vinegar and rusty nails...
FT,
I'm not sure about vinegar drying out and toughening the skin. In terms of TCM it is sour and astringing. There are different types of vinegar as well; white, black, rice, etc. The lighter colors are generally more cooling and the darker more neutral to warming, although they are all quite good at clearing inflammation.
As far as poultices go I almost always use egg whites for acute injuries (this is what I was taught originally). I also prefer the consistency of egg whites to alcohol or vinegar based pastes (just easier to work with). Egg whites also have a strong astringing action and work very well to extract a deep bruise towards the surface of the body - very important.
Still, there are times that I would consider using vinegar. As I mentioned in the previous post it is especially useful for spasms of the sinews. I haven't used vinegar enough to be able to say if it will cause dryness or toughening of the skin. My guess is not any more so than alcohol would.
As far as the rusty nails formula goes, yes I've heard of that. A really simple formula that is actually a nice example of how simple TCM can be. It also reminds us that martial artists have a long history of being poor and not being able to always buy the more expensive herbs.
Nails (historically) contained iron in them (nowadays this may not be true). One of the main herbs used in hit medicine is Zi Ran Tong, Pyritum, Fool's gold. The main chemical consituent of this is ferrous disulfide, an iron compound. Historically, zi ran tong is heated to red hot and dipped in vinegar to help extract some of its healing constituents. Zi ran tong strongly moves blood stasis and strengthens and promotes the healing of bones and sinews.
So when we look at this formula you can see that you are using an herb that clears blood stasis and strengthens the bones and sinews: basically everything we need for iron palm training. The vinegar helps extract the medicinal part of the nails and with the pain and inflammation that develop during training. This takes the place of many of the toxic herbs that are used in traditional formulas to stop pain.
As far as toughening of the skin is concerned I'm not sure (I haven't used this formula before). But in general the amount of skin toughening we try to achieve in Chinese martial arts is relatively minimal (not like Japanese makiwara training). I was taught that you should not be able to tell a person has trained in iron palm by the look of their hands. Of course there will be some thickening of the skin and bones that occurs over time with this training, but it should be subtle in it's appearance.
By the way, nice post about kinematics (body mechanics). Definitely a major point when considering applications...
cheers,
Justin
rusty nails, dead rats? Now thats manly K-fu
Why not use an already micronized version of iron that could be found in a vitamin supplement? This could also prevent using nails with Tetanus by accident. My wife would also prefer that I not give her backrubs that smell like soy sauce and dead rats, not to mention internal bleeding and abrasions from inch thick callouses. I just hope all this iron palm training isnt for picking up the ladies. HeHe Anyway, you want to get rid of a bruise? Try a massage, some vitamin E and C or Alfalfa (vitamin K). ;)