Hello ,
all new at this forum , and a bit green
busy with a year at school to build a sword like it used to be done in old times.
biggest problem is finding info about the sword , many questions .
i'm trying to make a Italian longsword , known on many sale-sites (coldsteel)
is there anyone that wants to help me with the info i need ?
these are the questions i have …
: what kind of steel did the use ?
: how long was the blade ?
: how thick was the blade ?
: How width was the blade ?
: how long was the handle ?
: how long was the overall length ?
: how width was the cross guard ?
: how thick was the cross guard ?
: what was the weight of the sword ?
: at what point was the balance ?
: what was the weight of the pommel ?
I know, a lot of questions . but i really need a some help
I did check the system of mr Oakeshott but did find not what i need to know .
I hope it's understandable and someone can help me out .
a lot of thanks in front .
T. Davids , the netherlands .

There's a certain benefit of doubt that must be given to answer a topic like this. It's so open-ended I'm really left wondering if it's real or not. But I'll take the plunge...

If you want to do what you're asking, you're going to have to buy and read dozens and dozens of books on the subject of arms and armour, knifemaking technique, and other related subjects. Read everything you can find. Spend thousands of hours reading about the subject, hundreds of hours reading every page on the 'net that talks about the subject. Find online forums and other communities with people who are interested in the subject of arms and armour and the subject of bladesmithing and read every topic you can. Ask specific questions about specific topics.

After that, you need to visit as many museums, arms faires, arms collections, and other places that will allow you to have as much hands-on experience possible. If you're really going for it, you'll want to also study other forms of art and culture that affected the development of the types of arms that are of interest to you.

What you're doing here is writing a topic asking extremely general questions and wanting somebody else to do all the research for you. I can't imagine that will happen. Even if somebody were to supply you with all the answers that you've requested, you won't have the information, context, or knowledge to move very far.

You mention that you're new to this forum. Instead of asking for somebody else to do all the research for you, why not spend a few months reading every page on this site, every forum post, etc. etc.? If you want measurements for swords, as one small example, you'd find them for several hundred examples right here on this site. You'll find articles and discussions about distal taper, blade cross-sections, and many other properties related to swords right here on this site. You'll find articles and discussions about metallurgy, and hilting, and blade finishing, and other specifics right here on this site.

But this site's information is still extremely limited compared to doing all the other stuff I suggested, so even after you did that, you'd only start to approach the point where you can ask meaningful questions on specific subjects.

Do your research. We've done our best to provide a site with some basic information and to provide a community that's collected more than a decade of discussions on the subject. WIthin that huge amount of content, one will find links and suggestions to books, other sites, and recommendations for additional information at various institutions and other places.

You're not going to find that kind of information in a single forum post. It doesn't exist.

I have to largely agree with Nathan, Basically if you do the research first you will actually gain so much more from the answers your are given as they will enlighten you rather than further muddy the waters which I suspect right now it would.

That said a really good place to rapidly learn a great deal is to go on one of Owen Bush's sword smithing courses. have a look at http://owenbush.co.uk/school-of-smithing/

Good luck

Tod