Timo Nieminen wrote: |
Pendulum test is good, works well enough even holding the sword. Ideally, you want the sword suspended e.g. on a string. For a "standard" pendulum test, suspension at the bottom of the grip/top of the cross will work.
The waggle test gives the same result, needs more instruction/practice, needs less equipment (pendulum test needs at least either a pendulum or a stopwatch). For the ultimate test, measure the moment of inertia about the CoM directly by suspending from a torsion pendulum. Not that bad for equipment, just need a wire and a clamp (or two), a stopwatch, and calibration (e.g., using a known rod). I haven't set up one of these yet, but have done this in the past on non-swords - 'tis easy. |
Of these I prefer the waggle test for these reasons:
- Equipment, as you say
- It is somewhat satisfying to measure handling, something that involves hand and eye, by hand and eye only :)
- It needs zero computation (for the most direct variant, if you want to correlate several tests done at different points it's more complicated of course). Therefore there is no need to use a formula that not everyone understands.
Regards,