Can you spar with these sabers using non-sabers?

[RookFinley]

I just purchased one of these for a friend, and he would like to use it to spar with me. I don't have a saber, nor do I particularly plan on getting one, so I was wondering if I could spar with him using a practice blade, or will that break the saber? For reference, the practice blade is a Cold Steel polypropylene training blade, and the saber I got him is UltraEdge Heavy Grade.

[HesaHeart]

Greetings , i train with a solid polypropylene staff its heavy and dense if you play soft the saber blade may hold up but i do not recommend it as accidents happen

[Karmack]

IF you're using a heavy-grade blade you can spar against something like a bokken or wooden blade or staff without to much trouble.   The blade will hold up well, but it will get marked up extensively, so I would recommend keeping a mid-grade "display" blade around for show and a separate HG blade for sparring.  I use my hilts with HG blades against wooden practice katanas fairly regularly without any failures to-date. 

[HesaHeart]

IF you're using a heavy-grade blade you can spar against something like a bokken or wooden blade or staff without to much trouble.   The blade will hold up well, but it will get marked up extensively, so I would recommend keeping a mid-grade "display" blade around for show and a separate HG blade for sparring.  I use my hilts with HG blades against wooden practice katanas fairly regularly without any failures to-date. 

I stand corrected i did not think a saber blade were that durable against heavy sparring. That being said any other Martial artists here that have used there saber in a hard strike match ?

[Sakura No Kaze]

I just purchased one of these for a friend, and he would like to use it to spar with me. I don't have a saber, nor do I particularly plan on getting one, so I was wondering if I could spar with him using a practice blade, or will that break the saber? For reference, the practice blade is a Cold Steel polypropylene training blade, and the saber I got him is UltraEdge Heavy Grade.

I have one of the Cold Steel polypropylene katanas. They're nice. Yes, you can spar with that against a heavy grade saber blade. I'm willing to bet you'll break the tip off of the saber blade at some point though (see this thread for why, specifically firehand10k's post: http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=45229.0 . Also from personal experience I've broken a few tips off, thankfully none that I couldn't just glue back on.), so your friend may want to have an extra blade or two handy. But you're not going to break the blade any lower than that, so you don't have to worry about half a blade breaking off or anything like that (at least not without special effort that would be way outside the realm of normal sparring). And it's going to get A LOT of scuff/scrape marks on it, so if he wants to be able to display the saber and have it look nice, he'll need another blade for that too.

I stand corrected I did not think saber blades were that durable against heavy sparring. That being said any other Martial artists here that have used there saber in a hard strike match?

That's all I use my UltraSabers for. And why I only buy Heavy Grade blades. (Ok, fine, technically I use them for forms practice as well, but all sparring is full speed, full contact).

[HesaHeart]

I have one of the Cold Steel polypropylene katanas. They're nice. Yes, you can spar with that against a heavy grade saber blade. I'm willing to bet you'll break the tip off of the saber blade at some point though (see this thread for why, specifically firehand10k's post: http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=45229.0 . Also from personal experience I've broken a few tips off, thankfully none that I couldn't just glue back on.), so your friend may want to have an extra blade or two handy. But you're not going to break the blade any lower than that, so you don't have to worry about half a blade breaking off or anything like that (at least not without special effort that would be way outside the realm of normal sparring). And it's going to get A LOT of scuff/scrape marks on it, so if he wants to be able to display the saber and have it look nice, he'll need another blade for that too.
That's all I use my UltraSabers for. And why I only buy Heavy Grade blades. (Ok, fine, technically I use them for forms practice as well, but all sparring is full speed, full contact).

Thank you Sir for your answer. I had hope my saber staff i orderd was strong enough for hard sparring. A few of my more serious students and myself enjoy some very hard rounds ( wearing proper safety gear which i seriously stress the need to wear at all times ) +point

[DarthProdigal]

  My first order is on the way, and I had mulled over these questions since I have bokkuto/bokken already. So Sakura and Hesa have been extremely helpful since full sparing is my goal. Now I worry less about snapping my heavy grade blade in half within a few matches. Excellent, May the Force Serve you Well.

[firehand10k]

I have oak broken and my daughter has bamboo shinai that we have taken against US blades.  Some of my blades have faced polypropylene  weapons under heavy dueling conditions. I won't use them against my Hickory longsword as I don't want to score up the sword. Heavy grades will hold up very well.
 As a bonus here's a video of my daughter at TeaKwonDo camp breaking boards with her TCSS saber:

http://youtu.be/_Jc8JqbzuXU

[DarthProdigal]

   Agreeably worth the purchase of the heavy grade then and glad in retrospect. Can't wait to hear the sound of the blade on different materials as deflected or redirected, and simply through the air. The esthetics of such in the moment being important. It can be used to refine technique if you know what to listen for. Speaking of technique, that is a different kind of cutting certainly from an edged blade.
   Always interesting to watch. Seems like Form I, but if user sped up enough possibly Form IV.   Love this kind of thing, makes the purchase seem worth it already. Rather cool.