contrasting straight vs. curved blades

[brian phillips]

Afternoon all,
I was wondering if someone could give me a quick run
down of the differences between the cruciform straight swords
and the curved types...
My background is Arnis (a largo mano style) and
I have been reading the ARMA material/website with
great interest, especially these "cut and thrust" blades.
My experience is all with knives or bolo (equivalent
perhaps to a machete or cutlass). How does the
fencing change when the blade is straight?


regards,
Brian Phillips

[Guest]

I will point out just a few differences that emerge in backsword-sabre play.
A curved blade should automatically draw cut in the course of a slash. If you look a a curved sabre from above, you see a larger offending area to use in interdicting push cuts than that of a straight sabre. In some cases the back edge of a curved sabre can be brought on the side of the opponents blade during a thust (carte, flanconade) with the same effect of a hook punch: circling the guard.
Straight blades have the advantage to be lighter for their reach than corrisponding curved ones, they seem to give more sense of the point too (thrusting is more accurate), their blows slip less either on the target and on a parry (this to me is not an advantage),. Straight blades do not suffer of the minimal delay effect of the blow of curved ones (the point seems to move a bit later than the wrist in cuts because it is located a bit back).
Carlo

[John_Clements]

Hi

See the article on straight & curved blades here.

Besides, thrusting better, and generally being longer, straight blades can cut with either edge, so they effectively double the number of such techniques.

JC

[Stuart McDermid]

Err John,

There are plenty of examples of curved blades about that have a false edge just as there are plenty that don't. It is also important to remember that false edge cuts are far less useful with one handed swords than two handed swords.

Carlo's insights are dead on. I would add that it is very difficult (nigh impossible) to bind a curved blade. It will just slide out of any binds. This property makes closing on a sabre wielder a very bad idea. (I have the scars to prove it <img src="/forum/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />) This same property means that stopping parries cannot really be used either with or against a sabre. Because of this the method of fencing with a sabre is to a large degree simpler than that of a straight sword. If you try to clear the centreline by moving forward and into the blow when warding a sabre a good sabre fighter will give you a flicking cut for your trouble. This basically leaves you with countercuts/thrusts and parries on a slip backward as your only defensive options.

In closing, as a qualified Kalis Ilustrisimo instructor, I would say that sabre fencing is alot closer to the way one fights with a bolo than straight sword fencing.
Cheers,
Stu.

[Guest]

One more thing, with straight swords wrist cuts do not seem to work that much, with a sabre one should learn to cut (it is a cutting dedicated weapon) well from shoulder, elbow and wrist. I have no idea of why wrist cuts seem to be stronger with a sabre than with a straight sword, but that's my impression, maybe the drawing effect given by the curvature assists shearing kind of cuts.
Carlo

[John_Clements]

Stu, I never suggested there weren't curved blades with false edges. I was speaking in reasonable generalities about straight and curved blades. See the article here on the subject.

Curved blades that are wider at the foible are indeed harder to bind, see Leckuechner’s messer text. There are also plenty of curved blades that thrust well, see above again.

There are also semi curved and convex blades that all have a mixture of various properties.
Again, I am speaking in generalities regarding straight and curved to answer the poster's question.
If there were not so many ways of achieving the desired handling and functioning of a blade there would not be so much variety to the world’s ethnographic edged weaponry throughout history.