A saber of unknown origin and age

[Victrix]

I have a pallasch from an ancestor who was an officer in the Kungliga Norrlands Dragoner in early 20thC which is unsharpened. I believe the reason for this is that the swords were only sharpened for war, and Sweden was luckily not involved in wars since the days of Napoleon. Had Sweden been involved in war and my ancestor called into the field for war service, then I believe the sword would have been sharpened. There are 19th Swedish swords marked Morell & Co. I think they may have been cutlers?

[fernando]

A rather plausible explanation, no doubt .
And yes, that Morell & Co. stamp looks like the cutler's type, "& Co." and all.

[awdaniec666]

I would like to throw the question into the room: How sharp are battle-ready but unsharpened blades, like right after forging it into its final form.
I dont have this kind of knowledge. What makes me wonder is that for my understanding that blade (edge and tip) we are talking about is rather round-dull. Even so, that it occurs to me that you have to put extra work to create that round edge, but thats a question for a bladesmith which I cannot answer.
It seems to me that you would have to take away a lot of steel until you finally get your edge to a degree of at least 45°. Of course depending on the angle you want the edge to be in, which can vary because of different reasons.
I attach another image with the edge on the blades last third with a 1 euro cent coin for comparison. I think the coin is 1 mm thick. Keep in mind the back is a thick "pipe" of 5 mm, so the edge looks even thinner in comparison.

[Bryce]

G'day Patrick,
I can only comment from a British swords perspective, but like Victrix said, British swords were only sharpened when the owner left for active service. The type of edge they had prior to sharpening varies greatly depending on the sword. Here is an example in my collection circa 1814 which has a pipe-back blade similar to yours. The forward half of the blade was beautifully sharpened (probably only once), while the half closest to the hilt was left unsharpened. Sharp on top and unsharpened bottom.
Cheers,
Bryce

[awdaniec666]

Hey Bryce, thanks for sharing that.

[Victrix]

Here are some pictures of my unsharpened pallasch. In Sweden it’s defined as Cavalry Sabre m/1893 for Officers. The blade is in good quality steel with two fullers. Although the tip is sharp the sides of the blade are slightly rounded.

[awdaniec666]

Interesting point Victrix! As far as I know Pallasch´s were not used for cutting. In fact heavy cavalry members were told to thrust only. So sharpening the edge is obsolete from this point of view! (source: Matt Eastons Youtube channel "schola gladiatoria")

[Victrix]

Originally Posted by awdaniec666

Interesting point Victrix! As far as I know Pallasch´s were not used for cutting. In fact heavy cavalry members were told to thrust only. So sharpening the edge is obsolete from this point of view! (source: Matt Eastons Youtube channel "schola gladiatoria")

My sword is only good for pricking with in its current condition. In the early 20thC Swedish Dragoons were trained in cut and thrust sabre (more correctly termed pallash) fencing. First they received dismounted training, and on mastering the technique they continued with mounted training (source: Umeås Blå Dragoner, Norrlands dragonregemente, 1994). Apparently they had to be trained to avoid the risk of mistakenly cutting off the ears of their horses with wild and undisciplined cutting movements.

In terms of older pallashes they were either single or double edged. How sharp the edges were probably varied.

[Radboud]

Originally Posted by awdaniec666

Interesting point Victrix! As far as I know Pallasch´s were not used for cutting. In fact heavy cavalry members were told to thrust only. So sharpening the edge is obsolete from this point of view! (source: Matt Eastons Youtube channel "schola gladiatoria")

French troops of the Napoleonic era were consistently under-equipped and had to make do with the equipment at hand.

Which included officers instructing their troops to use the sharpened forte of the blade to cut wood and the sharpened tip for combat. Troopers even resorted to using their blades as a spit to cook foraged meat over a fire!

This came from the notes of a German Officer's experience in the French army. But I can't find the source sorry.