By Dr. Jim Hrisoulas. Edited by WarAngel.

In a time when our desire for certain types of swords dictate our tastes, we often overlook the elegance and deadly effectiveness of certain ancient swords from cultures we seldom study. These weapons are by no means inferior. Given the opportunity, they can sometimes exceed our preconceptions and biases.

The falcata is one such sword - the product of an evolution of the ancient Egyptian Kopesh. So impressed with its function, Alexander the Great adopted its use for his conquests, and it spread with minor - and some major - changes throughout the known world due to this fact. The Turkish Yataghan, the Nepalese Kukri and Kora, the Falcatta Iberia, the Sosoun Pata and many more weapons evolved from this one source.

It is, for the lack of a better word, an axe. This weapon is very, very effective, but not at all graceful as most people believe that a sword should be. For its intended use, as a close in "chopper" there simple isn't a better sword. Period.

The forward curved and widened blade places a great percentage of the blade's "working weight" at the upper third of the blade length, which happens to be the most efficient area for a blade to impact in order to inflict the greatest damage to the target. Not at all subtle or even the least bit "graceful", this sword is very effective when it comes to overhand chops and other short and quick movements, especially around a large shield.

Another wonderful function of the forward recurved blade is during a draw cut. The forward ogive will actually pull the blade into the target, thereby making the cut deeper and more effective.

While somewhat awkward to modern minds, the pistol grip on the sword helped retain the sword in one's hand as sometimes the impacts were severe and the unique shape aided in weapon retention.

Those of us whose exposure to swords are limited to the Japanese katana may often praise a cut if it's accomplished a 1/2" cut in a steel army helmet. I had the opportunity to forge a Kopis and tested it on a military steel helmet. Not only did the Kopis cut into the helmet, but the helmet caved in around the cut! The Kopis was created, however, in a different era for a different style of combat and purpose.

(Editor's Note: Craig Johnson, Production Manager of Arms and Armor shares from his experience of handling two original swords. "They were fairly light, compared to most reproductions I had seen," relates Craig. "The most common difference I noticed is that most reproductions use a moran type grind to the blade were the originals taper steadily from the back edge to the cutting edge thus reducing a lot of the weight in the larger examples.")

Dr. Jim Hrisoulas is a master bladesmith, owner of Salamander Armoury, and owner of several books and numerous magazine articles on bladesmithing. Holding a doctoral degree is in the field of Metallography, Jim understands the working, application and heat treeting of steels and alloys to a very high degree. His website is http://www.atar.com

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