“House. Bladed edged weapon Piercing edged weapon

Some modern Cossacks claim that the “Cossack” saber has incomparably better fighting qualities than a saber, and even more so a broadsword. Although the Cossacks owe their glory to the saber.

During the reign of Ivan IV in the Prut campaign of 1711, the Persian campaign of 1722 - 1723, the Russian-Turkish wars, in the seven-year war (1756 - 1763) against the aggressive Prussian kingdom. Then the Cossacks first appeared in the center of Western Europe. The crowning glory of the Russian army's victories in this war was the capture of the capital of Prussia, Berlin. On the night of September 9-10, 1760, the Cossack regiments were the first to enter Berlin after the destruction of a twenty-thousand-strong German army near Potsdam.

In June 1812, the Cossacks were the first to meet the French invaders with gunfire and heroically fought against Napoleon's army until they were completely defeated. After the capture of Paris in 1814, one of the first to enter the city was the Life Guards Cossack Regiment, which was the convoy of Emperor Alexander I. The main deadly weapons in the hands of the Cossacks were the pike and saber.

The saber was used, like the pike, in motion; struck and left. An example can be found in the memoirs of General Marbot, when he described the battle near Polotsk: “Mr. Fontaine’s legs became entangled in the stirrups. He tried to free himself with the help of several huntsmen who came to his aid, when suddenly the damned Cossack officer, galloping past this group, deftly leaned in the saddle and dealt Fontaine a terrible blow with a saber, knocked out his eye, touched his other eye and cut his nose!

A.K. Denisov describes a clash between a Tatar warrior, a mullah, “as can be seen from his attire,” armed with a pike (dart), and a Cossack officer F.P. Denisov, the narrator’s uncle: “Without leaving Denisov in sight, the mullah galloped a little forward and set off towards him. Then Denisov, having parried the dart with his saber, raised it from below slightly higher than himself and with one swing cut down the Tatar to death.” That is, masterly possession of a saber is described, when a parrying blow turns into a striking one.

BROADLASH, SABER, CHECKER.

Often, at first glance, it is difficult to distinguish a broadsword from a saber, a saber from a saber, or a saber from a broadsword.

SWORD

Broadsword (Hungarian - pallos; backsword, broadsword) is a piercing and chopping bladed weapon with a complex hilt, with a handle and a straight or slightly curved blade, wide towards the end, one-and-a-half sharpened (less often double-edged). Often combines the qualities of a sword and a saber. The hilt of a broadsword consists of a handle with a head and a guard (usually including a cup and protective bows). Western European broadswords usually have an asymmetrical hilt with highly developed hand protection in the form of a cross or a bowl with a whole system of arches. The length of the blade is from 60 to 85 cm. The appearance of the broadsword as a military weapon dates back to the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries, when regular cavalry units appeared in Western Europe. Since the 18th century armed with heavy cavalry. The blade of a broadsword is much wider and heavier than that of a sword.

In England it is a broadsword - a basket sword, in Italy it is a spada schiavona - a Slavic sword, and in German countries in the period from the 16th to the 19th centuries, it had several names - reiterschwert - a horseman's sword; kurassierdegen, dragonerdegen, kavalleriedegen - cuirassier sword, dragoon sword and simply cavalry sword.

Western European broadswords usually have an asymmetrical hilt with highly developed hand protection in the form of a cross or a bowl with a whole system of arches. The length of the blade is from 60 to 85 cm. The appearance of the broadsword as a military weapon dates back to the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries, when regular cavalry units appeared in Western Europe. Since the 18th century armed with heavy cavalry.

European cavalry (especially heavy ones: cuirassiers and cavalry guards) always gravitated towards piercing weapons and were mainly armed with broadswords.

The impact energy of two oncoming horse lavas is quite high, so the rider simply needs to point the tip at the enemy to inflict a terrible wound on him. At the same time, it is much more difficult to hit an enemy with a blow - a slashing blow delivered a little earlier or later has neither the required accuracy nor strength. In addition, a strike requires two separate movements - a swing and a strike, while a thrust requires one. When struck, the rider opens himself, and holding the broadsword for the injection, on the contrary, closes himself.

The broadsword has been known in Russia since the 16th century. Since 1711, broadswords have completely replaced sabers in Russia (this is in the regular army, and Russian Cossacks, Caucasian highlanders, Tatars, Bashkirs and Kalmyks have always used chopping weapons). These weapons were produced not only in Russia, but also imported from abroad, mainly from Germany. The opinion that the cuirassiers, these “knights of the 19th century,” had very heavy broadswords is not entirely accurate. The Russian broadsword of the 19th century, as a rule, was even lighter than a cavalry saber.

A special cult of piercing blades existed in France, where they were used as dueling weapons and every self-respecting person was simply obliged to master the techniques of fencing with a sword.

SABER

A saber is a very diverse weapon; there is a truly gigantic number of types and types of sabers, since the saber, in its familiar form, has existed for at least thirteen centuries and has undergone no less changes than the sword.

The first argument for the advantage of a saber over a broadsword was the area of ​​destruction - for a broadsword this is a line described by the tip, for a saber it is a plane cut by the blade. The second argument is the advantage of the saber at low speed of the rider, when the broadsword becomes practically useless, and the speed of the saber does not decrease much. The third argument was that the curved blade was lighter, but at the same time caused deeper wounds due to the bending of the blade.

Saber (Hungarian - czablya, from szabni - to cut; sabre) - chopping, chopping-cutting or piercing-slashing-cutting (depending on the degree of curvature of the blade and the design of its end) edged weapon with a curved blade, which has a blade on the convex side , and the butt is on a concave one. Suspended from the belt with the blade down.

The weight and balance of different sabers varied noticeably and could be approximately similar to checkers parameters, or they could differ. Varieties of sabers differ in size, radius of curvature of the blade, and the design of the hilt (handle). A characteristic difference from other long-bladed weapons with a handle is that the center of gravity is located at a considerable distance from the hilt (usually at the level of the border of the first and second third from the tip of the blade), which causes an additional cutting action during chopping blows. The combination of the curvature of the blade with a significant distance from the center of gravity from the hilt increases the force of the blow and the area of ​​the affected space. The hilt has a handle with a lanyard and a cross with a crosshair (oriental sabers) or another guard (European sabers).

The saber appeared in the East and became widespread among the nomads of Eastern Europe and Central Asia in the 7th - 8th centuries. Mongol and Arab horsemen successfully fought with their crooked sabers against both light cavalry and heavily armored knights. Moreover, captured Asian sabers were worth their weight in gold, and not at all for their appearance, but precisely for their fighting qualities. Not a single eastern warrior was seen with either a two-handed sword or a captured broadsword. “In the entire East, I don’t know a single people who would have anything similar to broadswords,” wrote the famous Russian military theorist of the 19th century, General Mikhail Ivanovich Dragomirov, “where the enemy did not refuse a dump, but looked for it for use on horseback - cutting weapons have always been preferred to piercing ones.”

In the XIV century. an elman appears on the saber (a thickening of the saber blade in the upper part of the blade, it could have been sharpened). The saber acquired the properties of a predominantly cutting weapon. The most characteristic sabers of this type were Turkish and Persian.

In European armies of the 18th - 19th centuries. sabers had blades of medium curvature (4.5 - 6.5 cm), hilts with bulky guards in the form of 1 - 3 arches or cup-shaped, scabbards from the 19th century. usually metal. The total length reached 1.1 m, blade length 90 cm, weight without sheath up to 1.1 kg, weight with metal sheath up to 2.3 kg. At the end of the 19th century. the curvature decreases to 3.5 - 4 cm and the saber again acquires piercing and chopping properties.

Due to the guard, the balance moved closer to the handle, due to the elmani - vice versa.

In Rus', the saber has been known since the 9th century; in the Novgorod land, the saber came into use later - from about the 13th century, and from the 14th century. became the dominant type of weapon (in Western Europe - from the end of the 16th century). In the XV - XVII centuries. Warriors of the Russian local cavalry, archers, and Cossacks were armed with sabers. Since the 18th century In European and Russian armies, the saber was in service with light cavalry personnel and officers in other branches of the military. In 1881, in the Russian army, the saber was replaced by a saber and was preserved only in the guard, as a ceremonial weapon, as well as among some categories of officers for wearing outside the ranks.

But in fact, the era of edged weapons ended much earlier - already in the Crimean War of 1853-1856, wounds with edged weapons accounted for only 1.5% -3% of the total. A little later, during the Russian-Turkish campaign, or more precisely, by 1877, when the battle of Plevna took place, this figure had already dropped to 0.99%. And so all over the world, with the exception of expeditionary colonial corps waging war on the native population: British losses from edged weapons in India reached 20%, and in Egypt - up to 15%. Nevertheless, this percentage was not discounted when planning the rearmament of the cavalry by the beginning of the First World War.

CHECKER

Checkers are more similar to each other. A checker is essentially a hybrid of a knife and a saber, the result of the desire to achieve maximum benefit from the blade in close combat. Shashka (Kabardian-Circassian - sa "shkho - (lit.) long knife) - a cutting-stabbing bladed weapon with a handle. With a single-edge (rarely one-and-a-half) sharpening. The blade can be curved, slightly curved, or can be straight. The total length is 95-110 cm, the length of the blades is 77-87 cm. Its peculiarity is the absence of a copper bow, which protects the hand. Initially, the Russian irregular cavalry was armed with a Caucasian type saber, which had a blade of slight curvature and a hilt consisting of one handle with a bifurcated head, without any protective devices. Such a typically Caucasian hilt can generally be considered one of the main distinguishing features of the saber as a type of bladed weapon.

Checkers appeared in the regular Russian army in 1834 (in the Nizhny Novgorod dragoon regiment)

Russian army samples of checkers (for example: dragoon model 1881) differed from the Caucasian type checkers in the design of the hilt and scabbard. The blades of the first army sabers had an average curvature, and their shape was close to that of a saber. In 1881, an armaments reform was carried out, the purpose of which was to establish a single model of edged weapons for all branches of the military. A Caucasian blade known as a “top” was taken as a model for the blade. The hilt was initially supposed to be of a single model, with protection by the front arch, but then it was decided to leave traditional hilts consisting of one handle for Cossack checkers. As a result, dragoon (officer and soldier) and Cossack (officer and soldier) sabers were adopted into service with the Russian army. The artillerymen received a shortened version of the dragoon saber. A characteristic difference between a checker and a saber has always been the presence of a wooden scabbard covered with leather, with a ring (less often with two rings) for the belt's passing belts on the convex side (that is, it was hung in the Caucasian style with the blade backwards), while the saber's rings are always on concave side of the scabbard, in the XIX - early. XX century, as a rule, steel. In addition, a saber was often worn on a shoulder belt, and a saber on a waist belt.

Historically, the saber was indeed first a knife - among the Russians in the 16th century, such a podsaadashny, “pinned” knife was common, which had a number of features that made it similar to the saber. It is noteworthy that initially the checker was used as an auxiliary weapon (always came after the saber), before the disappearance of armor and the need for such weapons, checkers only complemented swords and sabers. But even cuirasses disappear, and in the 19th century, the saber is the “main belt” bladed weapon, and this puts forward different requirements for it than for a knife. With the spread of firearms and the obsolescence of armor, the saber replaced the saber, first in the Caucasus and then in Russia, while the saber itself underwent significant changes: it became longer and more massive, and received a bend.

MAIN DIFFERENCES

So, if we take as a basis some average samples of a broadsword, a saber and a checker, the following conclusions follow:

The broadsword is a weapon ideal for piercing blows with the possibility of slashing. This is a weapon with a long straight (or slightly curved) blade. The center of gravity is shifted as far as possible to the hilt, for virtuoso fencing and precise thrusting. Maximum protection for the hand, the hilt of the broadsword consists of a handle with a head and a guard.

A saber is a piercing-cutting weapon. The center of gravity is located at a considerable distance from the hilt. Mandatory protection for the hand, the hilt has a handle with a lanyard and a cross with a crosshair (oriental sabers) or another guard (European sabers).

Often, in European sabers, to enhance the piercing properties, the middle line of the handle is directed towards the tip - the handle is slightly bent in the direction from the butt to the blade.

Checker - The weapon is ideal for slashing blows with the possibility of piercing. The center of gravity is shifted to the tip as much as possible. Hence the difference in techniques: with a saber they do not so much “feint” from the hand, but deliver powerful, strong blows “from the body”, which are extremely problematic to parry. With the help of a checker it was possible to deliver a good blow, reinforced by the inertia of the rider’s movement, which could “ruin” the adversary “to the saddle.” Moreover, it is extremely difficult to dodge or protect yourself from such a blow. Therefore, in the 19th century there was a saying: “They cut with sabers, but they cut with checkers.”

It is extremely inconvenient to deliver precise piercing blows with a saber due to the peculiarities of balancing, the lack of a rest for the hand and the weak point, which is often not sharpened at all.

The saber, as a rule, is noticeably lighter and slightly shorter than most sabers. It differs from a saber in that it has a slightly straighter blade. The hilt consists of one handle with a bifurcated head (there have been quite a few versions of the origin of this bifurcating head, including the use of a checker as a stand for a gun when shooting from the knee), without any protective devices.

The main difference from the saber is that the saber has a less curved blade (or even straight), does not have an elmani feather on the blade and is always hung vertically, with the blade up. Always without a guard (with rare exceptions, for example, the “dragoon saber”, which is essentially a saber suspended from the top by the blade).

The ability to strike first is one of the main advantages of a checker. The checker was worn with the blade up, thanks to which this weapon could be instantly removed from its sheath and in one movement, directly from the sheath, deal a full-fledged, disintegrating blow to the enemy. A checker that does not have a cross is quickly and reliably removed. Often the handle was positioned almost at chest level. The checker was pushed out with a straightened palm, then a confident grip of the handle with a full hand was used. When removed, the checker itself falls into the palm, while the saber is taken out with the hand overlapping. Moreover, a checker hanging on one side can be removed with both the left and right hand and immediately struck, which gives the effect of surprise. Convenient for unexpected attacks and self-defense.

Before us is a fairly typical example of a saber action (according to ethnographic records of the 19th century):

“...After some time, Pachabgozhev returned. The young man followed his wife and, hiding behind one half of the gate, as soon as Pachabgozhev appeared in it, rushed at him, but, missing, instead of Pachabgozhev, he hit the other half of the gate and cut it in two, like fresh, just squeezed cheese. Pachabgozhev, quickly turning around with the saber already snatched, cut the young man in half from the shoulder. Then, calmly wiping off the saber and putting it in its sheath, he put the horse in the stable...”

The saber, a traditional weapon of light irregular cavalry, was designed for a fleeting battle, practically for the first and only preemptive strike. The very form of the weapon suggested a battle pattern for its owner - a strike, a strike and a rebound in case of resistance. The skill of the attack, the accuracy and speed of the strike are extremely highly developed, but if it is still not crowned with success, then that’s the end of the attacker. It is unlikely to be possible to effectively defend yourself with a checker or carry out complex fencing feints, voltes and floss. Sometimes in the military manuals of Russia and the USSR until 1941, a description of combat techniques was given, based on saber fencing; but in relation to a checker, these possibilities are very limited.

The cavalry attack in those decades was scattered and fleeting. One hit. With a swing, with a quickdraw, at full gallop. And then - at full speed. And you still won’t have to fencing with the enemy, even if this blow did not reach the target (missing in those conditions with a saber or broadsword is certainly no more difficult than with a saber): he is already far away, you have already been separated by the flow of the battle...

Built on constant contact with enemy weapons, the European school (more precisely, schools, for there are many of them) in checker fencing has very limited applicability (due to the center of gravity shifted to the tip), although a fighter with a checker can compensate for this with active movements and deceptive techniques . For war and most battles, the damaging properties and protection of the hand holding the weapon are important, at least from accidental and aimless blows to the hand, which is protected at best by a glove. In terms of fencing, a fighter with a saber requires greater mobility than a saber fencer, who can afford to “knock” with the enemy without risking being left without fingers.

Some modern Cossacks claim that the “Cossack” saber has incomparably better fighting qualities than a saber, and even more so a broadsword. But the checker and the saber often had similar, and often identical, blades. Many checkers were made directly on imported European saber blades; sometimes the old handle and guard were removed from an old saber and a Caucasian checker blade was installed. Sometimes they made their own blades. Due to the absence of a guard, the balance moved closer to the tip.

In 1881, under the leadership of Lieutenant General A.P. Gorlov, an armament reform was carried out with the aim of establishing a uniform model of edged weapons for all branches of the military. A Caucasian blade was taken as a model for the blade, “which in the East, in Asia Minor, between the Caucasian peoples and our local Cossacks there is highly famous as a weapon that has extraordinary advantages when cutting.” Cavalry, dragoon and infantry sabers, as well as cuirassier broadswords, were then replaced by uniform dragoon and Cossack sabers of the 1881 model. This was the first attempt to scientifically substantiate the choice of edged weapons. This checker had one problem - it was developed for two mutually exclusive purposes: for chopping and thrusting.

The new weapon almost immediately came under a barrage of criticism. As a result of the reform in 1881, the Russian army received a strange hybrid of a broadsword and a saber. Essentially, it was an attempt to create a weapon that would allow both thrust and slashing to be used in combat. However, according to contemporaries, nothing good came of this. Our compatriot and great gunsmith of the last century, Vladimir Grigorievich Fedorov, writes: “It must be admitted that our saber of the 1881 model both stabs and cuts poorly.

Our checker cuts poorly:

Due to the slight curvature, in which all the advantages of curved sabers are lost;

Due to improper fit of the handle. To give the saber piercing properties, the middle line of the handle is directed towards the tip - to do this, the handle had to be slightly bent in the direction from the butt to the blade. Which led to the loss of some good cutting properties of the weapon.

Our checker pierces unsatisfactorily:

To give it chopping properties, it is made curved, which delays its penetration;

Due to the significant weight and the distance of the center of gravity from the hilt.”

Almost simultaneously with the publication of the book “Edged Weapons” in 1905, Fedorov wrote a report to the artillery committee - “On changes to the 1881 sample checker.” In it, he put forward specific proposals for its improvement.

Based on these proposals, several versions of experimental checkers were made with different positions of the center of gravity and modified curvature of the handle. Soon, prototypes of these checkers were transferred for testing to military units, in particular to the Officer Cavalry School.

Knowing nothing about Fedorov's theoretical considerations, the cavalrymen had to choose the best example through practical testing on vines and stuffed animals of its cutting and piercing qualities.

Blades with a changed center of gravity were presented (20 cm, 17 cm and 15 cm instead of the existing 21.5 cm). At the same time, the blades were lightened by 200 g and shortened from 86 cm to 81 cm. Some of the blades were made with standard handles, some with a corrected slope.

All cavalrymen unanimously approved sample No. 6, with a center of gravity 15 cm from the hilt and a modified handle.

Another advantage of the checker was its relative cheapness, in contrast to the saber, which made it possible to make this weapon widespread. This was also facilitated by the ease of using checkers in battle. The usual technique of wielding a saber consisted of a good knowledge of a couple of simple but effective blows, which was very convenient for quickly training new recruits.

In the drill manual of the Red Army cavalry, out of 248 pages, only four pages are devoted to cutting and thrusting techniques, half as many as to saluting techniques with a saber. Budennovites were given only three blows (to the right, down to the right and down to the left) and four injections (half a turn to the right, half a turn to the left, down to the right and down to the left).

The drill regulations of the Soviet Army of 1951 prescribed only a few strikes. From left to right: cutting down to the right, cutting to the right and thrusting with a saber half-turn to the right

To deliver blows, thrusts and repulses (defense), the rider had to stand on the stirrups and place the emphasis on his knees. It was possible to chop down an equestrian enemy with only one move using the command “Right - CUT!” 8-10 steps before the enemy, the right hand with the saber was retracted to the left shoulder, after which with a quick movement of the hand while turning the body in the direction of the blow, a blow should be struck at shoulder height from left to right. To introduce army order, so that the blow was performed uniformly, all left-handers were retrained to use the right hand, and not only in the Russian and Red armies.

The other two strikes (down to the right and down to the left) were intended to defeat an enemy on foot. To do this, it was necessary to move the body to the right (left) forward 8-10 steps before the infantryman and at the same time raise the hand with the saber up above the head, and then deliver a strong blow, describing a circle with the saber.

To apply a thrust, it was necessary to extend the right hand with the saber in the direction of the enemy, turning the hand slightly to the left; the blade of the blade should be facing up to the right, and the tip should be at the point of injection. After applying the injection, moving the hand downward required releasing the blade.

All of the above is relevant only to conscript soldiers, who, over several years of service in the army, could only be taught to stay in the saddle and tolerably perform a couple of statutory blows. Cheap steel checkers were intended for them, designed for several successful blows, with hilts that allowed them to protect the hand, but did not allow them not only to throw the blade from hand to hand, but also to perform basic fencing techniques. It was not these cavalrymen that all of Europe feared like fire.

The signature blows of the Cossacks and Caucasians were delivered from the bottom up, for example, to the elbow of an attacking enemy. This was also facilitated by the special design of the harness of Cossack horses: for example, the stirrups were tied with a belt under the horse’s body, allowing the rider to hang sideways almost to the ground. When a horse lava approached, the infantryman was instructed to raise his rifle above his head with both hands, protecting himself from a statutory blow from above. The Cossack simulated the beginning of such a blow, then abruptly hung from his horse and, with a strong blow from his sword from below, literally broke the soldier into two parts. This technique alone is enough to fear the Cossacks like the plague.

There is one remarkable place in the novel “Quiet Don”, where the usual Cossack possession of a saber with both hands is described: “He led his horse towards the chosen enemy, as usual, going in from the left to chop with his right; The one who was supposed to collide with Gregory also strove in the same way. And so, when about a dozen fathoms remained before the enemy and he was already hanging to his side, raising his saber, Grigory made a sharp but gentle turn from the right, throwing the saber into his left hand. The discouraged enemy changes position, it is uncomfortable for him to cut from right to left, over the horse’s head, he loses confidence, death breathes in his face... Grigory destroys him with a terrible blow with a pull.” By the way, the real prototype of Grigory Melekhov, the Cossack of the village of Veshenskaya Kharlampy Ermakov, was a desperate swordsman who wielded a saber perfectly with both hands. The horse was controlled by his legs alone, crashing into the ranks of enemies with two checkers in each hand, wielding them right and left.

Unknown Rus'

• Berdysh (Polish berdysz), also bardiche / bɑrˈdiːʃ/, berdiche, bardische, bardeche or berdish - a bladed weapon in the form of an ax with a curved blade mounted on a long shaft.
• Cold chopping pole weapon, which is an ax with a blade in the form of an elongated crescent on a long shaft with a thread at the end
• Cold slashing polearm; used by Russian archers as a stand for a musket during a shot
• Ancient bladed weapon
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• Saber is a chopping bladed bladed weapon. The saber blade, as a rule, is single-edged (in some cases with a one-and-a-half sharpening) and has a characteristic bend towards the butt.
• Cold-bladed weapon with a curved single-edged blade, a cross, a crosshair and a handle with a slightly curved head
• A cutting and piercing hand weapon with a curved blade
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• (Hungarian szablya, zabni - to cut) chopping edged weapon
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• Lukáš Tesák (Slovak: Lukáš Tesák; March 8, 1985, Žiar nad Hronom, Czechoslovakia) is a Slovak football player, defender of the Pogronje club and the Slovak national team.
• A cutting and piercing weapon with a wide, short, double-edged blade on a cross-shaped handle
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• Cutting and piercing bladed weapons with a straight, less often curved, wide shortened blade and a guard with a straight cross
• Piercing melee weapon
• Slashing melee weapon
• Weapon of the Prussian musketeer
• Cutting and piercing melee weapons
• Slashing weapon
• Carpenter's weapon
• Large knife as a military weapon
• Shashka (from the Adyghe/Circassian “seshkhue” or “sashkho” - “big” or “long knife”) is a long-bladed cutting and piercing bladed weapon.
• A slash-and-thrust bladed weapon with a slightly curved single-edged blade
• A cutting and piercing bladed weapon with a blade less curved than a saber and worn in a leather sheath (not a metal one like a saber)
• Cutting bladed weapon with a single-edged, double-edged blade of slight curvature at the end and a hilt
• Chapaev's weapons
• Weapons of dashing grunts
• Slashing melee weapon
• In Russia, weapons of the cavalry, officers of all branches of the military, gendarmerie, police
• Modern ceremonial and award weapons
• Policeman's personal weapon
• “Squadron” (Polish: Szwadron) is a Polish feature film directed by Juliusz Machulski, filmed in 1992 based on his own script, written based on the plots of two stories by Stanislaw Rembek. Cinematographers from France, Belgium and Ukraine took part in the filming of the film.
• Type of saber - training piercing and chopping bladed weapon
• Piercing and chopping edged weapons that have a slightly curved or straight blade and are used in training fencing
• A piercing-cutting bladed weapon in the form of a heavy shortened, sometimes slightly curved sword, used in sports fencing
• Espanton m. (sword) blunt broadsword, for training cutting
• A sword is a type of bladed weapon with a straight blade, intended for slashing or slashing and stabbing, in the broadest sense - the collective name for all long bladed weapons with a straight blade.
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• Punishing weapon
• The weapon held by the Hollywood Oscar statuette
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• Chopping bladed weapon with a double-edged blade, less often single-edged, with a cross, a handle and a pommel
• Chopping double-edged bladed weapon, shaped like a Caucasian dagger
• “Broadsword”, “3M89” is a Russian anti-aircraft artillery system (ZAK), designed for the defense of ships and stationary objects from high-precision weapons (anti-ship missiles), air targets (airplanes, helicopters), as well as for firing small-sized sea and ground targets.
• Cutting and piercing blades. weapon
• A cutting and piercing bladed weapon with a one-and-a-half sharpened blade (less often double-edged), wide at the end and with a complex hilt, combining the qualities of a sword and a saber
• In Russia XVIII-XIX centuries. - cold piercing-cutting weapon with a straight, long and wide double-edged blade
• Boarding weapon
• Weapons for grunts
• Melee weapon like saber
• Weapons to cut cuirasses
• Ancient bladed weapon
• Cutting and piercing weapons
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Bladed weapons are everything, weapons that have a blade. That is, a sufficiently long strip that is intended to prick and to chop and to cut. It does not fit into the category of a blade, since it has only one purpose - to chop. , can also hardly be classified as a bladed weapon, since its purpose is to deliver only piercing blows. Although, of course, in the Japanese weapons tradition, there were spears whose tips could be called a blade, because they essentially represented a short sword on a long handle. , which is intended both to prick and to chop and to cut. it was possible not only to stab, but also to chop and cut. Well, we have decided on a brief definition of bladed weapons, now let’s look at what the main types of bladed weapons are in the world.

Sword

The sword is directly related to bladed weapons. If we do not go into various nuances associated with the national sword, for example, a slightly curved Japanese sword, which is more like a saber, then a “normal” sword, in our understanding, is a straight strip of steel, coaxial with the handle, and sharpened with both sides. The length, width, thickness and weight of the blade can be different, and the handle is a classic cross.

In turn, swords are divided into the following types:

1. Two-handed swords are swords that have a long blade, about one and a half meters, and a long hilt. , holding it with both hands, hitting the enemy at a long distance. mainly against horsemen and spearmen. In front of the main large cross (on the blade side), part of the blade is not sharpened and has a small guard that separates it from the blade. This was done so that when performing combat techniques with a two-handed sword, the warrior could make a wide grip with his hands if the situation in battle required it.

1. Hand and a half swords are swords that were considered the most versatile representatives of their type. That is, with a fairly decent length of the blade (700 - 1000 mm) and a handle the size of which was two or three palm widths, this sword could be fought with one hand or with two. One-and-a-half-handed swords were the golden mean between long “field monsters” and too short swords, which will be discussed further.

1. One-handed swords are swords that have a small hilt. The warrior's palm fit tightly between the crosspiece and the pommel. The length of such a sword usually did not exceed 700 millimeters. One-handed swords were quite maneuverable and were intended mainly for narrow city streets.

1. And finally, which most often served as an auxiliary weapon, when striking with a long sword could only become a hindrance in battle. Indoors, . Their total length with the handle did not exceed 600 millimeters. In the Bronze Age, swords were made exactly like this, since forging a larger length from bronze, for obvious reasons, did not make sense.

Sword

As time passed, traditional swords began to slowly become a thing of the past, gradually transforming into blades that had much less weight and shape. This is how broadswords and swords appeared. The broadsword had more than a sword and was usually sharpened on one side (accordingly, the sword had a narrow blade and a double-edged sharpening). The end of the broadsword handle was slightly bent towards the bottom. The guard formed a kind of bowl that protected the hand from all sides. The broadsword was mainly a weapon of horsemen and had a rather long blade (800-1000mm) to make it more convenient to cut down infantrymen from the height of a horse. The infantry also used broadswords, but they were somewhat shorter.

Saber

The saber has a curved blade with a one-sided sharpening. The width of the saber blade varied from 25 to 40 millimeters. The saber is intended primarily for slashing attacks. You can also stab with a saber, but the curvature of the saber plays a big role here. Too curved saber blades, such as, for example, Persian sabers, could not deliver a good piercing blow. They were convenient for cutting from a horse, but they were clearly not intended for poking movements. In the Caucasus, sabers underwent some changes, turning into checkers. , in principle, the same saber, only without a guard, like a Japanese katana. Unlike a saber, a saber was carried with its tip upward, and by snatching it from its sheath, the warrior could immediately deliver an oblique blow to the enemy. The saber, after it left, required an additional swing.

Scimitar

The scimitar is a classic representative of the blade with a reverse bend. That is, the scimitar has the same curvature as the saber, only the inner part of the parabola of the blade has been sharpened. The scimitar was the favorite weapon of the Janissaries and was used mainly as a cutting weapon in close combat. For some reason, the scimitar did not spread further than Turkey.

Swords and rapiers

When humanity was tired of carrying weights with itself, in the form of heavy armor (the invention of firearms negated their effectiveness) and powerful swords, which required remarkable strength and endurance to “work”, it invented lightweight versions of them, one of the representatives of which , and the sword appeared. The sword had a rather narrow diamond-shaped blade, and was intended purely for piercing blows, although it was capable of delivering cutting blows, since, despite its diamond shape, they were also sharpened. Thanks to its lightness and maneuverability, the sword quickly won the love of the aforementioned humanity, finally consigning noble swords to oblivion. the sword was entangled in a whole system of various rings and arcs, which, together with the cup-shaped guard, well protected the fencer’s hand, and to some extent, were used as a small sword.

Rapiers are essentially . They have a needle-shaped blade with three or four edges that do not have cutting edges. A rapier could deliver a lightning-fast stabbing blow. The brute strength of swords turned into the grace and speed of fencing with swords and rapiers.

Knives, cutlasses and daggers

Regardless of the purpose and shape, it is always sharpened on only one side. The blade, sharpened on both sides, is narrower. A dagger, unlike a knife, also has a small stop, like a saber guard, only smaller. and daggers served as auxiliary weapons. These short blades were used to finish off defeated enemies, destroy sentries, cut food; in general, knives and daggers had a fairly wide functionality. They were also often used in conjunction with a sword in battle and duels. The shape of the dagger blade could be straight, curved, or wavy.

It has a fairly wide blade, up to 500 millimeters long, and looks like a small sword. A good cleaver had, among other things, a purely practical purpose. Not only could they fight and kill, but they were also excellent at cutting down branches and small trees, trimming stakes, and even splitting logs.

The stiletto was originally intended for finishing off a warrior in armor, penetrating with a sharp narrow faceted needle between the plates of armor, or piercing. The stiletto usually had a round guard and a round pommel, similar to the head of a nail. This weapon had excellent piercing properties and was very dangerous in the right hands.

That's probably all. We briefly reviewed all the main types of bladed weapons. Of course, there are many more varieties, types and subtypes of bladed weapons in the world, and to describe them all would require not one article, but entire volumes of thick books. There are many of these books. This article is written based on one of these books, called: “Reconstruction of Ancient Weapons.” If anyone is interested, you can search for it on the Internet.

We rarely think about the things that we hold in our hands every day: a toothbrush, a comb, a knife - we are used to them and do not pay attention. But if you look into the past of the objects around us, you can make a lot of amazing discoveries. Some of the objects accompany a person throughout his entire history, and yet the oldest of our man-made satellites is KNIFE.

It was the knife that became the first tool used by man. And today it doesn’t matter whether it was a shell with a sharp edge or a broken piece of stone - a BLADE appeared. This happened before the advent of fire and the taming of the dog, before man spoke and drew the first drawing with charcoal. Knife making marked the beginning of the first tools. Since then it was KNIFE - the main human tool and assistant.

Amazingly, having taken final shape back in the Stone Age, the knife has not undergone fundamental changes since then. Point, blade, handle... And no matter how eras and technologies, materials and tastes change, the basis remains the same. Having appeared so long ago, the knife is not going to retire. There is no other tool in our everyday life that is so multifunctional: cutting food and exposing wires, sharpening a pencil, cutting a flower... even protecting life. And we’re talking all this about a basic knife, and not about a universal machine shop like a Swiss officer’s folding set!

Today, the polished steel of a blade fascinates us just as much as it did at the dawn of civilization, and its functional possession can turn into a passion for collecting. The love for edged weapons is inexplicable, but far from bloodthirstiness or depravity. It is, rather, a tribute to history, a veneration of what has faithfully served man since the moment he realized himself as a Man. This desire had to be imprinted in the genes, and it was imprinted.

We live in a country with a long and tragic history. The fact of its existence is that for almost three generations the state has been fighting against the right of its citizens to own weapons. The very idea of ​​owning bladed or firearms was introduced into the consciousness of our compatriots as incompatible with the appearance of a law-abiding citizen. The desire to express artistic inclinations in the refined lines of a steel blade could lead to barbed wire, where a completely different aesthetic reigned.

As a result, the strong traditions of arms making in Russia were almost lost. Now the situation is being restored, but in addition to manufacturing traditions, there must also be traditions of consumption and taste, which are impossible without knowledge. In order to slightly replenish this cultural baggage, this article was written.

When preparing the publication, difficulties arose not so much in the selection as in the exclusion of material. The world of knives is vast, and it is impossible to describe everything, because where descriptions begin, the problem of systematization and classification arises, and where the question of classification arises, a new problem immediately appears: after all, any system must be based on a rational principle. On the other hand, the variety of types of knives is incalculable. An attempt to squeeze them into some kind of, always artificially constructed, boundaries cannot but give rise to errors.

Sometimes such “violence” serves certain purposes, for example, the purposes of criminological examination to determine whether a given knife belongs to a bladed weapon in accordance with the Criminal Code. But when such a classification begins to be applied everywhere, it loses its meaning and does not become universal.

However, it is in criminological expertise that the origins of the most common attempts at classification are found. The established approach is to separate sections with approximately the following content::

— national knives and daggers;
- combat knives and daggers (bayonets, as well as specialized throwing knives, are often included in this group);
- Hunter knives;
— survival knives;
- folding knives;
— utility knives (culinary, gardening, highly specialized).

In fact, such sorting is convenient for a forensic expert in edged weapons or a manager of a specialized store, but it is not a classification in the strictly scientific sense of the word. Moreover, it will not clarify anything for a person who wants to choose a universal blade or knife for some specific purposes.

So how are knife blades classified?
Firstly, along the side profile of the blade.
Secondly, according to the cross-sectional shape of the blade.

After reading this material, you can easily determine the type of blade of any knife, and also find out which type is more suitable for which purposes. let's consider main types of blade side profile:

Finca- this type of blade has a straight spine and is capable of piercing with its tip.

Clip-point or Bowie- named after Texas national hero James Bowie. It was developed in the 19th century for combat knives and has a beveled butt in the form of a duck's nose, but it can also be straight. As a rule, there is also a sharpening on the butt. A blade of this shape is equally good for cutting and thrusting, due to the location of the tip on the axis of application of force upon impact.

Tanto- the shape of the blade was born in the fascinating world of Japanese edged weapons, according to some sources, and according to others, it appeared quite recently in an American knife manufacturing company. A blade of this shape has extreme stability of the tip due to the fact that the massiveness of the blade is maintained right up to the tip. Most often used for combat knives, but sometimes found on other types. One can argue for a very long time about the convenience of this blade shape for various cuts.

Scramasax— most often professional knives and folding multifunctional knives have this blade shape. Due to this shape of the blade, the knife becomes safer in terms of piercing and allows for precise, controlled cutting.

Spear-point- most often this blade shape can be found on ancient daggers, and today on combat knives. This blade shape is very well suited for thrusting. Usually it has a double-sided sharpening, which on tactical combat knives allows you to carry out a large number of movements without turning your hand or rotating the handle (for example, in the dark you don’t have to think about which side the blade is on).

Trailing point- usually found on national knives. A blade of this shape is best suited for cutting soft materials.

Drop-point— a blade of this shape has a lower spine line and is equally good for both cutting and thrusting. Usually the butt is without sharpening. It was created as a tool, not a weapon, and is more often used for hunting knives, which are excellent assistants in the field.

In addition to the fact that all short bladed weapons are divided into two large groups - KNIVES and DAGGERS - the longitudinal pattern of the blades appears in the following varieties:
- straight;
- curved upward;
- curved down;
- with several bends, even wavy.

Both knives and daggers can have any of these shapes, but, unfortunately, not everyone clearly understands the difference between them. And it is very simple: no other differences play a role, except one:

The dagger is always double-edged, that is, both the upper and lower sides of the blade are sharpened.

On the contrary, the knife is always sharpened on only one side; in extreme cases, it can have the front upper third of the blade sharpened, thereby acquiring some of the properties of a dagger.

And no matter what shape the blade has, its classification as a knife or dagger is determined only by the agreed upon principle.

But, along with “unambiguous” objects, there is a category of products that is, as it were, outside such a bipolar classification - this blades with the so-called one-and-a-half sharpening. From the tip to about the middle, their blade is purely dagger-like, and then the sharpening of the upper edge turns into the usual back (butt) of a knife, smooth or with a fashionable notch, right down to sawtooth teeth.

This is a universal, very practical type of blade that combines the advantages of both families, but traditionally such specimens are still classified as knives. As you remember, the “breed” feature of the famous Bowie knife is precisely the sharpening of the front upper (concave) third of the blade, which made it possible to cut on the reverse stroke in battle.

Straight blades are the easiest to manufacture and the most versatile in operation. The tradition of using straight blades is international, but in the countries of the Afro-Asian region there is a clear tendency towards curved weapons, curved up or down, while Europe has always loved straight knives and daggers. Straight weapons are most suitable for piercing blows, and even chain mail was pierced with a fairly thin and strong blade.

The Asian tradition gravitates towards everything intricate, cunning, and the strength of this passion leaves its mark on the gunsmithing. Blades curved upward, it is good to cut and pierce with an upward movement, and with curved downwards - chop with a broach and pierce downwards. These forms are illustrated by the Moroccan dagger, Arabian knife and Nepalese kukri.

Combining both principles together ( straight and curved up), we get a convenient thing that works equally easily in different modes. Such knives and daggers with double bending, which have become very popular these days, look defiantly exotic.

Recently, a similar style has begun to spread among combat knives, suitable for survival in difficult conditions. The concave middle part of the blade is successfully adapted to cutting thin elastic branches and reeds, and the heavy end part acts like an ax. An agricultural sickle works on a similar principle, collecting flexible ears of corn into a bunch. True, sometimes it is completely unclear what the developers were guided by when giving their brainchild a completely inexplicable form. For example, here Chilean special forces combat knife:

It is difficult to suspect the inventors and users of this strange product of incompetence, but what else, besides chopping branches and cutting necks and limbs (you should forget about injections), can be done with its help is a mystery.

And finally, we can't get past the notorious malay kris, since they traditionally have a very rare shape - wavy or, as it is also called, “flaming”. Of course, such a sophistication is of little use as a universal tool. These are either military or ceremonial weapons.

The kris blades were made from layered, plywood-like, welded Damascus, but they did not possess any special qualities inherent in classic damask steel, apart from their ravishing beauty. Separate layers sometimes consisted of porous iron, so that, being saturated, according to local custom, with strong poison, such a blade remained deadly throughout its long life. As for external forms, it is difficult to call them anything other than infernal.

At this point, the review of the longitudinal shapes of blades can be considered exhausted, since any fantasy will definitely fall into one group or another.

As for different types of blade cross-section, then here the picture is somewhat different - there are much more of them than three or five, and they by no means fit into logical sections. Nevertheless, we will try to at least somehow classify these jungles based on some fundamental geometric characteristics.

Perhaps we should start with the undeniable statement that every cutting or piercing tool is a wedge and only a wedge. The physical essence of the process of separating one object by another is to reduce the area of ​​contact, because in this case, in accordance with the laws of nature, the pressure force increases in inverse proportion to this very area. The sharper your knife is sharpened, the greater the pressure exerted by its cutting edge and, therefore, the easier and cleaner it pushes apart the object that comes its way.

Mentioned above stone knives made of obsidian have an edge of atomic, that is, the minimum possible thickness. Therefore, a light touch is enough to make a cut. The same thing happens during the notorious experiments with damask steel and a silk scarf, since real damask steel has a phenomenal ability to accept sharpening.

The blade section of most daggers differs in only one thing: symmetry(rarely there are daggers with a “shift” of shape).

In light of the above, knives are no different from daggers. Here are some of the most characteristic and popular types of knife cross-sections, unchanged over the centuries, because there is nothing new to come up with here. As you can see, these are all variations of an ordinary wedge. We can make its side surfaces concave, convex, cut them with any number of fullers of the most varied shapes and widths, change the sharpening angle - but the essence remains the same.

Blades with convex edges are noticeably stronger, but also heavier. Concave forms are light and elegant, but they lack solidity and reliability. The presence of fullers allows you to find compromise solutions, lightening the thick blade and giving it additional rigidity. The most common type of back is straight, flat, but occasionally there are knives with a rounded back, and the Japanese prefer to design it as a “house”. The strange fashion of using a decorative saw on the butt increases the likelihood of injury, without adding anything to the convenience.

Stilettos, designed to deliver fatal injections (sometimes directly through armor or tiny gaps in its joints), most often take the form of awls, narrow, thin and predatory. The requirements for maximum axial rigidity gradually pushed aside flat blades in favor of square and triangular ones. In addition to stilettos, classic thrusting rapiers had this cross-section.

Strictly speaking, the type of section affects exclusively the strength and mass of the blade (and, of course, beauty), without interfering at all with the processes of cutting and piercing itself, since only the cutting edge and the tip are responsible for the latter. Whatever thicknesses of metal hang from above, they inevitably converge towards the ghostly thin line of the blade.

The angle of convergence of the edges is always sharp, and the sharper the better, but up to certain limits. A kind of “razor” sharpening, named after the cross-sectional shape of the blades of straight razors, is incomparable in sharpness, but any other objects other than hair and skin will immediately destroy the delicate edge.

Reverse case - legendary Japanese swords (and all their other edged weapons) had a convex cross-section. This allowed the brave samurai to dash away at their pleasure, and the inhuman patience of the polishers provided the notorious sharpness, making the classic blade truly a scythe of death.

Here we need to stop and take a closer look the process of separating an obstacle with blades of various shapes. The concave section of the razor easily penetrates into the thickness, but it is not destined to divide it completely, since as it deepens, more and more areas of the blade come into contact with the material, which seems to “suck in” the knife, squeezing it in a suffocating embrace. The further the blade plunges, the more rapidly the resistance force grows, and the dependence here is by no means linear, but almost geometric.

Surely many of you have encountered similar sensations when you tried to cut a slice of cheese or a piece of frozen meat with such a knife. Difficulties arise even when removing the blade back - as if something is holding it. That is why this form is used almost exclusively among the now rare straight razors.

The most common wedge is the one with flat edges.. From the standpoint of the above, it has average characteristics. Although the resistance of an object increases as such a knife deepens, the relationship here is linear. Steel pushes the stubborn thickness to the right and left less intensely, and the main losses come from friction.

But the most remarkable is the third type of shape - slightly convex. When entering an obstacle, such a blade touches the walls of the cut only with a small section of the side edges, directly adjacent to the edge. The rest is already moving in emptiness, and there can be no talk of any friction. A simple experiment will clearly demonstrate what has been said - try to split a block of wood (preferably raw) with an ordinary ax and then with a cleaver. The first one will certainly get stuck in the middle of the path, and the second one will fly right through, and even with a reserve of speed.

In exactly the same way, a good katana flies through a thick (into the hand) pole, leaving behind an oblique polished cut. This is not even negotiable - if you need not just to cut the surface, but to break the object in half, you need to acquire

a piece of iron with a convex section. By the way, this is exactly the shape that the classic blades of the legendary Persian sabers have - without any fullers, “eyeliners” or other frills.

Wanting to overcome the problem of reducing weight and maintaining rigidity, manufacturers of edged weapons have long found a compromise solution in which the razor concavity is combined with a flat or convex wedge-shaped shape of the blade itself. Although the blade is not so strong, it is light and cuts well, since an obstacle separates a small section of the edge in the form of an ordinary wedge, and then the steel retreats from the walls of the cut, without interfering with going deeper.

A thin edge at a break in the shape slides along the cut with minimal resistance, as if “splitting” it. It is recommended to complete even a convex section by sharpening it to form a similar edge - then your dagger or sword will acquire fabulous agility in work. The blades of almost all checkers - both Don and Caucasian - have a similar design (with various variations).

The weapons tradition of India and adjacent regions is very interesting in this sense. There, as a rule, the main thickness of the blade is selected to a considerable depth, following the concave shape, but this is not a smooth surface, but an extremely developed relief in the form of ornaments, an ingenious system of valleys or entire genre scenes from life, hunting, war, etc.

In fact, only a narrow strip of the cutting edge is left for work, and all other space is given to the artist. Sometimes even the blade itself is decorated with a gold notch, and it is not entirely clear how to sharpen it in this case? It is probably unnecessary to repeat that once upon a time such products were made from real Indian damask steel with all the inherent set of extraordinary qualities.

In addition, we never see blades in the West (with the exception of broadswords) with a protruding longitudinal stiffener on both sides. Frankly speaking, I have little idea how something like this can be practically made - perhaps by cutting off excess layers of precious metal from a thick workpiece? We see similar daggers today on traders’ stalls and in the belts of the dark-skinned local population.

Of course, the rigidity of the ribbed blade is maximum, noticeably superior in this sense to all other designs, but such a weapon is simply not capable of plunging into the body deeper than halfway. Accordingly, you will not be able to cut sausages or chop off your opponent’s hand, at least not qualitatively.

In modern armies, the problem of strength is solved simply - by increasing the thickness. To prevent the weapon from becoming abnormally heavy, such blades always have deep, milled or stamped fullers of very large dimensions. I have had the opportunity to hold similar products in my hands with a strip thickness at the handle of up to 8 mm. These are no longer exactly knives, but universal tools for brute force work.

For example, they can be used as a wedge, lever, or hammer. When driven into a crevice in a rock or into a tree, they will serve as an absolutely reliable step or crossbar, which you can safely lean on with all your weight without the risk of breaking it. A good illustration will be two samples - a US naval aviation knife and a Canadian-type army knife (USSR).

A US Navy knife (top) and a Canadian-style army knife (USSR).

/Alex Varlamik, based on materials stilet.pp.ua, guns4.narod.ru And chop72.ru /

In general, one could confine oneself to simply quoting the federal Weapons Law:

Edged weapons are weapons designed to hit a target using human muscular power in direct contact with the target... Edged weapons do not include products certified as household and industrial products, sports equipment that is structurally similar to weapons.

But this definition includes absolutely everything that can be used to harm a person through a blow. Even a banal stone is “a projectile guided by the movement of a person’s muscular power.” Alas, it has not yet been possible to ban stones by law, so the definitions had to be expanded a little.

Therefore, such concepts as throwing weapons and bladed weapons appeared. They say that a stool leg and a randomly picked up stick are not exactly something that should be regulated by law. But what had to be purposefully manufactured is very good.

It’s just that not everything is clear with cold bladed weapons. There are ordinary bladed weapons, which will be discussed a little later. There are hunting and sporting weapons, which, despite the fact that they have all the typical characteristics, are not subject to the law. And there are also bladed weapons designed to be worn with national costumes. And it is also regulated by completely different laws.

But for a standard bladed weapon there are clearly defined criteria. At the moment, a knife is considered a melee weapon if it has the following parameters:

1. Blade length- more than 90 mm.
2. Blade spine thickness- from 2.6 to 6 mm.
3. Blade hardness- more than 42 units on the HRC scale.
4. Presence of a finger stop or the depth of the finger grooves, if any, is at least 4 mm each.
5. Availability of sharpened blade.

Officially, a knife is considered a full-fledged edged weapon only if it meets all five points on the list. Which opens up a lot of room for maneuver. And such knives can well be used for self-defense.

However, if there is at least one sign, they may already be interested. The last point is especially interesting - about “sharpening”. According to GOST, a knife is considered sharpened if it cuts a birch branch approximately 12 mm thick 6 times without problems, chips or nicks. But this is according to GOST, which still needs to be checked. And so, they can cling to the wording: “cutting paper means sharp.”

• Knife without a point. It is either rounded or functions as a screwdriver or something similar. A piercing blow is impossible - not a melee weapon.
• A knife whose tip is located 5 mm above the butt. It is also extremely difficult to deliver direct piercing blows with such a tool.
• A knife with a spine deflection of more than 5 mm. Derivative of the previous point. It is believed that such knives are not suitable for direct stabbing attacks.
• The blade is 5 mm below the butt for lengths up to 180 cm, and 10 mm for more than 180 cm. Again, the displacement of the center line complicates stabbing.
• If there is a hook for ripping the skin at less than 1/3 of the point. Purely a hunting weapon, yes.
• Blade length less than 90 mm.
• The tangent to the edge of the blade and the butt line form an angle of more than 70°.
• Knives with a handle that does not provide grip when pricking.
• Knives with a handle less than 70 mm. Yeah, they don't count as melee weapons.

And a number of other signs. To put it simply, any knife that cannot be used to stab normally is not a bladed weapon. It doesn’t matter how well you can chop with it - a machete, for example, doesn’t pass most of these points. It sounds paradoxical, but yes. From the point of view of the law, a machete is a household tool. True, I don’t think that internal affairs officers will like it if you wave this tool on the street. And even demonstrate it. And even with a certificate. They may well confiscate it for examination. According to the results, of course, nothing will happen to you, but it is not a fact that the instrument will be returned. And if, of course, this is a real examination, and there is no urgent need to “increase disclosure” or an order from above to “do this.”

Therefore, it is better to generally protect yourself from unnecessary fuss and attention, and use a more “peaceful” knife. And leave more serious specimens for trips to nature and generally to places where there are fewer people =)