Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl
Hot swords are easier to make, but they are equally impractical due to blackboard radiation issues. A 500 Celsius sword would probably cause burning damage to its wielder just by proximity.
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That's barely red-hot, and won't burn you unless you touch it or have your skin very near it for some time. Machinegun barrels get this hot, and they only burn you if you accidentally touch them (which happens more than the users would like). you could have a sword quite a bit hotter than that and, assuming the handle wasn't that hot, if you wore gloves you'd be okay - until you fumbled the thing, anyway. The problem is that materials that have good properties for sword blades that retain them when that hot (and through repeated heating and cooling cycles) are going to be very hard to find.