Blade Lore

[Captain Maltese]

How many of our stories does NOT involve a sharp metal device at some point? I am interested in the aesthetic, cultural, historical and practical value of knives. And swords, throwing daggers, axes and anything else that holds an edge. Not so interested in brands and steel compositions, really.

Starting off with a classic shape that ironically isn't a blade but looks like one - the classic stiletto. It is known from the 15th century and forward as a stabbing weapon, but the edges of the triangular blade aren't actually sharp. The weapon's primary purpose is a precise and hard thrust, capable of piercing through thick clothes, ringmail or the weaker joints of armor. The triangular (or four edged) blade has great structural strength. While it cannot cut, it is certainly capable of blocking and can be wielded as a sword man's left hand weapon. Pretty much the last thing you want to face in a dark back street.

The classic stiletto shape has been found in many dagger types since the 15th century. The newest nod to it's efficiency as a stabbing tool was probably the cruciform Russian bayonet of WW2. Proving it is still lethal.

[The Green One]

This is very interesting!

And, while this might not be exactly historical, the youtube channel Skallagrim might interest you.

[Captain Maltese]

This is very interesting!

And, while this might not be exactly historical, the youtube channel Skallagrim might interest you.

I will look into that, thanks! I've been watching far too many MRE reviews on Youtube and a change will do me good.

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Here's another special case; a modern curiosity primarily. Most knives are concealable as such, and folders are out of sight by default unless one prefers to keep them in belt pouches. Very few knives are specifically constructed to look as something different than a knife.

The blade of the day is therefore what is known as a credit card blade. The original idea was a design by the Cardsharp company (I think) but there are now various brands and variations. Basically it is the size of a credit card and so thin that you can keep it with your other credit cards, but folds and bends quickly into a knife-like shape. The surgical steel blade is just a couple of inches but that is plenty for many situations.



As with any novelty that gains popularity - or notoriety - this gadget is well known among knife interested people and gadgeteers, and so it follows that trying to smuggle this blade into an airplane in your wallet is likely to a) fail and b) test your intestinal allergies to rubber gloves.

[The Green One]

Oh, this blade is beautiful! I've never seen this before, very clever and stylish.

[Captain Maltese]

The history and culture of the Indian subcontinent is long, vast, violent - and exotic enough that we tend to overlook it in favor of relatively small and short cultures that are easier to learn about. But India, home to many of the poorest and some of the wealthiest people in the planet's history, has seen titanic battles and invented armor and weapons whose designs are so stunning that once you have learned about them you'll never forget them.



The blade of today is the urumi. A sword with one and sometimes multiple, flexible blades which also qualifies to be called a whip, except even the clumsiest made amateur tourist whip isn't going to rip out your eyes and testicles the first time you try to crack i. The urumis is considered perhaps the most dangerous of all Indian weapons - both to wield, and to face in the hands of a skilled enemy. It is worn around the waist with the grip sticking out like a sword handle. It is considered a good melee weapon against groups of enemies, and if the fighter can wield two of these - you better have a gun.

[The Green One]

Another unknown weapon, to me at least. Though I've seen a similar one used at the anime Rurouni Kenshin. Sawagejō Chō, member of the Juppongatana had one long flexible blade around his waist.

[Captain Maltese]

I peeked at Sawegejo; a guy who wants to master all the swords of the world. I guess an arami is a possible choice for his character.

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Today's sharp thingie is technically not a weapon but a tool. Technically. The classic straight razor has roots back as far as the Egyptian empires. but was technologically superseded in the late 19th century by safety razors (with exchangable blades) and is rarely seen these days outside antique stores. And yet they are still on the market because some still use them.

A straight razor is more complicated than it looks. The folding handle is simple enough but the blade is concave on both sides toward the edge which means that the slimmest 5 millimeters of metal are barely a couple of millimeters thick. Take a straight razor to the finest machine-run milling band, cough, and you will reduce the blade to a stick. It is so fine that a standard honing technique is to stroke the edge along a leather strap. And you will find that honing is required frequently; the 19th century blades are made of soft steel and lose their edge quickly. I assume that those modern straight razors for sale today are on a different level of metallurgy. If you find a straight razor at a second-hand store it is likely to have great wounds somewhere along the edge - just dropping the razor on a hard floor could be enough to damage the blade beyond repair.



While every man owned a straight razor, the shaving process was a bit of work and barber shops made an easy living. Consider the task:
- wash the face
- heat the skin up with hot blankets to raise the hair
- make a lather from soap and water
- put the lather on the face
- shave, with the delicacy of an artist. One wrong turn along a pimple and there will be blood.
- clean off the lather and the hairs
Tadaa, done!



The straight razor has the look of an absolutely lethal weapon, and in the wrong hands it is. There is no sharp tip so it is no stabbing tool, it weighs very little so you can't score a blow, the non-locking handle means it is awkward to hold and useless to parry with, but the thin blade can slice deep through clothing and into flesh. No proper fighter would wield one as long as he has access to a proper weapon, but anyone facing an opponent wielding a straight razor is fighting for his life.

Since straight razors have been so omniscient they still exist in vast numbers and many brands, but spotless higher end examples are now collectibles.

[Captain Maltese]

The blade of the day has been obscure in western culture until recently, but is an old Southeast Asian weapon who like many others started out as an agrarian tool. The karambit looks rather spectacular with its clawlike design and as many other blades in current fashion the most modern versions looks ripped out from a science fiction movie rather than a simple implement of Philippino farming.


This is a classic style karambit.


This is a rather more jazzed up version.


A folder version!



There are several ways to wield a karambit. The unique shape invites to a sweeping claw combat style rather than direct stabbing. It cannot be denied that this is a unnerving and intimidating blade to face. That might be the reason it was often carried by Philippino women on an everyday basis as a weapon of defense - in their hair. But also warrior tribes kept karambits in their belts. I can't see this becoming more than a curiosity in a modern world, but it is an interesting one.

[The Green One]

This has always been a favorite of mine, specially the modern designs.

[Deamonbane]

This has always been a favorite of mine, specially the modern designs.

+1

[Captain Maltese]

One esoteric bladed weapon that has not been imported into the modern world is an African throwing blade known under a variety of names such as membele, hunga munga or kpinga. The name and shape varies from tribe to tribe.



The membele is heavy and has a short throwing range, but if it hits right the damage is devastating. Every edge is sharp. It was also a status symbol for veteran warriors, who would carry as much as four membeles into battle behind their shields.



African tribal metallurgy was never particularly advanced but against barely dressed enemies this must have been a fearsome weapon. If the warrior was capable of throwing it.

[Captain Maltese]

You have just jumped out of a plane with a parachute. Everything goes well for most of the way down, but ten meters before the ground a tree snags you. Branches snap, ropes curl and twist, and you are now caught and dangling like a spider - maybe upside down and with only one arm free. Oh, and it is war so you are weighed down by 100 pounds of gear. The enemy is approaching too, so you don't have much time even if the blood of your body is flowing to your head.



It was for situations like this that the German Luftwaffe, one of the pioneers of paratrooping, came up with something completely new at the time: A knife that could be unfolded with one hand. A Gravity Knife. It's official name was the Fallschirmjäger Messer. While spring loaded switchblades and other self opening folders already existed, the blade needed to swing out, and a soldier hopelessly snagged and intertwined in a parachute around a tree might not have room enough for opening a folder. The Gravity knife, which was kept easily accessible during the jump, slid out at the press of a button rather than unfolding with the help of gravity and then the cutting free could begin.



By the scale of WW2, German paratroopers were a tiny military force and other Luftwaffe units did not get issued this specialty tool. The collector looking for a genuine Fallschirmjäger Messer will not be looking for a needle in a haystack but a needle in a pile of needles - copies of this scarce object are very common. Also postwar Germany issued similar gravity knives to their paratroopers. The above picture is one of those.



One even rarer version than the original is the one the British made during WW2 after studying the German one, specifically for the SOE agents they paradropped into enemy territory. One difference with the British version was that it was specifically designed to be a secondary combat tool. See above picture.

[Sessha]

 Okay this looks like it might be a fun topic to watch. I am interested in what else you might bring out.

[The Green One]

Loving this one in particular.


I look forward to the next blade!

[Captain Maltese]

Busy day tomorrow so I am posting this one early. One of the cultures of the world that were latest to get into metallurgy were the remote inuit tribes of Alaska and Greenland. You don't do a whole lot of iron ore digging and melting when the ground is frozen and firewood is scarce. Which meant that their options for making any kind of blades were very limited. So until the arrival of European traders they made do with cutting implements made of bone, stone or even wood, and once they DID get metal they continued to make tools in the old shapes. Which brings us to a very interesting tool and weapon: the ulu.



The ulu was and is primarily a woman's all purpose tool; it can be used for food preparation, fur and clothes work, digging, and as a close range weapon it is worthy of some respect. The unusual horizontal grip offers the wielder considerable force for slicing and pushing, and is in some situations a better tool than a normal knife - like skinning a carcass, or filleting fish.



The ulu is one of a number of exotic blades that is finding some interest among people who uses knives a lot, and is made in various modern derivations. The actual old ulus are considered family heirlooms and those you can find on Ebay and such are likely to have been made specifically for tourists.

[Captain Maltese]

Something a little different this time. Knives may be big or small, fixed-bladed or folding bladed, but what really sets them apart is the point. Classical knives have had fairly simple single-side curved edges ending in a pointed point, a shape that can be achieved with even very crude smithwork. But there are alternatives, with pros and cons, obviously affecting the optimal area of use for the knife. Too long and narrow a point, and it becomes vulnerable to breaking. Too wide, and the knife can't reach inside much of anything. Some times it is a matter of culture; the clip point is favored more in the USA than elsewhere while the tanto style is distinctly Japanese. As with everything else, the international knife manufacturers are free to make their own interpretations. If you want a highly specific point you might find only one high end brand delivering it - and a dozen low end copycat versions. 



I won't go into every variation, but some need a comment.
- the clip point, best known from Bowie knives (going to expand on them later) has many uses but requires a thick blade to be sufficiently strong.
- the drop point is particularly favored for folding knives like Swiss multitools where each blade is thin
- the tanto shape offers a particularly strong point

Do notice that even the knives with shapes often favored among modern soldiers, like the clip point or the tanto, do NOT have a double edge for more than a few millimeters. While having two edges offer more chance of getting in a cut or a stab, the cost in structural strength and general reduction of usability is far too high. Bayonets, supposed to be specialist stabbing tools, have gone in that direction even so - with varying success. We will take a deeper look at that when we get to the venerable Fairbairn-Sykes combat dagger, while bayonets are a separate subjects. Lots to write about yet.

[Captain Maltese]

Going big for the Sunday one. Although 'big' may be misleading for this one. The cutlass is one of the shortest blades to normally be mentioned among swords, and probably one of the least glamorous ones. As a naval weapon it was however very important during the age of sails, when the battlefield consisted of crowded ship decks and dark holds and a long blade could get caught in just about everything. It was also a very useful tool for quickly clearing away ropework and sails and ruined planks, even in the middle of a storm with masts crashing down. They would also find a ready use when these ship crews made landfall to harvest fruit and vegetables. While gunpowder and pistols were nice things, an average sailor could swing this blade many times in a close up and ugly melee in the time it would take him to reload a pistol - and unlike a pistol, seawater did not affect the blade's lethality.



Your basic cutlass was much like a saber, only shorter, and differed from a civilian machete mostly in the hand protection - and many cutlasses might not even have that. It was a slasher more than a stabber because of its length and its straight grip, and very utilitarian in shape - a ship of war would keep dozens of these cheap blades in quickly accessible lockers and they were not assigned to specific sailors so there was no point in unnecessary or costly adornments. Most of them probably did not even have scabbards, partly to keep costs down and partly because leather and seawater don't combine well. Officers, particularly military, were more likely to have private and more expensive weapons.



Cutlasses were issued on British and American (and probably many other) ships as late as WW2, and ceremonial naval cutlasses are in use to this day. Those below are M1917 US navy cutlasses.

[The Green One]

I love reading this. Thank you for sharing!

Can't wait for the Bowie~

[Sessha]

 Very nice. I do love learning a bit more about swords each day. I'm kind of curious when you might tackle the "long sword" so to speak.

[Captain Maltese]

The Bowie will be coming up soon; it is a narrow subject. The long sword is a wide topic with many variations but we are definitely getting there eventually, although it will likely require a number of posts.

[Sessha]

The Bowie will be coming up soon; it is a narrow subject. The long sword is a wide topic with many variations but we are definitely getting there eventually, although it will likely require a number of posts.

Hey that's fine by me. I can live with that easily. Keep up the good work.  :-)

[Nadir]

What a delicious thread! *bookmarks*

[The Green One]

The Bowie will be coming up soon; it is a narrow subject. The long sword is a wide topic with many variations but we are definitely getting there eventually, although it will likely require a number of posts.

I will read everything you post here, so that's more than fine by me.

[Captain Maltese]

Getting the Monday blade in early as I'll be away from home all next week. We'll see what online time I get.



I am sticking with the naval theme. Another well known blade from the age of sails is the boarding axe. Like the cutlass it is a no frills combination of weapon and tool, available by the lockerful in the hour of need.

Boarding axes fulfill many of the same needs as a cutlass; it is simple and sturdy and cheap, and can be wielded even with little skill. It does however work best in the hands of a strong man's two handed grip.



The characteristics seem to have developed into a curved blade with a large spike on the other side. This makes the axe a natural for cleaving and slicing, while the spike is a more specialist tool for breaking apart boards since all the weight of the weapon gets focused on one little point.



I own a fairly good museum replica of the axe above and it is a daunting weapon. Mine is a good foot longer though. The blade is thinner than on a woodman's axe and the head is reinforced with steel bars a whole foot down the shaft, giving it far more strength and weight than the slender shape indicates. My sample also has a metal cup at the bottom of the three feet long shaft that adds further strength.

There is a whole website dedicated to the history of boarding axes. Well worth checking out.

Original boarding axes are very hard to come by, while copies are readily available. Keep that in mind if someone is selling one as original. It is also useful to realize that this axe type in its short one hand form has been much used by fire brigades almost up to present day, so if someone's selling one and claiming it to come straight off the Cutty Sark some doubt is justified.

[Captain Maltese]

Still got several naval blades queued up. Tonight's weapon from the age of sails is somewhat incongruous as it even more primitive than an axe. Boarding pikes, essentially heavy spears, were an important sailship weapon of obvious wielding method that must have been present ever since the first Greek galleys.



On a sail ship, the pike was not quickly made superfluous by the musket with a bayonet even though the pike was only slightly longer, about 8 feet. For one thing the pike was impervious to sea water, and it was also something everyone could use. While terribly unwieldy in most directions under cramped conditions, they were a devastating defensive weapon against anyone climbing up from the sea and over the rails - which was after all the most likely way to be boarded by an attacker. Since the pike was heavy its thrust energy was considerable and facing an intact crew with lowered pikes must have been a terrible sight for the enemy climbing up into their reach while unable to wield any weapon themselves. These pikes were stored on board at the base of the main masts which they were secured against.


Boarding pike drill reenactment.

The pike as a naval weapon persisted into the 19th century but as muskets became more commonly used also on ships and cannons became more lethal, the idea of standing lined up like ducks on an open deck became less and less palatable even to the roughest bandit crews.

The boarding pike lives on however, as simple things tend to do. Most boats bigger than a row boat tend to possess one or more boat hooks. These are similar to the boarding pikes in shape, although without sharp edges or tips. Firemen have been issued somewhat similar pikes, lumberjacks have their cant hooks and there are fishing pikes too. No doubt they are now also available with collapsible grips and tactical sheaths and antiglare, but what isn't?