Display & Stage Blade Geometry: What Blunt Actually Means

“Blunt” is not one spec — it is three different builds, and mixing them up is how display pieces end up in stage fights they were never engineered for. Here is what not-sharp actually means at the caliper, tier by tier.

TIER 1: DISPLAY BLUNT

A wall and costume piece needs to not cut on casual contact — nothing more. The working geometry: grind the bevels for the LOOK of a blade but stop the edge at a flat of roughly 1/16 inch, then ease that flat’s corners smooth on a fine belt so a sliding hand meets no bite. Tips get rounded to at least a pencil-eraser profile. The bevels can be as dramatic as the design wants because the apex never arrives. This is cosmetic geometry: it must survive handling and belt wear, not impact.

TIER 2: STAGE AND PERFORMANCE BLUNT

Blades that meet other blades — stage combat, choreographed shows, joust troupes — are engineering, not costume. The conventions the theatrical world runs on: edges carry a substantial flat (1/16 to 1/8 inch) with fully radiused corners so edge-on-edge contact peens instead of chipping, tips are rounded to a generous button (think dime-to-nickel diameter, not eraser), and the blade is real heat-treated spring steel per Spring Steel vs Mild Steel — because a snapped mild-steel blade in a show is the industry’s recurring nightmare. There is no single national spec: the fight director, the venue and the insurer set the requirements, and a maker supplying this market asks for them in writing before quoting. What is universal: distal taper and balance still matter (performers fight all day — see the balance rules), and every edge and tip is checked before every show because stage blades peen, mushroom and grow burrs with use.

TIER 3: COMBAT-SPORT REBATED

Steel-fighting sports (buhurt, HEMA) run published rulebook specs — thicker edges and bigger radii than stage work, covered separately in Combat Blunts. Do not sell a stage blunt into a buhurt list or vice versa; the rulebook is the spec sheet.

GRINDING BLUNT ON A 2X72

Blunt geometry is honest grinder work with the drama removed. The edge flat is a platen pass held square — a worn 120 belt at moderate speed leaves a clean uniform flat faster than any file. Radiusing the flat’s corners is a slack-belt roll, exactly like easing a spine. Tips round against the platen edge or a small wheel, walked smoothly so the button stays centered. The skill that transfers least intuitively: consistency still shows. A display dagger with a wandering edge flat reads as cheap from three feet away, and the faire buyer at the booth is buying the look. Grind blunts with the same discipline as sharps; the market can tell.

WHAT THIS MEANS AT THE BENCH

Ask every not-sharp commission one question first: will it ever touch another blade? No — Tier 1, cosmetic flat, eased corners, rounded tip, price it friendly. Yes — Tier 2 minimum: spring steel, real heat treat, generous flats and buttons, the buyer’s fight director’s rules in writing, and liability coverage in force. The tiers protect the performer, and they protect you.