Brass Knuckles

Brass Knuckles [In the generic grouping of "Knuckledusters."] have a long and bloody history in both Europe and The United States. Probably a lot of other places as well. Carrying them on your person in virtually any State in this Country would amount to an instant arrest if searched. You would be very lucky to get away with a confiscation and a verbal warning…very lucky.

In my youth, there were many people in the neighborhood and in Baltimore City that packed a pair of "Knucks." They are sold to this day in the same places they were in my youth. Flea Markets all around the area have "Brass Paperweights." Some of them are supplied with a tiny little piece of threaded metal that screws into a matching hole so they can be picked up easily off of a stack of papers on your desk. Makes them a real cool paperweight in fact! They are neat and a great conversation piece.

I think it is safe to assume that wherever there are Flea Markets or Swap Meets, etc., you are going to find dumptruck loads of brass knuckles, various flat and round blackjacks [saps] and cheap overseas rip-offs of ASP Telescoping Batons. I’ve watched a lot of punks and wannabe gangbangers buying them…so beware. They ain’t collectors, they’re users…

The bloody world of pummeling people with Knucks has a long history as I said before. These things are brutal weapons and have a sinister reputation.

The reason they were banned is because we have a problem, as a society, of blaming inanimate objects for the acts of predatory or stupid human beings. That is primary. More than that, they were banned because they are effective at what they do, which is damaging people.

The way I was taught by a Jujutsu Instructor was to punch in a tearing and glancing manner and not necessarily straight on. In other words, you would hit with something similar to a vertical, rolling punch instead of something like a reverse punch.

But that is with Brass Knuckles as we have come to know them. Most "Classic" Brass Knuckles have smallish holes for the fingers. To punch straight on could lead to broken fingers, which is why he suggested a slightly different method of punching with them. It really depends on how your hand is shaped, finger size and some other things…but in general, with the "Classic" pattern, it’s probably best to hit with a rolling, glancing blow.

Efficacy Mystery Sword of Damascus

Take Richard the Lion, king of England who led the Christian soldier in the Crusades III, met with a bitter enemy, the Muslim leader Salahuddin al-Ayyubi. Both these leaders to respect each other. The two leaders who later became a legend that, as Sir Walter Scott's novel dramatizes in The Talisman, showing off their weapons.
Richard mengel uarkan big shiny sword made by the best masters of mainland Britain. Salahuddin her beloved sword. Artificial curved sword masters in Damascus that is not shiny. "Instead, the blue color faded, dicercahi 10 million lines," wrote Sir Scott. Maybe the sword is like a dagger prestige lines made the best masters in Java.
Sir Scott's novel, published two centuries ago was to ensure the efficacy of the sword of Damascus, one of which is held Salahuddin, become immortal. The sword was very sharp. The most delicate silk handkerchief can be split in two if dropped hovering over the sword. In addition, the weapon known as the sword of Damascus was able to split the enemy's sword or the most hard rock without reduced sharpness.
Unfortunately, the technique of making Damascus sword that appears in the 8th century are extinct. No one ever masters can make it in the last two centuries. Metallurgy experts wonder how the old masters in Damascus could make the sword as strong and as sharp as that. Problem structure of metal in it is also a big question.
Just today the answer is found in Germany. The masters in Damascus that, unconsciously, when applying nano technology to make swords for Salahuddin. To remind, the nanotube material that is 100 times stronger than steel. Not surprisingly, Damascus swords so strong.
Peter Paufler, crystallographer at the Technical University Dresden, Germany, nanowires and nanotubes discovered while researching the sword of Damascus who was four centuries with an electron microscope. "This is the first nanotube findings in steel," said Paufler.
Nanotube fibers baste it throughout the body made of steel swords. As a result, steel is like getting extra bone that is 100 times more powerful. "This general principle of nature," said Paufler. "Substance is more software can be strengthened by adding a strong wire."
There was criticism that the electron microscope was contaminated nanotubes from other places, as quoted by Alex Zettl, a physicist from the University of California, Berkeley. But Paufler, after admitting that possibility, saying he had tested with a variety of different equipment. The result remains the same: there are nanoparticles.
The masters in Damascus to make swords with the raw material of steel bullion imported from India. This raw steel, in India called ukku and in the West called wootz, the quality is very good and the carbon reached 1.5 percent, or about 15 times more than steel elsewhere.
Carbon is usually considered to be the key to making a good sword. But the mixture should be just right, too much make steel become brittle, too little to make steel could not be sharper. If the process is not perfect, can appear cementite, iron phase is fragile despite loud.
Paufler suspect nanotubes come as bullion India burnt steel. Carbon from burning wood and leaves to form a nanotube, especially from the stem and leaves of Cassia auriculata Calotropis gigantea. In addition, Damascus sword has an element of vanadium, chromium, manganese, tin, nickel, and several other elements that tracked down to the mines in India. Through the combustion process and forging, were later filled nanotubes cementite, substances of very strong iron.
Techniques to make Damascus swords similar to the Javanese kris, katana in Japan, or a Viking sword in Northern Europe. Various types of iron and metal plate incorporated into a stick. Once burned, and forged, new metal would be fused. This process is repeated after bending the metal forging and repeated constantly.
Repeated hammer blows to make the fibers nanowires were heading out the sword. It may also create a larger cementite particles arranged in layers with a softer steel, but flexible.
When the sword is shaped and lived sharpen, Paufler guess the masters of Damascus are imbuing them with hard water. Hard water is not only creating a flow of metal in the body of the sword, but also sharpen.
Well, allegedly Paufler, heavy water was indeed melt the metal. But nanotubes of carbon and cementite in it so as to make their stay as the saw blade is very soft. Becomes very sharp sword with 100 times the strength of steel, just like that held by Salahuddin al-Ayyubi.