Swords as consumable items

This is a guest article by Angus Trim, who has been making swords for decades. He recently re-posted to Facebook something he had written back in 2016 about treating swords as consumable items. I felt that the message of the article was important – too important to be left to languish on Facebook where it couldn’t be found again, so I asked if he would be willing to let me host it on my website for posterity, so that it could be found again more easily by a wider audience. He kindly agreed, and so I am delighted to present it here.

I wrote this in early ’16, shortly after going public again. I think maybe it’s time to repost it:

Swords as consumable items… Back to the delusions… The beatings will continue until morale improves…

There is a modern narrative that historical swords were durable enough to survive serious abuse. The same people believe modern swords should hold up nearly forever. And then maybe we should discuss how long sword simulators should last in the studio…

One of the gentlemen I worked with years ago, on the katana front, had at least some of his polishing training in Japan. He told me that a katana was considered good for “ten engagements”. After each serious encounter, the blade was liable to be nicked up some, and that would require an entire blade polish {read a lot of stock removal} to fix. After a few serious encounters, the blade would be “tired”.

So how would western blades fare in similar circumstances? Well, in some cases history tells us that not any better. Oakeshott’s first sword {a XIIIa} had been found in a church, where the original owner left it after a desperate battle. According to Oakeshott, the sword had ninety-two nicks in the edges {“Records of the Medieval Sword”}. If I interpret what Oakeshott was saying correctly, the sword was finished as a weapon.

In various museums in Europe, there are several seriously damaged swords stored away, outside the public’s view. The pristine weapons in the public view? Very possibly never used.

As a side note, about thirteen years ago, I sold four longswords {sharps}, to an instructor based in Europe. A few years later, he contacted me that a sword had broken cutting a mat, but that the break wasn’t where it struck the mat, but towards the tip away from the mat.

When I got the blade back, I was taken aback by the condition. The blade’s edges really didn’t exist anymore, they were a sold line of nicks and wasn’t nicked was rolled over. The swords weren’t just used in cutting practice, but in “live partner practice”. Where the blade had broken, there was a very deep nick with what appeared to be a beginning fracture at the bottom of it. From there the break had been clean. The visible crystalline structure was beautiful. The blade had broken the way it was supposed to.

Blades aren’t supposed to break you say? Well, they’re made of steel, and steel wears, fatigues, and eventually fails. And that’s what happened. That blade had given all it was going to, and had failed.

The same can be applied to modern simulators. They have a given lifespan of use, hard use even, but they will eventually fail. When? Depends on the use, the design of the piece, and what they are.

For instance, I made rapier simulator blades in 2002, that are still in use. They’re used as rapier blades though, not longsword blades…

Right after my stroke, I designed a few simulator blades, which became popularly known as I-Beams. The idea being to have thick edges to survive abuse, and a deep wide fuller or groove to keep the weight down.

The first series of longsword simulators didn’t prove to be that durable. They were too light. I think one of the first ones broke within three months. I feel two years is where it should be…

The second series added several ounces to the blade. The finished simulator weight 2lbs 12 oz. The first one is still in service seven years later. This one worked, but the whole bunch of them are now beyond their expected service life. How long will they last? {Shrug} Who knows? I’m beginning to believe they might last ‘til I’m gone {a few years from now}.

I was talked into making more of the lighter ones. I let the buyer know to not expect any more life than six months of moderate use. Today, they are breaking, but the first one that broke made it a couple of years.

Back to swords for a moment… “Back in the day” I used to keep one or two shop cutters for the cutting season. They would be used by multiple people, many cutting for their first time. They would also wind up being resharpened several times during the season, and it wasn’t unheard of that I had to straighten a sword blade occasionally. After the season, I made a decision on the fate of the sword, many were cleaned up and sold on a healthy discount as shop cutters. A few were destroyed because I felt they were no longer safe.

Steel wears. Don’t expect that shiny toy to hold up to lots of abuse without wearing out. If you’re going to use it, maintain it, and plan on eventually replacing it.