Omani Sayf/Saif

[TVV]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

As we have discussed, the blades on the ceremonial versions were much lighter and more flexible , while the versions of these swords worn in a status oriented fashion were typically mounted with the heavier broadsword blades of trade blade type.

Jim, in my experience, trade blades are all quite light and flexible. This refers not only to those mounted with a conical hilt in Oman, but also to takoubas, kaskaras, firangis, etc. All of them are more or less the same - they tend to be relatively long, thin and quite springy, which is all a function of them being made of post Industrial Revolution modern steel and fully tempered. The ability to mass produce them made them affordable and popular in a lot of places, where they replaced traditional shorter and thicker blades. It is hard to base an argument about functionality on whether a blade is stiff or flexible, because stiff and flexible blades have been used throughout history and they both have their advantages and drawbacks.