Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
As we have discussed, the blades on the ceremonial versions were much lighter and more flexible , while the versions of these swords worn in a status oriented fashion were typically mounted with the heavier broadsword blades of trade blade type.
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Jim, in my experience, trade blades are all quite light and flexible. This refers not only to those mounted with a conical hilt in Oman, but also to takoubas, kaskaras, firangis, etc. All of them are more or less the same - they tend to be relatively long, thin and quite springy, which is all a function of them being made of post Industrial Revolution modern steel and fully tempered. The ability to mass produce them made them affordable and popular in a lot of places, where they replaced traditional shorter and thicker blades. It is hard to base an argument about functionality on whether a blade is stiff or flexible, because stiff and flexible blades have been used throughout history and they both have their advantages and drawbacks.