Phyreblade’s guide to Altairs retractable blade (From Assassins Creed)
December 13th, 2007 | 
Author: I had been considering doing a piece on retractable blades for a while, and was finally motivated to do so by a post I recently got in my suggestion box. A reader, Zach B. commented about his build of an under-hand retractable blade, similar to what the assassin Altair uses in the game Assassins Creed:
In general, I love blogging about game weapons with real-life counterparts, but obviously, this game is pretty new out, so there are no official (or unofficially) produced rip offs… err production “replicas” of the Altairs retractable blade to be had for review.
However, since the games release, there have been numerous attempts to duplicate this weapon, and while YouTube is replete with videos of home made “Assassins Creed” blade contraptions, I noticed that, due to a lot of conflicting concept art from the developers, there is actually a lot of confusion about this blades design.
So, in typical blade nerd fashion, I thought I’d try to sort things out. Not necessarily to replicate the game blade, but rather to come up with a practical, real life design for such a weapon. Now let me preface the following by saying that, for your average dweeb, walking around with a spring loaded blade up your sleeve is an incredibly bad idea. There is a reason why these kinds of weapons were not common, even when they were legal. They are highly impractical, not to mention that they are an accident literally waiting to happen.
But, for those of us who like to live on the edge, love the aesthetics and the mechanical challenge of designing wacky weapons, and are insane enough to try, (notwithstanding the very real possibility of self impalement), I’ll go on. Proceed at your own risk. But remember, Altair has no ring finger. Think about it… People, please, do NOT try this at home…
Mounting and Placement.
For any wrist mounted blade to have the stability and strength to be used effectively, it must be properly mounted. This means a solid (inflexible, like steel, very thick/stiff leather or wood) mounting platform, preferably formed to the shape of your forearm, and a minimum of two straps to keep it in place, one at either end of this base. Your best bet would be to use the entire length of your forearm, with a minimum of two straps, one placed at the wrist and the other just before the elbow, to maximize the weapons stability. Altair has this covered quite nicely, as he used full length bracers with three straps:
Now looking at this concept art for the game you’ll notice that the blade seems to come out from the spot where Altairs ring finger ought to be. In the game, this is not the case, and is entirely impractical for any real life assassin, (unless they are a mutant, like Wolverine) so we will disregard this little snafu, and assume the blade is mounted under the forearm, and not actually in his hand. Next stop, blade design.
Blade Support and Design
Now here is another area that has been thoroughly bolloxed on account of multiple conflicting concept art. In the game, Altairs blade uses a nested rail delivery system, where the blade is housed inside of a set of nested sleeves, which run on an internal guide rail. The sleeves extend sequentially, outermost rail first, then inner rail, and finally the actual blade, once both sleeves are fully extended and locked:
Assassins Creed Blade with double nested sleeves
Now here is where the confusion begins. Depending on which art you are looking at, Altairs retractable blade either has two sleeves, or one sleeve:
Assassins Creed Blade with single sleeve
Now nested sleeve systems have the advantage of being able to fit in a retracted form factor that is only a fraction as long as the weapon is when fully extended. This means a much more compact housing. However this comes at a cost. The added complexity of automating the extension and retraction of multiple nested sleeves require smaller, more delicate parts, necessarily manufactured to very close tolerances, that would make the whole mechanism more prone to failure.
In fact, in my opinion, the ideal system would actually use no sleeves whatsoever. And given that you have (and should really use) the entire length of your forearm with which to conceal both the blade and the deployment mechanism, I don’t really see the point of implementing such an elaborate system. Not to mention that a single, fixed-length blade would be stronger, faster, more reliable, and infinitely easier to automate than a shorter blade mounted in multiple sleeves. Which brings us to the our deployment system.
Automation
A very important aspect in the operation of any stealth weapon is an equally stealthy activation mechanism. Preferably one that can be activated ‘hands free”, in a manner of speaking. And Altairs got one. In the first concept picture above, we can see that there is a little harness attached to Altairs pinky from the blade housing. This is intended to be his blades activation switch:
Assassins Creed Blade – Ring/Cable Activated
However, in one of the promotional vids for the game we see Altair having to press a button to release a switch that activated his blade:
Assassins Creed Blade – Button Activated
Now truth be told, this button is probably one of the more complicated ways of doing this. Indeed, you can see that it’s actuation would be counterintuitive, as it would require you to place your fingers in the path of the out going blade in order to activate it. In any case, from the numerous videos of him in action, we can see that Altair simply flexes his hand away from the blade to activate it, so we can assume that a button based activation system is not used. A finger ring cable is a much more flexible way of doing this, and the one I’d go with.
So far as the actual deployment mechanism is concerned, if we stick with the simple, single blade (no sleeve) approach, we can actually use a very compact dual spring double action out-the-front switch blade mechanism. They are simple, reliable and fairly easy to implement. I won’t go into schematic detail here, as it would extend an already excessively long post, however, I can point you in the direction of a buddy, and fellow knife fanatic Sinza, with whom I run a forum (Exotic Automatic) with a lot of helpful diagrams, as well as a break down of some common double action OTF mechanisms. Go on over and check his site out if you have the hankering for a more technical look into the topic…
The Blade.
Finally, we come to the point (pun intended) of all this, which is the design of the actual blade itself. As I mentioned earlier, I favor a single blade approach, with no sleeves, housed in a simple, dual spring loaded guide rail, in the style of your regular OTF switchblade. So far as the blade itself is concerned, we would need to meet a few specific criteria. The blade would need to be long enough to penetrate thick clothing and still puncture vital organs, thin enough to be able to slide between a persons ribs, yet thick enough to resist bending. Throw in double edges, and a sharp point, and we have a winner.
Interestingly, these are the same basic design specifications of the contemporary Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife design, which I will talk about in a future post. Nonetheless, this should give our assassins blade all of the required features to be a terminally effective assassination tool… And that’s all I’ve got to say about that…
- Assassins Creed – Trailer 1 – Trailer 2
- Assassins Creed – Official Site
- Exotic Automatic – Forums
- Sinza Knives – Knives
Related posts:
Category: Knives | 
Tags: Assassins Creed, Convertible, Custom, Dagger, Double Action, Double Edged, Exotic Automatic, Fairbairn-Sykes, Fighting, Forearm, Knife, OTF, Retractable, Switchblade, Tactical, Wrist Mounted | 
130 Comments »
man I HATE that auto smiley thing, disregard that winking guy after “leg…”
I think medical knowledge comes in useful here… ^^; I did just enough medicine to learn how EASY it is to kill someone. Nothing about saving them. And if you’re a skilled assassin, two inches is enough. (Ignoring the possible use of the whole “size vs usage” joke)
Assasins knew the body just as well as doctors do. And with a 2-inch blade (thin and flat like a dagger, I’ll explain this later) then there are no less than… *Counts* 8 places where you can stab them and they’ll bleed to death pretty damn quickly. Behind each knee, three in the groin area, the throat (both sides or straight-on) and in the armpit. The armpit is a double-whammy; if you miss the huge freaking artery (you bleed to death in like ten or twenty seconds when that’s cut) then you get their nerves; they lose their arm, and the impact will paralyse them for a good half a minute, and they’ll be woozy for another minute. If you can’t kill a paralysed man then you’re certainly no assassin.
On top of that, the lungs are very close to the surface, as is the sack they sit in. That gives you the whole chest as a target; all you need to do is puncture the pleural cavity and they cannot breath; you could do that with a blade half the size. Muscle may be in the way, but muscle squashes quite adequately. Umm… you could say that the body is made to be stabbed.
A thin, flat shape is better than a spike for small stabbity things simply ’cause it slides in easier. As well as that, the weapon only swells out along one axis rather than two (if you look at it head-on) and this makes it better for sliding between ribs.
A six-inch blade would make life very interesting. The human torso is only eight to ten inches thick, unless you’re killing fat people. The only reason I’d go for a two or three inch stabbity instrument over a longer one is the tendency for the damn things to snap. Reinforcing, special tempering and all that aside, six inches of thin steel is still flimsy.
Heh wow that was fast replying. I didn’t expect that, so I just kinda zoned out and didn’t check this. If it makes you feel any more intelligent, Crosseyesor less like you have to speak degradingly, I’m turning fourteen in a short number of months, and I go to a selective school
.
I see what you mean. Though in Assassins Creed Altair only ever uses it to stab, and in the neck, a blade like that, attatched so firmly to the forearm, could be easily used to kill people in face-to-face combat. Not that if it came to that you wouldn’t just pull out a sword, but the whole hidden blade thing is mostly for aesthetic appeal. And as an assassin, flexibility (in use) is always important.
Niccolo – That was actually what I was referring to. Not that I have any medical knowledge at all, I just know that in MythBusters they built a papercrossbow with an elastic string and shot a glue-hardened plastic-tipped arrow into the neck of a ballistics gel dummy several feet away three inches deep, which would have been fatal, judging from where exactly it hit. I didn’t know that you could paralyse someone by stabbing them in the armpit @-@. six inches of thin steel is flimsy, I agree, that’s where the whole spike thing would come into use. However, it doesn’t have to be very thin to stab someone three inches deep, or less.
Remember guys, this thing has to be able to kill someone through bleeding to death as well as immediately. I mean, in the game, you creep up on a guy and stab him with it, he makes slight gurgling sounds and goes down. No-one even notices him die until either you run away, or someone actually looks at him (idiots. ‘Oi! ‘E’s an Assassin!’. Really? Couldn’t tell from that huge thing sticking out of his arm, and those throwing knives, and the two swords he has on). However, if you stab an one of the main dudes, or bosses, they’ll give you a really fruitful five minute conversation before deciding to die at a suspensful point in their speech.
I’m assuming this is an american server. Lolz. I’m Australian. It’s only 6:30 PM here.
LOL Hey there, Random 13 YO Kid, Nice to meet you… LOL
Regarding the double vs triple nested sleeves, I am not seeing the the third sleeve on the one I was referring to as double nested. From what I can see, the blade is fully extended, and yet I can discern only 3 distinct sections: The housing, the extension, and the blade.
So unless there is an unextended sleeve (which wouldn’t make much sense, as the blade is already fully extended) I don’t see it… But if you could highlight each individual sleeve you are seeing in PS and post a link to it, that would be very helpful.
BTW you all make some very good points about blade length too. Though I will point out that my recommendation was also based on physiological and environmental flexibility. I have to beg to differ on the “two inches being enough for a skilled assassin” idea. There is a reason why I chose to model the AC blade on the 6″ FS fighting knife. It actually takes into account some variables that an assassin has no control over, such as how much clothing you are wearing, or which target you actually realistically have access to.
In the real world, you will not always have access to the ideal, close to the surface targets, nor would they be guaranteed slim, trim targets so I think a smart assassin would choose a blade that would allow a wide number of different options. A 2″ blade would seriously limit you in this respect.
The other thing also thought I’d point out is that human beings are actually quite resilient. We are not as easy to kill as it may appear on the surface. People have survived being stabbed, shot, bludgeoned, etc, ad nauseam countless times, by bladed weapons far in excess of 6″ long. The thing to remember is that it’s not necessarily what you do, but the fine details of how you do it, that will ensure a kill.
Any professional assassin worth their salt would know this, and always ensure they hit specific targets in order to maximize their chances of a successful hit. So while it may appear easy to kill a person, this is only true if you know exactly what to do in order to guarantee that your target dies.
As an example, I think that fatal Mythbusters neck shot was a fluke. There a lot of places it could have hit that would not have killed the target. I mean look at 50 Cent. Shot nine times, and the guy is still walking around. The devil is in the details…
wow, for a single day this is a pretty good amount of feedback
2 inches to the lungs? really… well I’m no doctor. Nevertheless, alot of the fatalities lie behind that odd sheild known as the ribcage, I must imagine going for something in there has to be the scariest of all targets. If you hit one of those spikey bones in there your blade comes to a complete halt, the target gets away with minor lacerations, and you’re either shot or arrested. It doesn’t occour to most, but assasins are basically required to have the entire human anatomy memorized, if the case comes where your normal striking points are blocked off (vest, bodygaurds, 3 inch thick reinforced concrete, whatever) you can’t hesitate, you have to find another one immediately or risk losing your chance.
that one wasn’t too good >_<
I guess I write better before I sleep
X_X
Yeah, the flexibility would be nice, but remember guys, if you’re an assassin, you’re gonna have more than just a few weapons. If worst comes to worst, you’d probably just pull out a sword. Remember, most of Assassins Creed is set in a really packed city, which is why him going around covered in weapons and killing people doesn’t have to be too stealthily done. I mean, you might say that pulling out a sword is less stealthy than using a hidden blade, but putting your wrist up against a guys neck, blood coming out and him falling to the ground isn’t much less conspicuous than just pulling out a sword and slitting his throat, or puncturing it. You could just go around with a 3 inch blade, and if something goes wrong, pull out a sword.
I think I may have been unclear about the single, double, triple nested thing. When I said three, I meant three parts, including housing. My point about your error was that in the diagram in which you said it was single nested, I believe it was double nested. I don’t think there are any Assassins Creed pictures/movies with him using a single nested one. I will highlight it though. Dunno how I can post the images. HTML? IMG?
…I’ll just post direct links.
PhyreBlade – This was the Assassins Creed hidden blade picture to which you referred as ‘double nested’. I took this to mean that when fully extended, the blade had three parts: The housing, the extension, and the blade tip. I agree if that is what you meant. I also believe that there is a locking pin in the second extension, which I highlighted as a circle.
Ref pic 1: http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj235/carlimon/AssassinsCreed1.jpg
Ref pic 1 highlighted: http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj235/carlimon/AssassinsCreed1highlighted.jpg
Wierd. Now both my posts have things saying ‘Your comment is awaiting moderation’ underneath, and when I tried to put both my last two posts in one post, it said it was discarded. Huh? I do something wrong?
Hold on…Phyreblade, were you suggesting that the first ref. pic I showed had three moving parts? The housing, two extensions, and the blade? Because in that picture, what may appear to be an extension is just part of the housing. It is permanent, and does not slide in or out.
*Has read most of the posts*
Ja, true, fat people wouldn’t die from a two-inch blade…
But a correction I want to make; the lung is not always a mere two inches below the surface, depending on whether there’s air in it or not. But the cavity is. And if you pierce the cavity (Stuck TO the ribcage) then they cannot breathe. To cut a two-hour lecture on breathing short, lungs work by the cavity expanding. The change in pressure makes the lungs expand, thus drawing in air. Pierce the cavity, and the pressure doesn’t expand.
Eh. Each blade/spike has it’s own advantages or disadvantages.
@That 13-year old kid
Yes, you have done something wrong.
YOU DID NOT READ ALL OF THE RULES!!!
If you had read the rules you would know why your posts weren’t going through. Before you type another word, go and read them ALL. They are there for more than just amusement.
About Altair having many alternative weapons, I think you are missing the point of the hidden blade. It is clear that Altair is walking around with waaay more than his fair share of blades upon his person. However it is quicker and also much less conspicuous to deploy a hidden blade than it is to draw a knife or sword.
Also, in reality, not all of an assassins hits would be in a large, heavily populated area. There will be times when they would need a weapon that is quick to deploy, but will not stand out. That is the whole point of having a hidden blade. So putting yourself in any situation where you might need to draw your sword to finish a person off defeats the whole purpose of having a hidden blade.
Regarding the housing/sleeves/blade issue, I think you are confused about how the different parts of the mechanism operate. If you to go back and highlight the housing (which does not move) the blade, and the extensions for each design, you will see that there is one housing, and one blade for each, but a different number of extensions in each. Trust me on this…
Reading rules now…
. Oh well. I’ll be back to argue my case tomorrow.
I’m pretty sure that with the first one I highlighted, what appears to be a first extension is just housing. Heh, you deleted my second reference pic post? Hmm, better read those rules. Anyway, can’t say much more, my dad’s having a (birthday) party today, and my mum’s going frantic over the houses decor and such. Which means no comp
take it from me, a great way to cut out making repeat posts is to wait at least 5 min between finishing typing and pressing send. you’ll find that alot of the things you forget to include come to you between 30 seconds and 3 minutes. I learned the hard way
/ 
Happy B-day to your dad
X_X
Thanks, I’d tell my dad if he wouldn’t ask me why I was on the internet talking to and telling random people/possible pedophiles his birthday.
No, I didn’t repeat a post, I posted two different posts, both about the number of parts in the hidden blade mechanism. I disagree with Phyre’s statement that the concept art is conflicting, and I gave outlinged examples why in two different posts. However, I see that Phyre deleted the second, so he must have thought it was either unnecessary or had no point. So tommorrow (here) I’m gonna repost more clearly.
Hello! It appears that I am, indeed, wrong. I apologise, I was halfway through writing a whole post about why you (Phyre) were wrong, when I zoomed in on the first reference pic, and noticed a small detail that I had overlooked. You are quite correct, there seems to be two extensions as a pose to one, the concept art is indeed conflicting.
Now, back to the actual mechanics of the whole extendable blade thing. What threw me off about the amount of extensions of the first picture is that the first extension extends differently to the other one, and the blade. In the picture, you can clearly see an indent in each extension (and the blade) with a locking pin at the end of each, suggesting that the mechanism uses that as a locking mechanism. Anyway, the first extension has two indents on either side, which I failed to notice. This extension, as it extends from the housing itself, extends differently to the other extension and the blade, and does not appear to lock, but rather to slip out to provide more length for the blade more than anything else. If I were to create a blade such as in this diagram (except I would only use one extension and one blade, two is ridiculous) it would be easier to use gravity to retract the blade than one pulled by a button or lever or something. I intend to buy parts and try to build one of these (however, I will have limitations, as I am only thirteen, so lack skill, equipment and authority to use certain things)
Hey Kid,
Yes, i did delete your second post, as it contained too much of the same info from the first one. I’m not a big fan of multi-posts, as they are generally the trademark of someone who has not thoroughly thought about what they are posting before they hit the “Submit” button.
Take Crosseyes advice on that, either write out your ideas, in their entirety, off line, before you post or sit and think about what you’ve posted for 5 or more, (more, in this case, is better) minutes before you hit the “submit” button. In fact I think I’m gonna make it a new rule…
But besides that, please do not be concerned about making mistakes. Mistakes are human nature, everyone makes them. Even Balrogs. Just so long as you aren’t being idiotic about being wrong, no harm, no foul. I will not (nor, I hope, will anyone else here) hold a mistake against anyone.
You also don’t have to explain where you went wrong, so long as you’ve thought about why you made that mistake and how to avoid it in the future. We should be more about learning from our mistakes than trying to be right all the time…
But that being said, I think a manual lock gravity blade idea is a good one in practice, though it would not work for an assassin, as there are situations where it would require very “loud” hand gestures to operate…
Okay, I don’t get the reference to Balrogs, whatever computer game or movie they may be from is not known to me.
Yeah. Unfortunately, noise is indeed a problem with many of these designs and ideas.
The Kid
Actually the Balrog is a creature from J.R. Tolkiens Lord of the Rings series (The fire demon in the LOTR movie was a Balrog) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balrog
It is who I envision my blogging alter ego to be. Hence the name Phyreblade.
Also I may have waxed a little too metaphorical on my response, but when I said “loud” I meant very large and obvious arm motions, not in terms of sound but in visibility. kinda like a “loud” hawaiian shirt. Very visually distracting.
Gravity based weapons often require a flick of the wrist in order to operate as desired, but since this would be arm mounted, it might actually require a rather fast flick of the arm, that would almost certainly attract attention…
Awesome! I helped inspire legislation! uh, er… *ahem* anyways…
As stated before I don’t claim to be a mechanic, nor do I claim to know anything extensive about machines (TV makes moving pictures, that’s as far as I’ve gotten.) keep that in mind while reading this.
There are really only two ways I can see gravity working in a blade like this;
1) the blade is un-restrained until it’s fully extended and locked, meaning it’s easy to draw, but makes it hard to look inconspicuous when you never have your arm below 90 degrees.
2) The blade works similar to part 1 but it’s harder to draw and doesn’t lock, making it easier to re-sheath or what-ever it does, also it’s un-reliable for stabbing through some of the bodies rougher materials.
Lastly: don’t worry about it kid, I’m sure if I told my dad: “random people on the internet say happy birthday” he would think along the same lines
gotta wait another week to re-take my driver’s permit test D:
Crosseyes
X_X
@Crosseyes
The best way (imho) to implement a gravity blade is to have a free floating blade that can be manually locked and unlocked at both full extension and retraction. And the issue with the kind of arm motions that would be required in order to get the blade to “fly” open/closed is really my biggest concern with regards to using a gravity blade for an application that requires inconspicuous deployment. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Oh, the giant flaming dude with the whip?
Glad you understand, Crosseyes.
Actually, what I was thinking of is something that will fully extend and lock when unrestrained, but has something blocking it, either automatic or manual. You remove this thing blocking it, through press of a button, lever, or physically removing it with your hands, and the blade extends and locks, through the use of locking pins. You kill the dude, then press the locking pins back in, it folds back in.
Though there would be quite a few problems with this, I think this is the easiest and most reliable version. In this one, you wouldn’t need ‘loud’ movements, but there would be loud clicking sounds when it retracts. I’ve tried.
I’m both amazed, and slightly disturbed that a 13 year old has constructed a full working weapon of silent assasination.
The funny thing of this design is that if you listen during the game, altair’s blade is pretty loud on both the draw and the retraction. However, since most of his assasinations take place in populated town squares/busy marketplaces he’s basically been able to take out the noise as a factor.
The problem with worrying over the specs of a weapon such as this really depends on the situation. I am sure that many different designs each have their pros and cons, and I am also sure that there is no one design set that will make it 100% deadly stealthy and sturdy. As an assasin you are forced to tune both yourself and you equipment to each individual task; in the preperation, execution, and resolution.
If you can figure out what the situation is based on what it calls for, than you don’t need it to be perfect, you just need it to work
Inspiration after midnight
Crosseyes
X_X
Yeah. Frankly, there’s a lot of problems with this blade. If we tried to make one such as is in the game, we’d need a huge metal/leather/something hard and stiff bracer to secure it. I still think having a six inch blade permanently fixed to my wrist would be a much better option, because of stability and because there would be no need for a trigger mechanism. Anyway, back to what I was saying a few sentences ago, you’d need something big and sturdy to keep it to your arm properly, for as you can see in the game (though it lacks realism in many ways) if a guard saw you about to kill him, he would simply grab your arm, or block the blade with his own. If the blade isn’t strong enough, it’ll snap. If it isn’t secured tightly enough to the arm, it’ll rip off.
Oh, and it’s not fully working. I just built mine out of plastic and masking tape, so there are severe limitations to what what I’ve made can do. I built one that extends 12 inches from the housing, and can be used in a slashing movement without breaking but cannot be used to stab, and I built one 6 inches long that can be used to stab, but would be weak if used in a slashing movement, as it’s thinness which would make it effective in stabbing would be it’s downfall in slashing. *sigh* To be honest, what I’m planning to do it re-create the stabbing one, but more extendable (longer when fully extended) and make it out of metal tubing from the hardware store. That is, if they’d sell it to me.
@the Kid
Well it sounds like a good idea, and there aren’t any real problems with designing it that way besides that fact that you’d have to do a “Wave your arm in the air! Wave em like you just don’t care!” deal when closing it, but it sounds like a good way to go. And so far as the slashing vs stabbing design, there are actually some good compromises, but you won’t be able to fabricate them using the materials you have available, so just choose one or the other and run with it…
Yah. That’s where the hardware store and my dad’s saws and sanding stuff comes in. With the limits of what’s currently available, I am limited to less than even a compromise. You know what really irritates me? I know exactly what to do, what to make it with, what it’ll look like, but I lack everything to get it.
once again, kinda freaked out by how much you know all this stuff o_0 lol just kidding.
it’s kinda ironic actually, my dad owns a business in construction and I have access to virtually all of his tools, but without the knowledge or drive to do anything with them it’s kinda pointless ~_~ o well, luck of the draw I guess…
either way, he’s just in wood flooring, but he got the powertools none the less…
Crosseyes
X_X
LOL Luck of the draw? Come on. You should ask your dad if he’d help you make a nice Shashka…
Shashka?
Aye, A Shashka, it’s a russian saber… Pretty cool actually, just wrote a post about them…
Can ya give me a link?
Also, I thought of a realistic design for the blade. It’s ridiculously simple, I’m sure you guys have thought of it. When I can be bothered (probably some time this weekend) I’ll see if I can post my pics.
Here you go: http://thedarkblade.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/in-soviet-russia-swords-wield-you/
Enjoy!
Now that’s one badass blade… kinda fits the whole ninja dagger style of fighting, except this is obviously Russian, not Japanese…
Much thanks again for the russian spotlight. It’s eerie to find out about your past, and see how similar it is to your present. Guardless blades are a close second for me (right under scythes of course) for my favorite blades simply because of the pure offensive orientation. It was my thing long before I even found out I was russian (Dad’s family immigrated to Ireland, but that’s a story for another time) Take some time to look a little deeper into your interests, habits, pet peeves, and I can bet you’ll find a connection to a deeper part of yourself.
Gettin all philosophical now
Crosseyes
X_X
Hey, No problem…
I’ve been looking through your posts and to be quite honest I couldn’t find if you ever found a look alike or a similar blade. So my question is, is there a similar blade to Altair’s hidden blade?
Legally? Hell no.
But Sinza has probably built one for himself.
@Jato
If you are talking about a real reproduction blade that operates in the same way, no, none exist that I am aware of… Kind of a bummer… But if you want to take a crack at building one yourself, you might want to take a look at Sinza’s site… http://sinza.forumotion.com
There are two assasins blades in existance they are not like the actual hidden blade but they are simmilar and use a suprisingly simple. the main difference between these two designs is that the reproduction does not use a flick of the wrist type of mechanism but a rail mechanism with a lock at the bottom to hold the blade in place while retracted. there is a small length of string which is attached to the rail slider whis allows it to slide out the other end there is a loop which is placed around a finger then you pull the string with your finger and the lock shall disable and the blade will flick out. there is a simple lock at the top aswell which holds the blade out , however this lock is not so strong and can be broken by a flick backwards and will retract.
P.S this is not my design i found it in a video on youtube. also this design is unreliable and is hard to put together even though the components are simple it takes a while to peice together.
Actaully, Shadowstalker, that’s what we meant by the ‘flick of the wrist’. You flex your wrist to move your finger to pull the string to trigger the blade.
It’s just hard to move your finger alone against any sort of tension, so the wrist-movement is necessary too.
@phyreblade: Holy shazbot, you live!
@Shadowstalker
Yes, in fact there are many different designs floating about on the web and youtube, but no commercial reproductions. All of the ones I have seen, you will have to build yourself…
@Niccolo
Yes indeed, I LIVE…! Actually I just finished moving to a new cavern, pesky humans were building closer and closer to my secret lair, so I decided to relocate to somewhere a bit more remote… As you can imagine, I was kind of indisposed during the move. But I now have a slightly bigger cave from with to blog from, and should be able to resume posting in a bit here…
….And I got dumped with a huge assignment. Then another one. Then another. Then, lots of homework. So whatever it is that I promised, I haven’t gotten ’round to it. However, I did built a very basic design. Basically, a single blade which is thicker at the end than at the point is inside houseing which either tapers or 40 mill from the end suddenly gets thicker, so that when you drop the blade into the tube, it won’t come all the way out, rather it will ‘hang’. Then, you grab the hanging blade and stab some dude. Bring up your arm so that gravity pushes back in the blade, and Walla! Hidden blade for ya. I don’t really think I need a diagram, though IF I can (not WHEN) I probably will. As you can probably tell, I didn’t bother to go into complications. I just used the 11 inches of my forearm to house the single blade, rather than several nested ones.
P.S Yes, the blade would come out by itself without a trigger, so you can either have a piece of hard material that you can slide out at the bottom, or just hold it in your hand and let go when you feel like it. Not convenient, but heck, how many assassins climb building after/during/before an assassination?
Kicking himself,
Kid
CRAP! I shouldn’t have wasted 10 mins on that! I got a Greek Assignment due on Friday!!! AAAAAAHHH!
okay so i kinda get the opening mechanism what would be the closing mechanism because it is most probabley quite a hevy blade with a 3 part metal slider could it possibly be part of a reverse spring that pushes the blades back up when he trigers another string or is it somthing more complacated any ideas
@kid
LOL Hey, I know all too well how that goes, don’t worry about it, get your work done so you can play hard… LOL
@Shadowstalker
Lots of ideas… Visit http://sinza.forumotion.com
More ideas than you can shake a stick at…
as a proud xiphoid fanatic on sinzas site theres plenty of info and as phyre said more ideas than you can shake a stick at! (though id have said more ideas then you can shake a double action automatic knife at
)
i mean thees even a bacon thread! what more could you want than bacon blades and booze! i especially love the “things on my desk” thread
Correction appropriate and duly noted. Allow me to rephrase: Sinzas site has more ideas than you can shake an extended double action automatic Xiphoid at…
you all seem to be undecided on the way in which the blade would actually release so may i suggetst that if you used a cog system to kinda -turn-outy- unscrew the blade it could probably be stronger and be easier to use although slower as you would have to unscrew
maybe … maybe not
hey can email me all the items i’ll need please
hey can you email me all the items i’ll need please ~ srry