A razor sharp blade on the other hand cuts on contact and creates a wound that wont stop bleeding due to the fact that the components that are necessary to cause the blood to coagulate are not activated in a smooth wound. If you bought it to use it sharpen it. If you bought it to look at it don't waste your time sharpening.FRJ
The same thing for swords. The military dulled their swords between wars, to avoid/reduce training accidents.
A pre WWII Cavalry trooper told me of a training fatality during sword practice. They carried the Patton saber. A trooper fell off his horse, and lost control of his sword. It might have been attached with a sword knot . As the trooper fell, the point ended up under the guy’s armpit. When the trooper hit the ground, the sword impaled the poor guy.
Aka Zero: And I go for sharp any day for wounding. if you want hard to stitch, get a sawback or serrated edge.
LOL!!!
Some guys here must have never cut themselves apparently.
Clean cut = Clean wound.......Nasty cut = Nasty wound. It's called Physics.
i emailed a good doctor/firearm enthueist friend of mine asking his professional medical opinioin on dull vs sharp bayonet and here is the reply
....Good question with more than maybe a standard answer. Logical or common sense would lead you to think that a sharp bayonet is better, but it is not. The bayonet is not a replacement for a knife and meant not to cut but to pierce. Bayonets are unsharpened for the purpose of greater tissue disruption and the inability to appropriately mend the wound. A clean cut will create easier removal and repair. An unsharpened bayonet causes more damage with penetration. Greater chance of infection, Breaking/fragmenting bones rather than cutting, etc. I can go on, but I think you understand the answer.
How, praytell, would the military effectivly dull a sword without removing significant amounts of material from the edge? How would they accomplish this without ruining all of the swords?
How would a dull sword have prevented that guy from being impaled on his horse?
i don't think the seratted blade bayonets were ever outlawed, most of those were used for sawing but God helps the WWI German soldier who was caught with one.
I much rather be bayoed 3 times with a dull one than once with a sharp one. Far better to go all the way through pushing major organs and arteries out of the way than slicing right through them - any day of the week, from any angle, under any circumstances.
Yes, I've cut myself many times, and if it's a sharp knife, then (a) it's far more likely to happen accidentally, and (b) it's far worse when it does happen - the cut is deeper, longer and bleeds more.
One of my freinds was in the Marines at the beginning of the current war with Iraq. They didn't issue him a Ka-bar, they didn't give anyone Ka-Bars, they were to use their bayonets as utility knives to cut rope and stuff. They had to buy their own Ka-Bars and Gerber Multi-Tools and pocket knives out of their own money