Research and Discussion Forums

Thank you for the reply! As you say, blunt clubs must have some good advantages, to explain their use all throughout history. Just curious as to what the main ones are... You make a good point about the greater possibility of armor deflection when striking with the smaller surface area of a sharp cl...

I know that historical sources and modern practitioners offer a lot more information about swords than about "impact weapons" like axes and maces. But maybe there's nowhere better than this forum to bring up a point of curiosity about those latter weapons. For discussion, let me clumsily r...

Hmm, I checked out the photos. Looks like a heavy showpiece to me, and doesn't scream "antique", though I'm really not one to judge. Maybe someone else can offer an expert evaluation... I can say, though, that the only "Japanese/Chinese" markings I see are random chicken scratch....

So it's designed to become a warhammer, when turned around and used with a "murder stroke" (if that's the right term for hitting with the other end)? Wow, I've never seen a sword like that. I wonder whether it was originally designed that way, or whether the warhammer bits were added later.

I'll comment: The link doesn't show me a picture; it just tells me I need to create an account in order to continue.

You will likely find the following articles useful: http://www.thearma.org/essays/longsword-and-katana.html http://www.thearma.org/essays/knightvs.htm Thanks! I have seen those articles in the past, but they're worth a second look. The first article does mention the "exceptionally hard and sha...

What accounts for the clearly better performance of the Japanese sword ("katana") over the European longsword in the testing below? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDkoj932YFo&feature=related Both swords do well against cabbages and coconuts. But the katana beats the longsword in cleavi...

Thanks again for the comments. Please don't rush to reply, especially during what sounds like a great week planned. For my part, I've taken a few days to do some exploring, so here will try to add my own resulting observations and ideas, rather than just ask more questions. 1) Regarding the issue of...

Thank you again for the detailed reply. All very helpful! FWIW, my questions come from a geeky interest in modeling hand weapon behavior, and I'd been following a pretty similar approach to yours, right up to looking at two-mass models and even coming up with the same mass-independent property you l...

Hello. I'm continuing my questions about weapon properties, started at this thread http://www.thearma.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24489 Vincent, I enjoyed your article. Here are the main questions I had: 1) You measure three intrinsic properties: mass (M), position of center of gravity (G), and radius...

Thank you all for the replies. Vincent, I'll shortly direct my questions about your article to the thread you mention. Before that, I have one last note on my "center of mass" question – particularly, an example of the jumbled usage out there that unfortunately leads to confusion. Your exc...

Thank you for the very helpful response. That really clarifies some things. The example of a ring is an interesting one, though since my interest is bar-like weapons, with no unusual complications like non-constant gravity field, I understand that I can read center of mass, center of gravity, and ce...

Your recommendation is a good one; I've read George Turner's amazing essays on the physics of swords. I've never seen better resources on the topic. With respect to my particular question, though, his essays are among the many resources out there that make separate reference to both center of balanc...

Hello to all. This is my first post here, after many months enjoying the articles and other resources. You've got a fascinating field of study. I have a question which I hope is a simple one. Reading about swords and other weapons (even sporting goods, on other sites), the terms "center of bala...