Do curved swords cut better than straight swords? 

Hmm, imperial sword, scimitar. Same stats, imperial sword sells for far more... Well, guess that dictates which one I will use.

There it is.

Hey, someone had to do it

@@rachdarastrix5251 That's easy, you will use a bow because you become a stealth archer.

Curved blades have a easier unstocking themselves in a target compared to straight blades. Everything else can be varied. Where you safely strike depends on blade geometry and target on the body. Straight swords can have curved edges, even very curved edges, then there curved hilts which changes things again. It is hard to see in a model or cutting pool noodles sense those targets don't grip things like clothing and meat does.

Exactly!! That's why so many cavalry used curved swords. With good hilts to hold the hand in place better. A Long sword, arming sword, falchion, messer, katana, will just get pulled right out of a riders grip. Glad someone mentioned this

@@PJDAltamirus0425 I'm not convinced that is what happens. Personally I believe the curved blade design redirects the shock momentum to travel up the blade to the tip instead reverberating though the whole blade. Meaning the mechanics transfer energy away from the grip but also reduces damage. Still, I would rather be able to hold my sword then have a numb hand... either way, I have now way of testing any of this, it's just my theory.

@@roguepoet6645 I think it's more mechanical. But I have no way of testing... the result is the same it's just a more scientific explanation. I think.

I have never seen a medical or physics source to confirm this. I've heard it all my life, but when asked to explain it, people just revert to spouting nonsense about draw cuts and "slashing motions" with not a single equation, or classified mechanical principle. If you want to explain it using one of the 3 classes of levers, I'd be more open to the idea. Not saying it's wrong; just saying there's a disturbing lack of evidence for something so colloquially thrown around.

the usual famous exception to that is when you look at swords used by the likes of the wingged hussars the koncerz and the palasz both straight edged swords used very effectivly on horse even the szabla husarska didn't have that much of a curve to them

I'm sure you've heard of sabers before, they were used throughout medieval times, even into the 19th century.

@@gabesmith8331not everyone wore armor

Curved blades also hit at a similar angle each time similar to an axe if curved properly, like a cavalry sabre. Take 2 plates and try to make them hit at a separate angle to see what I mean.

It is an advantage, but not essential. There were straight swords used for cutting from horse back. However, certainly curved swords would work better.

Oh yeah . I remember that. That show was crap on several levels . Ermy knows guns but he sucked with swords

@@PJDAltamirus0425 I agree. And later, he did the same thing on "plate armor" which I can only assume was made of tin foil.

That’s history channel for you :/

​@@tomatopotato1136i remember seeing shad reacting to this video

Lee Ermy doesn't know shit.

Curved penises, big curved penises. Wait I think I quoted that wrong.

Right!? 😂 that is too hilarious!

Have you seen those warriors from Hammerfell? They have Curved SWORDS Curved SWORDS!

Technically, nobody who responds to you is here before the Skyrim jokes, since you just made a joke related to Skyrim... Why are you booing me, I'm right?

​@@myownmusic8182Buzzkiller boo.

I don't think he is interested in covering swords that aren't European or Japanese. Which is fine mind you best to stick to what you know and what you're passionate about.

I think Shad analyzing the kopesh, getting into the materiel used to make it, and way it was used in combat would be interesting.

​@@admirekashiri9879he's done other things before. And once you know blades you know blades. It's not like it coming from Egypt means you somehow are no longer knowledgeable

@@noway6633 Really, other non-European or Japanese things like what? And I get what you mean, but certain weapons and blades, if you don't know the culture behind it, can lead to the wrong conclusion, such is the case with many African blades..

@@admirekashiri9879 If you don't know the culture behind a weapon just do research then 🤷🏻‍♂️. No excuses, there's no reason why he shouldn't review other weapons...

😮

This guy is asking the real answers

@@thegreenxeno9430 the what 💀

@@TheSteam02 the real answers. You wouldn't get it.

This comment needs to be pinned 📌

Especially a Sword that has no weight in the blade ;) ;)

Golf swing on other hand is surprisingly easy on casual or semi-casual level. Looks way harder than it is.

"The Archchancellor polished his staff as he walked along. It was a particularly good one, six feet long and quite magical. Not that he used magic very much. In his experience, anything that couldn't be disposed of with a couple of whacks from six feet of oak was probably immune to magic as well." - Terry Pratchett

Monks be like

That would be awesome. Would love to see him try anime-style swords like Zangetsu and Yoru too

Killer B 7 sword technique from Naruto?

Look up go ask shogo, Zoros.

My fondest memory of the kilij is watching Vaclav Havlik use a forward-weighted custom kilij allegedly based on one used by Vlad the Impaler to utterly butcher a pig carcass.

i didnt know hussars use kilic sabers look like kilic maybe yea but kilic ? i know they inspired from Turkish akincis and helmets they use looks Turkish/Turkic but swords too ?

@@ayhanfedai5013they used Kiliç and modified them into Szabla which has a different hilt and guard

@@ayhanfedai5013 I didn't mean the hussars used kiliji... though they used a variant, the history of the area is fasinating.

@@h0m3st4r I remember that as well. I liked the design well before the TV show but didn't know the name till watching Deadliest Warrior. I first saw the kilij in a history book about Vlad's cavalry. Then learned about the Hussars.

My my sir you’ve really picked the hottest take to have here 😂

@raicattivo comes from playing too much Kingdom come deliverance

@@griffinmckenzie7203 it’s a little thing called Sarcasm

@@griffinmckenzie7203 what sorta mf says “my my sir” in regular speech?

​@griffinmckenzie7203 He also had the laughing emoji at the end of the sentence so I assumed it was a joke or sarcasm, effectively the same as putting the /s but for people who aren't on reddit that much or use the /s symbol.

"Hand me my saber Martha, it's time to cut the Jello."

I thought that more tip heavy katana would chop better, as you chop with axe

Forward/reverse curved blades like a cleaver, Kukri or kopis =hacking chopper lad. The more iconic backward/orthodox curved blade=mounted cavalry side arm. I could go to great length about this massive topic but all single edged blade with a curve slight or extreme are just sabres for Dao means sabre & the Japnese Katana evolved from the Chinese Dao. Cruciform European blades are=universal. Triangular Blades Longsword like blade are not specialised in anything particularly but can do everything with a greater internal structure hence why they can be used like crowbar/fulcrum/lever in combat. In time mind late middles age blades & renaissance blades specialised into the thrust hence Dress sword & rapier=Thrust. Complex thrust hilted sword 1 handed can be as long as 51 inches with full length of arm that about 70 inches. Reach is everything in combat & trust me a (swept hilt side sword) of western Europe in 1400's will wide the floor with any melee weapon outside of Europe. What cam later in Europe is sword wise even more advanced incomparable to the world! Mind the age of pike & shot made the sword a rarely used weapon let alone by the 1600's when the pike & musket was fused into one by the bayonet. By the 1800's only sailors, pioneers-sappers & officers used sword for the most part. Only way I could see swords possibly returning is in boarding warfare in spacecraft for firing guns in a paper thin craft is a quick way to get yourself & everyone killed.

He's talking about slashing mostly, and his first point is that with a stronger curve, yes curved blades have a better slash. HOWEVER, the katana and two handed falchion do not have a strong enough curve to merit that advantage. I'm shocked people think that about the katana specifically when we know the curve is just a side effect of the hardening method.

​@@shinjiikari1021Katanas aren't TIP heavy though so much as just BLADE heavy, so it wouldn't benefit so much from the heft as say a leaf bladed sword, a kopis, etc. which actually have more mass specifically at the tip.

​@@zekeolopwi6642 Agreed! Katana on occasion are arguably slightly more tip heavy then the average blade but what most Japophiles don't realise real is Katana have blade taper even if not as much as other blades it handles nothing like their flat 'wall props'. Uchigatana being the specific name for a Japanese katana as in Japanese Katana means any single edges blade/sabre. Some Uchikatana have top blade presence while others have have the opposite as it depends on the blacksmiths incentive & swordsmen's personal request. I like a Blade with real hacking presence that Uchikatana would not deliver what I desire. On a seperate note a real falchion is nothing like a katana though a German Langmesser is somewhat. A real falchion if made correctly is more akin to giant cut throat razor as the tip is only about1/32nd of inch which is less then millimetre. & the blade edge is a fairly similar thickness with only the spine being thick 1/8'' to a max a 1/4'' just above the hale on the spine. A katana has a some armour penetration but a (falchion) without a thrusting tip have minimal penetration if non though great against fabric armour & flesh. If a decent sharp tip it would work well against gap in Armour especially the visor. You have to be a bit of sick pup to use a real falchion!

Which is what ancient man did. Ancient man did not talk about angle of attack and center of drag vs center of mass. I think to fully understand this, we need to get back to the human senses, or jump straight into pure mathematics. I'm very tired of rank superstition being quoted, like how "Curved swords are better on horseback because a straight sword will deliver more shock to the wielder." Especially when many heavy Napoleonic cavalry swords were straight.

@@Ranstone Agreed. Roman cavalry used straight swords as well, to great effect.

Butthurt fan kids will argue curved blades are superior till their finally adults. Oh the eternal debacles of these fandom communities who will battle out their point every which way till someone relents and somehow miraculously proves they are right.

​@@MichaelJohnson-mt6ey But don't you think it's odd that during late antiquity Romans, Sassanids, Arabs,.etc all throughout the Middle East, North Africa & Eastern europe, all used straight swords on horseback. But in the following centuries, under turkic and mongolic influence, the curved saber began to be favored heavily on horseback. Even the late eastern roman horseman favored the curved saber. This is an honest question, I have no clue on the actual benefits of one or the other, I don't test swords and I certainly don't ride horses, I just think it's an interesting inquiry. There most be some reason, other then culture quirk, that so many diverse people began to adopt the curved sword. (?)

But, the proof is not in the pudding. The proof of the pudding is in the eating! In this case, the term proof is using the less common definition of "to test", e.g. "The Proving Grounds". Which, in my opionion, our mutual chinchilla friend would be far more interested in "proving" his puddings :3

I hope there are more stories like the newest one coming. Everyone here is a fan of swords after all.

It's also easier to off-balance someone who has a straight blade if they try to bind you.

My heart says yes curved swords are better. But my body says ouch a cut

think curved swords are prettier which to me, would be the most important feature

I'm quite surprised that it didn't get mentioned. The curved blade design is so obviously more ergonomic for drawing the sword that anyone who played with toy swords as a kid shouldn't have much difficulty remembering that.

Yes, the curve just happened naturally in the transition from double edged (jian-like) to single edged Japanese swords. And they probably kept it because it looks better and didn't impact the effectiveness

@@Candlemancer IIRC, you are correct: it was just a natural result of the process, not intentional. And a while back someone (can't remember who,) raised that point, and said that the curve of a Katana wasn't enough to have any real impact on its cutting ability.

Yes and no. The differential hardening does create a curve, however the swordsmith could still adjust the curvature, even post quenching (Sorinaoshi).

I have no expertise in this area, but if what you are saying is correct, that does raise a couple of questions. Firstly, in times of relative peace, the sword fighting techniques would have probably graduated toward "fencing" rather than "killing." Scoring a hit would have become the key focus - and a straighter sword probably has a greater chance of doing that. But if you look at the combative side, things change. It's not about who can score a hit first - it's about who can do the most damage. And IIRC, the Samurai had lacquered bamboo armour - which probably means that a slashing attack had more chance of breaking through than a chopping attack with a straight blade. Just my 2c, I would be happy to hear your opinion. But the arms vs armor thing has been going on for centuries, and I'm sure that the men who actually used these things in combat would have rapidly found out what worked - and they wouldn't pay good money for a weapon that didn't do the job.

​@@StevieB8363The curvature of Japanese swords tended to be affected more by "trends" and the individual smith than combat. There's quite a diversity of curvature in every era of Japanese swordmaking - ranging from nearly straight blades to extremely deeply curved, almost like a section of a circle's outline. It is worth noting that the earlier Tachi tended to generally be more curved than a typical katana, though, but they were also longer swords. The profile of the curve also varied but again, this was largely due to the individual styles of smiths and swordmaking schools. A correction on the armour - while indeed lacquered, most Japanese armour was in fact iron or even steel. There are many myths about both the scarcity and quality of iron in Japan, but there was certainly no shortage of it for weaponry. Understandably, then, swords are not very effective against full samurai armour, and much like in Europe one would have to try going for weakpoints and unarmoured areas, or otherwise use a weapon that can pierce through gaps or through the armour. Swords in Japan were more of a status symbol right from their first appearance in the yayoi era, and were carried as a sidearm, rarely ever being used as the primary weapon of a samurai (you would most likely see either the Yumi or Yari as the main weapon, depending on which era you look at) If you want to read a book that goes into great detail on Japanese swords I would recommend "The Art of the Japanese Sword" by Yoshindo Yoshihara, an accomplished Japanese swordsmith. It is truly fascinating stuff

@@karukurokami Thanks for the info. My comment was based on Shad saying that swords tended to be more curved during times of more war, and less curved in times of relative peace. So my perception was that the further removed from actual combat you are, the more likely you are to develop styles/systems that don't reflect reality. But from what you have said, it seems that wasn't the main influence. And call me ignorant, but until now I had never heard that the samurai used steel armour - every source I have read/watched said it was lacquered bamboo/wood. I assumed that this was due to the fact that Japanese smiths used charcoal instead of fossil coal and thus couldn't achieve the high purity necessary for hardened steel. I read that was the reason they folded their sword blades - to even out the impurities. Perhaps I'm wrong about that too? I'm happy to be educated here, so I hope you will reply.

@@StevieB8363 As an aside before I reply: in general, I would take Shad's statements (and really most medieval weapons youtubers') with a pinch of salt - they are enthusiasts, not experts, and often quite opinionated. That's not to say you need to be an expert to comment on a matter - I am not a qualified historian either - but your area of expertise and ethics towards the accuracy of information are very important if you are educating people. In my case that expertise lies in blacksmithing and historical technology, so I try my best to educate others on that where someone with less knowledge on the topic might have misconceptions. To answer your questions: The shape of weapons can be influenced by many factors, and not all of them are hard-rooted in "logical" considerations. In Japan culture played a major part in the evolution of swords, almost overshadowing pure combat considerations, whereas in Europe it was somewhat the opposite (hence the sheer amount of different designs and weapons overall being less treasured as items) Regarding the armour, firstly, I wouldn't at all call you ignorant, there is an immense amount of misinformation in the mainstream media about medieval weaponry in general, and particularly about Japan. To answer this misconception as well as why steel was folded, I'll quickly explain how steel was actually made back then. Every culture aside from the chinese primarily used the same method with minor variations in specifics, namely the bloomery method. By using a large charcoal smelter (in Japan known as a tatara), a large amount of charcoal would be burned at high temperatures, and occasionally ore (which was usually iron sand in japan) would be thrown on top, followed by more charcoal. This results in a reduction reaction that turns the iron oxides in the ore into usable iron by removing the oxygen from it. This molten and semi-molten iron, along with impurities like silica and other metals in the form of slag, end up at the bottom of the furnace as a spongy mass. This mass is known as bloom. To create steel, suitable pieces of the bloom are broken off, and forged flat. This bloom has very variable carbon content and many slag inclusions, so this is where the refining step comes in. Pieces of bloom are stacked, heated until they are hot enough to weld together, and then hammered so they get welded. Then it gets folded back onto itself, and the welding step is repeated. This can be repeated up to 20 or so times, and each time you weld, slag (and with it impurities) is squeezed out. The Japanese variation of this technique is the most famous, but this is how all steel was made worldwide until blast furnices were invented. The chinese invented blast furnaces in the Han dynasty so they had other techniques, but generally speaking, there is not much fundamental difference between steel made in Europe and steel made in japan, for example. It was largely similar in quality. I hope this answers your questions, I'd be happy to elaborate further if you have additional questions

@@karukurokami Thanks for the history lesson! So basically it sounds like everyone had crappy steel until the blast furnace, and had basically the same way of dealing with it. The one big question remaining is: "Why have I never seen a picture of a samurai in steel armour? Or even seen any mention of such?"

Plus, he willed his hair to grow back out!