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The films amply demonstrate how easy it is to take your opponents hand off (and frankly I don't understand why such moves aren't attempted earlier in the fights - it seems like an automatic win condition)

It seems like about 90% of the Jedi order ought to be using synthetic hands, but that isn't the impression I get?

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EDIT: To clarify: I mean specifically, why they don't attempt to slide their blade down their opponents saber more often, so as to destroy the saber and take off the opponents hand.

To be sure it wouldn't always work: either your opponent might react to disengage, or to change the angle of their hold so that you weren't sliding down their blade, or to perform the same manoeuvre on YOUR hand, or indeed to attack whilst your blade is lower than it might normally be. But if you attempted it, whilst keeping your balance and able to stop/otherwise react, then it seems reasonably safe. And as I said, if it DOES succeed, then you've pretty much won.

Seems like a pretty safe gamble with a massive pay-off if it works.

Brondahl
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    So to paraphrase, you're asking why Jedi don't automatically go for chopping off limbs, rather than defaulting to fancy fencing? – Wolfie Inu Nov 11 '15 at 09:13
  • It leaves you really open to a lightsaber through the heart. – CandiedMango Nov 11 '15 at 09:13
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    @WolfieInu I meant specifically sliding down the saber, given that sabers have no cross guards (prior to "The Force Awakens" obviously). Have added clarification. – Brondahl Nov 11 '15 at 09:33
  • @CandiedMango And spinning round doesn't? I agree you'd need to be ready to defend yourself from a counter, though. See clarification. – Brondahl Nov 11 '15 at 09:34
  • It seems easy since, in almost all the fights where a hand is taken off, the attacker is far stronger and deliberately not going for a straight kill (Dooku vs Anakin, Anakin vs Dooku, Vader vs Luke).Luke vs Vader is the only iffy one that I can see. – DavidS Nov 11 '15 at 09:34
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    Not gonna post this as an answer because I can't come up with a good canon source, but lightabers tend to stick to each other where they meet. If anyone wants to hunt for canon answers, that's where to start. But basically, lightsaber users don't slide their lightsabers along the opponent's lightsaber because lightsabers can't do that, their magnetic fields interact and they stick together at that point. – Wolfie Inu Nov 11 '15 at 09:48
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    @WolfieInu As much as I like that concept, the thread you linked to actually includes evidence to the contrary. Obi-Wan slides his lightsaber down one of General Grievous' lightsabers in order to take his hand off in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. – Dr R Dizzle Nov 11 '15 at 09:53
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    I don't have a source for this, but I always got the impression that when lightsabers collided, there was some sort of insurmountable friction-like force that stopped them from sliding against each other. Otherwise all lightsabers would be built with crossguards like Kylo Ren's – Djorge Nov 11 '15 at 11:15
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    @Djorge A crossguard made of lightsaber is going to be even more likely to cut off your hand than the enemy's. The jedi are capable of sensing danger and reacting quickly. You will often see them spin their lightsabers out during fights after clashing -- this is the only way to stop a slide down the saber from reaching the hand, though that's probably not the significance of the move in the choreography. Basically, we'll never officially know because they've never bothered explaining their every move. –  Nov 11 '15 at 14:43
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    Th eproblem with the tactic is probably that it is most often used against other jedi (grvieous being one of the only non jedi who uses lightsabers). And jedi have the ability to sense the future and could thus react and reverse the tactic – Thomas Nov 11 '15 at 18:18

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What you're overlooking is that there aren't all that many Sith around in the first place. Even during the Clone Wars, most Jedi probably never fought one, and most of those who did probably didn't survive the experience.

Remember that Darth Maul's attack on Qui-Gon and Obiwan was the first time in generations that any Jedi had seen a Sith. (Or at least the first time any Jedi that had seen a Sith lived to tell the tale!) That's why the Jedi Council believed the Sith were extinct.

Harry Johnston
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They probably shouldn't...

Kenobi uses that exact tactic against General Grievous, he slides his lightsaber down Grievous' and chops his hand off.

I grabbed this YouTube video from the Reddit linked in the comments above.

Thanks Demarini for the comment:

It happens at roughly 2:30 in the video for those who are wondering.

Community
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Daft
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First of all the opponents with lightsabers are really rare.

Then jedi are trained to sword fight cf the book series about the youngth of obiwan.

Finally the force allow them to anticipate enemy's moves and counter them.

Ludovic Zenohate Lagouardette
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