Swords in Space: The First (?) Frontier
There have been a number of very good physics descriptions of sword motion. However they neglect the most important part: a sword isn’t free floating in space!
Articles by Sean Franklin
“Safe Sword” is made up words
We frequently talk about how to make swords “safe”. Unfortunately unless you can come up with a definition which satisfies a few specific criteria, the word “safe” doesn’t have a lot of meaning.
Two Phases Of a Cut – Surface vs Steady State
From a blade resistance point of view, cutting actually has two distinct phases: the internal and external.
Difficulties with SCA Flex Test and Buckling Test for Measuring Blade Stiffness
Two of the most popular ways to quantify blade stiffness are the SCA Flex Test and the Buckling Test. Unfortunately they both have issues, but we’re suffering for lack of better solutions.
Finding the World’s Highest Level HEMA
“In your opinion, which country has the highest level of practitioners?” Let’s see if I can answer this in the most unhelpful way possible.
Vector Transformations and the “Wedge”
Vectors are used to describe just about everything in life. And all it takes to win a sword fight is to transform all your opponent’s vectors into ones that can’t hurt you. Piece of cake!
Blade Stresses
We are used to thinking about the forces that swords apply on their targets, but we don’t spend as much time thinking about the forces that the targets apply to the swords. Between axial, shear, bending, and torsion there is a lot more going on than you might have thought!
Sword Cross Sections
In my previous article, “Do Fullers Make Feders Take a Set?”, I promised you that I would take some data on production swords and back up the theory with data. I still haven’t done it, but I do have some measurements of the sharps around my apartment.
Closed Loop (Part 2) – Loops, Vision, and Sword Control
We have many ways and senses to process information with. How do we put them all together to control our actions?
Closed Loop (Part 1) – Control Makes Fencing Good and Cars Cozy
Closed feedback loops are a fundamental part of engineering control theory. They should also be a fundamental part of your fencing.