Terminus Est

Gwern Branwen · 02 Jul 2008, 13:48 · from 2008-July.txt.gz

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From: gwern0 at gmail.com (Gwern Branwen)
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2008 09:48:22 -0400
Subject: (urth) Terminus Est
In-Reply-To: <882309C4-25D3-4485-8DB6-35242CED6A08 at gmail.com>
References: <E996FA34C7F44E36B8E9D07A5EF78292@StuartPC>
	<882309C4-25D3-4485-8DB6-35242CED6A08 at gmail.com>
Message-ID: <20080702134822.GC13802@craft>

On 2008.07.02 01:16:38 -0500, Lane Haygood <lhaygood at gmail.com> scribbled 4.5K characters:
>    http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0312890176/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link
>    That's the cover of Shadow and Claw, with a pretty good picture.  TE is actually a copy of a
>    common medieval executioner's sword, like this one:
> http://lh3.ggpht.com/_NbJ7tGRdKh0/SA5jUTfngHI/AAAAAAAAAhg/02p19YKx228/DSC01101.JPG
>    Except of course it has the mercury channel, which I ran by some swordsmith friends of mine
>    who told me that it wouldn't be possible to actually make a mercury channel and fill it with
>    mercury and have the sword retain enough strength.  The spine of the sword is actually what
>    gives it its strength.
>    Lane

I've never entirely understood why the mercury channel would be difficult. Here's how I always envisioned it in my reading; we all know that I-beams are so strong for their weight in part because of the excavated material, and from what I can tell, there are any number of swords which use the I-beam shape (fullers, I think they're called).

So, what's stopping a sword smith from making an I-shaped sword, and then welding a flat layer lengthwise over one side's gap and filling the 'tube' up with some mercury just before the final weld?

(Or doing some even more clever method not apparent to a non-swordsmith like myself...)

--
gwern
Blacknet NIOG Cocaine 03 SAS MEU/SOCPSAC AOL zip quiche NVD
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