Cold Steel, it's up to you to invent the modern sword.

Wow nice topic. I've often though that it would great to have a usable, functional sword made with modern materials like a lot of companies have already done with knives, machetes and tomahawks.

There must not be a market for strong, full tang sword with good steel and synthetic handle material if not more companies are making them. Condor has a thick katana style sword with micarta handles. Even if you aren't into zombie apocalypse stuff, don't let the Zombie Tool name discourage you. Their blade shapes are solid, even if you aren't into the post apocalypse look. They make videos showing their blades slicing through rows of beer cans and hacking through car hoods. These blades do cost hundreds of dollars though. When I Googled tactical sword I saw a lot of junk but also some nice modern designs. When I think of a modern sword I picture a wide and thick single edge blade about 2 feet long with a handle that can be used single or double handed.
 
Other than the fact that I don't understand the logic of a "modern sword" as swords have been long dead for centuries, unless you live in a TWC. I'm not sure if you are implying that a company should make a sword that is intended for actual "modern" use, or if you are implying that, if swords were around today, that a company should produce them in a way that will take on a design of current knives we see around, for collective purposes; which deems more appropriate to me.
I'm sure those designs are already being produced, but are not being produced with the materials that you specified
 
Freak, that's an awesome design! That's what I was thinking modern materials, g10 handles but functional. Very cool concept.
 
Kershaws said:
Other than the fact that I don't understand the logic of a "modern sword" as swords have been long dead for centuries, unless you live in a TWC.
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IMO a modern sword would be:

- Made of modern materials. For example a khopesh with a 5160 blade and micarta handle instead of a bronze blade and acacia wood handle.

- Have a design adapted in such a way that is more than just a weapon. It should be also useful as a tool in some fashion. Having said that, the common machete pretty much IS a modern sword. It's adapted from the cutlass but is one of the all around best tools for survivalism or plain old agricultural work. It's also a dandy weapon; just ask the Rwandans, Colombians, and Cubans.
 
Wolf_1989 said:
Zombie Tools. I have their Hellion falcata and I really dig it. IMO it's my idea of a near-perfect modern sword, even though it's actually ancient in origin. Fast, agile, very rugged, and the cutting power is very good.
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Damn... You Said it. I find ZT to be just that, tools of mayhem an destruction for the average Joe and I love their design. they have an intimidation factor that will deter most people. A novice swordsman/kendoka or whatever weapons martial artist can out-skill the average person. That's why i build me a spear :D.
 
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kleonikos said:
they have an intimidation factor that will deter most people.
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The swords are nice and all, but I have to ask...deter them from what, exactly? Attacking you on the street or in your home? I suppose you're right, they might well deter someone. Of course, unless they are carrying a gun, a $15 18 inch machete would deter them just as well...and if they are carrying a gun, well, I'm sure we've all seen what happened when the Arab swordsman met Indiana Jones.

If you like the ZT swords and wanna get one, get it cause it's cool, not cause it's a "deterrent". You can get much cheaper deterrents. I mean, if you and me had some kinda beef with each other, and you thought you might get all up in my face and start something, would you be so quick to do it if I had this Condor Golok in hand and looked ready to use it?:

condor-ctk410-14hcs-golok-machete.jpg
 
I guess this thread is as good as any other to procrastinate with, so here goes . . .

The sword as a viable weapon had a resurgence in the battlefield in the 18h and 19h centuries when firearms could reliably penetrate armor. So the better guns got, the more swords came back. Until reliable repeaters, of course. So now, no more swords. But if you have to design one anew, from scratch, I think it would look like something we've already come up with: We're at the pinnacle of firearms development, really, so any space left for edged weapon development has already been filled because not much has changed since the 1911 or maybe the Hi-Power (with the exception of the polymers of the Glock). [HUGELY debatable, I know, but that's my stand on the topic of small arms and I won't spend too much time on it.]

I have to agree with the machete comment, above. There are some heavy machetes out there, so I'd be thinking the CS cutlass machete would do the job. My CS sax machete is a brute! But the CS 1917 cutlass would be my choice for "modern sword," as the steel is thicker. It's shorter than a late medieval/early modern battlefield sword would be, and is therefore easily carried and used in confined spaces. The drawcuts of the curved blade will cause an opponent to bleed out quickly if a major artery is cut (e.g. brachial, femoral, and carotid), the thrusts of the clip point will destroy internal organs (e.g. liver, lungs, heart), and the weight of the blade, if it isn't lopping off limbs, will cause percussive damage along the lines of a heavy baton (knockout blows to the crown of the head). The semi-basket hilt will make a good pummeling weapon as well as cover the hand against return cuts or blows from a stick or baton. It is, in short, the perfect "modern sword," developed firmly in the modern era to be carried shipboard by modern sailors and Marines ("modern" here meaning anything in the post-industrial world).

Don't like the steel of CS's 1917 cutlass? OK, make it out of something you do like. But it's pretty much ready to go for swordy-type combat. I guess I'd like to see whether a thrust would penetrate chain mail. Or Kevlar. Then it would really be up-to-date!

Zieg
 
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