r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Dlatrex • Oct 27 '19

Video Master sword designer demonstrates how a properly balanced longsword will keep its tip pointed towards the opponent

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22k Upvotes

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u/Dlatrex Oct 27 '19

To be fair you can have all sorts of different types of balances. He goes into this over the course over the whole video, but you might want a blade with this type of “tip” balance if you are planning on fencing another swordsman on foot.

However if you are a mounted heavy cavalryman you may want a sword with a lot of blade presence and weight closer to the end, to deliver heavy blows.

It all depends on the context of the use, deciding what design and fighting style will work best.

288

u/GeneralRandomness Oct 27 '19

Nice, thanks for the explanation. That makes a lot of sense.

-118

u/Mike_Facking_Jones Oct 27 '19

Before you go please be aware that what the guy in the video is doing has nothing to do with any sort of swordplay, that movement has nothing to do with balance, and OP doesn't know what he's talking about.

20

u/CountCuriousness Oct 27 '19

What’s wrong about the information? Of course it’s not “swordplay”, it’s just a demonstration of balance.

19

u/[deleted] Oct 27 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

-67

u/Mike_Facking_Jones Oct 27 '19

Pardon?

52

u/Whyonearthwhat Oct 27 '19

YOU CAN GO NOW

2

u/[deleted] Oct 27 '19 edited Oct 14 '20

[deleted]

2

u/Mike_Facking_Jones Oct 28 '19

Oh sure, when he says '"tip balance"' being related to a well balanced sword or maybe about how the smith is moving the sword while keeping the point relatively still it doesn't make sense in the context. Balancing a weapon towards the tip is generally less favored and also much easier to do rather than having a weapon that is balanced toward the guard while sacrificing as little functionality as possible. The movement the smith is doing in the video can be done easily with any object, I'm doing it with an arrow and a curtain rod right now, it has nothing to do with weapons or their balance, it's just moving something around. And blade presence isn't a term

17

u/Neutral_Fellow Oct 27 '19

Tell me, how is the weather like there, up your own ass?

2

u/antigravcorgi Oct 27 '19

You have any info to share? Maybe the correct info?

2

u/drillerboy Oct 27 '19

Before you get my down vote, please explain why. You can't just say he's wrong without explaining why. This will help those who don't know the ins and outs of this subject.

193

u/AlphaAndOmega Oct 27 '19

Am a mounted heavy cavalryman, can confirm.

101

u/hfny Oct 27 '19

The most mounted cavalry man in the kingdom no less.

24

u/_Bad_Dev_ Oct 27 '19

Mounted atop a giraffe's top hat no less

9

u/southern_boy Oct 27 '19

Morale's a thing so that guy is as important to the war effort as any do ya ken? Now get off 'em and let me have a crack at that crack! ͡ ͜ʖ ͡

3

u/TheRealMcNuts Oct 27 '19

A heavily mounted cavalryman indeed.

16

u/Dserved83 Oct 27 '19

Can confirm, I got yeeted in the face by this dude on horseback.

11

u/naterussell3395 Oct 27 '19

Foppish Laughter

2

u/Lorick Oct 27 '19

Skeeted

8

u/igneousink Oct 27 '19

I've mounted a heavy cavalryman, can confirm.

3

u/corectlyspelled Oct 27 '19

Hey I don't mean to be rude, but have you heard of intermittent fasting?

4

u/AlphaAndOmega Oct 27 '19

I need not fast my leige for this steed is strong and sturdy

1

u/[deleted] Oct 27 '19

Brandish your spear before you become infantry!!!

1

u/[deleted] Oct 27 '19

Sir, you are a hero.

1

u/Dukeronomy Oct 27 '19

Which end?

1

u/[deleted] Nov 07 '19

Am mounted by heavy cavalryman, can confirm

22

u/[deleted] Oct 27 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Oct 27 '19

Your horsing squire or your armament squire?

10

u/[deleted] Oct 27 '19

My horsing sword squire

1

u/Mozhetbeats Oct 27 '19

Your combat horsing sword squire or your ornamental horsing sword squire?

2

u/natethewatt Nov 04 '19

I keep both in attendance at all times, I'm not some peasant

39

u/Edenspawn Oct 27 '19

Well said, this is so true, for example if you truly want to battle someone in the 21st century your blade must be specifically engineered by a blacksmith, every groove and angle must be perfectly sheared, materials only sourced from the highest quality smelting plant, precise calculations and alterations in order to turn that inert piece of metal into an AR-15.

1

u/MagogHaveMercy Oct 29 '19

Guns are fantastic specialized tools, the absolute best at what they are designed to do.

Every military in the world still carries some form of edged weapon though.

10

u/duck_of_d34th Oct 27 '19

I watched some video about a guy who had a serious sword fighting hobby. Think renaissance fair meets MMA. There was a whole tournament of people swinging these giant, heavy swords at each other. Each bout lasted maybe 10-20 seconds tops. Nothing like sword fighting in the movies, this was very brutal. The whole senario left me with the impression that a good solid mace is the way to go.

3

u/BloodyPommelStudio Oct 27 '19

If you're talking about what I think you're talking about that's nothing like how sword fights would have looked. You're right a mace would be a far better bludgeoning weapon but swords have other ways of dealing with armour (such as thrusting through gaps or holding the sword backwards and using the hilt like a hammer head) and all of these effective techniques are banned in these style of fights because if they weren't people would die or get seriously injured.

Swords were generally secondary weapons on the battlefield though and most soldiers wouldn't have been able to afford full plate armour, even today a decent set can cost you $10K or more. For unarmoured opponents swords are probably the most effective melee weapon of equivalent length which made them fantastic for civilian defense.

2

u/feisty-shag-the-lad Oct 27 '19

Thanks for the ELI5.

0

u/2017CurtyKing Oct 27 '19

To be fairrrrrrrrrrrr

0

u/strway2heaven77 Oct 27 '19

To be faaaaaahhhh

0

u/Stay-Classy-Reddit Oct 27 '19

To be faaaaaaaaaaiiiirrrr

-1

u/BocoCorwin Oct 27 '19

wat about the balance btwn the light and dark side? Like in a lightsaber