Fig. 114.—Scymitar.
Fig. 115.—Claymore.
The superiority of the curved blade for cutting purposes is easily proved. In every cut the edge meets its object at some angle, and the penetrating portion becomes a wedge. But this wedge is not disposed at right angles with the Sword: the angle is more or less oblique according to the curvature, and consequently it cuts with an acuter edge. The accompanying figures of a ‘scymitar’ and a claymore, both trenchant blades, prove that, were the edge to describe a right line (A B) directed at any object (C), it would act as a wedge (D), measuring exactly the breadth of the blade. But the curve throws the edge more forward, and thus the ‘half-weak’ acts like a wedge (E), which is longer and consequently more acute, the extreme thickness (that of the back or base) being a fixed measure. Similarly, by cutting still nearer the ‘weak’ or point, the increased curvature gives a more prolonged and acuter cuneiform (F). Comparing the three sections of the same blade (D E F), which differ only in the angle at which the edge is supposed to meet the obstacle, we see the enormous gain of cutting power.
The difference between the direct and the oblique cut is still better shown by the annexed diagram: ‘Let A B C D (fig. 116) represent the portion of a Sword-blade, of which A B is the edge and C D the back, measuring about one-eighth of an inch in thickness. Now, if the object to be cut through is presented to the blade at right angles to the edge, as shown by arrow No. 1, then the section of the blade with which the cut is to be effected will be as represented in the triangular section F E G (fig. 117). But if the object be presented to the blade obliquely, as shown by arrow No. 2, then the section along the line of the cut will be as represented by the angle C E K. It will readily be seen that in the latter case the acuteness of the angle at E is greatly increased, whilst the substance is the same as in the other case. To effect this it is the custom in many parts of the East to strike with a drawing cut, but the same purpose is secured by bending the blade backwards: the curve itself presents the edge obliquely to the object without entailing the necessity of imparting a drawing motion to the stroke.’[438]
Fig. 116.
Fig. 117.
Par parenthèse, it is this drawing motion which, added to the curve of the weapon and its oblique presentation, increases the trenchant power. The ‘Talwár,’ or half-curved sabre of Hindustan, cuts as though it were four times as broad and only one-fourth the thickness of the straight blade. But the ‘drawing-cut’ has the additional advantage of deepening the wound and of cutting into the bone. Hence men of inferior strength and stature used their blades in a manner that not a little astonished and disgusted our soldiers in the Sind and Sikh campaigns.