Fernando: Thanks for the cue
kronckew
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Originally Posted by kronckew
question: how sharp would a rapier edge have been during their heyday? or would the be left dull, as the point was the more important?
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I don't think that we can do any better than guess because if we see an unusually sharp antique rapier we would not know when it was so sharpened, and here we have to remember that even the end of the rapier era was over 300yrs ago, so a lot could have have been done to a sword in that time. And the bulk of the swords in collections are quite dull, but this may be no more than the work of the centuries
But given that rapier blades had little percussive effect, if they were expected to do any real cutting, they better be very sharp. I think that dueling sabres and schlagers offer us a decent clue because they fairly well replicate a slender bladed rapier, and these were kept extremely sharp.
Cheers
Chris
PS Nice replica rapier. How long is its blade?