Timeline for Sword with mercury core
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jul 19, 2017 at 17:29 | comment | added | DukeZhou | The sword in question has no point, and is only used for cutting. (The questioner probably should have shared that tidbit.) Great answer otherwise! "Actual effectiveness in combat will depend on the training of the user." is a solid, practical assessment. | |
| Jul 28, 2016 at 2:17 | comment | added | Aify | @Random832 Except that you don't hold your sword like a baseball bat - A bat is swung once, then reset to the starting position before each swing, allowing the liquid to deposit at the bottom. In a sword fight, it's not only unlikely that you'll ever get the chance to reset your sword to a position where the liquid deposits at the bottom, you're more likely to keep your sword moving (which means that the centrifugal force will always keep the liquid at the tip of the weapon). | |
| Jul 28, 2016 at 2:06 | history | edited | Aify | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 608 characters in body
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| Jul 27, 2016 at 16:05 | comment | added | Random832 | @ckersch The implication of the design is that you gain some benefit from not having the weight focused at the tip at the start of the swing, and having it shift in time for the blow to connect. I've seen toy baseball bats that are filled with water that seem to use a similar principle. | |
| Jul 27, 2016 at 14:42 | comment | added | ckersch | @Falco If you're fighting with a style that only uses downward chopping blows from a weapon with its weight focused at the tip, you don't want a mercury-filled sword. You want an ax. | |
| Jul 27, 2016 at 12:37 | comment | added | Steve Jessop | Given the source, it's probably an executioner's blade rather than something specifically designed for combat. Book of the New Sun is kind of odd. We might as well compare it to a golf club as a thrusting weapon, in terms of effectiveness for what it's designed to do ;-) | |
| Jul 27, 2016 at 9:58 | comment | added | Falco | You are right it would be contra productive for thrusting, since the thrust would have less power and pulling back would cost extra work. - But you seem to ignore classical overhead downwards slashes, which feature prominently in several sword-fighting schools. - Even if the sword would only provide a benefit for downward slashes, it could be a viable weapon in these schools. | |
| Jul 27, 2016 at 4:37 | history | answered | Aify | CC BY-SA 3.0 |