feature drawing the blade across the opponent's body and back. For straight-edged weapons, many recorded techniques feature cleaving cuts, which deliver the power out to a point, striking directly in at the target's body, done to split flesh and bone rather than slice it. That being said, there also exist many historical slicing techniques for straight-edged weapons. Hacking cuts can be followed by a drawing action to maximize the cut's effectiveness. For more information see Western Martial Arts or kenjutsu. Some weapons are made with only a single leading edge, such as the saber or dusack. The dusack has a "false edge" near the tip, which only extends down a portion of the blade's backside. Other weapons have a blade that's entirely dull except for a sharpened point, like the épée or foil, which prefer thrusts over cuts. A blade cannot perform a proper cut without an edge, and so in competitive fencing such attacks reward no points. Some variations include: The flame blade (an undulated blade, for both psychological effect and some tactical advantage of using a non-standard blade: vibrations and easier parry) The colichemarde, found in smallsword Marks and decoration Blades are sometimes marked or inscribed, for decorative purposes, or with the mark of either the maker or the owner. Blade decorations are often realized in inlay in some precious metal (gold or silver). Early blade inscriptions are known from the Bronze Age, a Hittite sword found at Hattusa bears an inscription chiseled into the bronze, stating that the blade was deposited as an offering to the storm-god by king Tuthaliya. Blade inscriptions become particularly popular in the 12th century knightly sword, based on the earlier, 9th to 11th century, the tradition of the so-called Ulfberht swords. See also Athame List of premodern combat weapons References External links HROARR – Robert Geißler, Concerning the Sharpness of Blades Blade weapons Cutting tools