Hello
I thought that the Western sword / quick draw ... thread brought some interesting and some of the worst in us.
The interesting discussion were the weapons study in scientific terms and function of the weapon.
Because this topic is very interesting and I hold dear in finding out what is the sharpness of each weapon and what weapon can have the most impact hit and so on.
SHARPNESS TEST AND MEASUREMENT
I was trying to explain this about the Katana using none jargon terms. Like Pigs body cutting. However, there are scientific measurement to test this.
Just like hardness in the Moe scale 10 being the hardness and Diamond is 10, Sapphire is 9, etc... and Metal like steel is about 6 (I think). I have GIA certificate and a certified Gemologist and I understand the Moe scale. I live in Thailand working for USA military and also does gemology as a hobby and side business.
BTW, somebody mentioned that some "lost" technology of some western sword can cut stones is pure
BS. Stone is harder than steel and can't be cut by steel. You can scratch stones with steel and bash it to a pulp with steel hammer, but never cut a stone with steel. You need diamond head saw for that.
I should have use the Moe scale like measurement on the Sharpness. Well there is a Sharpness tester.
If you want to learn more on the Sharpness tester, I gave you a bit of web below. They have that scale.
With out getting in to it and I encourage you do the study yourself.
http://www.catra.org/pages/products/kniveslevel1/st.htm
Please bear in mind that any steel can be sharpen to razor edge and put it on this tester and score high, even a butter knife that just got razor sharp will score high.
However, you must be scientific about this and consider the metal and functional of the tool being tested and use a real average Katana and Long Sword of the Period to test this. The result is Katana is sharper.
This guy is a weapon expert and he explain really well about the pros and cons of Katana and Long Sword. And about the sharpness of Katana is 60 and Long Sword is 50.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnkVlK3BFLw
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DOUBLE EDGE AND SINGLE EDGE
Again, this is a scientific design of the tool. To have a maximum slice and cut, you want the shape of the blade to be a wedge. The longer the wedge the better. To make the wedge long, you must have a Thick "spine" of the weapon. Example, a Axe have thick spine and form a wedge at the blade. A sword is always thinner than Axe. Which tools has a stronger chop? Axes. In other words, to compare apples to apples.. Put a Thin blade that is not a wedge on an Axe vs. a Wedge Axe head Which axe will chop and cut better? Same with a sword, put a normal long sword vs. a Thick spine w/ wedge head like a Katana or Dao (Chinese Scimitar), which one will cut better? The single edge blade. NOTE: weight has something to do with it too, I think we all know that. However, Katana and long sword (double edge) weight about the same or close.
Why double can not have a long wedge is because to have that long wedge, the middle of the double edge blade will be very very thick. This will make the weapon too heavy.
This is why single edge weapons will always out shine double edge in the slicing and cutting test.
One of the most powerful cutting weapon the Chinese Dao or the Japanese Odachi.
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CURVE AND STRAIGHT BLADE
I think I don't have to talk about this but it is clear why curve will slice and cut better than straight blade.
Curve cuts better because the curve is less resistance than strait when the blade hit the target... the friction will stop it more on the straight than the curve. The curve will glade better and will cause more maximum of the slice damage.
The Kukri is a unusual blade. It has the inward curve of the cutting part. A "backward" Scimitar. This blade also cuts very well. This is something very interesting to me, I don't know if inward curve (Kukri) or the outward curve (Katana or Scimitar) cuts better. However, they both will cut better than a straight blade.
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WEIGHT OF THE TOOL
This part is easy to understand. The heavy the tool the more it will have force on the cut. A katana is a short blade weapon that is consider heavy compare to other blade of the same length. This is because the blade is thick. It need to be thick because if Katana were as thin as a long sword, the Katana will break.
The Kilijs is a special single curve blade that has a special weight on the tip of the blade. This unusual design cause the blade to have an even more impact hit in the cut and slice.
