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Sam Arwas
Location: Australia Joined: 02 Dec 2015
Posts: 92
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 Posted: Wed 22 Nov, 2017 4:11 am Post subject: Sword of Goujian- Combat ready? |
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Apparently this famous artifact weighs less than 900 grams but the blade looks very wide. This means we are looking at very thin blade that is made of bronze. Despite being sharp I don't see how a wafer-thin bronze blade could be suitable for combat.
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Lancelot Chan
Industry Professional
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Timo Nieminen
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| Posted: Wed 22 Nov, 2017 2:28 pm Post subject: |
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It isn't wafer-thin - it has a prominent central ridge.
I have a replica "bronze" jian (as usual, brass rather than bronze), 25" long (so longer than the Sword of Goujian), blade of the same width, and about 200g lighter than SoG. The central ridge is about 6.5mm thick. It's fairly flexible, and I would want it to be less flexible for fighting with. But functional IMO. Given that it's shorter and 200g heavier, the SoG should be fine.
"In addition to being efficient, all pole arms were quite nice to look at." - Cherney Berg, A hideous history of weapons, Collier 1963.
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Mikko Kuusirati
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| Posted: Thu 23 Nov, 2017 4:45 am Post subject: |
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Indeed, photos of the sword alone devoid of any contextual yardsticks often make it look like the Buster Sword, but it is in fact quite small:
According to Wikipedia, "The sword of Goujian is 55.6 centimetres (21.9 in) in length, including an 8.4 centimetres (3.3 in) hilt; the blade is 4.6 centimetres (1.8 in) wide at its base. The sword weighs 875 grams (30.9 oz)."
"And sin, young man, is when you treat people like things. Including yourself. That's what sin is."
— Terry Pratchett, Carpe Jugulum
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This is a standard topic