Explanation of Hollow ground blades

[Sean Gallagher]

After posting my question, i continued to search for a better explanation on hollow ground blades, and seeing as i didn't receive a response on here, i thought perhaps people we're lacking in knowledge, and i would share what i have discovered.

Hollow grinding is typically a type of grind that essentially creates concave grinds on both sides of the blade that come to meet at a point at the edge, creating an incredibly fine, and incredibly sharp edge. The problem however is that while this blade is also sharp, there isn't a lot of material backing up the blade, so the edge is fragile and no very durable. HOWEVER, hollow grinding in SWORDS when done properly, i.e. really just by Albion, is different. On a blade like the albion regent for instance, the blade is hollow ground almost all the way to the edge, but then near the terminus of the blade, it swoops back up and then is sharpened back down. So in actuality, you've basically just taken a large scoop from the blade, but the actual edge is ending in an appleseed type edge, creating and edge just as durable as a normally ground sword, and a significantly lighter blade.

So in conclusion, things to beware of. hollow ground blades without that secondary bevel that gives the edge it's stability/durability, which you'll pretty much find in every swordmaker i looked at, save for Albion.

so if you want hollow ground, go to albion, if you were nervous about a hollow ground blade from albion, don't be. I've talked with mike and others extensively about it, and they assured me the secondary bevel makes all the difference, and more importantly, it is historically accurate. All the hollow ground swords examined by peter johnson, had the secondary bevel.

that's the estimation of my knowledge, if any is incorrect please correct me,

Thanks,
Sean Gallagher

[Sean Gallagher]

And that's all i got.

[LafayetteCCurtis]

Perhaps the lack of response is simply due to the fact that many people in this forum are also members of SFI and/or myArmoury and have responded there (or agree with the responses already posted there), so they see no need to needlessly replicate the discussion in a forum that's really more about the martial art than the sword. And Arms & Armor do a really good job of making a sturdy edge on the hollow-ground version of their Henry V blade, too, so it's hardly an Albion monopoly. It's just that Albion's Next Gen line has the largest variation of good hollow-ground blades available compared to other production-line swordmakers.

[Stacy Clifford]

I think most of our members have blades that aren't hollow ground, and those that do have some direct experience with them may not read the forum very often. The information you posted regarding the appleseed edge is exactly what I expected, but it would have been speculation on my part since I haven't closely inspected one or asked about it myself. Good choice to ask Albion directly, they know their stuff.

[Sean Gallagher]

Perhaps the lack of response is simply due to the fact that many people in this forum are also members of SFI and/or myArmoury and have responded there (or agree with the responses already posted there), so they see no need to needlessly replicate the discussion in a forum that's really more about the martial art than the sword. And Arms & Armor do a really good job of making a sturdy edge on the hollow-ground version of their Henry V blade, too, so it's hardly an Albion monopoly. It's just that Albion's Next Gen line has the largest variation of good hollow-ground blades available compared to other production-line swordmakers.

Easily could be true, i wasn't making an attack on anyone here for not responding, merely just posting what i'd found in case anyone else had been wondering as well. thanks for adding Arms and Armor to lists of other proper hollow-ground blade distributors.


Thanks Stacy, I speculated the same thing, but i just wanted to be certain as well before purchasing one myself, and hoped that if any curious people had the same question, the information was readily available.

[Stacy Clifford]

I agree, I hate it when I find unanswered questions I wanted to ask on somebody's forum, so I always try to answer my own posts if I find my own answers so the info can be helpful to others. That's just good netiquette.