Solingen Swords

Below is a collection of the computed properties of most of the swords covered in the "Solingen book". Refer to the backbone for details.
I'm indebted to Peter Johnsson, Vincen Le Chevalier and the "Deutsches Klingenmuseum Solingen" for allowing me to use their material.

Below I show you most of the swords investigated. For the meaning of the diagrams look here. The data contained in these diagrams have not yet been thoroughly evaluated.
I made a first attempt to do this by measuring the angle (in degree ^o) of the "rotation response cone" and the length of the longer axis of the "translation response ellipse". I used some of these data to produce some correlations between sword parameters; scroll down for that.
Note that the numbering of the swords in the book is on occasion a bit mixed up between the text and the graphics. Here I took the numbers from the text.

	No. 11 "Sword" (a long sword, me thinks) About 1150 - 1250 Found in a river Length: 114 cm Mass: 1198 g Angle: 31,5 Ellipse: 15.5 mm
	No. 14 "Sword" About 1280 - 1310 Length: 97,0 cm Mass: 1047 g Angle: 35 Ellipse: 20
	No. 15 "Sword" 14th century Length: 105 cm Mass: 885 g Angle: 38 Ellipse: 26
	No. 16 "Sword" 14th century Length: 92,6 cm Mass: 646 g Angle: 58 Ellipse: 36

	No. 17 "Sword" Late 15th century; Milano A proto rapier for duelling Length: 98 cm Mass: 450 g Angle: 100 Ellipse: 47
	No. 46 Rapier, last quarter 16th century Length: 120 cm Mass: 1349 g Angle: 24 Ellipse: 15 mm
	No. 47 Rapier ca. 1600 Length: 126,5cm Mass: 1265 g (1175 g ?) Angle: 26 Ellipse: 17

	No. 18 Bastard sword Early 14th century Length: 123 cm Mass: 1857 g Angle: 26 Ellipse: 11 mm
	No. 19 Bastard Sword ca. 1350 Length: 127 cm Mass: 1500 g Angle: 26 Ellipse: 14
	No. 20 Two-hand sword but rather short and light Second half 15 th century Length: 123,2 cm Mass: 1580 g Angle: 40 Ellipse: 13

	No. 21 Bastard sword 1st half 14th century Length: 113.4 cm Mass: 1753 g Angle: 30 Ellipse: 11
	No. 22 Bastard sword 1st half 14th century Length: 112 cm Mass: 1360 g Angle: 40 Ellipse: 14
	No. 27 Hand-and-a-half sword ca. 1425 - 1520 Length: 124 cm Mass: 1407 g Angle: 35 Ellipse: 15

	No. 23 Hand-and-a-half sword Middle 14th century Length: 105,6 cm Mass: 1197 g Angle: 26 Ellipse: 19
	No. 24 Hand-and-a-half sword Around 1400 Length: 109,5 cm Mass: 1286 g Angle: 26 Ellipse: 17
	No. 25 Bastard sword 2nd half 14th century Length: 105 cm Mass: 1320 g Angle: 55 Ellipse: 16
	No. 28 Hand-and-a-half ca. 1480 - 1500 Length: 105 cm Mass: 822 g Angle: 89 Ellipse: 27 mm

	No. 26 Two-hand sword of the Archbishop of Cologne 1450 - 1460 Length: 130,6 cm Mass: 1589 g Angle: 37 Ellipse: 14 mm
	No. 29 Two-hand sword late 15th century Length: 146.5 cm Mass: 2018 g Angle: 44 Ellipse: 9 mm
	No. 30 Two-hand sword; Solingen 1580 Length: 170 cm Mass: 3660 g Angle: 23 Ellipse: -

	No. 31 Falchion, ca. 1500 Length: 69 cm Mass: 1092 g Angle: 62 Ellipse: 19
	No. 32 Sabre Milano 1530 Length: 92,5 cm Mass: 1360 g Angle: 31 Ellipse: 17
	No. 33 Sabre End 16th century Length: 86,5 cm Mass: 1244 g Angle: 44 Ellipse: 17
Note that the numbers in the book are off relative to the text (30, 31, 32 instead of 31, 32, 33). Here the numbers in the text are used

	No. 34 Messer Late 15th century Length: 85 cm Mass: 1078 g Angle: 45 Ellipse: 22
	No. 35 Messer, ca. 1500 Length: 80.2 cm Mass: 610 g Angle: 64 Ellipse: 58
	No. 37 Messer ca. 1500 Length: 83 cm Mass: 695 g Angle: 42 Ellipse: 57
	No. 39 Baselard (? A baselard is a medieval dagger or short sword, rather like an ancient akinaka 15th century Length: 84.3 cm Mass: 760 g Angle: 56 Ellipse: 33
Note that the numbers in the book are off relative to the text (33 - 38 instead of 34 - 39) for the first two swords. Here the numbers in the text are used

	No. 40 Single edged sword Early 16th century Length: 95,7 cm Mass: 1300 g Angle: 73 Ellipse: 15
	No. 36 Messer late 15th century Length: 100 cm Mass: 784 g Angle: 42 Ellipse: 35
	No. 38 Messer, ca. 1490 Length: 111 cm Mass: 911 g Angle: 51 Ellipse: 24

	No. 43 Sidesword, 1550 Length: 101 cm Mass: 845 g Angle: 45 Ellipse: 28
	No. 44 Sidesword (Degen) Solingen, ca. 1600 Length: 116 cm Mass: 1119 g Angle: 25 Ellipse: 19
	No. 45 Sidesword (Degen) Middle 16th century Length: 110 cm Mass: 732 g Angle: 48 Ellipse: 28

You can see that the "rotational agility" given by the size of the rotation response cone varies quite a bit, even between swords that are quite similar. It is of course tied to the different moments of intertie of the swords and thus to their mass and Length. Is there some correlation between these parameter?

That is easy to find out. Just measure the opening angle of the cones and plot it versus either the mass or the length. The results are shown below:


Relation between the mass of a sword and its rotational response


Relation between the length of a sword and its rotational response

Well! There is almost no correlation besides the unavoidable triviality that short and light-weight swords tend to be more agile then long and heavy ones. What that implies is discussed in the backbone.

If you feel enterprising, you can produce a lot more correlation diagrams, e.g. between percussion point location and mass / length / rotational response and so on. Or the distance between the percussion point - vibration node and the effective mass at the percussion point. Endless possibilities. Get to work.

With frame

Books and Other Major Sources

Sword Types

Critical Museum Guide: Metropolitan Museum, NYC

Critical Museum Guide: Museums in Copenhagen

12.4.2 Dynamc Properties Combined