From: ederd@bcstec.ca.boeing.com (Dani Eder)
Subject: Re: hi-tech swords
Date: Jan 17 1996
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.science

>snaidu@merlyn.pwc.k12.nf.ca (Censorship guy) wrote:

>>Maybe this was posted a while ago, but hey, here goes. Does anyone have 
>>any ideas for high tech swords. I just finished reading the Star of the 
>>Guardians series, and I was wondering how they got those nifty 
>>bloodswords to work like that (shield, blade). What about hooking a taser 
>>up to a katana, would that work? 8)

Okay, here's my version.  This sword is built using current aerospace 
technology.  Estimated cost of several thousand dollars.

The hot section blades  of jet aircraft turbines are made of single-crystal
nickel superalloys.  The blade blank is grown using a special process so
that it consists of a single crystal grain, so it has no grain boundaries
along which to fail.  The alloy is pretty strong, and retains that strength
to very high temperatures.  Turbine blades are usually made with internal
cooling passages so they are air cooled in operation.  Now, hire a
aerospace job shop to make you a sword blank the same way.  Instead of
using the internal passages to cool the blade, rig blowtorch gas bottles
(small ones) in the handle or on a waist belt to feed the exhaust through
the blade.  Now your sword will glow with the heat and can be used to
hack off limbs and cauterize them at the same time, or light fires, while
still retaining high strength.

Dani Eder