Broad-Sword and Single-Stick / With Chapters on Quarter-Staff, Bayonet, Cudgel, Shillalah, Walking-Stick, Umbrella and Other Weapons of Self-Defence

by Baron Rowland George Allanson-Winn Headley; Clive Phillipps-Wolley

We may, I think, assume that, on the whole, the thumb held at the back of the hilt gives, in the case of a very light sword, an advantage in speed, especially with short quick cuts and points.

Turning to the heavy sabre used by the cavalry of this and other countries, we observe that to keep the thumb on the back of the hilt would lead to constant sprains. No man is strong enough to wield with effect a blade weighing about two and a half pounds and measuring little short of three feet—thirty-five inches is the regulation length of the British cavalry sabre—unless he holds it as indicated in [Fig. 17].

Fig. 17.—Grip for the heavy sabre.

Most cuts made with the heavy sword are more sweeping in their nature, more “swinging,” so to speak, than the short quick cuts which can be effected with the lighter and more handy weapon; indeed, it is only to be expected that the weight of the blade and length of the sweep should give great force to the sabre; but it must not be forgotten that what is thus gained in power is lost in speed, and that in nine cases out of ten a well-directed “point” would be immeasurably superior both in speed and effect than the most sweeping cut.

Such very different weapons are required to be thoroughly effective in different circumstances. A light, thin-bladed sword, though admirable for a man on foot, would not be of nearly so much use to a cavalry man, whose slashing cut through shield or helmet renders weight an absolute necessity. The light blade might be brought to bear with all the speed and force of the strongest man, but would be of no avail in those cases where hard, dense, and heavy substances have to be cut through.

A fly may dash against a pane of plate-glass with the utmost speed and yet fail to break the glass; but a cricket-ball thrown with a tenth part of the velocity will smash the window to pieces. This is only an analagous case, which indicates very fully the existence of the two factors in the vis-viva necessary to produce a certain result.

If you get your blade too light it will not be serviceable for heavy-cutting work, whatever the speed of the cut; and if you get the blade too heavy, it will be impossible to use it effectively on account of its weight.

Everything depends upon what a sword is expected to do; and in selecting a blade this cannot be too carefully borne in mind.