The Secret Of The Persian Shamshir

[Ian]

Hi Roland:

Thank you for starting this interesting discussion. It could go in a number of directions, but I hope we can pursue some of the science of sword use, as suggested nicely by Kai. I've not seen much engineering analysis of sword performance along the lines you describe. About the closest I've come is the physics of a baseball bat hitting a ball. Ten years ago I came across a small monograph on the topic of bat on ball, but I seem to have mislaid it. Perhaps someone else has seen it. It had a nice discussion of the forces in play and how these contributed to distortion of the shape of the ball and how far it traveled. It talked about the percussion point as being an important consideration of how effective the bat would be when connecting with the ball.

We had quite a lengthy discussion here in the past on a similar subject.

Your professional expertise is most welcome.

Ian.