Why Are Guillotine Blades Angled? (tested)

Special thanks to National Museum De Gevangenenpoort.

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- Aldo

[le_youl]

As a frenchman, the biggest flaw in this experiment is that the mat is not fixed. In a guillotine the head would be enclosed in a wooden frame. When using the 45 degrees angle the mat is rotating loosing a lot of energy. If the mat was fixed it would have been cut much easily.

[felixbertoni]

As a french person (never thought I would say that in such a context), it feels to me that having some sort of piece of wood with a hole in it to prevent the mat from moving sideways would eventually help the cut with angled blades. Also, you can make the carriage a bit "higher", ideally higher than it is large, measuring from most distant wheels contact points in each direction, this way it would be much less prone to rotation.

[omeshpersaud]

I researched a bit and found that "An angled blade ensures that the force is applied progressively from one side of the neck to the other, rather than all at once. This reduces the likelihood of the blade getting stuck or requiring multiple attempts, ensuring a more humane (relative to the method) execution." So the angled blade doesn't necessarily means its better at chopping, it could just make it more consistent/less likely to get stuck.

[isaacm]

Ah, the fresh lemonade stand. Very good.

[FractalDC]

Another possibility you could test is an inverted version of the point where they move inwards towards a point kind of like an "^" shape instead of a "v" shape

[ratscavenger]

Some things to consider:
- angling blade gives it more surface area, is there a reason that's needed?
- the angle might be for other factors than cutting efficiency or sharpness
- necks are squishier with a bone core (does angle improve getting through that specific material? Would the neck 'jiggle' too much if the blade was flat? Was it for a much cleaner cut for 'presentation' after?)
- necks are messier (does the angle control mess?)
- shape could be legacy from other methods (ax shape?)
- shape could be legacy from a tool (" we need this thing, take that peasant tool that cuts really well and make it bigger!" - maybe like a scythe)
- it could be that historical guillotine blades worked so well for their given task that no one really took the time to make it more efficient

[quintenbroadfield]

The historical blade you guys measured was more symmetrical in weight, maybe that influences the balancing?

[BacontheGreat]

Love the how the sheep is intrested too lol 7:04

[darknessengulfsyou]

Don't let the french know about this

[Exyvia]

One flaw is the Mass is not fixed, so the potential energy is higher and also it's inertia.

Also I think the original is angled because it allows one side of the blade to slot in between the wood thus aligning it to not hit the wood.

[worawatli]

19:32 Imagine running into two guys picnic with a guillotine in the wild, I'll run to the hills.

[krzysztofczarnecki]

#1 no head hole, a real guillotine has a board with a hole that prevents the neck from moving to the side. Without it the cut object moves away both losing energy and eliminating the slicing effect from the blade being angled
#2 bracing the rails in a few places to make them wobble less. You can see the wheels losing contact, this lets the blade come in at an awkward angle and makes it easier to hit the wood.
#3 using a very thick sausage with a skin like a giant salami/mortadella would be a good idea because its internal structure does not slide about so much and it has a skin. Maybe even wrap it in pig skin for better effect. Having to cut the skin does make it more difficult and an exceptionally bad blade design would be more likely to achieve crushing damage instead of a cut, because it will mash all the interior but won't go through the skin. There are about neck-thick mortadellas and salamis but they are expensive.

[shreyansbhandari]

The guillotine you showed from the museum, was of equal width, not having the issue, of imbalanced weights,
while in your prototype you use an entire right-angle triangle, e which makes it bend, so yeah try the. one similar to the museum for better accuracy,

great work btw.

[ginli]

I like how you do ad reads, it surpasses the rest by making full use of your screen rather than stopping the whole video for said read. You also use sponsors as comedic relief using adam and ev- ahem, i mean through ingenuity

[keatoncampbell]

a lot of people with a lot of suggestions, but honestly your methodology was fine your equipment was just malfunctioning. The bearing assemblies are good, they just need to be longer. They can't resist the turning torque because they are too close to the source and don't have enough leverage. Making the carriage longer, and putting additional rollers on the end, would provide higher resistance but would give far better mechanical advantage to resist the cutting induced torque. An example would be something like a shaper, which has a very long rail compared to its cut/stroke depth, often less than half. This is because all the extra interface between the carriage and the rails allow for far higher rigidity, far better predictability, and less deflection at the cutting edge.
OH and try to constrain the mats, and dont forget to soak them in water. IIRC the tatami mats are supposed to be soaking wet for cutting, although that may be lies fed to me by internet strangers.

[SwayamNegi-Swami]

i think you should have fixed the mats, like the heads didnt have space to move as well during those times so it may change things if you didnt allow the mats to move

[corneliusmcmuffin]

The Brachistochrone curve should be pointed in the middle with curves going outward from the middle on each side just like the pointy blade. That would make more sense since usually the object being cut doesn’t start from one side but rather from the middle.

[fxm]

While the Imperial Bald Eagle is still the most common unit of weight and mass in most of the US, in industry, we've been using decimal B.E. since WWII. Not quite as modern as the Dutch Decimal Lion, but it gets the job done.

[UIET.University]

They're designed for cutting meat! There's a HUGE difference, it's way more stretchy and shock absorbant than wood or fruits. The flat blade would just bounce off someone's neck and potentially break it in the process. I'm surprised noone pointed out yet, you should try cutting actually meat or balistic jelly in the next video.

[may]

7:00 "Let's just build a..."
Goat: "Yay I want to try it😊"