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Interesting Facts & Information About Swords
notoriouslyconservative.com ^ | 05 04 09 | Notoriously Conservative

Posted on 05/04/2009 12:20:16 PM PDT by Notoriously Conservative

What does this have to do with conservatism? I don't know, I guess there have been conservatives that have used swords. Look, don't question it, swords are awesome, that's why.

The Sword Defined:

Sword weapon of offense and defense in personal combat, consisting of a blade with a sharp point and one or two cutting edges, set in a hilt with a handle protected by a metal case or cross guard. The sword may have developed from the dagger at the beginning of the Bronze Age. It was not, however, until the more durable iron sword was introduced in the early Iron Age that the sword became an effective weapon. Greek and Roman swords were very short, with pointed ends, and had two cutting edges. Medieval knights used two types of swords: a short sword with a pointed end that was used with one hand and a heavy two-handed sword with a rounded end. During the Middle Ages the best blades were those made by the Arabs in Damascus and Toledo. Swords were widely used in the Middle East and E Asia as well as in Europe. The scimitar, used by the Persians and Arabs, is a curved steel sword. One of the best known of the East Asian swords is the Japanese samurai sword, consisting of a curved single-edged tempered steel blade set in a long handle. As a highly personal weapon the sword attained symbolic importance; surrendering one's sword became a token of submission, and the custom of taking an officer's sword away from him and breaking the blade when he was dismissed from the service in disgrace arose because a sword is the mark of an officer and a gentleman. During the Crusades and later, the sword, because of its...

(Excerpt) Read more at notoriouslyconservative.com ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; swords; weapons
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1 posted on 05/04/2009 12:20:16 PM PDT by Notoriously Conservative
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Would this be accused of being a cutting thread?


2 posted on 05/04/2009 12:25:33 PM PDT by US Navy Vet
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To: Notoriously Conservative

A little trivia: Gen. Patton designed a sword for the US Army.


3 posted on 05/04/2009 12:28:33 PM PDT by unkus
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Never bring a sword to an assault-rifle fight.


4 posted on 05/04/2009 12:30:07 PM PDT by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
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To: Notoriously Conservative
What does this have to do with conservatism?

It's a reminder that a relatively easily made sharp, long, thin hunk of steel can get an awful lot done, and prohibitions enacted by tyrants do little to stop motivated creation & use thereof.

5 posted on 05/04/2009 12:31:18 PM PDT by ctdonath2 (John Galt was exiled.)
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Time to start buying stocks in Kendo franchises.

6 posted on 05/04/2009 12:34:05 PM PDT by theDentist (qwerty ergo typo : i type, therefore i misspell.)
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To: Notoriously Conservative

I thought Damascus blades were made in southern India.


7 posted on 05/04/2009 12:34:39 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins (I don't have a license to kill; I have a learner's permit.)
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To: Notoriously Conservative

Cold Steel offers some excellent swords at reasonable prices.


8 posted on 05/04/2009 12:40:16 PM PDT by Armedanddangerous ( I think you're so full of inconsolable rage you don't care who you hurt)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins
I thought Damascus blades were made in southern India.

And Toledo blades from Ohio...

9 posted on 05/04/2009 12:44:25 PM PDT by theDentist (qwerty ergo typo : i type, therefore i misspell.)
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To: Armedanddangerous

The only sword I would recognize by appearance is the one I gave to my daughter when she became an NCO in the US Marine Corps.

The best present I have ever given!


10 posted on 05/04/2009 12:46:53 PM PDT by Sigurdrifta
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To: raven92876

ping


11 posted on 05/04/2009 1:00:24 PM PDT by stylecouncilor (The black man is keeping me down!)
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To: clee1
Never bring a sword to an assault-rifle fight.

Depends entirely on how close you are when the fight starts.

12 posted on 05/04/2009 1:04:24 PM PDT by Sherman Logan (Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

I believe the blades were made in Syria from wootz steel ingots shipped from India.


13 posted on 05/04/2009 1:05:53 PM PDT by Sherman Logan (Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.)
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To: Notoriously Conservative

They won’t be obsolete much longer if we can’t get ammo...


14 posted on 05/04/2009 1:07:17 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: Notoriously Conservative
Poke enough holes in a human, and they'll stop squirming.

Swords, knives, rifles, pencils, sharp rocks, broken glass, M-134D, industrial lasers...

Choose your self defense tools for your own personal preferences and situation.

15 posted on 05/04/2009 1:15:05 PM PDT by Dead Corpse (III)
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To: Notoriously Conservative

One of the under-appreciated swords is the Macana. In essence, a Mezoamerican weapon of a wooden sword with extremely sharp pieces of obsidian embedded in it. As with other swords, it was optimized for its time and place.

Importantly, more typical spear and sword technology was known, but the embedded obsidian blades were preferred. They even used a spear head that was a smaller version of the Macana. But they also had more typical stone spearheads, and pencil-like poking spear heads made from copper.


16 posted on 05/04/2009 1:20:28 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: Ramius

Sword ping


17 posted on 05/04/2009 1:53:19 PM PDT by LexBaird (Tyrannosaurus Lex, unapologetic carnivore)
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To: US Navy Vet

My grandfather who serve at Iwo and Okinawa left me 2 swords he brought back. An imperial naval officer sword and a still very ‘sharp’ samurai sword. I am in the process of building a display case for them as well as the Arisaki rifle he also left.


18 posted on 05/04/2009 1:58:30 PM PDT by Texans
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To: Notoriously Conservative
Hard to know where to begin with this. So much of the info is extremely generalized, or flat wrong. A couple of comments:

Medieval knights used two types of swords: a short sword with a pointed end that was used with one hand and a heavy two-handed sword with a rounded end.

The authority on sword typology, Eward Oakeshott, classed many sword types of this era. Check out this. The two-handed "rounded ended" swords seen in many museums, such as the Tower of London, are execution swords. Those used in battle, such as the zweihander, would have a point.

"Damascus" is usually another generic term for a pattern welded blade. These are made by layering different steel alloys in the billet, which is then forge welded and twisted/folded repeatedly to form various patterns. Damascus was an early trade center for these, but there were several areas that did this, including the Vikings, Indians, and Persians.

19 posted on 05/04/2009 2:13:10 PM PDT by LexBaird (Tyrannosaurus Lex, unapologetic carnivore)
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To: Sigurdrifta

thats the best money you ever spent I’ll bet?


20 posted on 05/04/2009 2:19:38 PM PDT by Armedanddangerous ( I think you're so full of inconsolable rage you don't care who you hurt)
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