| Surviving specimens of historical fighting swords, such
as this 19th century one above, often show tell-tale signs
of edge damage from hard material impacts but the causes and
origin of such trauma, as well as the time and conditions
under which they actually occurred, are now very difficult
to determine. As with many real cutting swords, the
piece above shows noticeable wear from impacts on its flat
side, but only minute damage to its edge along spots associated
with its natural center of percussion, indicating these may
very well have been from striking at targets, not from being
parried by the edge of another sword. -ed. |
| The wide curved slashing sword below, also from the 19th
century, is an example of one showing more significant trauma
along most of its edge, including minute nicks and gouges,
particularly at the optimal cutting portion. However, none
of these are indicative of forcible edge-to-edge impacts,
nor are they significant enough that they could not be ground
down. Surprisingly, as with the above sword, neither shows
noticeable edge trauma near the hilt, where most edge-to-edge
contact would be expected to occur in defensive actions. -ed. |
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