Which Sword Thrusts Better? - Discussion of Our Tests

The video with the testing of curved vs. straight blades on ballistic gel:
• Stabby Time! - Straigh...
Some general pointers on thrusting with curved swords, and technique:
• Curved Swords CAN Thrust!
In this video I talk about the results of the previous testing, some input from viewers, and my opinion on how the shape of the different blades affects their performance. Perhaps some of this could be inspiration for tweaking damage in RPG's. Either way I hope you find it interesting.
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#Skallagrim #Swords #Analysis

[@marakalos3838]

First of all, awesome coat. Second, I like the transparency with this information to insure that the audience sees as much as possible.

[@garethlamb6923]

That really is a bad arse coat.

[@MedievalSolutions]

It's a great coat, but I'm sad that I would look super ridiculous in it.

[@reapy_s0ul26]

I think the reason why leaf blades do better in the thrust than expected is because rather than piercing, they slice into the material due to the strong cutting edges, and the point is just a good vehicle to allow those edges to do the work.

[@AFCAWorldBodybuildingArchive]

For a mechanical setup, *Jörg Sprave* is your man! Do a co-lab, folks! *Rubber-Poweded Thrust Device* I'd love to see it's features!

[@nextlifeonearth]

He would have to send over a contraption to skall, or skall would have to send over his swords.

[@AFCAWorldBodybuildingArchive]

Not necessarily. I remember several videos of Jörg when he visited the USA and did some range shooting videos with self built devices. Maybe he can visit Skall in Canada and together they build a rubber-powered thrusting device ;)

[@nextlifeonearth]

@@AFCAWorldBodybuildingArchive Jörg no longer does YT fulltime, so it's less likely he can do that now.

[@EwokBb]

Doubt he would want to travel to the USA just for that.

[@undertakernumberone1]

@@EwokBb hmm... Skallagrim and the Build Team testing sword penetrations: A Mythbusters Spin off! Grant builds the testing robots! :D

[@aldor9357]

Our daddy Skall taught us not to be ashamed of our tips Especially since they're of such a good shape and all

[@LurkerDaBerzerker]

Aldor Oh nevermind, I guess I am just a fool as always. (+1 to dunce score, I apparently don't know how to scroll.)

[@nextlifeonearth]

Oh, shit, I'm sorry.

[@VeylmanTheRock]

Sorry for what?

[@copyRtest1]

hahahaha. I remember that meme upvoted

[@speedingfish]

13:30 "...it drives home the point..." I see what you did there.

[@Duckydafist]

I smell a slingshot channel crossover with a rubber powered sword thruster!

[@AngelaGonzalez-sf1yx]

thats why you calculate standard deviation

[@scenekidzz2345]

This was the first thing that came to my mind! Lol I love being a nerd.

[@animistchannel2983]

If you ever do a repeat of comparisons like this, see if you can get the gel target more solidly anchored to the ground. In a lot of the thrusts, the penetration stopped more because the target rocked back from gel friction (which wouldn't happen so much with flesh) than because the sword had run out of power. If it were set more securely, you'd get more variable results that would reveal the other properties of the swords themselves. Another possible variable to compare is the consistency of thrust penetration compared to the length of the blade. In theory, a longer blade would be more subject to minor variations in alignment or wobble due to being a longer lever arm working back against the wielder's control. It may not show up much in an expert like Erik, so maybe try having two data sets -- one from him and one from a novice. I suspect the sword designs will turn up more relevant in someone less skilled.

[@calamusgladiofortior2814]

Good work, Skall. This kind of content is great.

[@deadknight1402]

"The first HEMA fashion show." *"WHAT?!"*

[@guilemaigre14]

For some enlightening perspective on that subject, you should look at what parameter influence the drag coefficient of certains shapes. I think you could easily (even if probably not correct) draw some line between sword penetration and aero/hydrodynamics. In short, you should consider not only the cross section, but also the variation of the cross section. A cylindre and a sphere have the same cross section, but not the same drag coefficient.

[@Tobias-pu2rc]

I like how you tried your best to be as scientific as possible. That two videos are very good.

[@Dhuradhan]

I think overall length with the leafblade also plays a role in the thrust. - Gradually widening shape - Double edged - Point is sharp enough to get the penetration started, the rest is up to the edges and shape - And length The shorter length gives better control since there is less distance between the point of impact and where it is held. Also, compared to the flexibility-to-length ratio of the longer swords, the leafblade is more rigid. I mean that a longer blade with the same flexibility/same material as a shorter one, will be harder to control/bends less when thursting and penetrating, therefore the shorter sword will be more effective at "driving the point home".

[@marcosdheleno]

there's also another point people forget that makes curved blades effective in thrusts, the physics behind the energy distribution on the thrust, because the scimitar is so narrow, as you thrust, the blade will curve itself as it penetrates the target, even if the wielder doesnt force it that way. for that reason, i belive it would be interesting to do a slow thrust test, to see how the blade actually work its way in.

[@pantsmcgee]

For anyone that wants to know about the car google VW harlequin. The basic gist is it was a limited run using a bunch of body panels in different colours.

[@markziff7234]

It looked shite, I remember seeing them on the road, and thinking "why?"

[@md_vandenberg]

@@markziff7234 Just means they weren't for you.

[@jcorbett9620]

It was originally just made as a dealer demonstrator to show all the colours the car could come in, then VW started getting requests from buyers who WANTED their car to look like that, so they obliged.

[@siosilvar]

www.rossvw.com/harlequin/ 264 produced.... probably!

[@griffknox]

Wow, I always wondered what the deal with those golfs was.

[@FrankJmClarke]

Statistically, you must not exclude extreme results. Milliken did this in his oil drop experiment to get better looking numbers, and it is a classic scandal of physics. It is like a one inch group apart from all the six inch fliers. Keep up the good work!

[@chopperking1967]

Great analysis of the test.

[@ericmitchell985]

I'd be curious to see the effect of weight on the penetration depth, which could explain why the larger tachi did better in the thrust than the dao (I'm presuming the tachi is heavier?). I could see it going either way - in terms of ballistics, greater section density allows for deeper penetration for a given caliber. Effectively more weight at a similar speed is more momentum, and that means the object doesn't want to stop as quickly. On the other hand, maybe it's like boxing gloves, where more weight means slower punches means less damage (or penetration in this case). I can't really think of how to test this with any degree of accuracy, except the sketch af way of simply adding weight to the grip and seeing what happens, but that seems like it would introduce a lot of unwanted variables. Eh, shrugs. Very interesting test, btw.

[@connor2525]

Really liked these videos Skall, please do more!

[@Heartless-Sage]

If anyone asked me which of your swords I would love to have for myself I would have said the Albion Kriegsmesser but I have fallen in love with that bronze sword, I would love to see more of it especially in person hung on my wall XD Good video Skallagrim really fun to watch.

[@AFCAWorldBodybuildingArchive]

Skall becomes an ice cold Pro at puns XD

[@sebastiaoliparizi1993]

On the Tachi vs Dao thing: It is because the Tachi has a thicker blade which makes it vibrate less upon impact. Less energy is dispersed on the impact, but the sword bends easier on a bad strike. It is the same reason which makes katanas good cutters. Its not their edge, it is because more kinetic energy on the blade is transferred to the target on the edge, since it didn't lost it vibrating.

[@minininja2184]

Is it just me that just love the sound from the handle area. its just such a satisfying click.

[@aldor9357]

Just the tip is fine~

[@LurkerDaBerzerker]

Aldor Indeed, it allows for quicker and more numerous thrusts. Edit: I was gonna compliment your daddy Skall comment, but I guess you switched gears.

[@mennograafmans1595]

@@Marcerart I wonder which tip. That of Chunchunmaru or of Excaliber.

[@abhrajitdhar4628]

@@mennograafmans1595 wtf mate

[@themachinegod]

This was wonderfully informative. Thank you!

[@d3Rm0Nk]

The car is a VW Polo special edition Harlekin. "In Europe, a limited edition "Harlekin" model was released in 1995. The Polo Harlekin featured multi-coloured body panels with a symmetrical combination of Tornado Red, Ginster Yellow, Pistachio Green and Chagall Blue. Harlekin Polos used the 1.6 petrol engine and featured special "Joker" pattern seats and bespoke gear knob and steering wheel. Originally limited to 1,000, around 3,800 of this series were produced. 2,500 Polo Harlekins were made in the UK between 1996 and 1998." - Wikipedia

[@foolwise4703]

It is a nice test and certainly interesting. There are however at least two aspects of the "stabbiness" of a sword tat should be disentangled, if possible: 1. The direct blade cutting performance, given by geometry, sharpness etc. 2. The handling and balance of the sword that allow quick and effective cuts. I suppose that with this test you mostly probe the first parameter, but since the cuts are still manually performed, the other parameter is also measured. The second parameter is much more difficult to quantify, because the whole bio-mechanics of humans complicates things.

[@taylor_green_9]

Haha! Cara's shocked voice at the end is just priceless

[@MrFrezeeTr]

Here are the standart deviations for each sword: Longsword: 4,112 Tachi: 6,512 Leafblade: 0,866 Liu Ye Dao: 0,866 As for my personal opinion: First two seemingly are not so reliable but last two are i think okey In the longsword's results 20 to 30 cm I think acceptable since they hit different places of the gel(one in the center other to the corner) but 21,5 to 8 cm wasn't so pretty i think :) and do i must say considering the fact that Eric was putting a lot more force on longsword than the others :D So I think if we consider all of this and also calculate the length of a curved sword's penetration with a tape measure instead of a straight one we can call this a draw.

[@garethlamb6923]

Is ballistic gel really sticky? Because then the increased surface area of the dao might have made it have more resistance due to friction when compared to the tachi.

[@Dingghis_Khaan]

Not really. It holds well to itself, but it's not viscous enough to cling to anything else other than dirt, sand, and dust

[@animistchannel2983]

Since ballistic gel is... gel, essentially a soft crystal, it is more resistant to slower moving objects, because it has more time to squeeze back and generate friction against a blade or an arrow than it can against a faster object like a bullet. This is particularly obvious in hunting bow tests, where an arrow that would pass straight through a deer (assuming no bone impact) will only embed partway into a gel block. You could push a sword through flesh slowly and relatively easily, but you can't duplicate that on gelatin. Flesh is, as the V'ger AI put it, "...bags of mostly water." If you look at the raw footage, you'll see how a lot of Eric's thrusts stopped penetrating because the whole target had rocked back from the grip of the friction. I think they would get more telling comparisons if they could have the target more solidly anchored.

[@ZombieWilfred]

This effect of increased surface area creating more resistance would exist when stabbing through muscle, skin, and organs as well, so this would be consistent with trying to stab into a person anyway.

[@adenyang4398]

The width of the Willow leaf sabre likely doesn't have anything to do with it. The difference in width between it and that of the Katana is honestly minimal. (Willow leaf sabre being about 34~35 mm and the Katana 32 mm). The particular model of Willow leaf sabre produced by Hunauo is spring-tempered. While it may make it slightly more resilient, it will in turn sacrifice some degree of performances in cutting and piercing ability (due to decrease of stiffness) in comparison to the differentially-hardened Katana. There's differentially hardened models of Huanuo's Willow leaf sabre. If those models were tested instead, the piercing ability of both Willow leaf sabre and Katana would have essentially been the same. This particular style of Willow leaf sabre blade is rather similar to Shinogi zukuri style geometry in terms of characteristics, sans the cross-section. (clamshell/thick wedge vs. appleseed).

[@DarkxOver]

so i was one of those who pointed the thing with the japanese sword out (forgot the name again), but with the knowledge that you already cut out other bad performing ones i think its fine to keep the bad result, as it maybe points towards inconsistent performance. nice follow up on that, creators getting involved in the discussion is always a good thing.

[@nigelgamble8562]

The car is a VW Golf Harlequin, only about 260 were made

[@gt4lex]

It has a Jetta front end though, some cars came out of the factory in that colour scheme, but this one may have been modified to recreate it.

[@MisterZealot]

"WHAT?!" my thoughts exactly xD

[@guardianwolf6667]

"Drives home the point." Real clever Skal.

[@angeljamais8541]

VW Golf Harlequin, very limited special edition from the mid-90's, with body panels in 4 different combinations of the 4 colours from the traditional Harlequin costume (blue, red, green, yellow). The VW Polo also had a (slightly less limited) Harlequin edition around the same time. So cute!

[@assassintwinat8]

I remember hearing that the leaf shape of the blade helps with both cutting and thrusting. The wider middle helps keep the blade rigid (bc you know bronze) and, like you said, made for a wider wound

[@nlsnlsnls]

I think that the ballistic ge'ls resistance to penetration is friction with the sides of the blade, not resistance to the edge or point penetrating it. Then the important factor would be the surface of the part of the blade inside the gel. That would explain why the slender blades did well and the broader blades did worse, regardless of point shape, blade curvature or cross section. Of course it can not be applied to flesh because the friction would probably be less important. And it has even less to do with armor penetration.

[@SoulStyla]

the car is a VW Golf 3, it has these colors so if one part is damaged it doesn´t matter what you take for change which make it cheaper

[@roberttauzer7042]

Experiment conclusion: yes, it seems that you can pierce the soft target with sharp steel metal object : )

[@Riceball01]

As opposed to with a sharp steel non metal object?😄

[@jasonbrody6706]

😂😂

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

With the tachi it shows that getting the impact angle of the tip just right is important for certain types of blade and lots of practice with that particular weapon may be required to get the best out of it. I find the comparison between the different curve swords fascinating, it seens tip design plays more of a part than anything and theirs plenty of variety.

[@adenyang4398]

There's for sure all sorts of techniques and grip adjustments that further increases piercing power in thrusts when wielding Japanese swords. Same thing goes for Chinese sabres and shamshirs. Both Shinogi zukuri's kissaki & the thick (but slender) iris-leaf points of Chinese sabres were without a doubt designed to be used against tough armor like mail and lacquered leather, considering the popularity of those armor types throughout the Qing/Korea and Japan.

[@epiccthulu]

I'd like to see a test between a straight-edged sword and a serrated sword. I am fully aware of all of the stated disadvantages of serrated swords, but I've only found one video on the internet which does a cutting testing between the two. They involved knives, the test dummy was pork loin wrapped in the leg of a jean. Both of them cut through, but the serrated weapon left a deeper and bigger wound. It would be interesting to see if there is a style of sword fighting that involves dragging the edge of your sword against an opponent after a swing lands. And again, I'm not worried about the "less effective against armor" argument since different tactics (hitting the armpits and gaps) and different weapons were used against armored opponents. On edit, to make my comment more relatable to the video; I doubt you'd want your sword to stab all the way through an opponent on a battlefield since even with a straight-edged weapon, the dying opponent could bring your weapon down with him/her if almost half of your weapon were stuck in them. I'd imagine that you'd want to do 3 to 4 inches on a thrust, then immediately repeat.

[@shalevzohar9851]

I think the bronze sword worked great because bronze is a metal with lower friction, so the gel didn't grab it as much. Brass is used in mechanics where you need less friction and if it's similar to bronze that might be the case.

[@Apepisaniceguy]

As a fairly new iai and kenjutsu practioner I'll say that the tachi thrusts looked fine. Of course the technique is done differently but the idea is still to just use your body to power a cut or thrust. A one handed thrust is fine though, we do this in the kata munazukushi.

[@devin5201]

omg the tachi has a critical hit mechanic XD

[@Thunor93]

There will always be someone who complains and they are the one's who never had proper training. I trained for 15 years in kendo and im 27 and the katana is primarily a slashing and cutting weapon, primarily dodging and aiming for weak points. Rarely do you stab with a katana but you can if you want , it also depends on the type of katana you use personally shorter katanas like the wakazashi is good for stabbing.

[@Hobofish11]

Love your videos. Can you talk about more weapons from Soulcalibur? I'd like to know what you think about Tira's ring blade.

[@tank19768]

Inconsistency with thrusting is still relevant for each type of sword; though the successful thrusts might have done well, the number of outliers could by indicative of how difficult it is to get a good thrust in the first place.

[@vsm1456]

as some suggested, a thrusting machine is probably not needed. you can drop swords (with additional weight) on the gel, and the gravity would do the thing pretty consistently

[@JETWTF]

You completely misunderstood my statement about an arc. I didn't say swing your arm to create the arc. Point the tip of the blade at the target so the blade angles down until it curves up to the point that is pointing at the target you want to hit then thrust. When the tip contacts the target straighten the wrist and arm so the point arcs into the target and the rest of the blade follows the hole it made. If it was a straight blade you would be aiming below the target according to the handle but since it is curved the point aims at the target.

[@hirumaryuei]

One minor correction; ballistic gelatin isn't stronger than skin; skin is basically the body's armor and is a lot tougher than the muscle underneath that gelatin is supposed to simulate. Many firearms youtubers cover their gelatin blocks in some form of leather or artificial leather in order to simulate skin for more "accurate" tests.

[@Brashnir]

So my main takeaway is: Blade shape matters, but the basic rule of "hit a soft thing with a sharp metal pointy thing" seems to matter a whole lot more.

[@eriksaxerud]

You should commission the sling shot channel to make a rubber powered thrusting rig can't believe I just said that any way he can make it so that it can clamp on to a verity of your sword handles and have him mail it to you or at least the blueprints if shipping is to much so you can re do the tests with a consistent amount of power behind each thrust just an idea it would make a cool collaboration for your channels if nothing else

[@therabbits69]

Question is Cara still around? I haven't seen them in any videos for a long time. Once again an extremely well done video btw. You always have great content.

[@argr4sh]

hearing her scream in the background at the end makes me think yes

[@therabbits69]

@@argr4sh Hmmm my volume must of been to low. I honestly didn't hear anything hah.

[@argr4sh]

all the way at the end, when he says HEMA fashion show

[@therabbits69]

@@argr4sh Yeah I just went back. Haha.

[@makaiev]

@@argr4sh yes, 15:12

[@adancein]

The eyebrow move is all I needed to see.

[@adancein]

Caras "WHAT??" at the end xD

[@MichaelReetz]

Best part of the video? . . . . "W . H . A . T" :D

[@frankharr9466]

Ain't it?

[@SiriusAundB]

How about using a swordmount attached to a loaded spring to get more reproducable thrusts? I imagine this would be a relatively low cost effort although it might take some time to set it up safely.

[@morbly]

No joke: Would a lubricant help with thrusting? Funny anyway.

[@tompossessed1729]

Yes

[@fulcrum2951]

Yes

[@navigatorofnone]

HEMA fashion show... Where contestants get to show off ALL their gears? Their prowess in using their weapons? Or which weapons are the most stylish while stabbing your enemy?

[@madyooper8231]

In a way, I sort of feel that a blade with lower pen is an advantage. There's less chance of the blade being difficult to remove and be able to strike/defend more quickly. OH! So yup, I agree with ya.

[@TenkaiHimura]

Hi Skall, I think you are right about the width of the Blade being the reason for the difference in penetration. A wider blade means more surface in contact with the victim (Gel) which leads to more friction. Maybe the Test would have ended differently with a Testmedium that provides less friction, as bloody flesh asumably would be. Thanks for your efford, Love your content!

[@Malusdarkblades11]

3 secounds into the video untill skall pulls the eyebrow up and i allready liked the video. Thats wath I´m here for historical accuracy with humor :D

[@sethdusith6093]

I should point out it is a very good test you did. I still thumbed it up. My criticism wasn't the bulk of my opinion

[@Ramash440]

Since you already got the swords, you might as well bring back the ballistic torsos, if you can, and do some cutting tests. Now that I wanna see.

[@RULERofSTARS]

Ask Joerg to design the machine for testing?

[@benjamintaylor3144]

Just idea for a more mechanical approach. Make an A frame with an armature that can hold the sword that swings down from the frame and hits the gel in a thrusting motion. Use weights to make sure all swords weigh the same at the end of the arm so you are judging the penetration equally regardless of the sword natural weight advantage due to using gravity as the driving force.

[@channingdeadnight]

You should try asking the midst myth busters if they have any robotic equipment that you could use for consistent blade striking. They did much of that on their show and they might have some lying about that you could borrow and return. And there are much worse places to visit then the Bay area and Alameda when it comes to picking up equipment. I mean we could have to go to some place like Alabama Texas or God forbid Florida.

[@vast634]

The car is a VW Polo "Joker", sold in Germany in the 90s

[@o0Takka0o]

"Drives home the point."I see what you did there. :D

[@nexra0]

HEMA fashion show? What is this, Dark Souls?

[@mattf9096]

Doing a mechanical test doesn't need to be overly complicated. You could build something simple like an A-frame with an arm that swings on a pivot. You could also set up at someone's house that has a swing set for their kids. Those types of swings where the kids face each other would be a bit more ideal to mimic a human thrust because of the two pivot points. Whichever setup you choose you could add weight, if needed, and tune in the ideal distance to pull it back to get consistent results every time.

[@niki1292]

Yeah you said it, first of all I'm an amateur and seeing your previous video, I just thinking that the use of curved swords must be different from straight long sword, I mean maybe lowering your posture and thrust upward in a curve... should that better than side curve thrust? I mean you'll push your body and footing against the ground after all, probably...

[@PontusWelin]

The total area contacting the gel probably makes a big difference to how far it penetrates.

[@Excalibur-je5pk]

Yes that's what I noticed. For the katana, the ones that barely went through were the ones that made contact with the small edge that transitions from the tip to the actual blade

[@briangates7633]

Have you ever done a review on the Venetian Schiavona? There is one for sale at Kult of Athena. I want to hear your take on that sword.

[@marcuslangford4679]

The car is a VW polo harlequin. It was sold like that.

[@marcoalzeni2398]

The car validates the results as strongly scientific.

[@frankharr9466]

Hey, maybe Skall has somethign nice to put on. That was interesting. Most particularly, how they made their decisions. But, centimeters?

[@Skallagrim]

Yes, centimeters. Inches are ridiculously inaccurate. :p

[@frankharr9466]

Nonsense.

[@frankharr9466]

I'm sorry. That was flip and uninformative. And it's not like I expect you to do things in inches. I'd like it, but I don't expect it, that that would be silly. If I were being pedantic and math-teachery, I'd point out that even centimeters were too big and you had to go to half-centimeters. I notice you had what seemed to be a tape measure and similarly, they break inches into half, quarter, eight and sixteenths. And eighth of an inch is 3 7/40 mm and a quarter is 6 7/20, so quarter inches are perfectly reasonable, if you wanted to use them. If you were doing engineering, you' have thous, tenths and millionths you could use, but that's getting excessive and halving something is lot easier anyway. But none of this addresses why I say things like that. The surface reason is that I'm adapting a line from How I Met Your Mother, but that's a pretty lame “why”. Americans do several things different from other people and I sick of getting nonsense over it. We live in a large, heterogeneous world, why be so shocked that people are different? And much of the commentary is both condescending and ill-informed. So I get combative. Like I did with a guy at Dunkin' Donuts just now who wanted to tell me that a quarter and a nickle are 25 cents. I'm not proud of that. So what do I mean by ill-informed? There are people who act like if you don't march in them lockstep, there's something wrong with you. On some issues, this is true. This is not one of those issues. Nature doesn't care how you measure it. All you really need for a measurement system is something that accepted by your audience--meaning that the people you're communicating with understand what is meant, is consistent--meaning that wherever you go all the units relate the same way, is standardized--meaning that wherever you go where it's being used, it's the same. And as long as you're used to them, conversions other than powers of ten aren't a problem. It's not like there's something magical about the metric system. The system of prefixes and the very common (but not universal) use of powers of ten are cute but not why anyone switches. I've done some research and I've concluded that countries do switch to metric only for one or more of the following four reasons: They are France or were part of the French Empire and thus didn't have a choice in the matter; their native system was not consistent or standardized (a big problem in France, Spain, Italy, Germany and India where the same unit could have drastically different definitions depending on where you are); they are a radical republic trying to make a point or that they were tightly tied to international trade and thus didn't have much of a choice. The U.S. doesn't fall into any of these categories. The English system, which the U.S. Customary system is based on*, has been consistent and standardized since the 12th, 13th or 14th century (there's a little confusion about the date of the relative legislation) and at the same time, the prototype yard and pound in London was made official--you could approximate them if you had to using people's feet or produce, but that's not how they were defined. That means a foot is twelve inches and a mile is 5,280 feet (and there are other units in there too) and a pound is sixteen ounces if you're in London, York, Dublin, Toronto, New York, Philadelphia, Sydney, Melbourne, San Francisco, Durban, pretty much anywhere. The U.S. was never that radical, but that's a long discussion that I won't get into here. And finally, we consume most of our industrial output. Yes, we export a whole lot. But that's a small amount of everything we produce. Now, there was a break in standardization because when the U.S. become independent, part of the peace deal was that we'd get copies of the standard yard in London and they were not well manufactured. But since the International Yard and Pound treaty of 1959, they've both been the same for everyone except for when you have to interface with land surveys that predate the treaty and they're also precisely defined in terms of the meter and kilogram and are as accurate as those two are. And it's not like the metric system is immune from that. In 1901 the liter was re-defined as one kilogram of water until there was a desperate stab towards sanity in 1964 when it was re-defined as a cubic decimeter again. Even the Imperial gallon is no longer defined in terms of mass. And yes, there are obsolete units in our system. The English experimented with different pounds until they two they liked. The Middle Ages like for each commodity to have its own hundredweight and gallon for an interesting reason that doesn't enter in here, and it took a while for people to settle on just one. What's interesting is that the U.S. and the British settled on different ones, but there were ways around that. But there are also obsolete units in the metric system. Steres, sthenes, circular millimeters and others were all metric units that no one uses any more. To be fair, BTU's are not rigorously defined, but neither are calories. That's why joules exist. Also, until very recently, the international prototype kilogram was changing mass! They had to redefine it so it would stop doing that. Since they did their job correctly, you won't notice, but not things are weird with some electrical units which used a previous definition of the kilogram and not don't quite match any more. So I don't expect you to measure in inches or ounces. It would just be nice to do so without the condescension I typically get to read. And I'm going to make a prediction that someone's going to come in, make a comment about how the metric system is so much easier and modern and why don't we change basically ignore everything I've just said. Because that's what happens. * Note: the U.S. does NOT use the Imperial system, that was created in 1824 after our independence, damnit!

[@cralixthegameking4408]

I can’t tell if the leaf blade gets thicker as it gets wider but if it doesn’t that means the edge geometry would be thinner and make it to where it wouldn’t haft to move as much out of the way when the thrust slit gets wider

[@iitim2152]

The common movie thrust where you take both hands and hyper extend your weapon out is a good way to have your hands cut off, that's more of a risk in kenjutsu because of a smaller guard. Honestly, we don't stab much. Your weapon gets stuck, and your open to a dying counter stroke. The idea is to attack and fade away.

[@Stephen-uz8dm]

That hamon do be beautiful

[@pattonramming1988]

Will you do a comparison video for which sword is easier to wield as opposed to which does the most damage although it would be interesting if the two were one in the same

[@DarkxOver]

please test those swords against armor (like chainmail) aswell, that would be interesting

[@ilejovcevski79]

Hmm, if that lief shaped bronze blade did quite well in the thrust (considering the size and the material), then maybe that Gandalf sword that he used in LOTR would make for a good thruster as well?

[@jancz357]

wouldn't you still have mass effecting the thrust with the two handed swords? so even if you use only one hand, you have more mass pushing the blade in

[@jonsnor4313]

Cool test anyway even if you were katana-phobic, which you arent. It was good edited and fun.

[@acethesupervillain348]

I feel like an important missing piece of information is thrusting against armor. For some situations, the reason to thrust is to defeat armor, so if you are only thrusting into "flesh" or gel, what does that matter? Of course, such a test would probably damage the weapons, as we saw with the helmet tests.

[@twistedminds5862]

how about a video with cara talking about hema fashion and that contest/show ?

[@blackdeath4eternity]

the surface area on the dao is higher giving the ballistics gel more to grab onto.

[@zabalanza4903]

Can you also do a swing comparison? Because I don't believe the thrusting optimised sword will perform too bad

[@ljlk8583]

cool jacket

[@maze200sx]

I'm really impressed by bronze weapons - I never thought that those were that good.

[@valandil7454]

I think you forgot that the distance between the hand and the impact point couples with the weight of the weapon makes a big difference to the penetration as well This is probably why your short sword was so effective despite the width of the leaf shaped blade, its low weight and the shape of the blade are probably the only reason it wasn't as good as your tapered arming sword but the impact's a lot closer to your hand

[@berniegran4785]

Can you compare the wound sizes of a straight blade thrust and a curved plade thrust? i believe the greatly increase the wounds thus making superior in thrusting

[@GMorgan84]

I think the number of bad data points could potentially tell a story of its own. In theory at least you have to somewhat compensate for the curvature of the blade. So maybe that is being reflected in some of these 8-10 results. Though we'd need to be more scientific about it. Some kind of machine that produces randomly dispersed "off perfect" thrusts to see how different blades compare in less than ideal circumstances.

[@MaliciousMollusc]

Point of the matter is, curved blades redirect point of impact. Simple physics.

[@AAAAAAAA-vd6zv]

Nice vid, now you should make chopping tests to get full picture.

[@unformedeight]

Welcome to Classagrim with HEMA homework

[@marcpabel4768]

The Katana is actually a saw blade so you don't stab you cut with the further part of it. That is why there is much skill affordebel to do it propperly especcially in act.

[@coolinj2838]

"Alright let's discuss the thrusting" Skallgrim 2019

[@leviethen]

I reckon a cutting version of this test instead of a thrust would have more significant differences in results

[@breaden4381]

I think the surface area is what really matters, especially on gel.

[@windhelmguard5295]

there are a lot of factors. how rigid is the blade (if it flexes, it will loose energy on doing that) how is the profile taper? does it go all the way from the guard to the point, or is the blade mostly of uniform width and only tapers near the tip? how is the distal taper?, does the blade start very thick near the guard and tapers heavily towards the point or is the blade quite thin to begin with, making for a sharper angle? how much friction does it generate? a well polished blade will cause less friction, than a scratched up one. does the handle construction favour thrusting? how good a grip can someone even get on the handle?