Can this assumption be made?

[psy-ops]

I am curious if we can make an assumption, if a knife manufacturer makes a 6" knife and Noss DTs it and it rates a 5 sword, are we safe to assume that a smaller of the same materials would be as stronger or even stronger and a larger knife will be slightly weaker? In watching the BJ Grunt, I either correctly or incorrectly thought that their 8" "Warrior" would probably perform worse than the Grunt because how could a longer blade of same materials handle the lateral pressure better than a shorter blade? Any thoughts???

[culpeper]

I don't see why an assumption can't be made depending on the comparison. Example, tip strength should be no different and flexibility of the blade should be in direct proportion to blade length based on your description. After all, it is just an assumption based on common physics.

[Noss]

A longer blade of the same size will have more flex the longer it is from the tip.The center of the blade and handle should be able to be flexed more before the tip gives way. The tip strength should be the same. The longer blade will flex more before the same amount of breaking force is reached compared to a shorter blade of the same size and materials.

[will york]

A longer blade of the same size will have more flex the longer it is from the tip.The center of the blade and handle should be able to be flexed more before the tip gives way. The tip strength should be the same. The longer blade will flex more before the same amount of breaking force is reached compared to a shorter blade of the same size and materials.

That sounds right. The longer blade will also flex more than the shorter blade under the same lateral load if both knives are held in the same way and both are, for example, clamped in a vise at the same distance back from the tip. The shorter blade will be more resistant to flex which, in a way, speaks to psy-ops' description of it being stronger. It's not really stronger--just more resistant to flex because of leverage. If you clamp the longer blade at the same distance from the handle as the shorter, all other aspects of construction being equal, they should have the same resistance to flex, right?

At the same time, the longer the piece of steel being flexed, the more leverage you are able to exert to bend the steel to the breaking point. So in real terms I think psy-ops has a point: the longer blade should break under less lateral force than the shorter blade, because of the greater leverage being exerted over the greater length under the same load.