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[–] 22 points 1 day ago (1 child)

Yes, we don't hang rich and important people, they should not mix with common rabble. That's why we have guillotines! 😈

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  • [–] 7 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 child)

    Ironically this comment is entirely against the concept of the guillotines which were invented to ensure equality in executions. Whether noble or common we all got the quickest death, beheading. No more of the terrible, cheaply made hanging stands which wouldn't break the neck thus slowly strangling the punished.

    Much less wood needed for a guillotine as you don't need a platform for the drop. Less metal working, as nails are harder to make than a single large metal blade. Less workers as it can be assembled by one guy. Much less chance of it failing too as once built human error has little chance to cause problems. Pull the lever boy (Gronk). Previously, the hangman could fuck up on the knot which had to be custom to each that died. Weight, height, neck strength, length of the rope, all mattered. Easy to fuck up.

    Equality In death.

    Edit: assembled, not built. The blade was made by an expert the rest could be made by anyone with experiance working with wood.

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  • [–] 4 points 15 hours ago* (1 child)

    Nails are stupidly easy to make compared to a large sheet of metal. I wouldn't call most guillotine head separators, "blades." The sharpness doesn't matter, as long as the thing weighs enough, it will slice through. The diagonal matters more than the sharpness. Heating up that much metal and laminating/ heat welding it into a solid piece takes a fuckton of work, and half a fuckton of coal.

    I can make you a nail in 4 hits of a hammer, and I'm not a good smith. I know masters that can do it in 3 hits.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

    Ah shoot, thanks for the correction. I was told by a history major a while back that casting the blade would be cheaper and easier than the nails needed for a hanging platform so forgive my lack of knowledge. Your explination makes sense apologies for the likely misinfo

    Last thing, as for sharpness, they were supposed to be sharpened and maintained sharp by the excecutioner. I assume that this wasn't always the case but it was the standard. Executioners even usually owned multiple guillotines so that they could cycle through them when they wore down, repairing and maintaining the ones not in use

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