| Kelly Powell wrote: |
| .it is incorporated into the blade during forging... :eek: . |
So at a forging temperature that must be high ( 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit or more ? ) A neuro toxin that would be biologically based would be burned away I think ?
From a previous post the arsenic is used to clean the blade and wiped away and may not leave much of a residue if any on the blade.
Arsenic is a poison that kills when ingested in small doses over time at least in traditional use by assassins I believe ?
I'm not sure that it would work as a poison when used on a sharp edge ? ( Also not sure about arsenic but some poisons are harmless if the method used is not poison specific: Ingestion versus direct contact with the blood stream due to a cut or stab ) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic_poisoning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venom
Oh, a search for " poisoned blades " yield pages and pages of " Gamer Info " and little solid information ? Maybe a more thorough search might give more useful results ?
Now, this doesn't mean that poison blades where never used but the routine carrying of a poison blade where the slightest scratch would mean instant death seems like a bad idea to me ? Deliberate use of a poison blade for a specific assassination would be a different thing.
More devious would be a slow acting poison killing days or weeks after one scratched the " victim " would be another option. A blade made septic by contact with faecal matter would have a similar effect when medicine was " primitive ".