Sure, but there are newer examples of the same idiocy and quality of product. Not to mention being a fairly dismal attempt at explaining steel types, sword handling or any other subject in any depth. You know what though? An awful lot of what is posted to boards amounts to the unknowing being made aware of some fairly common sense truths. I shouldn't be surprised when viewers are offered nothing but the drive through menu. That, the level of interest and understanding many collectors and users limit themselves to. The rest of us 10% could/should be willing to pony up better explanations and examples.
Cheers
GC
Well if that's the case then I'll add something, but it really just feels like more drive-through menu stuff.
2lbs of any ti alloys weigh the same as 2lbs of any steel alloys, or for that matter, 2lbs of feathers.
What am I missing here? 2-3lbs of either require the same amount of energy to overcome inertia, right?
If we are to quantify benefits, let us look at rotational forces, momentum and other factors before we claim any superiority. Heads up, equal dimensions, all the junk than can really support an argument one way or the other. Is faster equal to kinetic energy? You need the variables to compute that, right? Is less mass at a higher velocity delivering as much energy as more mass traveling slower with more momentum? Again, you need the variables to compute this stuff.
GC
I'm sure you were asking a rhetorical question, but what's missing are the dimensions and shape nuances of the 2-3 lbs of sword blade material, which in practice WILL greatly affect all those movement and energy factors listed above, on both ends of the sword. When you're pushing the material's utmost limits, which a sword blade does by nature, then the shape - and the movement/energy factors that are determined by the shape and size -
are limited (or made possible) by the characteristics of the sword material itself.
Imagine people being told they get to use 2 lbs of any type of wood to make a club in any shape, to use in a Death Dome battle. The variety of different clubs one could see would be crazy,
and an "optimal" club's size and shape would be largely determined by the type of wood chosen. And in theory each club would be optimal for the personal it was made for and what they feel would work well for their strengths and style. In reality most folks would probably just mimic a bat or something they were familiar with.
As a great sword maker once told me, one reason he is able to make blades with so much raw cutting power is simply because the material used for the blade is strong enough to support such a design and use. Do we not see that process happening throughout history? i.e., bronze, iron, steel, then improved steel all affected weapon design, among a ton of other factors, such as armor design and fighting tactics, and even style trends.
I'm saying that the characteristics of ti alloys allow me to make a sword that pushes some limits, and one is that the sword can be dimensionally larger but be used very quickly and easily for its size, compared to a sword of the same size made in a heavier material like steel. I think that's a good thing because the ti doesn't take it too far - it's a lot more like steel than it is like aluminum. It's a hand-held weapon, after all, and a computer reading simple force factors isn't going to determine what's going on there.
This all seems self-evident and I should probably quit blithering forth.