"Is my sword real?" Some useful reading material and other links

[Swordlady]

This, along with the "wallhanger" thread, is pretty much an introduction to the world of swords. Since I'm not an absolute expert in all things sword-related, I'm going to post links to some articles I've found useful, along with some other informative links.

These are some articles from Sword Forum Magazine Online's (SFMO) archive:

"Is my sword real?"

"Discerning a well-made sword"

"Heat treatment"

"Basic Japanese sword forging"

"Developing an eye: Americanized Japanese blades"

 

[Swordlady]

List of terminology for Medieval and Renaissance period swords

Terminology used for a Japanese sword

Koryu.com (a useful source of information for the traditional Japanese sword arts)

Sword arts dojo finder

ARMA (Renaissance martial arts)

 

[wade]

Is it real? I use 2 different swords when I train. 1 is a WW2 NCO blade and the other is a WW2 officers blade. Also have one a couple hundred years old that I cut on pine trees with. Different way of making them but it's easy to tell that they are real. I've gone to antique shows and have been told they have signed blades for sale, uh uh, you can tell by the balance and the feel of the blade they are wrong. It's like a free lunch, no such thing. If it doesn't feel right it probably isn't.