Opinion Poll: How short can a sword be before it is knife?

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Pergatory

Joined
Aug 15, 2000
Messages
465
Just wondering what you guys think. I think around 16" a sword becomes or visa versa. So what is a 16" blade? a swife? a knord? Don't ask me. it's too early.

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"Never let your morals get in the way of doing what's right" -Hari Seldon, Foundation, -Aasimov
 
18"

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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
A short sword is variously agreed to be between 18" and 24" in length.

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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
As you will see if you read the thread referenced by N2S, there seems to be no satisfactory way to define the words Sword vs Knife. I guess you know them when you see them.
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Size matters, but that alone is insufficient. I think the best thing we came up with was that function is critical. Knives are tools that serve a utilitarian purpose, and also be used as weapons. Swords are weapons. Period.

Paracelsus
 
I've got a short sword with a 20" blade and a knife with a 19" blade. If you shortened the sword by 2" it would be shorter than the knife, but there's no way you would call the 18" short a knife, nor would you call the 19" knife a short sword. Like Paracelcus says, "Size matters, but that alone is insufficient." Hell, I saw a picture of a stiletto with a 3' handle and 3' blade, I still would call it a knife and not a sword.

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Jason aka medusaoblongata
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"Is not giving a need? Is not receiving mercy?" - Thus Spoke Zarathustra
"Cutting his throat is only a momentary pleasure and is bound to get you talked about." - Lazarus Long
"Knowledge is not made for understanding; it is made for cutting." - Michel Foucault
 
What's a short sword in my hand might look like a knife in Arnold Schwarzenegger's ...

Seriously, there are usually some design differences, but there should be tempering differences, too. Since a sword is made for impact, you would want a tougher blade, probably settling for a softer one than the corresponding knife.
 
This is coming out of a very foggy region of my brain, but I remember reading somewhere that the Japanese swordmaker's rule was that anything longer than the forearm was a sword, anything shorter was a tanto. I think they had an actual standard for this measurement that came out at around a 12" blade.

It's as good a standard as any other.
 
How about if it's pointed at him it's a knife, but, if it's pointed at you it's a sword. At least that what you will think it looks like.
 
Oh no
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...not only can we not define the word sword, but the word Tanto brings a whole new set of confusions. Steve, the problem with the definition you provide is that it confuses the word tanto with knife.

A tanto certainly looks like a knife, based on its size. But it was Not a knife. It was the smallest member of a trio of SWORDS. There are other names for knives that are not swords. They may be similar in size and shape to a tanto, but are not normally called by that name.

See this thread for more on this: A Question for Mr. Marotz

I just love semantic discussions. Everyone can be right, they are fun to discuss, and pretty much go nowhere. Good, meaningless, but not entirely mindless, fun.
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Paracelsus
 
Hi gentlemen
maybe you forgot one point, legality!
If swords are allowed for some ethnic reasons, call it a sword!
If knives are allowed (no length limit like here in Germany), hey Ok it is a knife!
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Just wanted to help,
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*so is life : hard but unfair*
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~bigbore`s knives~
 
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