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| SFReader Forums > SFReader > Ask The Expert > Metallurgy - Bronze age arms and armour | Forum Quick Jump
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
      
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 987
| Posted 11/6/2007 9:38 PM (GMT -5) |   |
RHFay said...Uh oh, another potential sword collector.
Be warned, it's a very addictive hobby. Like crisps (potato chips on this, the wrong side of the pond), you can never have just one. And there's always something better out there. Low-end production models may lead to high-end production models, which may lead to custom commisions.
By the way, myarmoury.com may be another source of information about bronze weapons:
You might find something useful there if you peruse their site.
- Ah yes, If I buy any more swords I'll have to talk my wife into letting me use one of the bedrooms for my office (Mine's only 5X7).
- My armory.com is a great resource but I haven't seen them review any bronze swords. I think we're all too afraid to damage them to risk cutting things with them. They really did though, so I guess we're all just products of the steel age and don't trust things that were commonplace way-back-when.
- Anyway. There's no such thing as too many swords, just too little room to display them.
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Rob Mancebo
Adept
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 987
| Posted 11/5/2007 10:58 AM (GMT -5) | | The best one I could find with a quick search was already given by Mike:
http://www.bronze-age-craft.com/>>
In recent television programme for the BBC, one of my bronze swords was repeatedly stuck against a reproduction of an early iron sword, in a test to show the advantages of iron over bronze. Even though both myself and Hector Cole (the iron sword maker) had advised the programme makers the that the bronze sword would do better than expected, they were very surprised. The bronze sword was more than a match for the iron, both blades received heavy damage. The ability of bronze to rapidly work harden under impact, and the lack of carbon in early iron swords must have created a bit of a technological stand off around 700bc. At this time the art of the bronze caster was at its height and iron working was in its infancy.
It should give you enough info to seem like you know what you're talking about.
Rob>>
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MichaelEhart
Sage
Date Joined Jul 2005
Total Posts : 2352
| Posted 11/4/2007 9:40 PM (GMT -5) | | This would be my department, I think :)
Some online sources:
http://www.bronze-age-craft.com/swordcasting.htm
http://forums.swordforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=12
From the afterword of my book, The Servant of the Manthycore:
"Bronze is very hard, but very brittle. Swords were much shorter than later weapons made of iron. This size limit and the fragility of the weapons made for a completely different style of combat. Sword-to-sword contact was likely to result in a broken weapon, and shields were made with large metal bosses in the center and a hard rim just for that reason. Attacks were made over the shield or under. Excavations of Bronze Age battle sites reveal skeletons with bronze fragments in shoulder, collar and hip bones, which meant even winning could result in a broken weapon.
Try holding a bronze sword, if you get the opportunity. Any good sword feels like it is almost alive, but while a steel sword feels quick and lively, a bronze sword feels more solid, almost sullen, a bull mastiff to the iron blade’s greyhound. A friend of mine compared a bronze sword he once held to a “lethal cricket-bat”. The one I own feels heavy, and very businesslike. Fighting with a weapon like that was nothing like modern fencing; it was quick, brutal and ugly."
Hope this helps!
Buy my book!
The Servant of the Manthycore available Nov. 17th from DEP
Illustrated by Rachel Marks, with an introduction by Michael Moorcock
Read me in 2007!
"The View From the Shotglass Floor" Ray Gun Revival, Feb 2007
"Voice of the Spoiler" The Sword Review, June 2007
"Servant of the Manthycore" The Sword Review, July 2007
"Darkling I Listen; and for Many a Time" Fear and Trembling, coming soon!
"Weaving Spiders Come Not Here" The Sword Review, August 2007
"Six Zombies Doing That Mick Jagger Strut" Damned in Dixie, Summer 2007
"Nothing But Our Tears" The Sword Review, September 2007
"Night of Shadows, Night of Knives" Magic and Mechanica, Fall 2007
"The Scarlet Colored Beast" The Sword Review, October 2007
"The Stars by Law, Forbidden" Unparalleled Journeys II, November 2007
"Who Comes for the Mother's Fruit" Every Day Fiction, November 2007
"Stand, Stand, Shall They Cry" Flashing Swords, November 2007
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