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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6651721" data-attributes="member: 177">I have my doubts.  But in any case, even if insulated gloves and boots are enough, that doesn't help if the charge required to keep the blade stiff calls for a voltge higher than the breakdown voltage of the air.  The darn thing just arcs to the ground and is useless to you.[quote[Already thought of that.</blockquote>I'm not sure you have.  The issue here is torque (Force applied * distance from fulcrum).  Electric charges repel each other, sure, so they apply a force, but they pretty much apply it *at* the fulcrum - they have a distance near zero.  Meanwhile, gravity, and any force from contact with an object, has a fulcrum about the length of the blade to work with.  Think of the old image of hair rising when someone touches a Van de Graf generator.  Sure, it stands up, but it isn't *stiff*.  It is floating, but loose and flexible, not rigid.Thinking about it - the charges leave the blade at something approaching a notable fraction of the speed of light.  Far faster than the blade is moving.  So, you never get a cut from rigidity - the blade goes limp-noodle the *instant* it touches anything.  The thing is not good for cutting - it is only good for applying an electrical shock at a reach of the length of the blade.[/QUOTE]