Information and safety tips for sword collectors
| This web page is an addendum to support my existing
web pages about swords that can be found here...
www.vincelewis.net/swords.html Yes we are living in the 21st century and the need for a good sword is as obsolete as the horse and cart, but to the arms and armor enthusiast, collector, historic re-enactor, martial artist, historic sword demonstrator, dramatic actor or just for historic education and curiosity then the sword still holds a lot of value. There are a lot of swords available from various manufactures that can be sough over the internet. Some of the most popular and recommended are here. I do not recommend that anyone buy a cheap sword for $20 to $50 or even slightly higher except for display purposes as a static wall-hanger as many of the " fantasy" swords are indeed just for display like the example below.  Under no circumstances should you ever practise slashing, cutting, stabbing anything, including water soaked rolled straw rice mats Tatami Omote ( in the art of Tameshigiri ) or water filled soda bottles with a cheap sword or "fantasy" sword as you are liable to sustain serious injury. Blades can break or even come flying off the end of the handle as they are often criminally attached with " rats tail " slim spindles of cheap metal that are "botch" welded to the blade rather than a full tang of a proper made more expensive sword.
THE SWORD FULLER or BLOOD GROOVE This article is reproduced in full as written by renown swordsmith and blade expert Mr. Joe Talmadge
What is a Blood Groove For? Wrong Answer #1: Releasing the Body Suction Basically, this theory postulates that the blood groove is present to
facilitate withdrawing the knife from a person/animal. In this scenario,
it is said that the animal's muscles contract around the knife blade,
and that this causes a vacuum, which makes the knife difficult to
withdraw. But on a knife with a blood groove, blood runs through the
blood groove and breaks the suction, so the knife can be withdrawn with
less difficulty. One problem is that there's no evidence that this suction ever really
happens. Also, over and over again people report that there is no
difference whatsoever in the difficulty of withdrawing a knife with a
blood groove vs. one without. This is one theory that has been tested
and found wanting. Yes, I realize you may have heard this myth from your deadly knife
instructor, or read it in a book somewhere. But the experts agree that
it is false. If your knife can cut its way in, it can just as easily cut
its way out, with or without a blood groove. And with that, I am going to change terminology from "blood groove"
to "fuller", since we all now know the so-called "blood groove" is not
playing a blood-channeling function. Wrong Answer #2: Purely Decorative There is a grain of truth to this one. Although a fuller does play a
functional role, on a short knife the effect might be so small as to be
insignificant. Many believe the fuller plays a strictly decorative role
on knives or swords under 2 feet long. As the knife or sword gets
bigger, the fuller plays an increasingly important role. On smaller
knives, it is indeed probably just decorative. Right Answers: Okay, so what substantive role does the blood groove/fuller play? The
bottom line is, it does two things: 1. It stiffens the blade 2. It lightens the blade That first statment has been the subject of some controversy, with
some people sending me equations purporting to show that the removal of
material cannot make the blade stiffer. I will table for now the
question of "does the blade get stiffer, in some absolute sense, due to
the fuller?" Rather, I'll weaken the claim to say that the blade *feels*
stiffer to the user who is waving it around -- because it's stiffer for
its weight. I'll reproduce a post by Jim Hrisoulas which lays things out clearly
(re-printed with permission): When you fuller a blade you do several things: 1: You lighten it by using less material, as the act of forging in
the fuller actually widens the blade, so you use less material than you
would if you forged an unfullered blade. (In stock removal the blade
would also be lighter, as you would be removing the material instead of
leaving it there). 2: You stiffen the blade. In an unfullered blade, you only have a
"single" center spine. This is especially true in terms of the flattened
diamond cross section common to most unfullered double- edged blades.
This cross section would be rather "whippy" on a blade that is close to
three feet long. Fullering produces two "spines" on the blade, one on
each side of the fuller where the edge bevels come in contact with the
fuller. This stiffens the blade, and the difference between a non-fullered
blade and a fullered one is quite remarkable. Fullers on knives do the same thing, although on a smaller blade the
effects are not as easily seen or felt. Actually looking at fullers from
an engineering point of view they really are a sophisticated forging
technique, and it was the fullered swordblade that pointed the way to
modern "I" beam construction. When combined with proper distal tapers, proper heat treating and
tempering, a fullered blade will, without a doubt, be anywhere from 20%
to 35% lighter than a non-fullered blade without any sacrifice of
strength or blade integrity. Fullers were not "blood grooves" or there to "break the suction" or
for some other grisly purpose. They served a very important structural
function. That's all. I have spent the last 27 years studying this and I
can prove it beyond any doubt..." Source:
Joe Talmadge Rec.knives Newsgroup May 1998
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