How are swords still have a sharp edge after blocking so many direct slashes from a sharp tempered blade.
Imo sword should look like saws after even one session of blocking really anything made of metal.
In: 1711
Sword blades *were* damaged from use. However there are several factors that prevented them from turning into saws. The main reason as that blades tend to just dull or accrue relatively small nicks even when striking very hard surfaces. Even a particularly worn blade wouldn’t really look like a saw, it would break altogether before that.
Other factors explain why swords weren’t always ruined after a single battle. For one thing swords were predominantly used with a shield in most places for most of history which meant that the sword itself rarely received the punishment from defending against incoming blows. Usually the punishment they did take was from making attacks, however slashing at metal armor is generally pointlessly ineffective so aiming for less protected areas, often while thrusting, was the norm.
Also keep in mind that even when used to defend swords are ideally used to redirect the energy of the attack away rather than to statically absorb it which helps mitigate the abuse they take. This meant that swords wouldn’t necessarily take as much abuse as you might think even when used without a shield.
Another major limit to the damage blades sustained in battle is that in most places in most time periods swords were a sidearm, not a primary battlefield weapon (polearms and missile weapons filled that role). This meant that the swords were not typically used for the whole battle. Indeed a warrior carrying a sword may never draw it at all in a given battle.
Latest Answers