Medieval War part two: Sword maintenance
January 24th 2009 17:03
So, this will be a pretty short post.
I talked last Friday about sword combat, but now I'm going to talk a little bit about sword maintenance and anatomy.
The basic parts of a sword are the blade and the hilt, but each of these parts has other areas. For example, the blade has the tang, which is the part of the blade that the hilt gets affixed to. The tang is not visible except during the creation process, before the blade and the hilt are joined. I used to think that the blade and the hilt just sort of attached together, but then I realized that this would be impossible since it would be way too easy for the blade to just fall off. So really the hilt is just affixed onto the tang of the blade, which makes a lot more sense.
The visible part of the blade consists of the forte (strong), foible (weak), ricasso, point, edge, fuller, and ridge. The forte is the strong half of the blade (from the hilt to about halfway), and the foible is the weak half of the blade, which is usually where the sharpened edge is found. The ricasso is the very unsharpened portion of the blade right near the hilt, which is usually where a maker's mark is found: just as painters leave their signature on their artwork, so did swordsmiths leave their mark on the ricasso. Point and Edge are self-explanatory: the point is the sharp tip of the blade, for stabbing; the edge is the sharpened edge, usually sharper toward the end of the blade, for moderate slashing and easier stabbing. The fuller--which not all swords had, but most did--is the groove that runs up the middle of the blade, put there to make the blade lighter and stronger. The term 'blood groove' was applied to this for a long time, since there was a myth that the fuller was made for an enemy's blood to run down and off the blade. But that's just a myth and a misnomer. The ridge is the opposite of a fuller; when you look down a ridged blade the long way, the blade has a sort of diamond shape.
The parts of the hilt are the quillion (crossguard), handle, and pommel. These are the essential parts of a hilt. The quillion is the cross-beam that separates the hilt from the blade, protecting the hand from accidentally cutting itself on the blade. The handle--well that's self-explanatory. The pommel is the bulbous metal knob on the end of the hilt that helps hold the hilt together. The Capstan Rivet is a rivet that holds the pommel attached to the tang; without it, the whole thing could fall apart. Hilts are the most customizable aspect of a sword, and they varied from culture to culture and era to era. What I just described is the basic hilt; hilts can have more elaborate crossguards and all sorts of idiosyncratic things that reflect the tastes of the smith or the commissioner or both.
In combat, if an attack must be blocked with the blade, it was necessary to block with the flat side of the blade. Also, blocks should be done at the Point of Percussion, which is about half-way to 2/3 the way up the blade, where the Forte and Foible commingle. Blocking with either the Forte or the Foible could through a fighter off-balance as well as damage the blade. Blocking with the edged side of the blade could result in snagging the swords together, causing chips and dents in the blade that compromise the weapon's structural integrity and offensive effectiveness. Swords could even break this way. If chips and dents appeared in the blade, they could sometimes be buffed out by using them on a grindstone, or they could be repaired by a smith and his furnace, though it would cost money. And each time a blade had to get repaired, it became less reliable than it was in original condition.
To prevent rust, oils and fats would be rubbed with a cloth along the blade, which also helped it to slide more easily in and out of its scabbard. If a sword got bloody, it was necessary to clean it as soon as possible, since blood could eventually corrode the metal; and if you put a bloody sword back into the scabbard as is, then the blood would get in the scabbard and muck everything up.
It was very important to keep one's sword clean and oiled and chip-and-dent-free; in this way sword maintenance even affected the way people fought with their swords.
Next Friday I'll continue my Medieval War discussion by looking at a much simpler and often disregarded but still very formidable weapon: the quarterstaff. Have a nice day everyone!
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