Sharpened Fingernails

[TenTigers]

if they are long enough to form any shape other than the line of your finger/nail bed, then they are too long and will catch on clothing.
I cut my nails 2-3 times per week. Before grappling, before my guitar lesson, and before a "date."

[sanjuro_ronin]

I got scratch one time while bouncing, nasty little scratch on my neck.
Put some alcohol and some polysporin and a bandage and I was fine.
The guy that did it got some hospital time for it though.

[GeneChing]

In TCM, the liver rules the tendons and the outward manifestation are the nails. So a TCM person might advise to strengthen your liver qi, which probably seems completely superstitious to most here, but surely couldn't hurt. Who doesn't want a strong liver? That being said, I've heard tell of formulas akin to Iron Palm liniments, used to strengthen the nails. I'm sure someone thought up stuff like that but I'm skeptical about it. Of course, there are many ways to strengthen your nails with collagen and what not - just ask your manicurist. There's collagen in tendonous muscle, so perhaps TCM isn't that far off. Change your diet and eat all the tendon. In China, beef tendon soup is common fare. In America, we discard the tendons for pet food and process the meats into Mcnuggets, and then toss in a toy to sell it as food. But I digress....

Working as an emergency medic in the music scene for over 20 years, I've cleaned up plenty of fights, including many cat fights where long nails were involved. I haven't seen that many nail breaks. I've seen a ton of superficial scratches. I've seen a few pretty good scratches, but nothing nearly a crippling or lethal blow.

In Chinese culture, long nails were viewed as an expression of wealth, particularly the pinky nail. Only people who didn't work could keep long nails. I remember one of my sihing used to sport this - I thought it was surprisingly effeminate for him as he was pretty macho in every other regard. The aristocracy used to wear nail guards to protect their nails.

Now I know you're thinking that maybe you should keep some nail guards in your pocket for self defense, but that's just silly. Better to keep a box cutter. And your shidi won't think you're gay.

[goju]

the claw still comes from your finger tips not from the nails

seriously spend time strength your grip and youll see what people are talking about

[uki]

the claw still comes from your finger tips not from the nails

seriously spend time strength your grip and youll see what people are talking about

*curls fingers into a claws* nothing like the tiger claw combined with the mason grip.

[Dragonzbane76]

defin. agree grip is more important than nails imo. tentigers stated it best.

The truth is, if you want a good Tiger Claw-it's not the nails, it's the fingers that will rip and rend flesh and muscle, grab tendons,etc. train your hands and grip.