04-02-2003, 07:25 PM
Hi,
Bulk manufacture of steel is very much a product of the 19th century and later. The materials available to sword makers earlier than that were nowhere near as consistent or controlled. The ability to melt iron did not even exist. Which is why no uniform material could be made. All that early ironworkers could do was heat the metal up enough to work it and to introduce or remove some impurities by diffusion. A lot of the properties of the iron available at the time was determined by impurities present in the ore used to make the iron. The addition of controlled impurities to generate desirable properties is a very modern (i.e., post swords as weapons) technology.
So, the materials, the techniques, and the results varied a lot from region to region and age to age. There are relatively good descriptions of some of this in http://www.vikingsword.com/index1.html and http://www.howstuffworks.com/sword-making.htm
As to learning how to use a sword, I'd suggest finding a fencing club. While fencing is not "sword fighting", you will at least probably learn something right. Almost all the sword fighting I've seen in the movies, on TV, at exhibitions, at SCA meets, and on the web is either conjecture, BS, or (most often) both. Finding someone that knows the authentic techniques is rare. As much as they can be known, that is, since most were never written down. People overlook the fact that the monks were just about the only literate people of much of the period. The monks could write and knew little of arms, the warriors knew what there was to know of arms but couldn't write. Thus, we have a scarcity of knowledge from when swords were weapons of war. The situation is a lot better with Oriental martial techniques, probably because the population as a whole was more literate and the monks were often warriors themselves.
--Pete
Bulk manufacture of steel is very much a product of the 19th century and later. The materials available to sword makers earlier than that were nowhere near as consistent or controlled. The ability to melt iron did not even exist. Which is why no uniform material could be made. All that early ironworkers could do was heat the metal up enough to work it and to introduce or remove some impurities by diffusion. A lot of the properties of the iron available at the time was determined by impurities present in the ore used to make the iron. The addition of controlled impurities to generate desirable properties is a very modern (i.e., post swords as weapons) technology.
So, the materials, the techniques, and the results varied a lot from region to region and age to age. There are relatively good descriptions of some of this in http://www.vikingsword.com/index1.html and http://www.howstuffworks.com/sword-making.htm
As to learning how to use a sword, I'd suggest finding a fencing club. While fencing is not "sword fighting", you will at least probably learn something right. Almost all the sword fighting I've seen in the movies, on TV, at exhibitions, at SCA meets, and on the web is either conjecture, BS, or (most often) both. Finding someone that knows the authentic techniques is rare. As much as they can be known, that is, since most were never written down. People overlook the fact that the monks were just about the only literate people of much of the period. The monks could write and knew little of arms, the warriors knew what there was to know of arms but couldn't write. Thus, we have a scarcity of knowledge from when swords were weapons of war. The situation is a lot better with Oriental martial techniques, probably because the population as a whole was more literate and the monks were often warriors themselves.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?