Whilst trawling the net for pictures of falchions, I came across something I was not aware of. These swords appear to be falchions however they are sharpened along the concave edge, not the longer, convex edge. I have always assumed that a falchion is basically a sturdy sabre shaped blade with a clip point but these appear to be quite a different weapon.

The one in the photo below may be sharpened on the long edge (there is evidence of greater corrosion there) but the fuller along that same edge seems unusual.

Does anyone have any information on this type of sword?

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I don't have any information, but I will comment just to keep this interesting thread alive.

This blade design is pretty surprising; why would one put the cutting edge on that side? My understanding is that falchions should optimally have a straight to curved cutting edge (to give a good cut or slice) sometimes with a widened blade toward the blunt false edge (in order to increase the mass and cutting power at the optimal striking point). Why would one reverse this? It's hard to see how that angular blade would give a good cut...unless it is meant to be almost war-hammer like.

I would believe that the medieval artists had simply got it backwards if you did not include that convincing looking museum piece. If this is correct (???) then it would make one wonder if some of the modern reproductions are wrong. Weird.

MRL's version of one of these has been discussed here: http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=10099

This style of sword has also been discussed here: http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=8806

This falchion is indeed sharpened along the concave side and 25-30 cm from the point downward on the other side.
It is quite strange and I am still wondering how it would be used.

It is kept in the Musée de l'Armée in Paris and it seems that it would be a knightly weapon since the pommel seems to be gilded. It is dated from the 14th century.

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Fairly sure I have better pics of the one from the Army museum in Paris, I took pics of all the falchions there (3 I think).

I'll have to check, and it'll be a bit before I upload them to my Flickr account (see the Massive Museum post) since we're still working on England and then Ireland.

Well I believe there was a thread on this type of Falchion over at Sword Forum a while back.
http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t...t=Falchion

Tinker also make a recreation of this type of blade....and if I remember correctly was quite effective.
http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t...ion+tinker

Hope this helps,
Dan

Thanks for all the help folks.

I guess that from this information, we can conclude that these weapons, although looking remarkably like a backwards falchion, would be used in a different style and could probably have another name to differentiate the two.

A particularly vicious weapon nonetheless, but I think I'll stick to the convex edged falchion for my first sword project.

I have seen several African weapons with rondels (cross and pommel) that are almost Identical! these also seem similar to weapons from the mawejowski bible. The edge would I expect give a similar cut to a kurki, or greek kopis.

Well, don't read too much into what I said about the name "chopper". :) But truthfully, you're assuming that these weapons are used for "chopping" and not for other methods of attack, when in fact none of us here knows, which is exactly why I don't like the term. People have always assumed standard falchions are brutish chopping weapons, which isn't any more true than it is for any other sword. I don't see why we should make such assumptions for these reverse edged falchions, or for the weapons illustrations in the Maciejewski Bible.

Taking back the discussion to the original post; I work now myself on a falchion project and in the process of collecting images. The falchion from the invalides museum is well known to me, but when I saw it in person I was not so interested yet, therefore didn't pay much attention to its edge geometry, a matter of high importance to me know, as I like its overall appearance very much. Here is somewhat wild idea: The fuller is not a fuller actually but a steep hollow forge from the wide thick blade which acts like a weight, towards the narrow and thin edge, on the convex side. This way the acute point has enough substance to withhold thrusts into armor.

And as for the long reversed 'falchion', appears in two different illustrations (one is in another thread) - to me it looks like an oversized Nepalese Kora - concave blade with a beak. And haven't you guys noticed it has a long (two handed?)rectangular D-guard?