1.
Pattern welding
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Often called Damascus steel, blades forged in this manner often display bands of slightly different patterning along their entire length. These bands can be highlighted for cosmetic purposes by proper polishing or acid etching, pattern welding was an outgrowth of laminated or piled steel, a similar technique used to combine steels of different carbon contents, providing a desired mix of hardness and toughness. Although modern steelmaking processes negate the need to blend different steels, pattern welding developed out of the necessarily complex process of making blades that were both hard and tough from the erratic and unsuitable output from early iron smelting in bloomeries. This laminating process, in different types of steels together produces patterns that can be seen in the surface of the finished blade. By the 2nd and 3rd century AD, the Celts commonly used pattern welding for decoration in addition to structural reasons, the technique involves folding and forging alternating layers of steel into rods, then twisting the steel to form complex patterns when forged into a blade. By the end of the Viking era, pattern welding fell out of use in Europe During the Middle ages, Damascus steel was produced in India and brought back to Europe. The similarities in the markings led many to believe it was the process being used. However even these attempts have not been a huge success, a similar technique was also employed by Scandinavian Medieval swordsmiths. The Mora knife is manufactured with a similar technique. Today the traditional crucible steel is used, but the high carbon steel is usually tool steel or stainless steel. The ancient swordmakers exploited the qualities of pattern welded steel. Two bars twisted in opposite directions created the common chevron pattern, often, the center of the blade was a core of soft steel, and the edges were solid high carbon steel, similar to the laminates of the Japanese. The American Bladesmith Societys Master Smith test, for example, requires a 300 layer blade to be forged, starting with just two layers, eight folding operations will yield 512 layers in the blank. A blade ground from such a blank will show a grain much like a cut from a block of wood. Some manufactured objects can be re-purposed into pattern welded blanks, some modern bladesmiths have taken pattern welding to new heights, with elaborate applications of traditional pattern welding techniques, as well as with new technology. A layered billet of steel rods with the blade blank cut perpendicular to the layers can also produce some spectacular patterns, powder metallurgy allows alloys that would not normally be compatible to be combined into solid bars. Mokume-gane, a technique, often involving precious metals, used to produce decorative pieces Maryon. A Sword of the Nydam Type from Ely Fields Farm, near Ely, proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society
2.
Rapier
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Rapier or Espada Ropera, is a loose term for a type of slender, sharply pointed sword. With such designing features, rapier is optimized to be a thrusting weapon and this weapon was mainly used in Early Modern Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries. The word rapier generally refers to a relatively long-bladed sword characterized by a hilt which is constructed to provide protection for the hand wielding the sword. Some historical rapier samples also feature a blade mounted on a typical rapier hilt. The term rapier can be confusing because this weapon can be categorized as a type of broadsword. While the rapier blade might be enough to cut to some degree, it is designed to perform quick. The blade might be sharpened along its length or sharpened only from the center to the tip. Pallavicini, a master in 1670, strongly advocated using a weapon with two cutting edges. A typical example would weigh 1 kilogram and have a long and slender blade of 2.5 centimetres or less in width,104 centimetres or more in length. The blade length of quite a few examples, particularly the Italian rapiers in the early 17th century, is well over 45 inches. The word rapier is a German word to describe what was considered to be a foreign weapon, the word rapier was not used by Italian, Spanish, and French masters during the apogee of this weapon, the terms spada, espada, and épée being instead the norm. To avoid the confusion of lumping all swords together, some categorize such swords by their function, for example, John Clements categorizes thrusting swords with poor cutting abilities as rapiers, and swords with both good thrusting and cutting abilities as cut and thrust swords. Some, however, look at the rapier in its entire time-line, one might wear a rapier with a swept hilt and edges on the same day as another might wear one with a cup hilt and an edgeless blade. Rapiers often have complex, sweeping hilts designed to protect the hand wielding the sword, rings extend forward from the crosspiece. In some later samples, rings are covered with metal plates, there were hardly any sample that features plates covering the rings prior to the 1600s. Many hilts include a knuckle bow extending down from the crosspiece protecting the grip, a fat pommel secures the grip to the weapon and provides some weight to balance the long blade. Various rapier masters divided the blade into two, three, four, five or even nine parts. The forte, strong, is part of the blade closest to the hilt, in cases where a master divides the blade into an even number of parts
3.
Sword
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A sword is a long bladed weapon intended for slashing or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the epoch or the geographical region under consideration. A sword consists of a blade attached to a hilt. The blade can be straight or curved, thrusting swords have a pointed tip on the blade, and tend to be straighter, slashing swords have sharpened cutting edge on one or both sides of the blade, and are more likely to be curved. Many swords are designed for thrusting and slashing. Historically, the sword developed in the Bronze Age, evolving from the dagger, the later Iron Age sword remained fairly short and without a crossguard. The word sword continues the Old English, sweord, the use of a sword is known as swordsmanship or as fencing. In the Early Modern period, western sword design diverged into two forms, the thrusting swords and the sabers. The thrusting swords such as the rapier and eventually the smallsword were designed to impale their targets quickly and their long and straight yet light and well balanced design made them highly maneuverable and deadly in a duel but fairly ineffective when used in a slashing or chopping motion. A well aimed lunge and thrust could end a fight in seconds with just the swords point, the saber and similar blades such as the cutlass were built more heavily and were more typically used in warfare. Built for slashing and chopping at multiple enemies, often from horseback, most sabers also had sharp points and double edged blades, making them capable of piercing soldier after soldier in a cavalry charge. Sabers continued to see use until the early 20th century. The US Navy kept tens of thousands of sturdy cutlasses in their armory well into World War II, non-European weapons called sword include single-edged weapons such as the Middle Eastern scimitar, the Chinese dao and the related Japanese katana. The Chinese jian is an example of a non-European double-edged sword, the first weapons that can be described as swords date to around 3300 BC. They have been found in Arslantepe, Turkey, are made from arsenical bronze, some of them are inlaid with silver. The sword developed from the dagger when the construction of longer blades became possible, from the late 3rd millennium BC in the Middle East, first in arsenic copper, then in tin-bronze. Blades longer than 60 cm were rare and not practical until the late Bronze Age because the strength of bronze is relatively low. These are the type A swords of the Aegean Bronze Age, one of the most important, and longest-lasting, types swords of the European Bronze Age was the Naue II type, also known as Griffzungenschwert
4.
Crossguard
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On a sword, the crossguard, or cross-guard, also known as quillons, is a bar of metal at right angles to the blade, placed between the blade and the hilt. The crossguard was developed in the European sword around the 10th century for the protection of the wielders hand, the earliest forms were the crossguard variant of the Spatha used by the Huns, the so-called Pontic swords. The crossguards were not only used to counter attacks. They were later seen in late Viking swords, and is a feature of the Norman sword of the 11th century and of the knightly arming sword throughout the high. Early crossguards were straight metal bars, sometimes tapering towards the outer ends, while this simple type was never discontinued, more elaborate forms developed alongside it in the course of the Middle Ages. The crossguard could be waisted or bent in the 12th and 13th century, beginning in the 13th or 14th century, swords were almost universally fitted with a so-called chappe or rain-guard, a piece of leather fitted to the crossguard. The purpose of this leather is not entirely clear, but it seems to have originated as a part of the scabbard, in the 14th to 15th century, many more elaborate forms were tried. A feature of late medieval forms is the cusp or écusson. Also from the 14th century, the leather chappe is sometimes replaced with a metal sheet, an early example of this is a sword dated to c. 1320–40 kept at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, a later example is the Monza sword of Estore Visconti, where the rain-guard is of silver and decorated with a floral motif. Ewart Oakeshott in chapter 4 of his The Sword in the Age of Chivalry classifies medieval cross-guards into twelve types and this is the basic shape found from the late Viking era through the 17th century. Waisted type, popular in the 15th century, a relatively short bar with a rectangular cross-section. Popular during 1150–1250 and again during 1380–1430, the terminals of the bar are bent towards the blade. Bow tie style with widened and flattened terminals, a curved or bent variant of type 5. The bar has a flat cross-section and is bent towards the blade, bent terminals as in style 4, but a more elaborate form with a hexagonal cross-section of the part fitted around the tang and a pronounced écusson, popular in the late medieval period. An elaborate late medieval type with the bar bent towards the blade and a diamond or V shaped cross-section. The arms of the bar taper towards the hilt rather than away from it, the medieval dagger in the 14th and 15th century also adopted a variant with quillons, styled after the hilt of a sword. Quillon-daggers remained popular in the 16th century, after the type it resembled had fallen out of use
5.
Ricasso
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A Ricasso is an unsharpened length of blade just above the guard or handle on a knife, dagger, sword, or bayonet. Blades designed this way appear at many periods in history in many parts of the world and date back to at least the Bronze Age, essentially, as long as humans have shaped cutting tools from metals. There were many reasons to make a blade with a ricasso, one very simple influence presently and historically is fashion, which often answers this question for blades where the presence or lack of a ricasso has no effect on how it is used. Leaving a ricasso can also save the blade makers time - a section of blade that would not be used given the purpose of the piece does not have to be shaped and sharpened, in many cases however, they are quite functional. Historically, ricassos were commonly present on medieval and early Renaissance swords, the basic function was to allow the wielder to place their index finger above the crossguard, which potentially allowed for greater grip strength and torque. This technique was a factor in the evolution of compound hilts which are iconic of rapiers and other Renaissance swords, some of the best known historic examples of ricassos are on large European swords used with two hands. When used aggressively with adequate space to build up swinging momentum, some experts on historical combat believe this technique of sustained blade swinging was used as a tactic for swordsmen to penetrate pike formations. The ricassos of two-handed swords often have a second, smaller set of quillons past the ricasso and this technique is very similar to the half-sword technique which involves gripping the sharpened midsection of the blade to turn the blade into a sort of lever weapon. It is possible even without gauntlets to hold a sharpened blade relatively safely, today, many knives seen outside of the kitchen include a bevel section, though the term is seldom used. These ricassos may serve purely decorative purposes, may offer greater blade strength at a high-stress point, a sub-hilt, is a related feature sometimes found on knives instead of a ricasso. Depending on design, it can offer many of the advantages in versatility. Some blades may have both a sub-hilt and a ricasso, thus offering two possible forward grip positions
6.
Anglo-Normans
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The Anglo-Normans were the medieval ruling class in England, composed mainly of a combination of ethnic Anglo-Saxons and Normans, following the Norman conquest. A small number of Normans had earlier befriended future Anglo-Saxon King of England, Edward the Confessor, when he returned to England some of them went with him, and so there were Normans already settled in England prior to the conquest. Following the death of Edward, the powerful Anglo-Saxon noble, Harold Godwinson, acceded to the English throne until his defeat by William, the invading Normans formed a ruling class in Britain, distinct from the native populations. Over time their language evolved from the continental Old Norman to the distinct Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Normans quickly established control over all of England, as well as parts of Wales. After 1130, parts of southern and eastern Scotland came under Anglo-Norman rule, the Norman conquest of Ireland in 1169 saw Anglo-Normans settle vast swaths of Ireland, becoming the Hiberno-Normans. The composite expression regno Norman-Anglorum for the Anglo-Norman kingdom that comprises Normandy, the English were Catholic and shared this religion with the Normans and they had already an influence in England, before the conquest. Furthermore, the relationships between the sailors from both sides of the English channel had maintained a common culture. The Normans were not a homogeneous group springing from Scandinavian stock, in terms of culture, they represented the Northern French civilisation, who mostly only spoke Langues doïl as languages. The Norman settlers felt no community with the earlier Danish settlers, however, in their own army, they did not even feel any sense of community with the Poitou, the Bretons, and other groups that had different dialects and traditions. The association between these different troops was only occasional and corresponds to a necessity for the Norman ruler. In fact, the Normans met with the steadiest resistance in a part of England that was the most influenced by the Danish, many of the English nobles lost lands and titles, the lesser thegns and others found themselves dispossessed of lands and titles. A number of free geburs had their rights and court access much decreased, becoming unfree villeins, at the same time, many of the new Anglo-Norman magnates were distributed lands by the King that had been taken from the English nobles. The Norman conquest of England brought the British Isles into the orbit of the European continent, especially what remained of Roman-influenced language and it transmitted itself in the emerging feudal world that took its place. The England that emerged from the Conquest was a different place. The Norman conquest of England also signalled a revolution in military styles, the old Anglo-Saxon military elite began to emigrate, especially the generation next younger to that defeated at Hastings, who had no particular future in a country controlled by the conquerors. William, encouraged them to leave, as a security measure, the first to leave went mostly to Denmark and many of these moved on to join the Varangian Guard in Constantinople. Although the Anglo-Saxons as a whole were not demilitarised, this would have been impractical, instead, William arranged for the Saxon infantry to be trained up by Norman cavalry in anti-cavalry tactics. The younger Norman aristocracy showed a tendency towards Anglicisation, adopting such Saxon styles as long hair and moustaches, (Note that the Anglo-Saxon cniht did not take the sense of the French chevalier before the latest period of Middle English
7.
Engraving
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Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it. Wood engraving is a form of printing and is not covered in this article. Engraving was an important method of producing images on paper in artistic printmaking, in mapmaking. Other terms often used for printed engravings are copper engraving, copper-plate engraving or line engraving, hand engraving is a term sometimes used for engraving objects other than printing plates, to inscribe or decorate jewellery, firearms, trophies, knives and other fine metal goods. Traditional engravings in printmaking are also engraved, using just the same techniques to make the lines in the plate. Each graver is different and has its own use, engravers use a hardened steel tool called a burin, or graver, to cut the design into the surface, most traditionally a copper plate. Modern professional engravers can engrave with a resolution of up to 40 lines per mm in high grade work creating game scenes, dies used in mass production of molded parts are sometimes hand engraved to add special touches or certain information such as part numbers. In addition to engraving, there are engraving machines that require less human finesse and are not directly controlled by hand. They are usually used for lettering, using a pantographic system, there are versions for the insides of rings and also the outsides of larger pieces. Such machines are used for inscriptions on rings, lockets. Gravers come in a variety of shapes and sizes that yield different line types, the burin produces a unique and recognizable quality of line that is characterized by its steady, deliberate appearance and clean edges. The angle tint tool has a curved tip that is commonly used in printmaking. Florentine liners are flat-bottomed tools with multiple lines incised into them, ring gravers are made with particular shapes that are used by jewelry engravers in order to cut inscriptions inside rings. Flat gravers are used for work on letters, as well as wriggle cuts on most musical instrument engraving work, remove background. Knife gravers are for line engraving and very deep cuts, round gravers, and flat gravers with a radius, are commonly used on silver to create bright cuts, as well as other hard-to-cut metals such as nickel and steel. Square or V-point gravers are typically square or elongated diamond-shaped and used for cutting straight lines, V-point can be anywhere from 60 to 130 degrees, depending on purpose and effect. These gravers have very small cutting points, other tools such as mezzotint rockers, roulets and burnishers are used for texturing effects. Burnishing tools can also be used for stone setting techniques
8.
Inlay
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A great range of materials have been used both for the base or matrix and for the inlays inserted into it. In a wood matrix, inlays commonly use wood veneers, but other materials like shells, mother-of-pearl, pietre dure, or coloured stones inlaid in white or black marbles, and inlays of precious metals in a base metal matrix are other forms of inlay. Inlay is commonly used in production of furniture, where pieces of coloured wood or metal are inserted into the surface of the carcass. Lutherie inlays are used as decoration and marking on musical instruments. The similar private study made for him at Gubbio is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the history of inlay is very old. After learning the skill of smithing from the Navaho in 1872, the French cabinet maker Andre-Charles Boulle specialized in furniture using inlays or metal and either wood or tortoiseshell together, the latter acting as the background. Pietra dura is the term in Europe for detailed inlays in contrasting colours of stones, including many semi-precious types. Pietra dura developed from the Roman Opus sectile, which was used on a larger scale. Cosmatesque work on walls and floors, and smaller objects, was an intermediate stage
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