one was ready for just how effective the Sword Breaker was. Lynn was able to literally impose his will upon his opponents, crashing in, breaking their rhythm and damaging arms and legs just as easily as he damaged their blades.

As Lynn is never unarmed, he rarely trains one weapon. He began training two-handed with the Sword Breaker and a Shanghai Shadow, using the long range Sword Breaker to close distance and dominate his opponents weapon then attack their weapon arm with the Shanghai Shadow (effectively trapping their arm for a fraction of a second) before delivering the coup de grace with either the Sword Breakers' heavy edge or sharp point.

Lynn was so pleased with the Sword Breaker that he pronounced it “a bona fide wrecking machine!”

We are proud to announce this incredibly powerful training tool in our 2011 line up to compliment our incredibly popular Carbon Steel Sword Breaker.

Visit coldsteel.com for more info.