Parrying unarmed attacks with a weapon

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2

But wouldn't a melee attack blocked with a sword be blocked by the flat of the blade? The damage would then be crushing.

Parries are usually done with the flat. Even the rapier's edge*, despite being just a secondary attack* and sometimes mainly to keep it from being grasped it has enough value to take reasonable care of it.

So yeah, you are perfectly right. Almost all parries would be done with the flat. In fact almost all uses except actually trying to injure someone (like getting troops under control) would use the flat. The edge is purely offensive and there are few situations where a blow is coming so fast that you have no time to turn your wrist to use the flat.

*A rapier does not have enough mass to make a lethal blow with the edge. The only exception is when major blood vessels are near enough the surface to cause exsanguination. If the fight is to first blood it becomes a different matter of course.