blade advantages?

Question

i'm a big fan of old weaponry, mostly swords and i play a game called 'dagorhir' , a bit of a 'do it yourself' full contact reenactment sport. i know a bit about swords but one thing always kind of made me wonder.

most cultures at some point had swords as their 'weapon of choice' along side spears but designs greatly varied, from the scotish claymore, the celtic broad/arm sword, the hispanic gladius adopted by the romans etc all had straight blades of varying thicknesses , while swords like falchions and cutlasses, along with the khukris (spelling's probably off) and 'to a lesser extent katanas from asia had curves to them.

my question is what kind of advantage would a blade curved similarly to a scimitar have against a straight sword like a classic european long sword and vice versa?

thanks in advance.

i'm not looking for too much on katana's specifically, i know a good deal about their advantages and such and disregarding draw what are some other advantages? i understand curved blades 'slash' more than hack but anything else?

Answer 1

As opposed to the Japanese sword, oriental swords such as those possessed by Chinese, Koreans or any other Asian swords. It depends on the skill and technique of the operator.

Answer 2

Ah, cool, another larper. :)

You've got 2 things to consider here, purpose and construction. Thrusting blades, by nature, do better when straight, just due to the mechanics. Slashing swords, you can go either straight or curved.

A slight scimitar-like curve can give a little bit of an advantage as you're cutting - you're getting the blade more towards a 45 degree angle than a 90 degree angle when it contacts the target, making it easier to do a draw-cut than a simple hacking-cut.

That, in turn, can change the construction. For a draw cut, you don't need as thick/heavy a blade, since you don't need a wedge-ledge edge. Combine that with it being single-edged by default (with a few false-edged tips), and you end up with a lighter sword, overall.

Now, the straight sword had advantages of its own. The heavier blades could do more damage against an armored target (or if they'd gotten a bit blunted.) Likewise, the dual-edge provides more cutting options.

Now the kukri's an interesting case due to the forward curve, but I think that was to maximize the heavier blade.

Answer 3

a curved blade is designed for slashing, while a straight one has greater accuracy and is designed for stabbing.
the curve allows the blade to make contact at a point when swung and also put the center of mass of the sword in the blade allowing for more powerful cuts. however this was at the sacrife of control, a straight sword has the center of mass in the hilt which allows for the greatest amount of control over the blade and means that faster strikes can be made, but it means that there will be less mass and therefore less power behind slashes.
you can even see this in the way blades are designed, most curved blades don't even have a point which could be used for stabbing, and many later medival straight swords aren't that sharp on the edges as the edges were only meant for prying under armor to make an opening or for use as a club.
curved swords aren't much use against armor as there no way to cut thru it(at least not with a sword you'd need an axe, or a mace but those have even less control, the exception is the falcata which could cut thru lighter/thinner types of armor and actually forced the romans to redesign their armor) you need a straight sword to be able to stab into the openings in the armor. curveds swords however against an unarmored opponent will cause more damage, and will likely kill the opponent more quickly and doesn't require as much accuracy or skill to inflict a fatal wound(a deep stap wound to the torso will of course be fatal but it is hard to do)

Answer 4

Well let me break it down for you:

Straight double edged swords are good for thrusting and stabbing and therefore more effective against heavy armors.

Curved single edged swords are good for cutting and slashing, therefore much more effective while used on horseback and on board a rocking ship at sea on slippery decks, since most curved swords like cutlasses, sabers, falchions and including the katana are easy to use with only one hand, while the other hand is free to hold the horse's reins or a rope and railing on a moving ship at sea.

Answer 5

Curved blades hit with more impact force on a curve making for deep cuts with less force .Straight edge are more stabbing and blunt force weapons for battering armor.

The heavier euro weapon can beat down the lighter scimitar but the scimitar is more adaptable and swift and less tiring.And that alone can decide the outcome.

The katana gives you the best of both worlds slightly curved for efficient stabbing moves and the power of the curved blade for cutting and sturdy enough to beat down any blade.

On a recent MYTH BUSTERS they tested the power of various swords tho most could bend other swords only the katana cut clean thru most of them.

Answer 6

It's basically as you said: curved blades are better at cutting (and normally into softer materials or armor) Whereas straight or heavy blades are better at crushing heavy armor, removing limbs, or causing massive trauma. Historically speaking, a sword was a product of the given technology and skill of the maker who created it. Every sword had two essential functions: to guard (or parry) and to strike (by cut, thrust, or both). Any sword would be expected to face other weapons as well as armors. Armor could be of either hard or soft material, each with differing degrees of resistance and maneuverability. All manner of swords intended for cutting or for thrusting or for both were constantly developed and tested to meet these challenges. Their blades might be wide or narrow, thick or thin, straight or curved, single or double-edged, tapered or un-tapered, sharply edged or not, and for one or two hands. a sword has to be hard to hold a sharp edge or sharp point but resilient so as not to bend or break under stress. A must guard or ward against other weapons as well as successfully damage targets (armored or unarmored). No one sword achieves all the best effects of every other kind. Some might be better used on foot than on horseback, some better at fighting with a shield or second weapon, some better for single combat or for the battlefield, and some superior at penetrating soft armors or hard armor or even at fighting entirely unarmored. That’s why in various cultures throughout history specialized varieties of swords came to exist through generations of trial and error experiment. These will all have different cross-sectional shapes and edge-geometries that make them either stiffer or more resilient and thus better at cutting or at thrusting. Over time different swordmakers experimenting and working in different places came up with many different ways of making swords with assorted characteristics that achieved the fighting needs of swordsmen in one way or another. The variety of swords in history is immense. Different sword types were rarely identified by their own distinct labels so modern arms historians have classified or categorized them into families of assorted kinds. Cutting and thrusting types could each be decisive in sword combat but combined together they could be even more so. Thus, the study of sword types and their characteristics, or spathology, is an ongoing process that recognizes no one sword as absolutely superior to any other. All this is why there is no such thing as the “perfect sword.”

Answer 7

For appropriate performance 2 blades are appropriate yet for a given HP engine it desires to be larger in diameter. the three blade prop being smaller would properly be utilized on small airplane the place the two blade would have floor clearance problems. On multi engine airplane the smaller prop helps the engines to be fastened closer to the fuselage centre-line for this reason reducing unfavourable yaw problems if an engine fails. i've got not got figures for fee of the props you point out notwithstanding it will be numerous thousand funds. Ian M

Answer 8

well, with a curved blade, you could usually draw it faster than a straight blade. also im pretty sure it cuts better and has longer reach.
in medieval japan, samurai had curved blades that were a lot better than the ninja's straight blades. the ninjas did not have skilled enough smiths to make them curved.
also im pretty sure that somewhere in some country, a type of curved blade would be ceremonial or some sign of social status