#tiger claws

Mythical Armory Day 1: Tiger Claws + Shachihoko

I'm wondering if removable, strong metal claws would be worth it, or would they just be made redundant by whatever other weapon the warrior would have on hand?

You're probably thinking of the Bagh Nakh. These are are sometimes called, “tiger claws,” though they usually don't mount onto the finger tips. Instead the blades are either mounted to the back of the hand, or between the fingers.

It's a real weapon, though, they are a bit niche. Basically, this is a relative of the punch dagger, and while they can make for pretty decent concealed weapons, they're not something you'd really want to take onto the battlefield.

I wouldn't want to mount blades onto my fingernails for a number of reasons. First, it would be far too easy to accidentally snag and break a finger mid-combat. Note: I did not say, “break a nail,” I mean straight up snap a finger.

There are Bagh Nakh versions which mount directly onto the finger tip. In these cases, they're part of an articulated gauntlet. However, these specific fingertip variants are a bit dubious. The Bagh Nakh is already an unusual weapon, but it's unclear if the fingertip gauntlets were ever used, or even intended for use. It's quite possible that these were always intended as a kind of souvenir or decorative piece. (All of the examples with the blades mounted directly onto the fingers, that I'm aware of, are relatively modern, fragile, and ornate.)

As for using your actual fingernails as weapons? That's not going to work especially well. For one thing, you may have noticed, but your fingernails are non-retractable. If you sharpen your fingernails you need to live with that choice. Which could make scratching hard to reach itches, bathing, or even relieving yourself a slightly more complicated, and dangerous prospect.

Additionally, you may have noticed that poking a fingernail through armor is going to be slightly tricky, and if your nails were somehow sharpened to the point where piercing armor was an option, that would add, “getting dressed,” to the list of activities that were suddenly far more dangerous than they used to be.

Can you pierce skin with a sharpened nail? Yes. It doesn't even need to be that sharp, and it's not going to be that unpleasant (unless you're accidentally stabbing yourself.) Getting the necessary penetration to get into an artery? I'm less convinced that's possible, but I wouldn't write it off completely. Being able to do any of that in combat? No, that's just fetishizing women on the battlefield.

-Starke