A question about swords

[Agent Oracle]

Also, if you are still interested: Watch the Mythbuster's hollywood special, wherein they Sunder several weapons-grade swords. using katanas. My favorite was when the rapier bent all the way back around, and returned to it's original shape... only to snap at the last... possible... moment!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

For what its worth, there was an episode of Mythbusters where they showed the effects of sword to sword blows (they were testing the myth of cutting 1 sword in half with another in combat- a frequent occurrence in movies).

After determining the speed of a typical strike by testing real swings by practiced martial artists (upwards of 45mph- other sources have recorded tip speeds up to 75mph), they did some impact tests.

The only swords that broke were modern replicas. There was some nicking, and the slo-mo camera even showed some swords flexing out of the way, avoiding the full force of the blow by bending like a blade of grass.

Even a collisions between the most massive swords they tested only resulted in nicks and/or dulling. Most of the damage was easily worked out with a good sharpening.

And there was an episode of a show dealing with the weapons of England on one of the various educational/history channels that showed the effects of a sword-blow on a ballistic-gel dummy through various Western armors. The results showed what was suggested earlier- that a solid blow from a sword against Western plated armor was essentially a blunt, crushing blow that did most of its damage through hydrostatic shock.

They even showed the "Murder Blow"- in which the sword is gripped on the blade (with gauntleted hands, of course) and the sword's heavy crossbar is used as the striking point- essentially turning the sword into a blunt pick.

While a helm turned most of the blow, the hydrostatic shock at that small point was still sufficient to concuss a human being, possibly to the point of unconsciousness, which would leave the opponent vulnerable to a coup-de-grace.

Examine what happens with a good meat cleaver. One of those will chop through deep muscle tissue and bones all day with minimal damage, after all.

For more info, you might check out ARMA (http://www.thearma.org/) or Swordforum (http://swordforum.com/)- lots of well informed people at those locations- or jot a note to one of the world's finer armories. I've written to people at several and they've been most helpful.

 

[pawsplay]

In general, if you value the edge of a sword, you block with the lower part of the blade, preferably the flat. It's better to avoid sword contact... even if you can deliver a killing blow, who knows how many more opponents you might have to face with the same blade? That is probably one factor leading to a preference for the mace, axe, or flail in mass battles over the sword.

Although a sword is very close to the perfect weapon, a mace never loses its edge...

 

[Aurora]

I like swords......

 

[Ranger REG]

The only swords that broke were modern replicas.

What qualifies as "modern replicas"? And what category/type the other swords that didn't break belong to?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

They were made with more modern steels as opposed to the traditional swordmaking steel blends. "Wallhangers" as it were, but high-quality ones. The more modern blends were alloyed for strength, rust resistance and low-maintenance as opposed to flex and durability. Those blends were more brittle than the older recipes.

Those that used the traditional blends were the ones that stood up to the punishment.

The types they tried included claymores & katanas, longswords, etc.- largeish, heavy blades- and a few lighter ones, like the rapier that broke (technically due to stress on a flaw). IOW, they used mostly cutting blades as opposed to those primarily designed for thrusting.

 

[Fieari]

What qualifies as "modern replicas"? And what category/type the other swords that didn't break belong to?

Modern replicas tend to be made of stainless steel, because you can get it cheaply in sheets that can then simply be cut out in the propper shape, often by laser. Its the stuff your kitchen knives are probably made of. And if you've ever tried to stab a frozen hunk of meat with the tip of a kitchen knife, you should know how flimsy stainless steel tends to be.

Actual blades were FORGED for a reason.

Modern steel isn't a better metal, it's simply easier to make in large quantities.

 

[pawsplay]

A surgeon's scalpel is stainless steel, too. It's a matter of the process and temper used to create it. In the main, steel is just steel.

 

[Nyaricus]

First off there was no such thing as a broadsword. It is a later term that covers a wide variety of different swords from different eras.

To put this in other terms, we refer to certain types of swords as being like "blah" (where "blah" could be long, short, broad, great, bastard, sword, or any other number of derivatives) whereas there were no real set names for many of these weapons. The most basic ways to dived them up would be two-handed, one handed and lighter one handed swords, in all different shapes and sizes, with many minor variantions (thrusting or slashing, etc etc). Even D&D "Greatswords" had numerous incarnations, like the Claymore, Zweihander, and Flamberge.

Pojnt is, don't get too worked up over names - they aren't everything (and indeed are very much so far from it)

cheers,
--N

 

[Sejs]

I like swords......

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