Talk:Flame-bladed sword

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[edit] Pronunciation

Someone please add pronunciation guide. How do you say it? "Flam-BURJ", rhyming with English "verge"? Or "flam-BEHRZH" as in French? (I don't know if my pseudo-phonetics are even understandable...) Someone please help. SpectrumDT 22:28, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I believe it is pronouced "FLAM-BURJ"

In French and API (I'm not used to this americain phonetics system), it is [flɑ̃bɛʁʒ]
David Latapie (✒ | @) 11:46, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

C$ 15:04, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Redirect

The article itself states that the more proper term for a wave-bladed longsword is flammard or flambard. I have read in several places that flamberge were historically rapiers (Image)(by whatever definition) only. Perhaps a redirect to 'Flame-Bladed' or 'Wave-Bladed' Sword is in order to encompass all three terms? -- Xiliquiern 17:24, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Works for me. Since you (or someone else? I'm too lazy too check) are working on it, I do not modify it but I propose you clarify the fact that flambard is a blade, not a weapon (like the colichemarde or the curved blades) and that it is only by a synecdoche that we use one term for the other.
David Latapie (✒ | @) 01:29, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I plan on doing just that. Each name will receive individual attention and be addressed as an individual topic. Time right now, however, is tight, so it may be a week or so before I get some proper cited edits up. -xiliquiern^talk 01:39, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Undulating blade

"Contrary to popular belief, the undulating blades on these weapons do not impart a significantly greater or lesser ability to cut, slice..."
What makes you think so? Knives and swords cut and cleave by applying a given force onto a small area (the cutting edge). Curved blades like for example a scimitar or a katana are well-known to inflict much deeper wounds. The main reason for this is that the curvature concentrates the applied force yet onto a much smaller area, as only a small portion of the blade has contact to the tissue. The same holds true for a Flambard sword or a modern bread knife. The reason why good bread knives are undulated is that you need significantly less force to penetrate the crust, so the crumb will be cut, not squeezed.

Apart from that, an undulated blade has another "positive" property. If the cut is not made properly in a straight move, it will often have an irregular border with multiple side incisions. This type of wound has a much greater risk of infection, takes longer to heal, and leaves a much larger scar. Long-term incapacitation or even death due to infection following a lesser wound was no rarity in the middle ages, Henry V and Andrew de Moray being two well-known examples. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.35.152.21 (talk) 13:47, 10 January 2008 (UTC)