As someone who uses chisels, saws and all sorts of edged steel tools for a living, I have to say, you're absolutely correct on all points. With all steel cutting tools, when they cut, the edge has two jobs to perform; 1) to part the object on an atomic level ("cut"). 2) to shove or push away the material which abuts the cut, to allow the entire blade to pass through the object ("part"). The honed, polished cutting edge is used for job 1) The grind angle, and possibly the rest of the blade is used to do job 2). Lowering the grind angle will allow the material beside the cut to be shoved aside in a super easy manner, like a razor blade does. However, the trade off is robustness. As a super thin grind will damage much more easily than a thick one. It's a balance. So whether a sword of ANY type or description will cut is down to the blade geometry and that, pretty much alone (along with momentum). As they are bound by the laws of physics. Well said Matt!
Atomic? Certainly he realizes there’s no atom splitting going on, yet the word atomic makes for a great metaphor. It’s like an airline pilot saying their expecting it to be bumpy. There are no bumps, but yet everyone still understands the context.
As a former Die Maker and having shaperned items to 88° they can cut flesh under human power (have the scars to prove it). But that's with a surface grinder and jigs.
@@Goob_V10 I don’t mean to step on coat tails but some are so long the wearer is over the horizon and I shouldn’t be expected to know it’s coat tails and not a conveyor belt sidewalk ? 😉🤣😂
Thank you so much for acknowledging the difference between "absolutely cannot do X whatsoever", "cannot do X feasibly", and "cannot do X well in combat". There is FAR too much conflation of these three concepts in sword-enthusiast circles, and nearly always in the direction of saying something earlier on that list than the statement that's actually warranted in the situation in question.
From having watched lots of videos on weapons, I have come to the conclusion that the most common answer to "Will weapon X do Y" is almost always "It depends".
As a housepainter i carry a 5 in 1 tool in my back pocket , upside down. It's got a medium level edge on it , less so once used, and I have drug my arm lightly across it several times and had to get stitches . They were pretty ragged cuts but still made it through to the fascia fairly easy .
"I will try to be concise..." [mere seconds later] "...although I'm not sure why I would want to be able to move at 800 mph..." 😄 But you reined it in later, mate, and I thought you covered the topic really well. 🙂 Oft-neglected point about ballistic gelatin: it's not primarily meant as a flesh analogue at all but is rather a consistent, standardised, apples-to-apples test medium for comparing different gunshots. It is more consistent than materials that, like pig carcasses, might be more human-like but can vary in, say, bone density or skin thickness and have such complex structures that no two shots would ever hit exactly the same tissues in the same way.
It's useful to remember that "cut" is a result of a energy transfer through pressure and friction. Cleave-cut uses more pressure, while draw-cut adds more friction.
Gérard Thibault included a lot of cuts in his manual: to the various parts of the head, to the arm, to the thigh, & to the shin. Sometimes the cuts to head involve a second one, suggesting single cut might not reliably stop, but the general sense I get is that Thibault expected his rapier to cut reasonably well.
Because rapiers focus on thrusting & have limited cut use i call them "thrust & cut swords" to distinguish them from "cut & thrust swords" which have a style that mixes cuts & thrusts more.
Thank you for making the distinction between edge geometry and sharpness. I feel like this is one of those things that commonly gets glossed over and they seem to end up getting confused with one another because they're so closely connected in practice. I didn't seriously think about this for a long time, and I had to reason it out myself because I couldn't find anyone acknowledging the difference lol. It's strange to think you could have a square section piece of material (even something like a soft wood) and it could actually have razor sharp edges, but there's nothing fundamentally stopping that. It'd just be appalling at cutting anything because of the edge geometry and it'd lose the fineness of that edge almost immediately because of the material.
@ET Hardcorgamer Yeah I was using a soft material to illustrate that even soft materials can be made to be extraordinarily sharp, which I think runs counter to many peoples assumptions. It seems as though some people think that harder materials just allow for something to be sharper, which is wrong. Something being harder allows the edge to be better *retained.* It's kind of subtle, but significant enough to correct
@@tommeakin1732 too hard and the edge crumbles. Too soft and it rolls. Hard can end up sharper from a sharping stone because it’s more forgiving and wears slower leaving less traces of inconsistencies in honing angle. Soft will nick or get dull at the first sign of inconsistent honing angle. So everything has its uses , places despite trade offs and draw backs and strengths. That’s why there is a tool for every job and you have to be a self taught generalist ( jack of all trades, master of none ) to know or benefit from that knowledge for the most part.
What is sharpness then? I thought it was simply a better edge geometry, sharpened down to a thin edge (small angle), with the only difference from "normal" edge geometry being that sharpness refers to a mm-scale region along the edge of the blade. Sharpness would be like a localized edge geometry.
@@Blaisem In my own words, to my own understanding; I'd say it's the like the microscopic edge geometry, right on the edge. It's possible to have a blade with an extremely thin overall edge angle (like a kitchen knife, for example), but it still be blunt. Through a microscope, the edge apex would likely look very rough and rounded. A very sharp kitchen knife edge looks quite similar on the macro and micro, if that makes sense. I think one way of thinking about sharpness it is, how few atoms can you get on that edge apex with a clean taper? The fewer the better, and the fewer blemishes on the taper the better. So it still is edge geometry, but it's micro not macro, I guess. But most of the time when people say "edge geometry" they seem to typically mean the macro
Grandpa,s old straight razor,was hollow ground, to a paper thin edge. Once sharpened, a leather strap, kept the edge unrolled and sharp. And when it wasn't being used on razors, it had another purpose on children's butts.
I just like listening to Matt speak about these things, I could have surmised that the triangle blade cant cut and a thiner blade could but to hear him talk about it so knowledgeably holds my interest
Excellent video, Matt! The rapiers that I have cut with have primary bevel slightly less than 40 degrees. Any more than that, cutting becomes very difficult. At or below 40, however, they cut surprisingly well. One comment regarding smallswords... I thought some were indeed sharpened. Not so that they could deliver a cut, but in order to punish people who attempt to grab the blade. Keep the great videos coming :-)
Thanks for the, as always, great video! I feel that the biggest contextual difficulty in any discussion of this topic is the definition of 'cut'. For example, very few blades can cut as well as a scalpel but a scalpel can't cut off/through a human limb. Cleave, chop, and cut get used almost synonymously, yet they mean different things. Most of what little I know about swords has been learnt from your videos but I have spent 30 years working (and occasionally injuring myself) with a vast array of edged tools. So, while I agree that a square or equilateral triangular section 'blade' is very unlikely to penetrate deeply enough to cut anything vital, I'd guess that the first smallsword you showed us could easily (if sharp) cut deeply enough to disable an opponent; through the tendons on the inside of an exposed wrist for example. On the other hand, would the second small sword you showed have sufficient inertia to chop through bone, or could its 'cutting' blade become a disadvantage when lodged in an opponent's bone? My point/question is basically 'did some swords designed to thrust retain the ability to cut deeply enough to incapacitate while others designed to chop and cleave retained the ability to deliver a fatal thrust?'
yes and yes. he says this in the video. there are endless variations of each weapon and extremes to the point that it no longer serves its primary function and..becomes a different weapon
Great video, Matt, as always! The first thought in my mind when you brought out that second smallsword was questioning whether or not that was a spadroon, which made me laugh when you mentioned that people would ask about it in the end there 😆
Matt, You can accelerate something beyond 800 mph by hand, the cracker on the end of a whip breaks the sound barrier every time it is cracked. A whip is blunt but it can definitely "cut" someone.
As much as I would love to debate the issue. I cannot. You are my primary source to my knowledge about swords and ancient weapons, so my argument, if I would disagree, would fall flat. :) Thanks again for an interesting video!
Developed an interest in the Tudor Border Reivers era and your channel is an invaluable resource in this. Since they seemed to use almost every and all weapons they could get their hands on there's some insight In many of your videos, great stuff!!!!
Matt, you truly are the Grand Master-at-arms of the HEMA RUclipsr/Community of the Sword!😁 Btw, have you ever thought about doing a video on the Sikh community, and how they revere weapons to such an extent that anything from a kirpan, to a tulwar, to an AR-15, can be considered a religious object? I, for one, would love to hear your take on this most weapon-centric of all religions, especially considering the strong historical ties between India and the British Empire. Thank you!
The main point I've learned from Matt is that -when it comes to historical arms and armor - almost all universal statements have an exception somewhere in the world.
I'm basically in agreement but I think a couple of important points need to be made. First, I have seen very sharp three cornered hollow ground blades. In fact, one I examined was the sharpest sword in the cabinet, including the sabres. Does this mean it could cut? No, of course not! The central rib and lack of mass would have made it ineffective at that even if it were razor sharp. HOWEVER, the extreme hollows in these blades makes the edge *potentially* sharper for its overall thickness than a flat ground blade would be - sometimes by far. Second point - edge geometry on may rapiers means that they are blunt near the forte, and sharp near the tip. However, as you point out, that could in practiced be reversed in the case of the edgeless variety. Point three: I keep hearing about flared tips and 'tip cuts'. Frankly, I think this is almost certainly wrong. Cutting with the very tip of a long light sword like that is always going to be pretty inefficient and isn't explicit in any manual I am aware of. I am sure a small, sharp spatulate tip is that way to act like a spear point: it would massively improve the tips ability to pass through a target like clothing and improve the wound channel. Square edgeless points, even if narrow, are often foiled by thick cloth and leave only a narrow puncture wound. I suspect the spatulate tip is a way of improving this.
There is another aspect to 'the cut' that didn't get mentioned, and that is the 'bow string effect'! This means that what it is that makes the arrow move from the bow in a forwardly direction strong enough to get it to stick in a target at 100 yds, is not just the 28" movement of the string, but the kinetic energy stored in the limbs and transfered via the string go the arrow! Similarly the stored kinetic energy that transfers from the edge of the blade when it is stopped by the body or head or arm, into a smaller area than itself, will cause the skin to split!
There are specialized half swording long swords that would be pretty awful at cutting too. The "can a cut?" should always be answered with "Depends". Good video.
It's interesting to think about the nuance of training and tactics that come into play when you consider subtle choices in weapons, even within one type of sword. Imagine two opponents facing off with small swords, but one clearly designed to pierce and the other capable of cutting. All things being equal, does the cutter have an advantage in unpredictability and in predicting their foes approach? Or is the thrusting fighter's focus and specialization more useful?
I think it's more down to if the smallsword fencer has been trained to deal with cuts. Plenty of smallsword manuals had smallsword vs sabre, or smallsword vs rapier techniques/tactics to deal with cutters. Also the early smallsword manuals (Liancour I think?) had tip slash "estramazon" as a technique so it in early smallsword cutting wasn't so uncommon but gets progressively less getting closer to the Napoleonic period Most of the smallsword pronated parries will some way to deal with angulated/cutting attacks. Even Modern Olympic fencers that only fence in a thrusting style have things in their arsenal that can deal with cutting even if imperfectly.
It probably comes down to the individual fencers and their own abilities to make use of those resources, and deal with the other, rather than either one of the other truly being better. Otherwise we wouldn't have had centuries of arguments over cut or thrust or both back and forth over and over and over with no one really winning for any truly significant length of time, just becoming popular or faddish in regions or time periods.
@@palmerharrison7660 Exactly so. That's the part that's interesting. It's the mixture of technology, bias and experience that makes the art of fencing continually renewable. Each generation can have the same conversation from a slightly different perspective and literally duke it out to see who wins.
I think the evolution of swords speaks to back my theory that the actions of cutting are exactly what the thrusting sword needs to create an opining to thrust. When he cuts he is open to thrust. He who only thrusts waits for opportunity and puts himself at less risk. This is why swords evolved from sharp to dull in the end. Thank you all very much, I’ll be here all week 🐒
@@andrewsock1608 I think you make a good point especially in the context (Mr. Easton is watchin) of unarmored combatants who can be disabled or much more easily with a poke.
Thank you so much for your wonderful videos. And since you're talking about rapiers now, may I ask you to take a step back and talk about the transition from cruciform hilt to more complex ones. Something like the Bolognese sword/spada da lato/side-sword. There is almost no material on RUclips on this topic and you have a great talent to talk about complex things in such a simple language, understandable to the layman. Also a small question about parrying with bracers or plate gloves. How safe and widespread was it? I will be grateful to the commentators for possible answers and likes to raise the comment to the top.
Excellant vid Matt - Very good points made on the blade profiles of smallswords and rapiers - one of my smallsword sharps (late 18th C repro) has a triangular blade section with the last four inches sharpened, it usually cuts through milk bottles, however, has little impact on the skin of pig carcuses .I'd agree and think that it would give a nucience cut (or worse) and open up someones face or unprotected skin area. As to what is a sheering sword /spradroon/Smallsword ..then that is indeed an interesting thought, again Matt your word of "context" and time period springs to mind, am looking forward to your next vid.
Wait, so my square-razor idea is utterly bunk? Back to the drawing board then. Well done again Sir. You have brought out the salient points and given them an edge. I've sharpened, and used a lot of bits of metal both as a cook and for funzies. Every aspect of the blade figures into it's sharpness and cutting capacity. From pocket knives to longswords and beyond, no blade sharpens the same way and no edge will cut if the blade doesn't help.
I’d love to hear more about spadroons. Aren’t they just bigger versions of small swords with diamond blade profiles? And for that matter - if officers wanted a militarized small sword (spadroon) - then why didn’t they go back to using proto-rapiers (aka side swords) ? Same blade - but more protective hilt !
If you soaked a Tatami Mat, wrapped it a round a moderately fresh branch (about an inch thick), and then covered it in cloth/fabric to simulate clothing, do you think that that would be a pretty good analogue for clothing, flesh and bone?
when i did some cutting of water bottles with my hema group, i hit one of the bottles with a two by four as a joke. weirdly i managed to take the top of the bottle of with a pretty clean looking cut. so yes, you can cut a water bottle with pretty much anything.
Matt this was an intelligent video, but weight needs to be mentioned. I've used machetes to clear land in a sub-tropical environment. They're broad and have a superlative geometry thanks to their thin, flexible blades. However, compared to a sword they are left in the dust when it comes to cutting power because they simply dont have the mass to drive a cut through a thicker target. Scientifically I think we would be discussing how a combination of three factors matter: Edge geometery, mass/weight and leverage/length would add up to delivering the cut.
FYI, the thigh very often had more layers covering it in the days of the Rapier, as plunderhosed were very popular and those could get quite layered. Also, it matters greatly which material is in play, as thin linen offers much less protection than a woolen tunic.
I think one of the issues of this discussion is the problem of distinction between the injury called a "cut" and the blow called a "cut". Just because a fencing system used the blow we call a cut doesn't mean that it will give the wound we call a cut. So can rapiers cut? Well yes you can cut with a triangular smallsword but the blow will not cut the opponent but may displace their weapon/arm (see the problem with the homophone) same with rapiers. And then like you said there is the distinction of how well can a sword deliver a cutting wound. Like your swept hilt, it may be that even sharp it might not deliver a particularly impressive cutting wound especially through clothing but the fact of it having a edge and hitting with force, the force of the blow might have a large impact on the opponent even if the cutting wound might be minor
Those edgeless rapiers in Spain are called " espadas de verduguillo" and were banned at the time. They were rouge weapons. There even were left hand daggers with the same type of blade
Certainly the strongest argument for Rapier cutting are the treatises. I teach Rapier fencing and have read most of the masters treatises( Carranza, Agrippa, Capo Ferro, Silver, Fabris, to name a few). All write about and teach slashing/ cutting maneuvers. It isnt really until the 18th century that point centric forms of dueling/ fencing take solid hold. Thus you have the Small sword or Court sword as much more of a thrusting weapon and not so much suited to cutting. Just my two cents as a pedestrian antique fencing coach.
It seems to me, and I'm not a fencer or authority by any stretch, that a lot of it depends on how much of a cut you expect from the sword. I would suppose any of them could give a possibly disabling "cut", with the pointy tip, if to the face.
Are the triangle bladed blades unable to also cut arteries and the like due to the resistance of the third edge? I mean do you have to go deep enough for the third edge to be an issue? btw why are there blades with 3 edges in the first place? does it give some advantage to thrusting?
Sharpness is essentially the radius of your edge - the tighter the radius is, the sharper the edge. There are other things too, like edge continuity (the finer the grind used to create the edge, the fewer jags there are, resulting in an edge that is more capable of cutting).
Speaking of sword thickness relating to bevel and limitations to usability, do you reckon you could do a video on the Urumi used in Kalaripayattu? Constant motion like in montante (really more like chinese 9 section whip in practice) keeps it relatively straight, and I have a feeling that having the blade *out* of alignment would just make it flutter and impede keeping it in motion, so it is by necessity aligned for the cut when in motion. No idea how practical it is, it may just be a feat of skill to train and practice with, again like quite a few chinese weapons, but it would certainly be intimidating to come up against much like the aforementioned greatsword.
Kind of like an ice skate with the 90⁰ angle. Just ask Clint Malarchuck (Former goalie for the Buffalo Sabers [NHL Hockey team in the USA]) if a 90⁰ angle ice skate can cut like I saw happen on live TV as a kid. I can imagine that happening during a Renaissance Era duel through the streets of Florence when one opponent gets the others throat at just the right angle.
I've sliced myself pretty well on cams and gears that had been polished to a mirror surface by wear, but were still effectively right angles. Some people need to break down some large tough cuts of beef with various kinds of edges. Easy enough with a good, thin, sharp butcher or chef's knife. Try it with one of those outdoor store "hunting knives" with a blade 1/4" thick and a heavy bevel.
"i say unfortunately, i don't know what i'd even do with [the skill to accellerate things to 800mph]" Well, I'd say you'd do pretty well at olympic javelin throwing and such.
I have a battle ready reproduction of a 15th century swept hilt rapier. It's dual edged and quite sharp. I used it on a large cardboard box. I thrust into the box and sliced upward. It penetrated deeply with ease and made an 8 inch vertical incision. Had that been a person, I'd have opened them up. Yes, it will cut.
I agree that "almost everything can cut" I have gotten enough paper cuts to be sure of that. But i will have to disagree with saying that a sword with a 90 degree edge (like the spanish rapier you showed) will not cut. My "evidence A" is broken window glass, when it breaks it will usually break with a 90 degree edge, and we all know that broken glass is more than capable of slashing cloth and skin (i have the scars to prove it). So the squared edge rapier might not leave horrible deep ax wounds, but slashes and cuts should be more than possible. And cuts to the hands, neck, and face don't have to be deep to be effective.
I recently boaght a prussian 89 saber with a very bendy and thin blade. O haven't cut tatami with it yet, but tetra packs and bottles. Surprisingly easy. I a sure youbwont be able to cut deep, but the cuts are definitely nasty. And that is, I guess part of a strategy for fencing. On the other hand, an other blade what used to be a great cutter didn't perform really well. I could sharpen it to a very sharp edge, but it was quite hard to achieve good cuts on former mentioned objects or even tatami matt's. So I guess, how hard do you need to cut? In what context with what sort of blade? It's the same question how sharp need something to cut. I once used a quiet dull longsword for cutting and I was surprised how well it went through tatamis. Was it the Matt? The overall blade geometry? I don't know. Nice that you brought up the ballistic gel thing. It always annoys me a bit when I see this material in cutting presentations. It was made for a very different purpose. Not for cutting XD.
Honestly, I would want my rapier or small sword to have some cutting ability. I have some training in knife fighting, enough to know I do not want to get into a knife fight anyway, and have had it shown and explained to me how quick, small cuts can be more effective than big slashes and deep stabs, in incapacitating an opponent. Being able to land a cut to the back of the hand, or the face, or something is just an extra tool I'd want available to me, even if it wasn't the main offensive power of the weapon at hand.
Have you seen the movie Alatriste? This piece seems to have a lot of very accurate 17th century fighting ever produced. Duels, groups fighting and whole battles. It's a great movie too and for free with English subtitles on yt.. Would love to see your reaction for some of the fight scenes.
I'd really like to hear more about English tucks, I've seen some "replica" examples by southern swords but that's about the extent of it, by their account tucks were pretty common sidearm during the English civil war but there aren't many examples I can find as an amateur googoleogist
Hey Matt, What would compel a smith to produce a triangular section sword? I wonder, for the same amount of steel he could have pounded it into a symmetric cross section or chisel single edge. How different are the colichemarde smallsword from that double edge smallsword? The weights of the swords cant be that different, or can it? The stiffness? Steel quality? Armored fighting? Some sort of a trademark? What particular strategy or use would the triangular section smallsword excel at that one would choose it over the regular diamond section or single edge smallsword with false edge? .... Or maybe, could you fit 2 of them in a sheath like a case of swords ? :)
The hollow ground triangular blade can be lighter than a double edged blade of the same stiffness, or stiffer than a double edged blade of the same weight. Most triangular blades are a bit stiffer than the flat ones and notably lighter, i.e. faster.
Matt, you need to do a review of the jousting scene in House of the Dragon's episode 1. It's got jousting, hand-to-hand combat (with flails!), heraldics and colourful costumes (yes!), everything we have been complaining about with modern medieval shows.
A lot of it also depends on how you define "cut". A sharpened diamond cross section rapier on a push or draw cut will cut into you exactly like a kitchen knife into a steak. On the slash, not so much.
That German blade with the two finger rings looks neat. Curious if one could use it that way, with the index and middle fingers through those rings. I think a demo station of that would be nice.
is there any mention about aiming light cuts at the forehead/eyes? In MMA the fighters often go for glancing elbows at the eyebrows and forehead to make the skin split and hamper the opponents sight with blood running into their eyes. If the fighter can`t see properly, the fight get stopped and deemed a win for the one who opened up the cut.
Hello, Loved the video as I was curious about rapiers being used as slashing weapons in films and TV. The more you know. I'm curious was there ever a sword made that had a single handed grip like a rapier, or even that small sword you showed at the start of the video, that then had an medieval arming type of blade on it? Apologies if that doesn't make sense.
Side Swords, they are the transitional weapon from Arming sword to Rapier, so many have heavier, more cutting focused blades on complex hilts that look more like rapiers. And you have spadroons for cutting Side sword weapons, though they are kinda pants. Not an arming sword blade though, as it would be to big for the hilt.
I was carrying a pile of sheet metal duct earlier today and even the "dull" rounded side can start to dig into and "cut" your skin, I'm sure even an unsharpened rapier can leave quite the nasty cut
Sounds like there's an important distinction between "cutting" (dig into the material laterally) and "scratching" (drawing blood). Nearly anything sharp will draw blood, but not everything will dig in laterally.
As someone who uses chisels, saws and all sorts of edged steel tools for a living, I have to say, you're absolutely correct on all points. With all steel cutting tools, when they cut, the edge has two jobs to perform; 1) to part the object on an atomic level ("cut"). 2) to shove or push away the material which abuts the cut, to allow the entire blade to pass through the object ("part"). The honed, polished cutting edge is used for job 1) The grind angle, and possibly the rest of the blade is used to do job 2). Lowering the grind angle will allow the material beside the cut to be shoved aside in a super easy manner, like a razor blade does. However, the trade off is robustness. As a super thin grind will damage much more easily than a thick one. It's a balance. So whether a sword of ANY type or description will cut is down to the blade geometry and that, pretty much alone (along with momentum). As they are bound by the laws of physics. Well said Matt!
@@andrewsock1608 Man. I bet you felt good about that one, huh?
@@andrewsock1608 That was painful to read.
Atomic? Certainly he realizes there’s no atom splitting going on, yet the word atomic makes for a great metaphor. It’s like an airline pilot saying their expecting it to be bumpy. There are no bumps, but yet everyone still understands the context.
As a former Die Maker and having shaperned items to 88° they can cut flesh under human power (have the scars to prove it). But that's with a surface grinder and jigs.
@@Goob_V10 I don’t mean to step on coat tails but some are so long the wearer is over the horizon and I shouldn’t be expected to know it’s coat tails and not a conveyor belt sidewalk ? 😉🤣😂
Thank you so much for acknowledging the difference between "absolutely cannot do X whatsoever", "cannot do X feasibly", and "cannot do X well in combat". There is FAR too much conflation of these three concepts in sword-enthusiast circles, and nearly always in the direction of saying something earlier on that list than the statement that's actually warranted in the situation in question.
From having watched lots of videos on weapons, I have come to the conclusion that the most common answer to "Will weapon X do Y" is almost always "It depends".
Well, whether the answer is "it depends" depends.
@@BernasLL Yeah, context is everything
@@BernasLL Yep, it depends on context!
🤔 That might be the answer to quite a few questions I suspect.
@@Herbert_Eder you beat me to that!
As a housepainter i carry a 5 in 1 tool in my back pocket , upside down. It's got a medium level edge on it , less so once used, and I have drug my arm lightly across it several times and had to get stitches . They were pretty ragged cuts but still made it through to the fascia fairly easy .
A classic "it depends" video from Matt Easton. Looking forward to many more.
Matt is the first teacher that's ever been able to get me to understand geometry..
"I will try to be concise..."
[mere seconds later]
"...although I'm not sure why I would want to be able to move at 800 mph..."
😄
But you reined it in later, mate, and I thought you covered the topic really well. 🙂
Oft-neglected point about ballistic gelatin: it's not primarily meant as a flesh analogue at all but is rather a consistent, standardised, apples-to-apples test medium for comparing different gunshots. It is more consistent than materials that, like pig carcasses, might be more human-like but can vary in, say, bone density or skin thickness and have such complex structures that no two shots would ever hit exactly the same tissues in the same way.
It's useful to remember that "cut" is a result of a energy transfer through pressure and friction. Cleave-cut uses more pressure, while draw-cut adds more friction.
Underrated comment.
And with enough velocity, a round metal bar will cut through anything. Physics is the real killer.
@@l0rf With enough velocity, a well targeted Furby is indistinguishable from a thermonuclear warhead.
@@torg2126 now to accelerate one of those monsters to 0.5c
@@l0rf That's the nuclear yield
Gérard Thibault included a lot of cuts in his manual: to the various parts of the head, to the arm, to the thigh, & to the shin. Sometimes the cuts to head involve a second one, suggesting single cut might not reliably stop, but the general sense I get is that Thibault expected his rapier to cut reasonably well.
Because rapiers focus on thrusting & have limited cut use i call them "thrust & cut swords" to distinguish them from "cut & thrust swords" which have a style that mixes cuts & thrusts more.
Thank you for making the distinction between edge geometry and sharpness. I feel like this is one of those things that commonly gets glossed over and they seem to end up getting confused with one another because they're so closely connected in practice. I didn't seriously think about this for a long time, and I had to reason it out myself because I couldn't find anyone acknowledging the difference lol. It's strange to think you could have a square section piece of material (even something like a soft wood) and it could actually have razor sharp edges, but there's nothing fundamentally stopping that. It'd just be appalling at cutting anything because of the edge geometry and it'd lose the fineness of that edge almost immediately because of the material.
@ET Hardcorgamer Yeah I was using a soft material to illustrate that even soft materials can be made to be extraordinarily sharp, which I think runs counter to many peoples assumptions. It seems as though some people think that harder materials just allow for something to be sharper, which is wrong. Something being harder allows the edge to be better *retained.* It's kind of subtle, but significant enough to correct
@@tommeakin1732 too hard and the edge crumbles. Too soft and it rolls.
Hard can end up sharper from a sharping stone because it’s more forgiving and wears slower leaving less traces of inconsistencies in honing angle. Soft will nick or get dull at the first sign of inconsistent honing angle.
So everything has its uses , places despite trade offs and draw backs and strengths. That’s why there is a tool for every job and you have to be a self taught generalist ( jack of all trades, master of none ) to know or benefit from that knowledge for the most part.
What is sharpness then? I thought it was simply a better edge geometry, sharpened down to a thin edge (small angle), with the only difference from "normal" edge geometry being that sharpness refers to a mm-scale region along the edge of the blade. Sharpness would be like a localized edge geometry.
@@Blaisem In my own words, to my own understanding; I'd say it's the like the microscopic edge geometry, right on the edge. It's possible to have a blade with an extremely thin overall edge angle (like a kitchen knife, for example), but it still be blunt. Through a microscope, the edge apex would likely look very rough and rounded. A very sharp kitchen knife edge looks quite similar on the macro and micro, if that makes sense.
I think one way of thinking about sharpness it is, how few atoms can you get on that edge apex with a clean taper? The fewer the better, and the fewer blemishes on the taper the better.
So it still is edge geometry, but it's micro not macro, I guess. But most of the time when people say "edge geometry" they seem to typically mean the macro
Grandpa,s old straight razor,was hollow ground, to a paper thin edge. Once sharpened, a leather strap, kept the edge unrolled and sharp. And when it wasn't being used on razors, it had another purpose on children's butts.
I just like listening to Matt speak about these things, I could have surmised that the triangle blade cant cut and a thiner blade could but to hear him talk about it so knowledgeably holds my interest
That second Smallsword you showed was beautiful
I hope the video helps put to rest the arguments of cutting vs not cutting. Context is everything, and Mr. Easton always brings the context! ✊🏾
Excellent video, Matt! The rapiers that I have cut with have primary bevel slightly less than 40 degrees. Any more than that, cutting becomes very difficult. At or below 40, however, they cut surprisingly well. One comment regarding smallswords... I thought some were indeed sharpened. Not so that they could deliver a cut, but in order to punish people who attempt to grab the blade. Keep the great videos coming :-)
Thanks for the, as always, great video! I feel that the biggest contextual difficulty in any discussion of this topic is the definition of 'cut'. For example, very few blades can cut as well as a scalpel but a scalpel can't cut off/through a human limb. Cleave, chop, and cut get used almost synonymously, yet they mean different things.
Most of what little I know about swords has been learnt from your videos but I have spent 30 years working (and occasionally injuring myself) with a vast array of edged tools. So, while I agree that a square or equilateral triangular section 'blade' is very unlikely to penetrate deeply enough to cut anything vital, I'd guess that the first smallsword you showed us could easily (if sharp) cut deeply enough to disable an opponent; through the tendons on the inside of an exposed wrist for example. On the other hand, would the second small sword you showed have sufficient inertia to chop through bone, or could its 'cutting' blade become a disadvantage when lodged in an opponent's bone?
My point/question is basically 'did some swords designed to thrust retain the ability to cut deeply enough to incapacitate while others designed to chop and cleave retained the ability to deliver a fatal thrust?'
yes and yes. he says this in the video. there are endless variations of each weapon and extremes to the point that it no longer serves its primary function and..becomes a different weapon
Thanks Matt, another fascinating video!
I Love to listen to someone who knows what they are talking about!
Great video, Matt, as always! The first thought in my mind when you brought out that second smallsword was questioning whether or not that was a spadroon, which made me laugh when you mentioned that people would ask about it in the end there 😆
Matt,
You can accelerate something beyond 800 mph by hand, the cracker on the end of a whip breaks the sound barrier every time it is cracked. A whip is blunt but it can definitely "cut" someone.
A whip gets that fast by coiling and uncoiling in a way that a sword cannot.
As much as I would love to debate the issue. I cannot. You are my primary source to my knowledge about swords and ancient weapons, so my argument, if I would disagree, would fall flat. :) Thanks again for an interesting video!
Developed an interest in the Tudor Border Reivers era and your channel is an invaluable resource in this. Since they seemed to use almost every and all weapons they could get their hands on there's some insight In many of your videos, great stuff!!!!
Hi Matt, what is the difference between the cut and thrust smallsword you shared in this video and a spadroon?
Matt, you truly are the Grand Master-at-arms of the HEMA RUclipsr/Community of the Sword!😁 Btw, have you ever thought about doing a video on the Sikh community, and how they revere weapons to such an extent that anything from a kirpan, to a tulwar, to an AR-15, can be considered a religious object? I, for one, would love to hear your take on this most weapon-centric of all religions, especially considering the strong historical ties between India and the British Empire. Thank you!
Paper will cut through human soft tissue very nicely, with circumstance permitting.
Great topic and you did a fine job of exploring it.
Thanks
GROSSARTIG! This was really Illuminating. Thanks a lot 👍
Here for all the rapier content in the world. Good job my boy.
The main point I've learned from Matt is that -when it comes to historical arms and armor - almost all universal statements have an exception somewhere in the world.
I'm basically in agreement but I think a couple of important points need to be made. First, I have seen very sharp three cornered hollow ground blades. In fact, one I examined was the sharpest sword in the cabinet, including the sabres. Does this mean it could cut? No, of course not! The central rib and lack of mass would have made it ineffective at that even if it were razor sharp. HOWEVER, the extreme hollows in these blades makes the edge *potentially* sharper for its overall thickness than a flat ground blade would be - sometimes by far. Second point - edge geometry on may rapiers means that they are blunt near the forte, and sharp near the tip. However, as you point out, that could in practiced be reversed in the case of the edgeless variety. Point three: I keep hearing about flared tips and 'tip cuts'. Frankly, I think this is almost certainly wrong. Cutting with the very tip of a long light sword like that is always going to be pretty inefficient and isn't explicit in any manual I am aware of. I am sure a small, sharp spatulate tip is that way to act like a spear point: it would massively improve the tips ability to pass through a target like clothing and improve the wound channel. Square edgeless points, even if narrow, are often foiled by thick cloth and leave only a narrow puncture wound. I suspect the spatulate tip is a way of improving this.
There is another aspect to 'the cut' that didn't get mentioned, and that is the 'bow string effect'!
This means that what it is that makes the arrow move from the bow in a forwardly direction strong enough to get it to stick in a target at 100 yds, is not just the 28" movement of the string, but the kinetic energy stored in the limbs and transfered via the string go the arrow!
Similarly the stored kinetic energy that transfers from the edge of the blade when it is stopped by the body or head or arm, into a smaller area than itself, will cause the skin to split!
There are specialized half swording long swords that would be pretty awful at cutting too. The "can a cut?" should always be answered with "Depends". Good video.
It's interesting to think about the nuance of training and tactics that come into play when you consider subtle choices in weapons, even within one type of sword. Imagine two opponents facing off with small swords, but one clearly designed to pierce and the other capable of cutting. All things being equal, does the cutter have an advantage in unpredictability and in predicting their foes approach? Or is the thrusting fighter's focus and specialization more useful?
I think it's more down to if the smallsword fencer has been trained to deal with cuts. Plenty of smallsword manuals had smallsword vs sabre, or smallsword vs rapier techniques/tactics to deal with cutters. Also the early smallsword manuals (Liancour I think?) had tip slash "estramazon" as a technique so it in early smallsword cutting wasn't so uncommon but gets progressively less getting closer to the Napoleonic period Most of the smallsword pronated parries will some way to deal with angulated/cutting attacks. Even Modern Olympic fencers that only fence in a thrusting style have things in their arsenal that can deal with cutting even if imperfectly.
It probably comes down to the individual fencers and their own abilities to make use of those resources, and deal with the other, rather than either one of the other truly being better. Otherwise we wouldn't have had centuries of arguments over cut or thrust or both back and forth over and over and over with no one really winning for any truly significant length of time, just becoming popular or faddish in regions or time periods.
@@palmerharrison7660 Exactly so. That's the part that's interesting. It's the mixture of technology, bias and experience that makes the art of fencing continually renewable. Each generation can have the same conversation from a slightly different perspective and literally duke it out to see who wins.
I think the evolution of swords speaks to back my theory that the actions of cutting are exactly what the thrusting sword needs to create an opining to thrust. When he cuts he is open to thrust. He who only thrusts waits for opportunity and puts himself at less risk. This is why swords evolved from sharp to dull in the end.
Thank you all very much, I’ll be here all week 🐒
@@andrewsock1608 I think you make a good point especially in the context (Mr. Easton is watchin) of unarmored combatants who can be disabled or much more easily with a poke.
With that skill you could make some really incredible videos.
Thank you so much for your wonderful videos. And since you're talking about rapiers now, may I ask you to take a step back and talk about the transition from cruciform hilt to more complex ones. Something like the Bolognese sword/spada da lato/side-sword. There is almost no material on RUclips on this topic and you have a great talent to talk about complex things in such a simple language, understandable to the layman.
Also a small question about parrying with bracers or plate gloves. How safe and widespread was it?
I will be grateful to the commentators for possible answers and likes to raise the comment to the top.
Excellant vid Matt - Very good points made on the blade profiles of smallswords and rapiers - one of my smallsword sharps (late 18th C repro) has a triangular blade section with the last four inches sharpened, it usually cuts through milk bottles, however, has little impact on the skin of pig carcuses .I'd agree and think that it would give a nucience cut (or worse) and open up someones face or unprotected skin area.
As to what is a sheering sword /spradroon/Smallsword ..then that is indeed an interesting thought, again Matt your word of "context" and time period springs to mind, am looking forward to your next vid.
Maybe a forehead slash is a nuisance, but us boxers get Vaseline smeared across, to see better, without all the blood, streaming down.
A hollow ground point, on a triangle dagger, is supposed to make stitches difficult.
Wait, so my square-razor idea is utterly bunk? Back to the drawing board then.
Well done again Sir. You have brought out the salient points and given them an edge. I've sharpened, and used a lot of bits of metal both as a cook and for funzies. Every aspect of the blade figures into it's sharpness and cutting capacity. From pocket knives to longswords and beyond, no blade sharpens the same way and no edge will cut if the blade doesn't help.
Great discussion, great examples!
Difference between spadroon, cutting smallsword, and/or shearing sword would be a video worth doing
I am more and more falling in love with rapiers and smallswords, specifically the type that could deliver cuts.
I’d love to hear more about spadroons. Aren’t they just bigger versions of small swords with diamond blade profiles? And for that matter - if officers wanted a militarized small sword (spadroon) - then why didn’t they go back to using proto-rapiers (aka side swords) ? Same blade - but more protective hilt !
If you soaked a Tatami Mat, wrapped it a round a moderately fresh branch (about an inch thick), and then covered it in cloth/fabric to simulate clothing, do you think that that would be a pretty good analogue for clothing, flesh and bone?
when i did some cutting of water bottles with my hema group, i hit one of the bottles with a two by four as a joke. weirdly i managed to take the top of the bottle of with a pretty clean looking cut. so yes, you can cut a water bottle with pretty much anything.
Ever thought of getting an Estoc? I would like to see that sword. A sharp one preferably. Like a longsword but optimized more for thrusting.
Matt this was an intelligent video, but weight needs to be mentioned. I've used machetes to clear land in a sub-tropical environment. They're broad and have a superlative geometry thanks to their thin, flexible blades. However, compared to a sword they are left in the dust when it comes to cutting power because they simply dont have the mass to drive a cut through a thicker target.
Scientifically I think we would be discussing how a combination of three factors matter: Edge geometery, mass/weight and leverage/length would add up to delivering the cut.
Matt thanks for the clarification.
FYI, the thigh very often had more layers covering it in the days of the Rapier, as plunderhosed were very popular and those could get quite layered. Also, it matters greatly which material is in play, as thin linen offers much less protection than a woolen tunic.
I think one of the issues of this discussion is the problem of distinction between the injury called a "cut" and the blow called a "cut". Just because a fencing system used the blow we call a cut doesn't mean that it will give the wound we call a cut. So can rapiers cut? Well yes you can cut with a triangular smallsword but the blow will not cut the opponent but may displace their weapon/arm (see the problem with the homophone) same with rapiers. And then like you said there is the distinction of how well can a sword deliver a cutting wound. Like your swept hilt, it may be that even sharp it might not deliver a particularly impressive cutting wound especially through clothing but the fact of it having a edge and hitting with force, the force of the blow might have a large impact on the opponent even if the cutting wound might be minor
Those edgeless rapiers in Spain are called " espadas de verduguillo" and were banned at the time. They were rouge weapons. There even were left hand daggers with the same type of blade
The near perfect combination of handguard and blade, for one handed combat.
I'm sharing this, hoping it will save me some arguments in the future
Certainly the strongest argument for Rapier cutting are the treatises. I teach Rapier fencing and have read most of the masters treatises( Carranza, Agrippa, Capo Ferro, Silver, Fabris, to name a few). All write about and teach slashing/ cutting maneuvers. It isnt really until the 18th century that point centric forms of dueling/ fencing take solid hold. Thus you have the Small sword or Court sword as much more of a thrusting weapon and not so much suited to cutting. Just my two cents as a pedestrian antique fencing coach.
It seems to me, and I'm not a fencer or authority by any stretch, that a lot of it depends on how much of a cut you expect from the sword. I would suppose any of them could give a possibly disabling "cut", with the pointy tip, if to the face.
Thank you for all of your videos!
Can you do a video about Tuck swords sometime? Nice clarification about edge geometry vs sharpness.
First time viewer here. Great video to be sure. Brilliant.
Are the triangle bladed blades unable to also cut arteries and the like due to the resistance of the third edge? I mean do you have to go deep enough for the third edge to be an issue? btw why are there blades with 3 edges in the first place? does it give some advantage to thrusting?
Sharpness is essentially the radius of your edge - the tighter the radius is, the sharper the edge. There are other things too, like edge continuity (the finer the grind used to create the edge, the fewer jags there are, resulting in an edge that is more capable of cutting).
Could you do a cutting test on some tatami mats using some of the swords you showcased in the video?
Speaking of sword thickness relating to bevel and limitations to usability, do you reckon you could do a video on the Urumi used in Kalaripayattu? Constant motion like in montante (really more like chinese 9 section whip in practice) keeps it relatively straight, and I have a feeling that having the blade *out* of alignment would just make it flutter and impede keeping it in motion, so it is by necessity aligned for the cut when in motion. No idea how practical it is, it may just be a feat of skill to train and practice with, again like quite a few chinese weapons, but it would certainly be intimidating to come up against much like the aforementioned greatsword.
Read a description of a rapier duel many years ago where the Victor snipped at the knee tendons as a main way of attack.
Kind of like an ice skate with the 90⁰ angle. Just ask Clint Malarchuck (Former goalie for the Buffalo Sabers [NHL Hockey team in the USA]) if a 90⁰ angle ice skate can cut like I saw happen on live TV as a kid. I can imagine that happening during a Renaissance Era duel through the streets of Florence when one opponent gets the others throat at just the right angle.
I have seen it live here in Sweden, (love hockey) a skate to the face just above the neck. Deep hur.
ruclips.net/video/plvKlnguJVE/видео.html
I've sliced myself pretty well on cams and gears that had been polished to a mirror surface by wear, but were still effectively right angles. Some people need to break down some large tough cuts of beef with various kinds of edges. Easy enough with a good, thin, sharp butcher or chef's knife. Try it with one of those outdoor store "hunting knives" with a blade 1/4" thick and a heavy bevel.
"i say unfortunately, i don't know what i'd even do with [the skill to accellerate things to 800mph]"
Well, I'd say you'd do pretty well at olympic javelin throwing and such.
Excellent video, very informative...
I have a battle ready reproduction of a 15th century swept hilt rapier. It's dual edged and quite sharp. I used it on a large cardboard box. I thrust into the box and sliced upward. It penetrated deeply with ease and made an 8 inch vertical incision. Had that been a person, I'd have opened them up. Yes, it will cut.
...so here's an oddball question. For the square cross-sectioned rapiers, what makes their blades "blades" rather than "spikes"?
I agree that "almost everything can cut"
I have gotten enough paper cuts to be sure of that.
But i will have to disagree with saying that a sword with a 90 degree edge (like the spanish rapier you showed) will not cut.
My "evidence A" is broken window glass, when it breaks it will usually break with a 90 degree edge, and we all know that broken glass is more than capable of slashing cloth and skin (i have the scars to prove it).
So the squared edge rapier might not leave horrible deep ax wounds, but slashes and cuts should be more than possible. And cuts to the hands, neck, and face don't have to be deep to be effective.
I recently boaght a prussian 89 saber with a very bendy and thin blade. O haven't cut tatami with it yet, but tetra packs and bottles. Surprisingly easy. I a sure youbwont be able to cut deep, but the cuts are definitely nasty. And that is, I guess part of a strategy for fencing.
On the other hand, an other blade what used to be a great cutter didn't perform really well. I could sharpen it to a very sharp edge, but it was quite hard to achieve good cuts on former mentioned objects or even tatami matt's. So I guess, how hard do you need to cut? In what context with what sort of blade? It's the same question how sharp need something to cut. I once used a quiet dull longsword for cutting and I was surprised how well it went through tatamis. Was it the Matt? The overall blade geometry? I don't know.
Nice that you brought up the ballistic gel thing. It always annoys me a bit when I see this material in cutting presentations. It was made for a very different purpose. Not for cutting XD.
Honestly, I would want my rapier or small sword to have some cutting ability. I have some training in knife fighting, enough to know I do not want to get into a knife fight anyway, and have had it shown and explained to me how quick, small cuts can be more effective than big slashes and deep stabs, in incapacitating an opponent. Being able to land a cut to the back of the hand, or the face, or something is just an extra tool I'd want available to me, even if it wasn't the main offensive power of the weapon at hand.
Hey Mr. Easton, I want a small sword like the German one you showed with the edges. Where can I get one? What should I look for?
Have you seen the movie Alatriste? This piece seems to have a lot of very accurate 17th century fighting ever produced. Duels, groups fighting and whole battles. It's a great movie too and for free with English subtitles on yt.. Would love to see your reaction for some of the fight scenes.
I'd really like to hear more about English tucks, I've seen some "replica" examples by southern swords but that's about the extent of it, by their account tucks were pretty common sidearm during the English civil war but there aren't many examples I can find as an amateur googoleogist
Hey Matt, What would compel a smith to produce a triangular section sword? I wonder, for the same amount of steel he could have pounded it into a symmetric cross section or chisel single edge. How different are the colichemarde smallsword from that double edge smallsword? The weights of the swords cant be that different, or can it? The stiffness? Steel quality? Armored fighting? Some sort of a trademark? What particular strategy or use would the triangular section smallsword excel at that one would choose it over the regular diamond section or single edge smallsword with false edge? .... Or maybe, could you fit 2 of them in a sheath like a case of swords ? :)
The hollow ground triangular blade can be lighter than a double edged blade of the same stiffness, or stiffer than a double edged blade of the same weight. Most triangular blades are a bit stiffer than the flat ones and notably lighter, i.e. faster.
A friend took a three point file, and made a fancy dagger out of it. Wicked hollow ground point, thinking of the wound it would create.
Matt, you need to do a review of the jousting scene in House of the Dragon's episode 1. It's got jousting, hand-to-hand combat (with flails!), heraldics and colourful costumes (yes!), everything we have been complaining about with modern medieval shows.
Always liked cut and thrust swords of all types. It seems like whatever you gain you'd lose more with a sword that can't cut.
A lot of it also depends on how you define "cut". A sharpened diamond cross section rapier on a push or draw cut will cut into you exactly like a kitchen knife into a steak. On the slash, not so much.
I would like to see a video on how well a smallsword can parry broadsword, saber,spadroon, ect!!!!
It’s called Rob Roy
@@0326jlc it's not the same unless matt fucking Easton is doing it !!!!!
I f-ing love that cutting smallsword… so clutch
Explain how my finger got cut from an aluminum profile then. The thing was square as square can be and it made a pretty deep and clean cut.
I'm just happy to hear the word spadroon!
Love that shirt, reminds me of Street Fighter 2's font.
“I can’t swing at 800 mph, I don’t know what I would do with that skill if I could.”
Lumberjacks everywhere breathing a sigh of relief
Indeed: the one smallsword I have (prob. 17th c., double edged) could indeed cut, if not deeply.
So this is what speed run Matt is like
PS
Is mett Euston still around? I haven't following closely for a few years
That German blade with the two finger rings looks neat. Curious if one could use it that way, with the index and middle fingers through those rings. I think a demo station of that would be nice.
The finger rings in small sword hilts are not meant to be used
Err... Matt? This is incredible.. how many days does your hour have?
As an aside, I must say Matt, you seem to really love the Superdry brand.
This man has been so loyal to that super dry brand for so long it's unbelievable.
Could you do a comparison of the saber and Arabian Scimitar? Loke lenght, and point of balance differences.
"cut for toffee" is my new favorite phrase
Have you seen LK Chen’s German Saxony Rapier? Perhaps a subject for a future review video?
I cut myself really bad many times on 90* edges on maple boards.
I swear you could butcher a deer with a perfect 90* edge maple board 👍👍
I have a tungsten carbide sharpening tool that's got 90 degree edges. Sometimes I use it when I can't find my box cutter.
Like most questions, the answer is nuanced... and usually some variant of it depends...
I have absolutely sliced my hand installing new cabinets. Even wood can slice you good!
The 2 most difficult things i have ever beveld ar the kukuri i forged and the spontoon tomahawk i forged for matt.
is there any mention about aiming light cuts at the forehead/eyes? In MMA the fighters often go for glancing elbows at the eyebrows and forehead to make the skin split and hamper the opponents sight with blood running into their eyes. If the fighter can`t see properly, the fight get stopped and deemed a win for the one who opened up the cut.
That's what Vaseline, and a cutman are for.
Hello,
Loved the video as I was curious about rapiers being used as slashing weapons in films and TV. The more you know. I'm curious was there ever a sword made that had a single handed grip like a rapier, or even that small sword you showed at the start of the video, that then had an medieval arming type of blade on it? Apologies if that doesn't make sense.
Side Swords, they are the transitional weapon from Arming sword to Rapier, so many have heavier, more cutting focused blades on complex hilts that look more like rapiers.
And you have spadroons for cutting Side sword weapons, though they are kinda pants. Not an arming sword blade though, as it would be to big for the hilt.
Check out the schiavona too. They have complex hilts and quite broad blades.
Just a little comment, pants in the 16th and 17th century were usually 2 or 3 layers, so the thigh is protected by more than 1 layer of fabric.
800mph acceleration? So, a javelin and throwing spear video essay and practical demonstration coming soon? War-discus! (aka Frisbee of doom) Yay!
I already know they can cut but is it smart to also optimize them for cutting? Why not have a triangle blade & make it an even better thruster?
You gain weight and lose dexterity
I was carrying a pile of sheet metal duct earlier today and even the "dull" rounded side can start to dig into and "cut" your skin, I'm sure even an unsharpened rapier can leave quite the nasty cut
Sounds like there's an important distinction between "cutting" (dig into the material laterally) and "scratching" (drawing blood). Nearly anything sharp will draw blood, but not everything will dig in laterally.
Always interesting!