The Wakizashi. Opinions? Thoughts?

[CLEAR CUT]

Have you ever seen a crush injury? I have and it's not pretty. Crushing injuries in some ways can be the most deadly. There's so much that is injured and so many places to bleed from. I gaurantee if you bash something's head in with a hammer you're going to get splashed with a little bit of gore.

[Viat]

Zombie juice... mmm...

[TheLastRifleMan]

I have to agree with CLEAR CUT on the crush injury. They are bad and can really be more damaging then they seem.

A sword in the hands of a practiced, experienced wielder is deadly, regardless of the design. So is the pistol, rifle or shotgun, for that matter.
In the hands of someone who has never used one before (but has seen it done in the movies), any weapon can be potentially damaging to the user rather then the intended target.

As for edged weapons, a shorter bladed weapon seems like it would have less potential to harm a first time user then a longer bladed one. I would only go for my kukri or double edged machetes if a) I was in the middle of reloading an empty firearm and was rushed or b) was out of ammo, cornered, and had no other alternative. At those two points, a long bladed edged wepon would seemingly have to greater value then a shorter bladed one. As for the wakashazi over a machete, both have their strong and weak points (no pun intended).

[tupac4rhymes]

what about like, bokkens? (wooden practice swords). they are hardwood and i've never accomplished breaking one.

[TDW586]

what about like, bokkens? (wooden practice swords). they are hardwood and i've never accomplished breaking one.

Other than looking cool, they have no advantage over a stick, do they? So, sure, it'd work, but not necessarily the best tool for the job.

Personally, I'll stick with the melee combat basics. Tried and true.

Crowbars
Shovels
Baseball Bats
Axe Handles (my personal favourite)

[Valarius]

Acting as Captain Buzzkill, I feel obliged to point out that machetes were used to great effect in killing people in the Rwandan... civil war of 1994. A sharp metal edge is certainly not weaker than human flesh.

I like blunt objects, but I'll use a sword-like weapon if I have one.

[DoubleTap]

Acting as Captain Buzzkill, I feel obliged to point out that machetes were used to great effect in killing people in the Rwandan... civil war of 1994. A sharp metal edge is certainly not weaker than human flesh.

I like blunt objects, but I'll use a sword-like weapon if I have one.

Yes, but we were (or at least I was) talking about killing zombies, not (often sleeping) women, children, and unarmed commuters packed into trains. To kill a (Romero-type) zombie with a machete, you would either have to penetrate its skull and drive the blade deeply into the brain (in which case extracting the blade could be a problem) or lop off its head entirely (risking toxic exposure to large amounts of reanimate spooge). I don't think the Rwanda analogy is entirely apt. And, yes, I am over-using parentheses.