Waved blades debate - combat value

[nechesh]

Originally Posted by not2sharp

The answer to that one is yes. It is hard for us to appreciate the difference because we have not tried to use one of these blades in combat. Cutting flesh is not like choping through some vine. For one thing, living flesh is very elastic; a wound canal will constantly act to close. So if you thrust with a straight edge, the wound would exert pressure along the entire circumfrence of the blade. However when you turn it into a curvy blade, then the wound can only exert pressure against the outside edge. For this reason, I suspect that a curvy edge weapon would require far less force to drive into a victim.

n2s

I won't argue with your theory here n2s, which may well hold true, but i will point out that the Moro kris is not really a thrusting weapon. Most of it's effective wounds would be dealt with a slash with the edge, not with the point. In fact i have incountered many Moro kris with dull, even rounded tips. My question would be whether the wavy longer edge would be more effective in a slash and draw blow than the straigt blade. It seems like it might.