The Matador Thrust

[lklawson]

Ok, let me try again. Are you familiar with the concept of drag co-efficient?

Drag co-effiicient applys regardless of whether an object is passing through water, air, wood, or flesh.

This is why wood axes taper outwards(to pass the force outward and spit the object) and why machetes have a wide yet narrow blade( to concentrate the force on the edge and minimize drag).

But the narrower blades come at a cost of stability , which as it turns out is quite important for swords...less so for machetes. So with swords there is a ballance between the two. A little more force required to make the cut, but also your blade isn't bowing sideways as it might with a machete, as well as making it functional for parrying.

The inverse is true for thrusting. When a blade is thicker and tapered to the tip, the force is concentrated on the tip during a thrust, wheras with a wider thinner blade the force is more dispersed over a wider area..making stabbing with a machete not the best idea.

What exactly do you disagree with?

I disagree with the over-emphasizing of fluid dynamics to this application. The drag is simply not nearly as important a factor when slicing through flesh as almost nearly every other variable to include, but not limited to, edge sharpness, edge geometry, cutting technique, momentum, shape of cutting edge/blade (such as recurved/hook blades), and length of cutting edge (which is why the flamberge and kris designs are used) among many.

I'm sorry, but the statement, Big knives are actually less dangerous for slashing than small ones" is still inaccurate. Just no two ways about it.

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[KPM]

I have done a series of videos on "Rapier Thrusts" and have reworked the "Matador Thrust" to make it more clearly a part of this series. Changed it around a bit based on the input here. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

 

[Dirty Dog]

I have done a series of videos on "Rapier Thrusts" and have reworked the "Matador Thrust" to make it more clearly a part of this series. Changed it around a bit based on the input here. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

One small thing. That's not a rapier you're using. It's a smallsword (see what I did there?). The smallsword is thrusting only, and evolved from the rapier as firearms became more common. The hilt/guard is a dead giveaway. The hilt/guard on a smallsword would be totally inadequate for defense against a rapier.

 

[KPM]

Uh, no offense, but did you actually watch the video and listen to what I was saying? Or did you just look at the thumbnail image? I point out in the video that I indeed was using a smallsword and not a rapier. I don't own a rapier, so the smallsword was just a stand in for illustrative purposes. In no way was I suggesting that a smallsword would be used to defend against a rapier, so I don't know where you are getting that from. The point is how to use the Matador Thrust technique with a Bowie Knife.