Almelexia Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I have katana a very long one. But it was expensive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkh Templar Posted January 13, 2004 Share Posted January 13, 2004 I don't actually collect swords, i forge them. So far I've made 2 Claymore type swords, three 16th-17th century Croatian sabers, a Glamdring look-alike and now I'm making a Narsil replica. The blade is finished, but the crossguard is a major problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loveme4whoiam Posted January 17, 2004 Share Posted January 17, 2004 This request is pretty on-topic as far as i'm concerned. Can people post up sites or names of people who make battle-ready swords? I don't mind if they are fantasy or historical or both, but if i'm going to shell out £300 for a sword i expect it to a) be made of steel and B) actually cut more than butter on a hot day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhydderch Hael Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 Yes, folks. This is what we call 'forum necromancy'. But there's a reason behind it... Replica swords such as those found in mall cutlery stores or faire booths are most often not actually designed to be used as swords. There are two distinct reasons (and usually its a combination of both): liability and production cost. For one, many manufacturers of cheap swords aren't going to want their product used in a dangerous manner. If lots of folks are going to buy them, chances are good someone is going to try and use them as actual weapons. Some replica swords are actually designed to fail if you use them against something hard, so as to prevent them from being used as lethal weapons. Secondly, in order to make a sword affordable to the most casual of customers (swords aren't a neccessity, after all— they're curios) certain shortcuts are going to be made to reduce cost of making them. Quickest, cheapest way to make a sword: make just the blade part of the sword, then bolt a nice-looking handle onto that. A good (a real) sword's blade metal doesn't stop where blade meets crossguard—it goes all the way through the hilt more or less as one unified piece of steel. The tang of a cheap replica sword is most often a long hardware bolt that has been tack-welded to the blade portion of the sword, and the handle slipped over this bolt. The welds aren't all that strong, and the bolt itself is hardly robust enough to handle the shock of a sword strike for very long. The many threads of the bolt means many sharp angles. Many angles means many spots where a crack can form and transmit its tearing force straight through the body of the bolt. Another reason: stainless steel. It's possible to make a good sword blade out of stainless steel, but not for price range of most swords. The key to a good sword blade lies in the heat treat of the steel— the force and manner of the alloy's crystalline structure being re-aligned through temper and annealing. You can wreck a sword made of the finest steel in the world by giving it a bad heat treat, and a cheap stainless steel sword made become surprisingly resilient if the maker was lucky to get the blade's temper right. The trick of the matter is, stainless steel's heating properties makes fine-tuning the procees harder than what you expect with carbon steels, and for the scant amount of money people are willing to buy a simple piece of wall decoration means that the maker doesn't have the time nor inclination to get it done right every time. That's why swords bought in malls chip and fold at the edge. That's why they begin rattling inside the handle after a hard blow. That's why they snap off at the hilt. My sword collection? Well, you can hardly call two swords a 'collection'. First one up is, if I can open up with the esoteric jargon, one of Angus Trim's model AT1548 Mk.I longswords fitted with a reitschwert hilt from Idaho cutler Christian Fletcher. It has a 36" inch blade and, being a Mk.I, has a 7" grip fitted to a 2" scent-stopper pommel. Blade profile conforms to Type XVIIIb in Ewart Oakeshott's typology of western medieval swords. The blade and tang were cut from a single blank of 5160H aircraft-grade chromium steel and hand-finished. It was not forged, but rather cut and milled into shape from rolled stock free of flaws or inclusions. It's been heat-treated to 56 Rockwell C hardness at the edge, 52 Rockwell in the blade body itself. It's been furnished with the rings and guard of a 16th Century Germanic horsemans' longsword, a sort of cross between medieval blade and Renaissance rapier hilt. Second sword is an Albion Regent. It's pretty (and this post is getting way too long). Blade's made of 1075 carbon steel, made by stock removal process, and yes— it has a four-figure price tag. That's the real kicker about real swords— they're expensive. Heck, they were expensive back in the days when they were actually needed and were useful to their owners. Nothing's changed, except that modern steel technology ensures the blades can be consistently better in quality for every exemple that is manufactured. The price tags make them more scarce, and the buyers who throw that kind of money around on wall decoration are less likely to take them out on some sort of addled rampage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stampede Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 I was going to post a tirade on the evils of necromancy, but seeing as you do not seem to be a spammer and contributed some interesting info and pics, I think we can let this one slide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baraka Posted May 9, 2006 Share Posted May 9, 2006 DarkTemplar, that is very cool that you forge swords. Nice to see so many people collect. My hubby Cain has 2 at the moment. One my sister got for him in Spain and then he has one he bought at the flea market that is a fantasy type sword. He used to have a collection of 3 different ones quite along time ago. But those are gone now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercbird Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 May I enquire where those collections have gone, Baraka? :D Every now and again my fiance (future sword collector) comes with an add, or saw a katana in a shop, or a replica in a fleamarket and he wants to buy and put on the wall. Then I gently have to remind him that R30 000.00 (roughly 5 000 USD) is about the book value of my car, and also the amount of our outstanding debts (having just gotten a fledgling buisness of the ground). That the income is sporadic and just starting to cover our expenses, and that the banks likes us because of all the interest we pay. Barely. That the burglar I interupted in our lounge stole his laptop, and that it needs replacing. That top of the list is a bloody alarm system. And that I dont want a blade of any sort on my bedroom wall, however authentic it is. Ah, I love him for dreaming those big dreams, which he usually turns into reality. But I hate having to be the voice of reason, so I got him a Leatherman for his birthday. ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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