I read this article and am wondering if it is possible that the
Sultan Murad IV really wielded a 100 lb. sword. I find this difficult to believe.


https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/08/17/sultan-bans-coffee/?fbclid=IwAR31fdeitamE8TdRmCR4WxkjFQc9IdKHbEyaEXSsM-Va0Ek2PuGW16ToLt0

No. It's impossible to cram that amount of metal into any kind of shape even remotely resembling a sword.

Even if you could make a 100-lb. sword, why would anyone want to do so?

(We assume the cow is spherical for this moon jumping experiment.)

lets assume the sword is, by definition, the same length as a normal sword. lets say 83cm, a 32 inch blade. lets further assume that 1/3rd of the mass of the whole sword is the hilt. That makes the blade is "only" about 66lbs. 29.937096kg.

For simplicity, lets assume that its straight, doesn't have any profile tapering going on, a "broad" blade, lets say 2 inches, 5cm wide. and lets assume for simplicity its a simple two-edged diamond section.


Now, why the diamond section? simple geometry. A 2 inch wide diamond section, is exactly the same volume as a 1 inch wide rectangular section of the same width. Therefore, we can calculate how much material this sword would need.

and how much material would this broad sword need to have a blade that weighs 66lbs / 29.9kg?

It would have to be 183mm thick.
no, there isn't a typo there. one hundred and eighty three millimetres thick. 7 1/4 inches thick. If it had any taper, that would be the average. as a two-edged sword, diamond section, the edges would be significantly more obtuse than the mid-rib of this sword that's 3 1/2 times as thick as it is broad.

Pretty unlikely, really.

but what if its the normal thickness for a sword?
Well, we can also assume that it is the normal thickness for a sword, about 5mm.
in that case, to match the 66lbs target, the blade would have to be 3,050cm long. 30 metres. or about 100 feet long.
I dont think that's going to fit on the hip.



All in all, I think we can safely say a 100-lbs broad sword is about as likely as the lunar bovine leap.

That would have to be one massive pommel!

After reading the article, I got the sense that the author was taking some creative liberty when describing the sword, probably to make the story more interesting to read. After all, if he was in disguise, where would he put his 100 lb sword? And I bet the coffee drinker would be able to outrun him if he has to lug that huge sword.

Guys guys, I know this is a weapons and armor type site, but you all are missing the real message here.


Bastard killed coffee drinkers for DRINKING COFFEE!!! For that let us invoke the Ceremony of Eternal Damnation and Memory Obliteration!!! *runs to get black cloak, begins chanting in strange tongue*



But really nice breakdown James.Should put all this heavy sword nonsense away.

Coffee is the Devil's work. It has created an entire subclass of people who are so dependent on it that they can't function in the morning without it. The Sultan had simply foreseen what would happen if this Devil's brew continued to be permitted in his kingdom and tried to take action before it was too late. If there was ever a legitimate use for a 100-pound sword then this was it.

Well, I mean, I'm sure there's a way to use a 100lb sword as a ship anchor. Or for grinding coffee beans. Or raw material for thirty actual swords.

Also, if Murad IV was right and coffee is the drink of rebellion, FRIGGING GIMME. Once more with rallied arms to try what may be yet regain'd in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell!

Is it just me, or has proof reading of articles, due to 'spell check', hit a new low? I have the Washington Post on my Kindle Fire, and I can't believe some of the misprints that occur in what is supposed to be one of the U.S.'s major papers. Repeated paragraphs, for Pete's sake! My suspicion is that the 10 lb broadsword of popular myth accidentally got another zero, which, of course, 'spell check' didn't flag.

Here's a 46lb "sword" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un1M7xbCCIs you see how he more just leavers over his head and not swing it, a 100lb sword would be even worse and less mobile.

But then, Mike Craughwell has always been the first to point out that what he makes are NOT real swords, but more something like "functional sculpture" (IIRC how he phrased it)...