Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

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Lishy
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Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#1 Post by Lishy »

Hey guys. I'm trying to write a character who uses a broken alcohol bottle as a weapon.

Problem is, how effective are they as a weapon?

According to TVTropes, a beer bottle's glass is actually harder than the human skull. Whereas a full beer bottle full of glass could actually FRACTURE your skull!

But what about a broken beer bottle? I am unsure how to write them, and I need you guys to mythbust for me please!

How sharp can a broken beer bottle be compared to a knife? What is its piercing capabilities before it can break? Can they actually be used to stab a person and kill them in the same way a knife can?

What about cutting capabilities from swinging it? A broken beer bottle cannot really cause a gash, can it?

Lastly, how blunt is it? Wouldn't it break if you tried to smash someone with it?

So how exactly should I write a broken beer bottle as a weapon as most realistically as possible? What can it do compared to other weapons?
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Re: Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#2 Post by AnthonyHJ »

Beer bottles can be broken against a wall, bar or lamp-post, but rarely break on a human skull because the skull will give way first. I'm pretty sure that they are weaker when empty (but have less momentum from the added weight of the liquid inside) but still need a fair whack to break. I used to work in a bar, so I've seen lots of bottles bounce. On the other hand, they do break.

As to how sharp... Very is the answer. When an operation needs a sharp edge for intricate surgery (such as eye-surgery) they use glass blades instead of steel. The issue is that they blunt easily and leave chipped shards of glass in the wound, since human bones are strong enough to break them.

STOP HERE IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH!

You want to know about injuries; they will be nasty. The bottle will be sharp enough to penetrate skin and muscle, causing some awful injuries and leaving glass in the wound. Even chipping on bones will not blunt it, as glass breaks in such a way that it will just make new sharp edges. Yes, they can kill and they do.

Deaths can be from blunt force (unbroken bottle), laceration of internal organs or sheer blood-loss. A broken bottle jammed under the ribs can puncture lungs, cause uneven cuts to the heart and major blood-vessels (a straight cut to a blood-vessel bleeds less than a jagged one, but nicking an artery can be even worse because natural mechanisms that exist to block a blood-vessel that has been cut in half don't work on smaller punctures) not to mention the fact that a ring-shaped cutting implement can actually mean that some matter (organs, flash, etc.) can be completely removed from the body.

Glass is sharper than a razor, so yes, it'll kill you.
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Re: Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#3 Post by TrickWithAKnife »

Wow, that was a really good information. I don't have anything great to add, just that you could consider having your character use the bottle in different ways. For example:
  • Holding the bottle around the neck and using it to stab. Possibly on a slight angle so the edge of the bottom hits first. Less surface area = more damage.
  • Holding the body of the bottle and stabbing with the top of the bottle in smaller areas, such as eyes, the throat, solar plexus, etc.
  • Using it like a club to temples, head, or any other body part you want to destroy.
  • As a projectile weapon.
You get the idea.
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Alex
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Re: Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#4 Post by Alex »

Weapon is not in hand, but in mind (kind of cliche, but nevertheless one can kill another with pencil or bare hands).
What can it do compared to other weapons?
Totaly nothing compared to T-34 tank, or intercontinental ballistic missile (you even won't know what country was it). So, yeah - hurray to arms race.

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Re: Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#5 Post by Lishy »

Thanks!

Any more input highly appreciated! (Or clarifying in your own words..)
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Re: Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#6 Post by YuanHuei »

Bottles can also fracture and break into pieces, so you can use the shards as crude knife edges. A character could easily improvise a glass stabbing or slicing instrument that might be a bit more effective than a bottle with a ragged edge.

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Re: Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#7 Post by LateWhiteRabbit »

Lishy wrote:Hey guys. I'm trying to write a character who uses a broken alcohol bottle as a weapon.

Problem is, how effective are they as a weapon?

I need you guys to mythbust for me please!
Mythbusters did on episode on this. The determination? Bottles be deadly.

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Re: Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#8 Post by Lishy »

LateWhiteRabbit wrote:
Lishy wrote:Hey guys. I'm trying to write a character who uses a broken alcohol bottle as a weapon.

Problem is, how effective are they as a weapon?

I need you guys to mythbust for me please!
Mythbusters did on episode on this. The determination? Bottles be deadly.
I watched it before making a post.

While they certainly concluded smashing someone's face with a full bottle is powerful, what about the broken glass itself, and its sharpness?
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Re: Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#9 Post by Tetiel »

I thought perhaps this article would be helpful:
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/N ... ?ID=245430
http://www.tribune.com.ng/sun/crime-fea ... rgraduate-

I have no idea the reliability of the news source, but I found it on both that Ghana newspaper and the Nigerian Tribune. Searching through google news for a good 15 minutes... this appears to be more common than I thought!

Also, here's a case in Scotland:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-g ... t-18708044
The victim actually died of a fatal heart attack, however, it was triggered by the incident (maybe blood loss, too?).

http://www.herald.ie/news/teenager-stab ... 50961.html
If this has taught me anything, go for the neck.

Also, here's a very graphic link showing what can happen if stabbed in the abdomen and arm with a broken bottle (DO NOT CLICK IF FAINT OF HEART, PLEASE):
http://cutresistantclothing.wordpress.c ... s-assault/

Overall, I'd say that it is a weapon, which can be effective and do quite a bit of damage if it connects. I guess the real problem is its short range and actually getting to someone. I don't know if you've ever cut yourself on glass, but I have. It cut my finger very deep despite not hitting the broken glass hard and I was bleeding quickly. It was honestly worse than cutting myself on a steak knife.

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Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#10 Post by illeashu »

[quote="Lishy"]Hey guys. I'm trying to write a character who uses a broken alcohol bottle as a weapon.

I have broken more than my share of bottles. And played with many more. As a weapon. They are vicious and deadly. It can slice thru almost any kind of meat but it will almost always shatter if it hits something tougher than simple flesh. Gashes are its main form of wound. Hope that wasn't too wordy. I kept it down to the very basics.

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Re: Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#11 Post by Samu-kun »

My guess is that they'd be a pretty good weapon in a tight spot, but not as good as a hunting knife. The bottle will probably get damaged further as you use it and be useless pretty quickly. Further, the risk of injury to yourself is pretty high, since the bottle might break in your hand as you use it. I think a intact beer bottle might be a better weapon, since a broken bottle is already structurally compromised and would shatter against hard objects. (like bone or someone's skull) Maybe a broken bottle would be roughly as good as a steak knife. (Those kinds of knives also have the risk of breaking and injuring the user as well)

I think most brands of wine bottles would just shatter if you hit anyone with it. Pretty much a one time use weapon.

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Re: Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#12 Post by shizuo »

That would be cool also if you have lots of broken beer or bottle like 100pcs then there would be a smith who would forge it and make it a sword.

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Re: Broken beer/wine bottle as weapon?

#13 Post by SundownKid »

An unbroken bottle would probably work better as a blunt instrument, while a broken bottle would be more of a knife-like implement. I'm sure the jagged edges on glass would cause extremely severe wounds, albeit not as deep as a knife.

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