Zen_Hydra
Moderator
Born with a heart full of neutrality
Posts: 2,625
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Post by Zen_Hydra on Jul 26, 2017 19:25:40 GMT
Has anyone made an in depth study of the comparative cutting abilities of the various production swords available?
After watching a recent YouTube video comparing the cutting prowess of the Albion Principe, Albion Crecy, and CS Hand & a Half swords, I got to wondering if someone has done similar (and perhaps more expansive) research with other production swords.
I've seen quite a number of HEMA cutting competitions where the Albion Principe/Alexandria are being used, and I'd love to know how swords like the Munich, Viceroy, and Baron compare in cutting ability.
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Post by howler on Jul 27, 2017 0:29:34 GMT
Has anyone made an in depth study of the comparative cutting abilities of the various production swords available? After watching a recent YouTube video comparing the cutting prowess of the Albion Principe, Albion Crecy, and CS Hand & a Half swords, I got to wondering if someone has done similar (and perhaps more expansive) research with other production swords. I've seen quite a number of HEMA cutting competitions where the Albion Principe/Alexandria are being used, and I'd love to know how swords like the Munich, Viceroy, and Baron compare in cutting ability. An interesting question, as you'd have to negate technique and sword sharpness differences from the equation.
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Post by Faldarin on Jul 27, 2017 3:50:39 GMT
Has anyone made an in depth study of the comparative cutting abilities of the various production swords available? After watching a recent YouTube video comparing the cutting prowess of the Albion Principe, Albion Crecy, and CS Hand & a Half swords, I got to wondering if someone has done similar (and perhaps more expansive) research with other production swords. I've seen quite a number of HEMA cutting competitions where the Albion Principe/Alexandria are being used, and I'd love to know how swords like the Munich, Viceroy, and Baron compare in cutting ability. An interesting question, as you'd have to negate technique and sword sharpness differences from the equation. If the younger set of Mythbusters still were what they used to be - they'd make a sword-swinging robot again. Still would be tough to get the sharpness comparable though.
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Post by howler on Jul 27, 2017 3:54:42 GMT
An interesting question, as you'd have to negate technique and sword sharpness differences from the equation. If the younger set of Mythbusters still were what they used to be - they'd make a sword-swinging robot again. Still would be tough to get the sharpness comparable though. Yeah, and you would also have to tailor sword angle to complement the different sword styles, as you swing different between, say, straight and curved blades.
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SeanF
Member
Posts: 1,293
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Post by SeanF on Jul 28, 2017 0:54:57 GMT
One of the major problems with reviewing a ton of production swords is that you have to have access to a lot of swords. The best people have is really just handling someone else's swords for a few cuts at a HEMA event.
Munich: A very unforgiving blade. It will cut but only with a very good edge and very good form, it's a good sword but I wouldn't call it a good cutter.
Viceroy: We are talking about Principe territory. I haven't played with it enough to do a complete comparison, but it is noticeably superior to most other swords in the performance department.
Baron: This cuts a little bit worse than cutting on the 'sweet spot' of the Crecy. What the Type XIII shines at is that it cuts effectively over much more of it's length.
As for in-depth study of cutting, that is actually (from an analytical physics perspective) not all that well researched/understood. And as a Mechatronics engineer I can tell you that the variability in a crudely designed cutting robot is enough to negate the subtleties of a lot of things you would be looking for. It's something I look forward to investigating in more depth in the future, but for now it's all anecdotal.
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Post by Croccifixio on Jul 30, 2017 7:15:59 GMT
Everyone says that the Principe/Alexandria and Baron/Duke are cheat-cutters for tournaments. I would imagine similar thin, wide blades would perform like that as well. You just have to be very precise with alignment in a floppier blade like XIIa/XIIIa.
I'd also think the KC/TFW ones would do well.
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SeanF
Member
Posts: 1,293
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Post by SeanF on Jul 30, 2017 15:21:52 GMT
The performance of the Baron/Duke is largely overrated, I don't consider one of them to have any advantage over something like a Crecy in a cutting competition. The Principe/Alexandria are at a whole other level. The blade is surprisingly stiff for it's thinness/width. Losing two inches of blade length and a strong central ridge seem to add significantly to the stiffness.
(I imagine in an actual fight, where you are less confident of being able to hit with the sweet spot, the Baron/Duke would likely deliver reliably better cuts than the Crecy)
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