- Joined
- Mar 5, 1999
- Messages
- 34,096
BigBob emailed me the test and sent the pix which I finally got scanned this AM.
Pretty decent report!
=========================================
Back at the end of October I took my falcata outside
for some testing. I did three tests with it:
Stabbing a cardboard box, slicing hanging soda
bottles, and chopping on a kevlar helmet.
My first test was mainly to see how well and accurate
the falcata would thrust. I set up a cardboard box as
my target.
I did several one-step thrusts into the red rectangle.
A few times, I quickly drew the falcata from its
scabbard and then thrusted. I found the falcata to be
a good stabber. It had a good feel for a thruster,
thanks to Anton's model design.
The second test would pit the falcata against some
hanging water-filled soda bottles. This would test
the falcata's slicing ability. I started off with one
bottle as a warmup. I gave the falcata a swing, and
here is the result:
I hit it lower than I had intended to, but I was very
pleased nonetheless. The falcata sailed right through
it, slicing the bottom out cleanly and effortlessly.
I then decided to see how it would do against two
bottles. I lined them up side by side and gave the
falcata another swing.
The falcata went through the Dr. Thunder bottle first,
slicing completely through cleanly. It sliced cleanly
halfway or more through the Diet Pepsi bottle before
breaking tearing the rest of the way through. I was
very impressed by my falcata's performance. It sliced
very well considering its relatively thick cross
section.
My last test was on a balistic kevlar helmet that I
had bought three or four months back. I set the
helmet up on the end of a log that was braced between
the foundation of my former chicken house and my
woodpile, as shown below.
My first chop was fairly light. I wanted to see if
the helmet would give easily. It deflected my blade
some. I took a few more chops are it, full strength.
My aim was a bit off and the helmet's design caused my
blows to deflect some. The helmet seemed to suck a
lot of the momentum out of my blows as well. Here was
the final result:
The blade folded in two places, one near the recurve
where the folding was only about one mm deep, and the
other in the sweet spot area where the folds were
about two mms. If you look closely you might be able
to make out the two spots. I struck the helmet at a
lower angle with the sweet spot area than the recurve
(in fact my strike with the recurve was pretty much 90
degrees), so that's most likely why the damage to the
sweet spot was slightly worse. The falcata folded but
didn't chip, which is the type of damage most of us
would rather have, since you wouldn't have to grind
off steel to restore a folded edge like you would a
chipped edge. I did do some grinding, but that is
mainly do to impatience and not having a clamp to aid
in holding knives and swords (something I can get for
Christmas
). The falcata penetrated into the
helmet slightly further than the edge was folded and
the helmet was damaged in three places while the
falcata was damaged in only two, so I would say that
the falcata came out slightly ahead. The helmet was
designed to protect a soldier from mortar, grenade,
and shell shrapnel, so that was probably the reason
it seemed to take most of the momentum out of my
chops. Since the helmet was made from material with
similar strength to steel and the falcata is not a
khukuri, some damage was expected. Since the material
of the helmet was comparable to steel in terms of
strength, I would hazard a guess that a similar amount
of damage to the blade would have occurred with a more
traditional steel helmet, though the falcata might
have penetrated through it more.
One note of interest was that the handle came through
the chopping as good as the day I received it. The
handle held up without cracking or coming loose.
All in all I'm pleased with how my falcata came
through. Thanks to Anton's model, it is a versatile
weapon, offering great thrusting and slicing along
with the more obvious chopping potential. The
ballistic helmet was a severe test, so some damage was
expected.
*****
I took the falcata outside and did some light chopping
on a seasoned log with several sections of the blade.
The blade held up fine while biting relatively deep,
so it was hardened right. I don't believe bad karma
was involved. The most damage came from me hitting
the helmet too low as that would place the most stress
on a blade, especially a thin one. As I said above,
the helmet was design with shrapnel in mind, so the
composition was the reason the falcata didn't
penetrate too far as I was swinging full strength on
the last two chops and the falcata did so well with
the bottles and the light chopping.
Bob
Pretty decent report!
=========================================
Back at the end of October I took my falcata outside
for some testing. I did three tests with it:
Stabbing a cardboard box, slicing hanging soda
bottles, and chopping on a kevlar helmet.
My first test was mainly to see how well and accurate
the falcata would thrust. I set up a cardboard box as
my target.
I did several one-step thrusts into the red rectangle.
A few times, I quickly drew the falcata from its
scabbard and then thrusted. I found the falcata to be
a good stabber. It had a good feel for a thruster,
thanks to Anton's model design.
The second test would pit the falcata against some
hanging water-filled soda bottles. This would test
the falcata's slicing ability. I started off with one
bottle as a warmup. I gave the falcata a swing, and
here is the result:
I hit it lower than I had intended to, but I was very
pleased nonetheless. The falcata sailed right through
it, slicing the bottom out cleanly and effortlessly.
I then decided to see how it would do against two
bottles. I lined them up side by side and gave the
falcata another swing.
The falcata went through the Dr. Thunder bottle first,
slicing completely through cleanly. It sliced cleanly
halfway or more through the Diet Pepsi bottle before
breaking tearing the rest of the way through. I was
very impressed by my falcata's performance. It sliced
very well considering its relatively thick cross
section.
My last test was on a balistic kevlar helmet that I
had bought three or four months back. I set the
helmet up on the end of a log that was braced between
the foundation of my former chicken house and my
woodpile, as shown below.
My first chop was fairly light. I wanted to see if
the helmet would give easily. It deflected my blade
some. I took a few more chops are it, full strength.
My aim was a bit off and the helmet's design caused my
blows to deflect some. The helmet seemed to suck a
lot of the momentum out of my blows as well. Here was
the final result:
The blade folded in two places, one near the recurve
where the folding was only about one mm deep, and the
other in the sweet spot area where the folds were
about two mms. If you look closely you might be able
to make out the two spots. I struck the helmet at a
lower angle with the sweet spot area than the recurve
(in fact my strike with the recurve was pretty much 90
degrees), so that's most likely why the damage to the
sweet spot was slightly worse. The falcata folded but
didn't chip, which is the type of damage most of us
would rather have, since you wouldn't have to grind
off steel to restore a folded edge like you would a
chipped edge. I did do some grinding, but that is
mainly do to impatience and not having a clamp to aid
in holding knives and swords (something I can get for
Christmas
). The falcata penetrated into thehelmet slightly further than the edge was folded and
the helmet was damaged in three places while the
falcata was damaged in only two, so I would say that
the falcata came out slightly ahead. The helmet was
designed to protect a soldier from mortar, grenade,
and shell shrapnel, so that was probably the reason
it seemed to take most of the momentum out of my
chops. Since the helmet was made from material with
similar strength to steel and the falcata is not a
khukuri, some damage was expected. Since the material
of the helmet was comparable to steel in terms of
strength, I would hazard a guess that a similar amount
of damage to the blade would have occurred with a more
traditional steel helmet, though the falcata might
have penetrated through it more.
One note of interest was that the handle came through
the chopping as good as the day I received it. The
handle held up without cracking or coming loose.
All in all I'm pleased with how my falcata came
through. Thanks to Anton's model, it is a versatile
weapon, offering great thrusting and slicing along
with the more obvious chopping potential. The
ballistic helmet was a severe test, so some damage was
expected.
*****
I took the falcata outside and did some light chopping
on a seasoned log with several sections of the blade.
The blade held up fine while biting relatively deep,
so it was hardened right. I don't believe bad karma
was involved. The most damage came from me hitting
the helmet too low as that would place the most stress
on a blade, especially a thin one. As I said above,
the helmet was design with shrapnel in mind, so the
composition was the reason the falcata didn't
penetrate too far as I was swinging full strength on
the last two chops and the falcata did so well with
the bottles and the light chopping.
Bob
