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Author Topic: Will a Heavy Grade damage a regular blade?  (Read 4411 times)

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Offline Darkhawk

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Will a Heavy Grade damage a regular blade?
« on: January 06, 2016, 12:40:26 PM »
I'm thinking of getting sabers from two different manufacturers, and one does not offer the "heavy" upgrade.  Both are duelling sabers, but I just wonder if anyone has experience pitting a Heavy blade against a regular one.  Is there any reason (weight, maybe?) that the Heavy would damage the regular blade in a duel?  Note that I am a newbie and not actually doing any serious duelling.  Basically just fooling around.

Offline Elim Vos

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Re: Will a Heavy Grade damage a regular blade?
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2016, 01:13:25 PM »
Yes,
 a heavy grade or thick walled blade will damage a thinner thin walled blade.
A heavy grade blade is 1/8" thick and a thin is 1/16".
The heavier blade will damage the lighter one.

I know this from experience,

Elim
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Offline Psab Keel

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Re: Will a Heavy Grade damage a regular blade?
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2017, 09:39:32 PM »
1. Blade matching:

The key to making your sabers to be able to take a beating is to match like blade to like blade. You wouldn't duel with a thin walled 3/4 O.D. blade against a 1 inch thick walled blade.  Even actual swords were not designed to be smashed against one another wildly with no concern for technique and a swordsman worth his salt would never in their right mind hit their precious blade against a tree or telephone pole to test its durability. That's just plain stupid.

2. Nothing is unbreakable:

If you use a tool for a purpose it was not intended for it may be able to do the job, it doesn't mean that it will do it well. I mean even riot shields that are made of polycarbonate can shatter under extreme stress. The purpose is to protect the person holding it, not be unbreakable. So when a sabersmith tells you that their blades are far superior to others because they hit a competitor's blade against a rock and the tube dents, it doesn't always mean it's an inferior product.

3. Rigitidy:

Like many people uneducated about actual functional swords, everyone is obsessed with rigidity but the truth of the matter is the harder a blade is, the more likely it is to shatter. That's why even thick walled blades can and do when under constant strain. Real swords, and lightsaber blades for that matter also need some flexibilty to be able to absorb a hit. That's why swords are tempered during the forging process to allow them to immediately spring back into shape if bent during combat. Granted, lightsaber blades for our purposes are round and if a real sword were to make contact with another sword blade it would be flat meeting edge, but the same principle applies to lightsabers. So a thick walled blade isn't always the best blade for dueling.

There is something to be said for thinner walled blades, and there is certainly something to be said for not smashing your investment violently against another saber and expecting there to be no consequence. 

Hope this helps.

Offline Onli-Won Kanomi

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Re: Will a Heavy Grade damage a regular blade?
« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2017, 01:36:04 AM »
I'm thinking of getting sabers from two different manufacturers, and one does not offer the "heavy" upgrade...Note that I am a newbie and not actually doing any serious duelling.  Basically just fooling around.

In that case you may not 'need' a "heavy" [thickwall] blade. Don't let the "thinwall" description of our most commonly used blades foll you they are still very strong and quite sufficient for sparring and moderate dueling, it is only 'gorilla' duelling where a thickwall blade is absolutely needed imo.

Yes anything can break under sufficient abuse but as Psab Keel says it is really a matter of matching like blade vs like blade; one wouldnt choose to match a smallsword against a claymore eh so unless you plan on dueling someone who you know will only use a thickwall blade you should be quite OK with a thinwall one. And if you plan to buy two sabers that both have thinwall blades they will be quite fine for duelling against each other.
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Offline Psab Keel

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Re: Will a Heavy Grade damage a regular blade?
« Reply #4 on: February 06, 2017, 07:33:37 AM »
Plus a thin walled blade is going to dent or bend before it breaks whereas a thick walled blade will crack before it dents. 

This idea people have about smashing their blades against one another as hard as humanly possible is absurd.  You wouldn't purchase a brand new car and drive it off a cliff, only to claim later that it was a bad car because it didn't survive the fall.

Offline ShadyCanuck

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Re: Will a Heavy Grade damage a regular blade?
« Reply #5 on: February 06, 2017, 01:10:09 PM »
1. Blade matching:

The key to making your sabers to be able to take a beating is to match like blade to like blade. You wouldn't duel with a thin walled 3/4 O.D. blade against a 1 inch thick walled blade.  Even actual swords were not designed to be smashed against one another wildly with no concern for technique and a swordsman worth his salt would never in their right mind hit their precious blade against a tree or telephone pole to test its durability. That's just plain stupid.

THIS^^^

There are two types of dueling these days: fooling around with light contact (still recommend eye protection and gloves), and "Saber Legion" type dueling where you have full gear on (facemask, chest guard, lacrosse gloves, etc).  For the former, thin walls should be fine.  In the latter, thick walled is a necessity because most everyone else uses thick walled blades. 
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