How did they measure sword blades?

Helleri · 2nd May 2016, 02:00 AM

Thinking about it more. the easiest measurement to get regarding along a curvature, would be to hold a the base of a blade against the edge of a flat surface (like a table) and roll the blade along it's edge to the tip. Then simply mark where the tip is from the edge of the flat surface. This would trace the curvature of the object along the flat surface perfectly as long as you didn't pull or push the blade. It would be easy to get a distance you could mark and then measure for mean distance between the tip and bade like this as well.

You would only find on issue with this method when getting to measuring the spine. And I have yet to find a way to measure a spine that isn't either involved or prone to errors and inconsistency. It's not an easy measurement to take compared to others. I would think that if you had to say which way of measuring it is least useful and least important. It would be measuring long the spine. Not just because it's a cumbersome and sometime annoying thing to do. But because it gives you the least valuable information. The curvature obviously matters most at the edge. As does the length of cutting edge that there is. And the reach matters. But the curve of the back side? Not really.

estcrh · 3rd May 2016, 05:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helleri

Thinking about it more. the easiest measurement to get regarding along a curvature, would be to hold a the base of a blade against the edge of a flat surface (like a table) and roll the blade along it's edge to the tip. Then simply mark where the tip is from the edge of the flat surface. This would trace the curvature of the object along the flat surface perfectly as long as you didn't pull or push the blade.

I used this method on a sword with quite a bit of curve, the pulwar below has a measurement of 29.25 inches (74.29 cm) when measured across the blade tip to were the cutting edge meets the point of the langet, when using your method of rolling the blade on a flat surface from the point of the langet to the blade tip I got a measurement of 31.25 inches (79.39 cm).

2nd May 2016, 02:00 AM	#1
Helleri Member Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Chino, CA. Posts: 219	Thinking about it more. the easiest measurement to get regarding along a curvature, would be to hold a the base of a blade against the edge of a flat surface (like a table) and roll the blade along it's edge to the tip. Then simply mark where the tip is from the edge of the flat surface. This would trace the curvature of the object along the flat surface perfectly as long as you didn't pull or push the blade. It would be easy to get a distance you could mark and then measure for mean distance between the tip and bade like this as well. You would only find on issue with this method when getting to measuring the spine. And I have yet to find a way to measure a spine that isn't either involved or prone to errors and inconsistency. It's not an easy measurement to take compared to others. I would think that if you had to say which way of measuring it is least useful and least important. It would be measuring long the spine. Not just because it's a cumbersome and sometime annoying thing to do. But because it gives you the least valuable information. The curvature obviously matters most at the edge. As does the length of cutting edge that there is. And the reach matters. But the curve of the back side? Not really.