Prussian bayonet, with a prominent fuller

A Fuller is a rounded or beveled groove on the flat side of a blade, such as a sword, knife, or bayonet (shown). Although 19th century romantic fancy referred to them as "blood grooves", their purpose is to lighten the blade, rather than to allow blood to flow from a stabbed person. Image File history File links Artwork by Rama Prussian bayonet, from a Public Domain photograph of English Wikipedia [1] File links The following pages link to this file: Bayonet ... Image File history File links Artwork by Rama Prussian bayonet, from a Public Domain photograph of English Wikipedia [1] File links The following pages link to this file: Bayonet ... Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 Prussia (German: ; Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Lithuanian: ; Polish: ; Old Prussian: Prūsa) was, most recently, a historic state originating in East Prussia, an area which for centuries had substantial influence on German and European history. ... The US Marine Corps OKC-3S Bayonet A bayonet (from French baïonnette) is a knife- or dagger-shaped weapon designed to fit on or over the muzzle of a rifle barrel or similar weapon. ... Swiss longsword, 15th or 16th century Look up Sword in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The US Marine Corps OKC-3S Bayonet A bayonet (from French baïonnette) is a knife- or dagger-shaped weapon designed to fit on or over the muzzle of a rifle barrel or similar weapon. ... A blade is the flat part of a tool or weapon that normally has a cutting edge and/or pointed end typically made of a metal, such as steel used to cut, stab, slice, throw, thrust, or strike. ...

Some speculate that this design feature makes a weapon easier to withdraw after a stabbing attack by allowing air into the wound it produces, but in fact fullers have not been experimentally shown to have such an effect. Any suction effect or clenching of muscles which might trap objects in a body seems to affect similar blades equally regardless of the use of fullers. Many blades use fullers even when they are so short that the physical effect is negligible; in this case, the purpose may be to make the weapon resemble larger blades.

Physics

Figure 2. Internal forces and the cross-sectional stress distribution due to bending.

The basic design principle is that bending causes more stress in material near the edge or back of the blade than material in the middle, due to leverage. The diagram at left shows stress distribution in an ideal blade with a rectangular section, with only a small amount of shear stress present at the neutral axis. Fullers remove material from near this neutral axis, which is closer the blade's spine if only one edge is sharpened (see photo above). This yields stiffer blades of a given weight, or lighter blades of a given stiffness. The same principle is taken to an extreme in the I-shaped cross sections of most steel beams. Some even contend that this concept was borrowed into architecture from weapons design [1]. The internal forces and the cross-sectional stress distribution in a beam in bending. ... Figure 1. ... Figure 1  Stress tensor Category: ... The principle of the lever tells us that the above is in static equilibrium, with all forces balancing, if F1D1 = F2D2. ... Stiffness is the resistance of an elastic body to deflection by an applied force. ... A statically determinate beam, bending under an evenly distributed load. ...

Japanese blades

In Japanese bladesmithing, fullers have a rich tradition and terminology, enough that there are separate terminologies for the top (hi, usually pronounced as bi when used as a successive word) and bottom (tome) ends of the feature. A listing follows: Bladesmithing is the art of blacksmithing that relates specifically to creating knives, swords, and other blades using a forge, hammer, anvil, and other smithing tools. ...

• Hi
  • Bo-bi: A continuous straight groove of notable width, known as katana-bi on tanto. With soe-bi, a secondary narrow groove follows the inner straight length of the main one. With tsure-bi, the secondary is similar but continues beyond the straight length.
  • Futasuji-bi: Two parallel grooves.
  • Shobu-bi: A groove shaped like the leaf of an iris plant.
  • Naginata-bi: A miniature bo-bi whose top is oriented opposite from the blade's, and usually accompanied by a soe-bi. Seen primarily on naginatas.
  • Kuichigai-bi: Two thin grooves that run the top half of the blade; the bottom half is denoted by the outer groove stopping halfway while the inner one expands to fill the width.
  • Koshi-bi: A short rounded-top groove found near the bottom of a blade, near to the tang.
• Tome
  • Kaki-toshi: The groove runs all the way down to the end of the tang.
  • Kaki-nagashi: The groove tapers to a pointed end halfway down the tang.
  • Kaku-dome: The groove stops as a square end within 3 cm of the tang's upper end.
  • Maru-dome: Similar to the kaku, except with a rounded-end.

Diagram showing the parts of a katana Katana (刀) is the word for sword in the Japanese language. ... A Tantō (短刀) is a Japanese blade or small sword. ... The leaves of a Beech tree A leaf with laminar structure and pinnate venation In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant organ specialized for photosynthesis. ... Species See text Iris is a genus of between 200-300 species of flowering plants with showy flowers which takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colours found among the many species. ... A samurai wielding a naginata Naginata (なぎなた, 長刀 or 薙刀) is a pole weapon that was traditionally used in Japan by members of the samurai class. ...

The kukri

The Nepali kukri has a terminology of its own, including the "aunlo bal" (finger of strength/force/energy), a relatively deep and narrow fuller near the spine of the blade, which runs (at most) between the handle and the corner of the blade, and the "chirra", which may refer either to shallow fullers in the belly of the blade or a hollow grind of the edge, and of which two or three may be used on each side of the blade [2]. Motto: जननी जन्मभूमिष्च स्वर्गादपि गरीयसी  (Sanskrit) Mother and motherland are dearer than the heavens Anthem: Rastriya Gaan Capital (and largest city) Kathmandu Nepali Government Transitional government  - King John Brudon  - Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala Unification December 21, 1768  Area  - Total 147,181 km² (93rd) 56,827 sq mi   - Water (%) 2. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Types of grind: a)axe b)saber c)flat d)hollow e)chisel The grind of an edge refers to the angle and curvature of that blades cross section. ...

References

• "Blood groove", from the A. G. Russell knife encyclopedia
• Terminology of the Kukri