Buying a Sword

I've mentioned before that I decided to present my oldest son a sword for one of the stages of his progression towards manhood.

Well, he was supposed to receive it a year ago (I'm starting to detect a trend here) but I am just now to the point where I am ready to purchase his sword and arrange a ceremony.

As far as sword buying goes, it is not for the uninitiated. There are lots of nuances and pitfalls to choosing the right weapon. The best place to start researching is definitely:

Sword Buyers Guide .com

Here you will find a primer on sword basics and terminology, "war stories" on what can wrong when buying a sword, reviews of several manufacturers as well as specific swords, guides for various types and styles, an online magazine, even a forum area. Everything you need to get started is there.

After pretty extensive research I decided to go with The Warspike: Knight Longsword. It's a “hybrid” Hand-and-a-Half Medieval sword with a hand-forged, High-carbon steel, fully heat tempered, "battle-ready" full tang blade from StrongBlade. (yeah, that's a mouthful...check out SBG to understand what all that means)

I'll probably post a review of the experience once I receive and present it to him. But in the meantime, my advice is to start early with any ceremonies you may be planning!