Don't really have a lot of handling experience with any real swords or have any specific comparisons just a general idea of weight and blade thickness comparison.
You are a cautious man, lol
I was testing to see if you thought that European swords were heavy clunkers and Japanese swords could cut through oak trees in a single stroke.
Properly made swords, in general, are light, well balanced and made for a single purpose only - for combat against other humans. This goes for both European and Japanese swords. Unlike a knife, which can be used in combat and also for mundane tasks, a sword is a weapon and nothing else.
Guess I was just wondering if they could actually be classified as swords.
No, I would classify them as overly-large knives.
It does bring up another question that I have been wondering though. No doubt the Khukuri has a great deal of chopping power, but it seems that in longer lengths it would be slower and more clumbsy than other curved swords. Most all swords/sabres are curved the opposite way. There must be some reason that most all cultures have gone this way in a sword. It seems that in a strike that a curved sword would allow follow through or would flow through the target, whereas a Khukuri shaped blade that did not go all the way through would catch and require someone to retract the blade and follow up much like chopping wood (yes I know that it would only take one strike like this to end a confrontation but just for the sake of arguement). Seems like I read somewhere too, that in the Civil War sabres were left dull so that they would not stick in the target (similiar result?). In shorter lengths it would seem that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, but in sword lengths?
In sword lengths, a forward curving blade will almost always be slower and more clumsy than a blade which is not forward curving, assuming the weights and blade lengths are approx. equal. However, the big advantage is the one-hit kill.
My preference is for a lighter, more versatile sword like a 15th C. bastard sword, or a light katana, which can be used to cut and thrust. A Kora is cut only (actually, more like chop only) and would be relatively clumsy compared to my preferred choices. Basically, if you miss, you're dead. Even if you do hit, your dying opponent could still skewer you with his own blade.
