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Old 23rd December 2018, 12:23 PM   #11
fernando
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Location: Portugal
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Well one thing we may repute as certain; arcuate blades in such manner, wherever its fashion started, had no frontier limits. British had them, Spanish had them, Portuguese had them and, so it seems, the Russians also had a go at it.
Look at the example below; judging by its relative dimensions, its bow must be close from the 20 cms.
However apart from this exponential specimen, parabolic blades must have seen field use. We should not forget that, the blow applied by curved sabres wasn't necessarily the thrust but also the slash in that, the blade would describe a short and rapid semi circle, its arch intensifying the cutting effect; so says Eduardo Nobre in his book "As Armas e os Barões", where he adds that, the blade curvature could be at times so exaggerated that, when the soldier raised his armed arm up to his (left) shoulder, the sabre point would touch his opposite shoulder.


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