Mine would have to be the ancient Egyptian khopesh. I just think the design looks cool. I’m also fond of scimitars.

My favourite sword right now is my 9-ring broadsword , but I’m hoping to get a dadao sometime in the future, once I have enough money.

I also really appreciate the chinese straight sword (jian).

Of course, being a faithful practitioner of wing chun, I only like the above swords for their beauty and design. Nothing compares to the bart jarm dao for functionality and efficiency.

For use, my favorite sword is a katana, as it is the weapon I have the most training in. When it comes to techniques, I like the jian best. Impractical, but undeniably beautiful. For the sword’s appearance, I like the viking-style swords, and I love old Indian weapons, the shamshir , the chakram (throwing disks with blades on the outside), and of course the supremely bad-ass katar.

Katanas can totally be used for stabbing.

Katanas can totally be used for stabbing.

Stabbing efficiently, though?

I’m going to browse sword sites again thanks to you guys. Stop making me want a katana, dang it!

I’ve been so close to buying one so many times, if only to make it easier to write.

To further elaborate why katanas are cool, iai is just too stylish. There’s something very Old West about attacking in the same motion with which you draw.

I like rapiers.

I like sais and stilettos.

Ninjato.

Yes I have one. Yes it is functional. Yes I love it.

Might even show pictures of that.

Also, just swords? I have an axe and spear I’m fond of.

@Nate: Oh yeah, axes are awesome too. I like the small hand-hatchets, myself. A pair of them can be deadly. Also, hammers, maces (mmm, flanged mace…) and many of the wierd pointy things used as weapons in China. awesome.

I’ve always been fond of the good ol’ Longsword, but call me old fashioned.

I also like the Dao and Hooksabers….

Falchions ftw.

My favorites are the khopesh and katana. Katana are just beautifully designed and nice to look at. I like the khopesh because not only is it also nice to look at, it was specifically designed to both slash and stab.

And the katar is supremely badass.

I don’t own any swords, but I am hoping that I can get around to knife-making.

Nice. What metal did you use?

I’m guessing tool-grade steel :)
So you took a course, then?

That does not detract from the fact that you MADE a KNIFE.

That’s not a knife.

That’s a knife.

(Quotes aside, pretty cool that you made a knife.)

And with the template, the girl holding the knife has one that looks a lot like yours.
EDIT
Made no sense.
Uh.
On the page, the girl holding the knife has one that looks like your knife. Are the templates all the same?

As far as swords are concerned, you cannot possibly go more badass than Arabic swords. Those things are awesomeness embodied. Behold:

http://www.wreckamovie.com/system/shot_medias/0000/0629/arab1l.jpg
http://lh4.ggpht.com/AbaAba123/RkGfQO0KSYI/AAAAAAAAAN0/dfQiBN1TpxM/s400/023+-+Armory+Swords.JPG
http://mediterraneancraftsgiftshop.com/Artiz%20Sword%20Imam%20Ali.JPG (oops, big file)
http://arabicpicture.net/data/media/106/nn.jpg

<3

I don’t think that the Arabic swords are supremely badass… they’re just not me.

The only reason for the slit that I could possibly think of is catching your opponents blade. >.<

Ah.
I’d do something more curvy: like Aragorn’s dagger.

I really wish I had the money to waste on real swords, and I wish I had the money and could be bothered to learn how to use lots of different types of swords efficiently *accidentally sends sword flying into family member*

My favourite sword iz teh MASTERSWORD!!!!! And after that, teh KEYBLADE THINGY from kingdom hearts. A friend has one and the "blade" is fuck tons heavy. But no they aren't really my favourite swords. Cloud's sword from FFVII that splits apart is cool, too.

As for real swords, katanas are fairly awesome. I watch a reasonable amount of anime/manga where I see them a lot.

@ Kyllorac, I know about Katars but don't quite understand how they work. Don't they somehow open up a bit when you squeeze the handles or something?I really want to see a diagram or video showing exactly how it works. Do you know where I can find this information?

That does not detract from the fact that you MADE a KNIFE.

Yep, Jeni is now the perfect woman.

The only reason for the slit that I could possibly think of is catching your opponents blade. >.<

It’s to make the sword lighter and more balanced.

I’d do something more curvy: like Aragorn’s dagger.

Blades are like women; the curvier the better.

Um, I think it’s a cavalry thing. If you charge at an infantryman and swing at him with a straight sword, it will get stuck in his body, but a curved blade allows the sword to sort of slide off. I’m not too sure about this one, really.

Yep, Jeni is now the perfect woman.

I smell a ship!

<<
>>

You grip them and punch people.^^ :D

Just that. I do remember hearing about variations that would widen/had additional blades that stuck out so you couldn’t pull it out without doing a ton of damage, but I can’t find any info on them.

I just thought about it and one of the reason curved blades are inferior is because they can´t stab, which can be important against armoured opponents, by making a split you don´t really give up much of your cutting edge but it does allow you to stab if necessary.

Who says curved swords can’t stab?

@DrAllingator – Thank you! I feel so educated right now!

Wouldn’t the third one from the left be really, really inconvenient for actual fighting? I’m not the most well-read on swords, but I’m trying to imagine a fight with that.

The ‘Fang Fa’ sword is awesome.

Oh. That makes sense.

@ Fututre Devin: When it comes to techniques, I like the jian best. Impractical, but undeniably beautiful.

wait, what? the Chinese straight sword is extremely practical. The techniques are hidden in the form, but they’re definitely practical and effective. Remember, these techniques and forms were developed at a time when practicing traditional kung fu was illegal (a rule enfoced by the invading Manchurians, who had taken over), so they had to develop fighting techniques that didn’t look like fighting. But don’t ever underestimate the effectiveness of the weapons forms, or even the empty-handed forms.

Some of the most effective assassins in the world were the Peking Opera players, who disguised their fighting arts as stageplay and dance, and assassinated Manchurian generals with a variety of hidden weapons and techniques. Just because you can’t see how it works, doesn’t mean it doesn’t.

That being said… this counts as a sword, right? Mmm. Gonna get me one of them eventually.

EDIT: sorry for the doublepost.

Fair enough, Devin. Yeah, those Wushu forms are strictly demonstration only. Not to mention those aluminium swords would shatter or bend backwards rather the pierce flesh (as they’re meant to, for safety within the competition). The traditional forms are the practical ones.

Órale... there are some swords that I didn't know. O.O

As for my favourite sword, I can definitely say it's this one:

http://img30.imageshack.us/i/claymore7.jpg/

A gift for my 19th birthday. =D

These:

!http://www.thearma.org/essays/3hnds.jpeg!

@SWQ:

It's just for display... maybe some day I'll try to find some place for fencing classes, and I want to have some practice with a Claymore. I think it's been said to be one of the most difficult to handle.

Rapiers, by a pretty wide margin. Katanas are cool too.

Blades are like women; the curvier the better.

I agree.

Also – what kind of axe do you have, Nate?
I like double-bladed battle-axes (the type that nearly all dwarves in fantasy use, when they’re not using hammers), because they look badass. But I’m not familiar with how funcional and practical they might be.

double-bladed axes do not exist outside of fantasy.

I had a suspicion, but I couldn’t prove it.
thanks, Taku.

Secondly, physics dictates that the smaller the striking area, the greater the concentration of force and therefore the more effective the attack.

But this only counts for the edge of a blade, right? Because, as far as I know, absurdly sharp tips (on swords, daggers, spears, what have you) may look cool and all, but they’re very inefficient IRL.

Axes were largely a concentration of blunt force along a single ridge, designed to break armour and bones more than anything else.

So they basically used it to beat their opponents senseless while drawing a little bit of blood, as opposed to swords, which they used to stab their guts out?

You look at pretty much any battle-type axe in the world, from the Vikings to the French to the Chinese to the South Americans to the Pacific Islanders, and they are comparatively blunt, small-headed heavy weapons with long chopping techniques. And the vast majority are single-headed.

Yeah, I’ve seen a couple of those. Especially those used by the Vikings.

That was pretty interesting, thanks.
Reason I asked was because a couple of years ago I drew a comic series where most of the heroes used a double-bladed axe (or two!) every now and again.

Swords started out as big iron rods, unsharpened clobbering sticks. Someone made a flat one, and it was rather more effective at clobbering than a round one.

I will never forget the JLA episode where Superman gets stuck in a distant future and has to survive without powers for a while. He makes a fire and then forges a katana-esque sword… out of a tyre iron. Awesome.

The sharper a blade is, the easier it is to chip or break it. No sword in the world (not even a katana) is supposed to be surgically sharp, because the edge would only last for one of two big hacks.

I already knew that. I also know that the sharper a blade is, the more skilled you have to be to handle it. There’s a book out there where the Gary Stu of a hero starts out as a farmboy or whatever (how original!) and then, when he gets the Call to become Our Hero, someone gives him the sharpest sword in the universe. IRL he would accidentally hack himself up with that thing before he ever gets the chance to kill even one mook.

Although you have to remember, everything evolved from clubs.

Except knives. Knives evolved out of small rocks.

Swinging a small-headed axe over your shoulder at high speed produces rather a bit more than six pounds of force.

So we’re talking broken armour, a shallow but painful cut at the point of impact, broken bones and lots of soft tissue injuries and internal bleeding in the surrounding area?

If it’s Plate it’ll just make one heck of a racket and slide off, possibly breaking your weapon.

You sure?
It won’t dent inwards and injure the person wearing it?

That’s true. Against plate, the best weapon is one with a lot of stopping power that doesn’t chip or break easily. Hence, a big solid ball of iron on a stick, sometimes with spikes in.

Admittedly, the spikes are a later invention. Again, someone combined the idea of concentration of force with the idea of a huge crushing weight, and put them together. When the spikes kept snapping off or blunting, the flanged mace was developed, which is essentially a series of blunt swords welded together in a heavy circle.

Although, again, this idea evolved from an even earlier weapon: clubs. Same concept, stronger material.

If you can get both form and function go for it. ; )

Hence, a big solid ball of iron on a stick, sometimes with spikes in.

Also, I read somewhere that in medieval times they put wax or something on a mace’s head. Apparently that could penetrate plate armour.

There was once a time when asking your son to wax your spiky balls wasn’t incestuous.

Nice. I lolled.

The huge, deeply curved swords that the Arabians used – were those sabres or scimitars?

There’s a bunch of different scimitars from the region. The Persians had the shamshir, the Turks has their kilij, teh Arabs had a saif, the Indians had a talwar, the Afghans has a pulwar, the Moroccans had a nimcha, and the Eastern Europeans has their own styles, including the Polish szabla, the Armenian ordynka, and so on. They all varied in terms of curvature, length and weight.

The ridiculously curved swords that you see in old movies set in Arabia are fictional, as far as I have been able to find.

This is a pretty accurate sample. The curved ‘eagle head’ handle is pretty typical of the design, but not unique to it.

And there are differing theories about how they were held, as well. Most movies etc. show them held in the traditional manner of a European sword (that is, the ‘long’ grip), but other documents suggest the blade was held ice-pick (or tonfa) style against the forearm (the ‘short’ grip).

And no, Klutor. Pretty much no sword is strong enough to cut a head clean off, unless the neck is stationary against a solid area (like a chopping block). A cavalry-wielded saif could slice your neck clean through to the bone, perhaps, but the spine and muscle tends to stop most bladed weapons. Axes are better at head-chopping, but if there’s any space at all for backward movement or dispersal of force, t5hey’re not going to go all the way through.

Besides, one doesn’t need to make massive killing blows like than when the same effect can be achieved with a thin slice across the carotid. Battle-wounds should always be minimalistic and efficient. Make the smallest cut that still kills them. Anything more and you’rer wasting your time and energy.

Swinging the blades around like Riddick does with his knives (that’s how I picture it, anyway)...

No, more like if you were trying to elbow them in the face. And I apologise, I misremembered that video. Dug it up just for you, though. :)

execution-style, any heavy sharp blade will do the trick, given enough force and momentum. I’m sure a saif would manage.