Hugh Knight, over the The School of Battle, has posted a diatribe against test-cutting, lamenting its practice in the Historical European Martial Arts Community. He concludes:

 So, test cutting has no historical provenance, no relationship to sword training, and teaches sword habits that can, at best, be termed “dreadful”. All it does is pander to a misplaced romantic desire to “cut something” with your sharp new sword, and there’s simply no value in that.

My own thoughts are a bit different than Hugh’s and will be forthcoming.