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Post by durinnmcfurren on Jun 6, 2021 21:24:02 GMT
I found this excellent resource for those who want to understand a bit about the physics of sword use. I think it would be good for swordsmiths especially, because it might help make better and more accurate replicas. But also for those of us who use swords and who are interested in understanding the more complicated details!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2021 22:15:39 GMT
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Post by durinnmcfurren on Jun 7, 2021 15:12:20 GMT
Nice, I will check those out! Thanks!
There are a few points Turner makes that I think are very relevant that most people don't think of, nonetheless. For example, the importance of moment of inertia to the 'feel' of a sword, and the correct way to define the center of percussion.
Of course, it's possible his reasoning was wrong - I didn't spend a lot of time analyzing it. His moment of inertia stuff seemed like standard physics, and his CoP conclusions, apart from being standard physics analysis, also lined up with the historical statements on finding CoP.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2021 17:43:31 GMT
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jun 8, 2021 22:43:16 GMT
That discussion from 2003 www.swordforum.com/vb4/showthread.php?18278-More-on-George-Turner-s-article brings up an important point which Turner's article touches on in two places: his very brief discussion draw cuts, and his question at the end about thrusting swords. To quote from the 2003 discussion: Basically, during a cut, the sword's motion is complex. The simple model used by Turner assumes that the centre of rotation is fixed (which means that the linear momentum is only due to the rotation of centre of mass about that point). Under this simple condition, the magic of the centre of percussion (COP, "oscillatory version", AKA pivot point) is that if the impact is at the COP, both the angular momentum and linear momentum of the sword will reach at the same time (which is why less force is felt on the hand). But with more complex motions, this won't be the case. Thus, it is likely that the location of the COP is not so important for cutting. In practice, I think that the location of the COP/pivot point is more important for just moving the sword. Move the hilt sideways, and the sword wants to rotate around the COP. Thus, many cut/thrust swords have the COP close to the tip, which gives excellent point control (longswords, jian, and others). Sword designed to rotate around a buckler (like some arming swords) or another blade (like a rapier) have the COP about 1/3 of the blade length from the point. I don't see any systematic placement of the COP looking at dao. It's interesting to see jian and dao of similar POB and mass, and very different handling due to very different COP.
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Post by durinnmcfurren on Jun 9, 2021 4:03:14 GMT
So in fairness I should say I only read the first part of Turner's pdf before I posted this. And mostly I was interested in what he said about the physics dynamics of the swords!
Modeling how a human body actually interacts with a sword is another matter entirely.
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