Rounded points on European Swords

[Jim McDougall]

Outstanding responses guys!!! Thank you soo much. I was thinking also that the slashing potential would be the purpose, and I know that at least in the Omani case, their swordplay consisted of slashing movements.

I always thought it was curious to see long, narrow arming swords for cavalry that I thought were primarily for thrusting with this feature. The walloon sword that Fernando posted, as I mentioned, prompted this question, and I found numerous other instances of these rounded blades.

Fearn, thank you for noting that interesting perspective on the long tip likelihood of lodging in the target, and it is one I had not heard of. That would certainly be a concern for cavalry as their key fundamental is movement.

All best regards,
Jim

[Queequeg]

Jim,

I have a few books on swords which mention "Executioner's Swords", used for beheading criminals. All of them look like longswords with rounded tips. That seems to have been the standard design for them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executioner%27s_sword

[fernando]

Within my ignorance and in a broad interpretation, apart from the slashing reasoning already exposed, i would say that the acute point in a blade can only cause hazardous situations, both to the owner and to his neighbours ... as also to itself, as passive of easy damage. Besides, if your foe doesn't have a cuirasse, you still can perforate his body with a rounded blade point, providing you use minimum technique ... right ?
Even there are various degrees of rounded points; this other sword i once posted, a Spanish colonial specimen, also has a rounded tip, like others from the same family, although not so dramaticaly domed, like the Walloon.

Fernando

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[fearn]

Hi Fernando,

An acute tip is absolutely necessary for a good thrust. Think about the armor-piercing weapons we see, starting with the flyssa and going from there. To pierce a surface, especially an armored surface, you need to have a spike. The harder and tougher the surface is, the more important tip geometry is, and the more important that force is transmitted properly. Otherwise the tip won't penetrate.

There's an informal discussion of this on www.thearma.org, titled There is no best sword.

Jim and all,

I remembered another reason for rounded tips. Since I'm making the pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving this year, today is when I start by chopping the pumpkins up (I cook from scratch, thank you). Just for kicks, I decided to use my nice sirupati kukri (from Himalayan Imports, and not an antique). As I was sharpening it, I remembered the other thing tips are good for.

On a kukri, the major cutting surface, and the only part of the edge that is hardened, is the sweet spot a few inches back from the tip. When chopping, you're never supposed to hit with the kukri tip, and the major use for the tip is to pull the sweet spot through the target.

Now kukri tips are generally sharp (although not hardened), but there's no particular reason for the tip to be sharp. We can argue that some swords have rounded tips because the tip is used to pull the sweet spot through, not to cut or stab. This could be proved defnitively by checking for differential hardening. If part of the edge (the sweet spot) is hardened, but the tip is not, then the smith designed it like a kukri.

Best,

F