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Post by rammstein on May 8, 2007 19:54:29 GMT
Ronin, you have a point, but only when comparing plausible finds to ones that have already been found. Example: If someone stated today that vikings had some cool new rigging on thier longboats that made them sail at fast speeds, I could believe it. They were very creative builders and it wouldn't suprise me. However, when someone states that viking longboats used electric motors, it is, erm... bull crap Of course, you can argue that just because they haven't found one doesn't mean that it isn't there (absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence) that it could have existed. One needs to draw the line as to what is probable, plausible, and utterly ridiculous. A viking type XVIIIb made of titanium is utterly rediculous, just like ANY european sword with reverse profile tapers is.
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Post by hotspur on May 8, 2007 20:04:46 GMT
Reverse profile taper. Hmmm. Like a falchion or a leaf blade?? Sorry, couldn't resist. Cheers Hotspur; maybe you meant distal taper
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Post by rammstein on May 8, 2007 20:05:36 GMT
nope, like double edged mid 20th c. styled movie roman gladiuses And flachions are generally not reverse tapered from what I've seen.
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Post by rammstein on May 8, 2007 20:07:55 GMT
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Post by hotspur on May 8, 2007 20:16:53 GMT
If you have not seen falchions with reverse profile taper, maybe it's time to broaden your horizons a bit. Said in good humor and honestly trying to enlighten. Many falchions were broader at the buisness end. For an extreme of that, Google up the Conyers falchion.
So, the Romans were not Europeans? I guess the Mainz type gladius is a figment of our imaginations as well.
I hate absolutes but don't want to drive this into the ground. There are historical European sword types with reverse profile taper.
Cheers
Hotspur; you can poke me in the eye with a pointy stick the next time;)just sayin'
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Post by rammstein on May 8, 2007 20:21:46 GMT
Yes they were broader at the business end, but this was more of (how do I put this without sounding REALLY stupid ...) an inturruption in the normal taper of the sword rather than a part of the actual tapering process. Similar to the fact that the lugs on a zweihander aren't included as reverse taper (albiet, that's an extreme example, but I hope you see what I mean?) and the maintz is waspe waisted. When I refer to profile tpaer I don't mean any random varitions at a given point in the sword's width. I mean whether or not the sword stays the same width at the base and the point. THose examples above are not historical because they start out thin and end up thick...if you pardon the elementary terms.
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Post by hotspur on May 8, 2007 20:22:20 GMT
Oh come on, they are named in a fantasy vein, aren't they? Shudder, you made look. Bad dog, no biscuit. Some of those look like the old MRL/Del Tin Tolkien swords. Cheers Hotspur; check out bronze rapiers as well
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Post by rammstein on May 8, 2007 20:25:59 GMT
Lol Hotspur, thanks for being such a good sport about this They are named in a fantasy vein...sort of. The fact that the are under "european swords" is what I'm picking at. Good god! What are we arguing about... ... and how is this conducive to the topic at hand... We at SBG tend to divert from the original topic pretty easily ;D
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Post by hotspur on May 8, 2007 20:45:54 GMT
Well, diverting isn't bad but I get contentious when folk start with absolutes. Take a look at 19th century artillery and infantry hangers and you see where the Hollywood gladius gets its general outline. Start with the French 1816/1831. There were also machete like hangers. The Conyers goes from narrow to quite wide and even the Thorpe type is not a waisted blade, broader at the meat of it.
Many historical blades may seem pretty "out there" if thinking only in a Oakeshott Typology frame of mind.
Cheers
Hotspur; I still don't want to buy a sword from Dan
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Post by rammstein on May 8, 2007 20:53:09 GMT
Lesson learned
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