The blade that concord the world, Twice!

J

JDBraddy

Joined
Sep 20, 2002
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217
The cheap reproduction pictured below, resembles a basic blade design that was found on battlefields throughout the world from before recorded history, all the way through the middle ages, and consceeds second place only to the spear as THE weapon of choice among anchient warriors.

673225442_c9101ecad8_b.jpg


The Greeks called them "Spatia", the Romans "Gladius", but over the millenia, I'm sure blades such as this, many of not any better, and more likely even worse quality, have been used to spill the blood of more people than Nuclear weapons! If one was to modernize the design, what would you use/change? What would be the best steel, handle material, etc.... to forge a MODERN weapon of similar design that you knew would be employed by field troops to do everything from chop and hack their way through jungles, to sharpen pikes, dig trenches, pry open barracaded doors, pierce the light armor of their enemies, and still survive the elements and abuse, to fight another day?
 
Ummm, that would be "conquered", unless you are talking about covering the world with purple grapes.;) :D
 
Mongo said:
Ummm, that would be "conquered", unless you are talking about covering the world with purple grapes.;) :D
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"JD the Beligerant", Like many Barbarians......"Never could spell for Sh*t". Speaking of Sh*t, a black coating of what exacly?
 
Well, when I think of a modern day short sword, I think of the Mercworx Equatorian. It's big, double edged, and available in S30V and 154CM.

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I guess this sort of begs the question, how long does a knife have to be before you start calling it a sword? but if the moderator wants to move it, I have no probelm with that! To me, it's really more like a very pointy, double edged machettee! The real reason for the post is I was just thinking I'd like to have a really "nice" one of these made for myself eventually, and wanted to read some speculation by those more experienced than myself, about how best to build what I want.
 
JDBraddy said:
The cheap reproduction pictured below, resembles a basic blade design that was found on battlefields throughout the world from before recorded history, all the way through the middle ages, and consceeds second place only to the spear as THE weapon of choice among anchient warriors.

673225442_c9101ecad8_b.jpg


The Greeks called them "Spatia", the Romans "Gladius", but over the millenia, I'm sure blades such as this, many of not any better, and more likely even worse quality, have been used to spill the blood of more people than Nuclear weapons! If one was to modernize the design, what would you use/change? What would be the best steel, handle material, etc.... to forge a MODERN weapon of similar design that you knew would be employed by field troops to do everything from chop and hack their way through jungles, to sharpen pikes, dig trenches, pry open barracaded doors, pierce the light armor of their enemies, and still survive the elements and abuse, to fight another day?
Click to expand...

Wow ! That's a grape knife !
 
JDBraddy said:
"JD the Beligerant", Like many Barbarians......"Never could spell for Sh*t". Speaking of Sh*t, a black coating of what exacly?
Click to expand...

Teflon, of course. Then you can use the knife to pierce armor and fry eggs at the same time.
 
Probably for the infantry man or "foot soldier", effort would be best spent improving their longarm (mostly for reliability and the battlefield effectiveness of the round it fires), then their sidearm. I suspect that real wars are won with the bigger hardware (tanks, planes, ships, missiles, information and electronic warfare), and superior supply side resources and logistics. In other words the "teeth and tail" of the army, aside from military strategy.

But I am intrigued by swords in the modern battlefield. It probably would instill fear and terror in the hearts of the enemy.

Can't decide if being double bladed like the Gladius is an advantage. I'd prefer single sided for the added weight and durability when batoning or smashing the edge with a rock (say to get at the marrow of animal bones for survival purposes - I realize this is not really on topic but frequently a soldier can be in a survival situation). Controlled cuts are better with a single sided edge.

It would have to slash well, for use in clearing brush for expedient airfields (I think I once read a report on a military operation which failed for lack of good brush clearing tools needed to allow air pickup). Of course the obvious use in H2H applies.

If it can pierce Kevlar, that would be gravy.

Finally, since you mentioned prying, either address that by using superior steels or put a flat edge at the other end to use for prying (like in many of the Atwood tools). It will need a sturdy, weather resistant sheath to grasp when prying, aside from its primary use.

What does that leave us? IMO, probably some sort of chopper like a bolo, or kuhkri, or maybe a strengthened katana, not too long to get in the way, not too heavy to weigh you down, but enough to chop up to medium sized brush as well as leather and cloth bindings the enemy may use when going H2H. Plus an effective point. :)
 
the gladius was your colt .45 back then but the garand/BAR, the weapon that made the difference was the pillum. no, it was the depleted uranium slug of the time. no other army trained or used it. for one, it was too heavy and learning to throw it took time. and practice with it by non-legionnaires was prohibited.

so you charge ANY kind of enemy, throw your pillum from a distance of 15-30 meters. if it's a horseman, you'll kill his horse. if he's an armored footman, you'll punch his armor. if he has a shield, the steel shaft will either reach nim, or the spear gets stuck to his shield making it useless. you then draw your gladius and cut him down for keeps.

today, how would you use your gladius? in the battlefield, you sneak up to an enemy squad within 20 meters, lob a grenade, and charge as soon as it goes off. before they could recover from the shock of the blast, there you are in front of them with your antique gladius.

in the streets, your either lob teargas or pepper bomb at a group of looters, and then you, wearing a mask, will charge with your spatha while they're laboring.

now that's roman legionnaire style of fighting!
 
man, people just gonna laugh their asses off if you turn up with a sword for a war these days. it would be like one of your greeks turning up with a rock.
 
JD, is that the Windlass Steelcrafts Qama in that pic? I've been looking at those recently as a project blade of sorts: rehandle, etc.:confused:
 
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