>xxxxxx@shadowgard.com via simplelists.com
>In an obscure Randall Garret SF novel I read back in the 60s or 70s
>(it *might* have been "Unwise Child" but it's been too long to be
>sure) he had vibroblades.

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 8:34 PM, Tim <xxxxxx@little-possums.net> wrote:
>

> Microscopic
>vibrations themselves aren't going to do the job, but some sort of
>micromechanical channels might be able to propel the matter out along
>the cut -- essentially turning the knife into a tiny saw.

> Or you could just go with "it's magic", I suppose.

These two intersected in my brain, and the T5 weapons maker rules
(although not the T5.09....) clicked in.

T5 had "grav weapons" . The description was either bludgeoning or
destructive resonance with other grav modules.... so it'd hit a person
like a brick, but would blow up modules on an air/raft in flight.

But the idea of a "Grav Knife" just crossed my mind - the edge of the
blade is a very small multi-G grav field that yanks slivers of
whatever it touches off of the thing.
Maybe a 1mm wide by 0.001mm deep by length of blade 20G grav zone,
where the top layer of the surface gets a 20G yank toward the "edge"
of the blade. Inertia for the rest of the object would hold it in
place, so you'd be looking at how much torque the material could
handle.

And considering most armors are meant to stop _penetration_, hitting
them with the opposite would be nasty.

Such a thing would probably make a creepy whistling noise as the air
around the blade got shot past it.
I'd imagine that it would show up like a beacon on gravitics sensors.

IIRC, Gravitic Pinch Fusion is TL10 or 11, so I'd expect the
industrial version at TL11 and a "normal knife size" at TL12..