I did not see this listed in the glossary, and could not find a definition with search.

I saw it referenced in the specs for the Viceroy:
CoG: 4.75" (12 cm)

Thanks

Center of Gravity (or, more rigorously, center of mass). Distinct from center of percussion (CoP). CoG is often measured from the crossguard towards the point.

So in reference to my other post about the Viceroy, is CoG that same as PoB?

Hi again; I just posted in that topic referring you back here. ;)
Yes. CoG is a bit more technically precise than PoB, since people occasionally mean different things by "balance."
-GLL

Got it. Thanks!

Lance

In the context of swords, Center of Gravity and Point of Balance are identical.

Jean,

You are right, with a very curved blade the fact that the center of gravity is not in line with the handle can make the weapon feel different, even in static handling. However, since the handle is not necessarily in line with the forte of the blade, I suspect that there are curved blades that do not have this effect, if the center of balance is aligned with the handle it will not tend to twist it when turned to the side. That could be a reason for hilts curving opposite to the blade in a number of curved swords...

I've seen a iaito (training Japanese sword) that had a small defect: the handle was not contained in the plane of the blade, thus the COG was often not right behind the edge when stopping a cutting motion, and that resulted in an unpleasant twist in the hands. Slight, but still disturbing. So I think you are right pointing out that the center of gravity is really a point in space, and not just a distance from the guard...

Since most European swords are straight, the 3D nature is most of the time hidden and we can safely speak of the point of balance as 1D. Plus, the 3D position is something not easy to find out, it would involve 3 measures with the sword hanging from 3 different points. Since the 1D distance from the guard is already quite significant, I believe looking just at that makes sense.

Or we could go at the intermediate level and say it's 2D (distance from the guard + distance from the handle's axis for example) but I'm quite confident someone will still find some exotic weapon where that's not enough :)

Regards