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I've long been fascinated with swords. I was fortunate enough to start cutting with replica swords in my teens back in the 1980s. It was that, combined with play fighting using all manner of sword simulators, which set me on a lifelong course of study. But it wasn't until the 1990s that I came to understand what factors went into making a sword "real" or rather, what made one an accurate reproduction of a historical model. Fast forward to today...

Studying the Long Sword of War at my private school of arms, the longsword is the foundational introductory weapon of my curricula in the Art and Science of Defence. At present, I have a particular novice student who is challenging to teach. It's a challenge for me not because of any lack of aptitude or effort on the part of the student, but because every student needs to be taught a little differently. This might mean taking a certain approach...

The sword is a product of the wonderful harmony of shape and proportion, ergonomically refined by generations of violent trial and error. It represents an achievement of forging deadly utility of form from earnest function. It expresses mastery of the mysteries of hand-working nature’s iron into man’s steel. As an instrument, it evokes both a challenge to rediscover it's artistry of creation and recover its ar...