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P. Schontzler




Location: WA, USA
Joined: 15 Apr 2013

Posts: 99

PostPosted: Wed 24 Apr, 2013 10:04 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Elling said the pistol grip was weaker for a cut, not thrust.
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Gordon Alexander




Location: Eagan, MN & Dubois, WY
Joined: 24 Dec 2012

Posts: 57

PostPosted: Wed 24 Apr, 2013 10:31 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Does a bend or curve in the grip help index a weapon or otherwise effect edge alignment?
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Timo Nieminen




Location: Brisbane, Australia
Joined: 08 May 2009
Likes: 1 page
Reading list: 1 book

Posts: 1,504

PostPosted: Wed 24 Apr, 2013 5:01 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Gordon Alexander wrote:
Does a bend or curve in the grip help index a weapon or otherwise effect edge alignment?


A forward (i.e., towards the front edge) bend or curve makes it harder to maintain good edge alignment.

Hold a completely straight sword, with straight grip and straight blade. Consider the line along which the blade lies. If you bend/curve the blade or grip to move the edge backwards from that straight line, edge alignment tends to be automatically maintained; a small error in alignment will tend to be fixed as the sword cuts through something. Put the edge forward of that straight line, as forward curved blades do, and forward curved grips often do, and a small error in alignment easily turns into a big error in alignment.

Of course, if the edge alignment goes bad in the middle of cut, the target has still been cut.

Also, backward curve of the blade can overcome any ill effect of the grip.

"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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Aleksei Sosnovski





Joined: 04 Mar 2008

Posts: 313

PostPosted: Tue 30 Apr, 2013 12:42 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I second what Timo said. According to the information that I have, it was the case with some patterns of Russian military shasquas. They took a a very effective weapon and tried to "improve" it. First they made it more robust and thus heavier, which can be justified for a military issued weapon, and then they decided to make a forward-curved grip so that point of the blade would be in line with the grip. The idea was to make a weapon that would both cut and thrust equally well. Well, the result didn't match the expectations. Curved blade couldn't thrust as well as a straight one, and the curved grip eliminated all the benefits of the slightly curved blade.

All that said, it doesn't mean that a forward-bent grip makes a bad weapon. Skill is much more important than the angle of the grip, and some swords with forward-bent grips simply look cool.
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