I watched the vid and very good job Noss.

DL351,

I guess it has already been clarified that the Rubber handles don't really absorb shock, but I guess I will try to explain the physics behind it anyways.

I think you were thinking of it it a little incorrectly. For any type of impact, the object will receive full force, no matter what. Hence, no material actually absorbs shock. Instead, materials are made to distribute shock evenly and this does "minimize" the force per square inch.

When Noss hits the handle, the force from his body and the sledge hammer is going into the Res-C, handle. Thus most of the energy, actually, all of the energy, is being placed into the handle. After that, the energy is distributed an through out the blade. When the blade vibrates that is the time it is actually releasing the rest of it's energy into the air (yes I may sound like I'm BSing, but why is there a *bing* sound when you hit metal, sound waves are vibration of air). And at this point, the more *springy* the steel is, the more energy it will release. Thus upon any type of impact with the tang, the Res-C handle will receive full force and the steel will be the one to absorb shock.

Here's a good example. If you've taken a fight class you might have to wear a bunch of padding. The padding softens the blow to your impacted areas, but you still receive the full force and you will still move in the direction the hit was taken from.

For chopping, the impact force is actually coming from the blade. At this point, the energy must travel from the point of impact (say when chopping) to the handle. When this happens, the metal contact points with the Res-C transfer energy to the Res-C which then transfers energy to you hand, and so forth. Thus, at this point the steel will receive energy and the Res-C handle will absorb shock.