Another point about the point is that is opposite of the cutting direction, so that it helps keeping the thrust centered instead of forcing the point off the line.
I have a very pretty falchion like this one made by Maciej Kopciuch, and I think it is my favourite falchion, it looks so wicked and is so lively in the hand. Such a great weapon! Interesting thing also is that it has less of a distal taper than the "machete" type 1 blades, I presume to get the blade stiffer. Must be very nice for half-swording.
I was absolutely stunned when I discovered balatos. These falchions didn't seem to have lasted very long in Europe, maybe about a century, but somehow, at the other end of the planet, people from a totally unrelated culture living in very different social structures came up with the same technical solution to the same technical problem. Truth be told though, South-East Asia is just the place in the world with the widest variety of designs, and boundless creativity, both artistic and technical.
Hi Matt, maybe the features of this falchion could have been used to improve pipe back sabres, thin edge and stiff point at the same time are pretty good
With all the double-entendre at the start of that I couldn't help but picture Sid James or Frankie Howard giving sideways glances to the camera! 😅 On a serious note, the 'reverse' falchion is new to me... Although I have seen them in art I just thought it was something made up....
Not as different from a Cluny type falchion as one might think at first glance: In relation to (the direction of) the hilt both have a prominent ("forward pointing") edge. This example just has a completely different formed tip and only a slightly different formed edge (btw rather concave than convex?)...
you mean momentum not inertia. inertia is an objects resistance to change in speed &/or direction. momentum is its propensity to maintain motion in the direction of motion. would love to see a test of this type falchion. Its always fascinated me.
The geometry of the tip is *always* key to successfully deep penetration. Note the popular folk saying, “Just the tip…” being anecdotal support to this postulate of the Penetrative Arts: as we well know, once initial penetration is achieved, the entire blade soon follows the point - or tip. I’m pretty proud that I typed this all with a totally straight face, until this point, lol
If one side of the blade is actually a spine, does that mean you can flip it around when fighting against armoured opponents so that you have kind of a bar mace type of weapon? Pretty much like a poleaxe with a hammer on the backside.
@@xluca1701 yes I know, I was just speculating the use of the spine as a blunt weapon to save the edge for unarmored targets. This would indeed apply to messer or katana as well. Was it ever done? It seems to be a plausible thing, except that a blade probably does not have the same weight to it as an actual bar mace.
@@oevr37 That's the thing, the mass distribution is completly different. I think half swording solves the issue better. On a battlefield the most blades would be secondary weapons anyway
This seems like a westernized Kora sword. Of course, this one allows much better penetration which is a crucial element for Matt and medieval men at arms.
Hey, that is my custom order and I think they did a banging job!😁It is indeed inspired by the one in Paris (iirc there are only 3 surviving Type 2) and a few of my parameters. Krieger will now offer it as a production model as well since it was extremely well received.
shouldn't that be "concave"? it curves inward, and convex curves outward, like the backside. i first heard of the "falchion" in the Conan comic book, when he gave his son Conn one as his first blade. (there's probably a cultural comment in there somewhere...)
Interesting. The "backwards" blade profile sort of resembles that of the LK Chen made Song Dynasty dao that Scholagladiatoria reviewed earlier. And the curve near the tip resembles the "forward curve" profile of some of the late (Qing?) da-daos ("great single-edged swords").
I would definitely like to see a compare/contrast between the evolution of the dao vs falchion. I’m sure the contexts must’ve been different, but the executions have got to be similar enough to warrant such a video 😄
Cool! But the question is if it was a superior design, why was it primarily from the 14th century? Did it get superseded by other, better falchion patterns, or did falchions as a whole peter out about that time and that was one of the last iterations? Honest question. Under-educated person looking for more knowledge
Various patterns of Falchions stuck around all the way into the 16th century and they seem to have been more popular in Italy and for civilian use towards the end. Design follows demand, if the armour it was designed to pierce falls out of fashion so does the design. The lower tip gave way to more sabre like designs some with clipped points others with similar even more pronounced reinforced points for thrusting.
@@mnk9073 the pics I've seen of type 2 examples have very pronounced reinforcement of the point. I think its listed as a feature of the type in the Elmslie typology.
I noticed that you referred to both the spine side of the blade and The cutting side of the blade as (convex). Standard terminology would lead one to assume that the spine side is indeed convex in shape, but that the edge side is concave in shape. I'm curious to know if perhaps this was just a miss wording, or if I'm completely misusing the terminology. Thank you for the wonderful and informative content as always, matt!
Concave side is sharpened, convex side is shapened only partially, mostly near the splke. Spine should be on the convex side, which is nearly straight near the hilt. However you can cut with both sides, you can effectivelly stab with spike and use the "fin" to crash through the mail and cheap unhardened steel plate up to 1/10 of the inch thick with ease.
You did a video about my favorite one-handed medieval weapon! :D From watching destructive testing of armor on Skellagrims channel, that point on the edge would absolutely savage gambeson (similar to what happens when one end of a relativelystraight ax blade hits gambeson first, though with less momentum). My concern against mail is how thin the edges of many such weapons were. I see the acute point as the option for mail while the edge is the option for gambeson.
First time I've seen a real one of those. Previously only seen drawings (Elmslie etc.). Also first time I've seen a video about this type. Thank you Matt.
any guesses what the scalloped edges of the maciejowski bible cleaver type Falchion are for? my guess is they are like the serrations/teeth of a Warhammer so it bites into mail, transfering the energy rather than gliding off it. As you might not want to use the razor sharp main edge against mail, but if it has a mildly sharp scalloped false edge, that might be a good backup
been wanting to get my hands on a Falchion for a while, i recently found out theres something called a "Thorpe Falchion" which was found not too far from where i live ^-^
That was truly interesting! Now if I had to arm myself to survive in a post-apocalyptic world (with no sf or magic or stuff like that) then the falchion rather than any sword would be my choice - and not just because you said you'd go for it, Matt!
You keep saying convex, but you mean concave. Convex curves out, concave curves inwards, clue is in the name, it caves inwards. A sabre has the edge on the convex curve.
They are derived from North Italian cleavers (manaresso/mannaia) and billhooks (roncola), which feature a hook (gancio) at the end of the grip. On these Romance of Alexender two handed falchions, just like on some rare beidana, the gancio is deliberately overdevelopped to form a knuckle bow.
Looks good I think it would work quite well. I like the double points and single blade. Blade leaning forward is fun to use fighting seems to bite when moving at speed.
A sword like this would allow for greater control of the opponents blade when in a bind at the "weak" portion of the sword especially considering I.33 style fencing
"if you want deeper penetration, you need a stiffer tip"
Now that's some useful advice to live by
As soon as I heard him say that, I came down to the comments to see if somebody had quoted him already, and I found your comment immediately.
@@antoniusmetal exactly lol
I'm impressed by him making a penetration joke without smiling
Penetration is no joke
Half of the video is just innuendo, talking about penetration and stiff tips.
You must be new here :D He toned it down lately though.
Truly... he's a cultured man.
Penetration is serious business.
It's no laughing matter!
(Unless you do it wrong...)
Great video, Matt! Keep spreading the good word of type 2 falchions 🙂
Another point about the point is that is opposite of the cutting direction, so that it helps keeping the thrust centered instead of forcing the point off the line.
I have a very pretty falchion like this one made by Maciej Kopciuch, and I think it is my favourite falchion, it looks so wicked and is so lively in the hand. Such a great weapon!
Interesting thing also is that it has less of a distal taper than the "machete" type 1 blades, I presume to get the blade stiffer. Must be very nice for half-swording.
That type of falchion has long been my absolute favorite type of sword.
The stiffness of your tip does matter! Thanks Matt for having the balls to spread the truth
Very aesthetically pleasing. Would make a great weapon for a main character in a movie or video game.
Wow! That is a sweet sword! I had no idea that was even a real sword design. Kind of reminds me of the leaf blade design.
I would definately use that thing! The design strikes me thoroughly!
Thumbs up for taking a stance, good for you!
Informative and entertaining as usual! Thank you for all you do!
There is so much innuendo in this video i cant even.
Definitely interesting and educational. Great video as usual
It has a Southeast Asian equivalent is the Nias people's "Balato" blade.
I was absolutely stunned when I discovered balatos. These falchions didn't seem to have lasted very long in Europe, maybe about a century, but somehow, at the other end of the planet, people from a totally unrelated culture living in very different social structures came up with the same technical solution to the same technical problem. Truth be told though, South-East Asia is just the place in the world with the widest variety of designs, and boundless creativity, both artistic and technical.
Hi Matt, maybe the features of this falchion could have been used to improve pipe back sabres, thin edge and stiff point at the same time are pretty good
AHA!!! So that's what trollocs were using in Wheel of Time!
Cutting test and full review, please!
For your point around the 7:00 mark, if kind of reminds me of a gunstock club. Obviously it's not a 1 to 1 situation, but it is reminiscent.
With all the double-entendre at the start of that I couldn't help but picture Sid James or Frankie Howard giving sideways glances to the camera! 😅 On a serious note, the 'reverse' falchion is new to me... Although I have seen them in art I just thought it was something made up....
Very interesting weapon, thank you for the video Mat:)
2:36 best moment of the video!!!!!☺️😏
This is my favorite design
falchion is a very interesting weapon especially this type. but I thought this design could also be used for trapping enemy swords
First seen this falchion in the movie "Braveheart" all the peasant Scottish carried them in the flick.
Not as different from a Cluny type falchion as one might think at first glance:
In relation to (the direction of) the hilt both have a prominent ("forward pointing") edge.
This example just has a completely different formed tip and only a slightly different formed edge (btw rather concave than convex?)...
great video, as always
you mean momentum not inertia. inertia is an objects resistance to change in speed &/or direction. momentum is its propensity to maintain motion in the direction of motion.
would love to see a test of this type falchion. Its always fascinated me.
The weapon of Lancelot in capcom classic beat em up: "knights of the round"
modern knifes and machetes can actually be designed based on this to make them more unique and stylish
Put some sort of half-basket hilt on it, and I think that'd be my ideal sword!
2:36 Man, _do_ we :D
Do relatively heavy bows forgive short draws with tuned and lighter tuned arrows?
Out of curiosity, do you also collect light sabers?
the falchion started out as a single edge version of the medieval Arming sword
Oh dear matt talking about big choppers again
Does the shape of that tip help prevent overpenetration?
The geometry of the tip is *always* key to successfully deep penetration.
Note the popular folk saying, “Just the tip…” being anecdotal support to this postulate of the Penetrative Arts: as we well know, once initial penetration is achieved, the entire blade soon follows the point - or tip.
I’m pretty proud that I typed this all with a totally straight face, until this point, lol
What a gorgeous sword! 😍
Wonder if it, or the general shape, would make a good machete.
too lightly built. It's designed for flesh and cloth, not wood.
Nice!
If one side of the blade is actually a spine, does that mean you can flip it around when fighting against armoured opponents so that you have kind of a bar mace type of weapon? Pretty much like a poleaxe with a hammer on the backside.
No. Spine means it's just the blunt side. A Messer or a katana have spines as well
@@xluca1701 yes I know, I was just speculating the use of the spine as a blunt weapon to save the edge for unarmored targets. This would indeed apply to messer or katana as well. Was it ever done? It seems to be a plausible thing, except that a blade probably does not have the same weight to it as an actual bar mace.
@@oevr37
That's the thing, the mass distribution is completly different. I think half swording solves the issue better. On a battlefield the most blades would be secondary weapons anyway
@@xluca1701 I guess so.
What replaced this sword and why?
Now the question is, why the typical falchion has edge on the other side? Maybe easier to make and maintain?
Why hasn't anyone tested one of these on armor yet.
its kind of like a war pike
Backwards Bowie knife. Basically
I guess I dont' know what a falchion is. I'm impressed though.
This seems like a westernized Kora sword. Of course, this one allows much better penetration which is a crucial element for Matt and medieval men at arms.
Do we have archaeological evidence of these kind of weapon or is this "sharp side is inside" claim an assumption?
I feel like Falcions were far more common than typically thought.
yup; thin==less likely to survive
I needed a cigarette and a shower after all that penetration talk.
Howdy Yall
Just to make it clear, CONVEX --> (
Top zombie apocalypse weapon.
Why not sharpen all of it?
Yes, we are all here because we love penetrations more than swords.
Matt, you need to be careful about your words -- I think there were several times when you said "convex", but you meant "concave".
L.origine del clip point dei Bowie. Deriva da qua
Rule of Cool.
Concave.
Im deffinately learning dirty talking from this.
Hmmm. My 💰 is on the one that can cleave a man I half.
.
I’m ugly enough without this goblin sword in my hand.
stiffer tip 🤣
Wow, that would make a terrible cut. Yikes!
Hey, that is my custom order and I think they did a banging job!😁It is indeed inspired by the one in Paris (iirc there are only 3 surviving Type 2) and a few of my parameters. Krieger will now offer it as a production model as well since it was extremely well received.
Wow cool! Great sword.
Hah, your order is going places! Need to have Matt review your scabbard ;-)
I'd rather not. 😂
I'm sure this video is boosting sales immensely.
I will definitely be ordering one of those!
isn't that concave instead of convex?
Assuming we're all talking about the edged side, I think you're right.
shouldn't that be "concave"? it curves inward, and convex curves outward, like the backside.
i first heard of the "falchion" in the Conan comic book, when he gave his son Conn one as his first blade. (there's probably a cultural comment in there somewhere...)
It's concave now :D
@@ArkadiBolschek Only in writing, not in what he says (Matt mentions both options as convex which cannot be correct ;))
"... now if you reduce flex *again* you increase depth of penetration, OK. So if you want really deep penetration, you need a stiffer tip, basically."
Confirmed.
Technical, practical, concise & visceral - the best (hand-held) weapons expert on YT. Thank you
Could you show us the development from falcion to dussack to messer to cutlass or saber? I find these swords all to be gorgeous designs.
That thing looks WICKED!
Reminds me a bit of the Morgan Bible falchion designs.
What a wonderful object
It's able to penetrate through two points
So one could say it is a double penetrating device
@@dick_richards Surprised that fan of Matt is not a fan of double penetration.
@@dick_richards naughty naughty🤣
Interesting. The "backwards" blade profile sort of resembles that of the LK Chen made Song Dynasty dao that Scholagladiatoria reviewed earlier. And the curve near the tip resembles the "forward curve" profile of some of the late (Qing?) da-daos ("great single-edged swords").
I would definitely like to see a compare/contrast between the evolution of the dao vs falchion. I’m sure the contexts must’ve been different, but the executions have got to be similar enough to warrant such a video 😄
Cool! But the question is if it was a superior design, why was it primarily from the 14th century? Did it get superseded by other, better falchion patterns, or did falchions as a whole peter out about that time and that was one of the last iterations?
Honest question. Under-educated person looking for more knowledge
Various patterns of Falchions stuck around all the way into the 16th century and they seem to have been more popular in Italy and for civilian use towards the end. Design follows demand, if the armour it was designed to pierce falls out of fashion so does the design. The lower tip gave way to more sabre like designs some with clipped points others with similar even more pronounced reinforced points for thrusting.
@@mnk9073 the pics I've seen of type 2 examples have very pronounced reinforcement of the point. I think its listed as a feature of the type in the Elmslie typology.
@@j.f.fisher5318 I've honestly only ever seen a single surviving type 2. I think it was Venetian or Genoese, very flashy and pointy as hell...
I noticed that you referred to both the spine side of the blade and The cutting side of the blade as (convex).
Standard terminology would lead one to assume that the spine side is indeed convex in shape, but that the edge side is concave in shape.
I'm curious to know if perhaps this was just a miss wording, or if I'm completely misusing the terminology.
Thank you for the wonderful and informative content as always, matt!
I think he just misspoke, no biggie
Yeah he described both sides as convex at the beginning. Simple mistake. It's just that he made it again at the end, twice ;P
Concave side is sharpened, convex side is shapened only partially, mostly near the splke. Spine should be on the convex side, which is nearly straight near the hilt. However you can cut with both sides, you can effectivelly stab with spike and use the "fin" to crash through the mail and cheap unhardened steel plate up to 1/10 of the inch thick with ease.
@@sasasasa-lx6cl I knew all of those things.
Personally I don't think you're featuring enough stabbaz n choppaz, itz not relly showing da bestz, de boyz not happy 'bout dat.
You did a video about my favorite one-handed medieval weapon! :D From watching destructive testing of armor on Skellagrims channel, that point on the edge would absolutely savage gambeson (similar to what happens when one end of a relativelystraight ax blade hits gambeson first, though with less momentum). My concern against mail is how thin the edges of many such weapons were. I see the acute point as the option for mail while the edge is the option for gambeson.
First time I've seen a real one of those. Previously only seen drawings (Elmslie etc.). Also first time I've seen a video about this type. Thank you Matt.
any guesses what the scalloped edges of the maciejowski bible cleaver type Falchion are for?
my guess is they are like the serrations/teeth of a Warhammer so it bites into mail, transfering the energy rather than gliding off it.
As you might not want to use the razor sharp main edge against mail, but if it has a mildly sharp scalloped false edge, that might be a good backup
What makes this falchion great? It has two stiff tips for superior penetration!
been wanting to get my hands on a Falchion for a while, i recently found out theres something called a "Thorpe Falchion" which was found not too far from where i live ^-^
That was truly interesting! Now if I had to arm myself to survive in a post-apocalyptic world (with no sf or magic or stuff like that) then the falchion rather than any sword would be my choice - and not just because you said you'd go for it, Matt!
You keep saying convex, but you mean concave.
Convex curves out, concave curves inwards, clue is in the name, it caves inwards.
A sabre has the edge on the convex curve.
Who doesn't like good choppy stabby 🤙🍻
Why do you look like Shrek in the thumbnail?
That, is a very tasty sword! 😍😍😍😍
Do those falchions in the Medeival illustrations have complex hand protection?? It looks like knuckle bows to me…
They are derived from North Italian cleavers (manaresso/mannaia) and billhooks (roncola), which feature a hook (gancio) at the end of the grip. On these Romance of Alexender two handed falchions, just like on some rare beidana, the gancio is deliberately overdevelopped to form a knuckle bow.
Sometimes, they were definitely early adopters of the first steps towards extra hand protection. And ofc their German sibling often had the Nagel.
I love these things so much.
This video might have max pen!
I love falchions, messers!
Looks good I think it would work quite well. I like the double points and single blade. Blade leaning forward is fun to use fighting seems to bite when moving at speed.
listening in audiobook here. is this about swords or?
Technically a falx?
I do love a Falchion.
Drinking game: Have a shot of whiskey every time Matt says penetration.
Or "context"
I've always thought these looked wonderful and a bit brutal. Really cool to see one on the market at a not quite custom price.
Awesome blade and interesting video! What would be the disadvantages aside from it being weird on a scabbard?
A sword like this would allow for greater control of the opponents blade when in a bind at the "weak" portion of the sword especially considering I.33 style fencing
Always give them thumbs up. Thank you for your great analytical videos and hope they continue for many years to come 😎