A Sword can be broken down into two major pieces, the Blade and the hilt. You may also hear the term scabbard use but this only applies to the cover of the blade when not in use.
The Blade:
- The Fueller the groove that can be found on most medieval swords. This groove is designed to lighten the blade while allowing it to retain its strengh and stiffness.
- Weak (foible): This is a simple term used to describe the point between the tip of the sword and the center of the blade.
- Strong (forte): Term used to describe the point between the center of the blade and the hilt.
- Rain guard (chappe): Term used to describe the flap of leather attached at the base of the blade or crossguard. The “Chappe” helps to prevent the water from entering the scabbard.
The Hilt: The hilt can be separated in three simple part, the grip, the guard and the pommel.
- The grip is the part where you hold the sword.
- The guard: This part of the hilt serves two purposes. First it prevents the wielder from punching shields while swinging the weapon and it also protect the hands by preventing other blade from sliding down on the hand of the weapon wielder.
- The Pommel helps to improve the sword balance but can also be used as a weapon in close combat.
The Scabbard: This is simply the cover of the blade when it is not used. Over the ages different materials were used in its confection. Materials like
For more information about sword terminology you can visit wikipedia.
Very often, beginner sword collectors make the mistakes of mixing fantasy swords with medieval swords. While I can understand why they often make that mistake, it is important to differentiate them form each other.
For a sword collector, a medieval sword is an exact replica of the weapons used in the medieval times. The Medieval period is often called the middle Ages.
The middle Ages are commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 26th century. Some of the worst fighting took place in the High Middle Age period during the Crusades. A period where armies attempted to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslim control.
The swords used during that period are very popular amongst medieval sword collectors.
Medieval swords are often simple in appearance while Fantasy swords are more extravagant in their look. While some of the fantasy swords can look like a medieval one, it is important to do your own research.
Fantasy swords are very popular amongst sword collectors, as a collector I personally own several of those swords… Swords Like this are just too amazing and are a great addition to any sword collection:
While I perfectly know that swords like that were never used in any period during history, they are still attractive. For the ones that love fantasy worlds and movies, there are kind of a piece of these worlds hanging in you living room’s wall.
Those who know me know that I love collecting swords, especially samurai swords or Japanese weapons. Recently I have started to expand my sword collection by collecting movie swords.
Since I am a huge movie fan (I own around 450 movies) i decided to combine both of my passions and further improve my sword collection. Of course I needed to buy only the best swords available; my collection contains only high quality swords.
Learn more about how I started collecting Movie swords.