Al Massey did it.

Ben Bouchard wrote:

Graham Shearlaw wrote: welding the pommel will be the easy bit the blade will be a lot harder. id grind down the brake to 2-3mm at a sharp angle. TIG weld the crack shut from both sides useing copper backing for the heat and a clamp. then id slowy build up the grinded pach, a light grind to level it off and a quick polishing. and then it needs heat treating and all that . youd never get the sword as it was and id cost you a fair chunk of a new sword. I forget who did it, but I remember seeing an experiment done years ago regarding reforging a blade. The two halves had about a 4-6" vertical cut made down the centerline then they were scarfed, overlapped alternately, and forge welded. After it was heat treated and put back together it held up to repeated blows and a flex test.

I am far far from anything remotely near a blacksmith, much less someone who makes a sword, but if the weld actually takes properly during reforging and after heat treating I fail to see why it would be any weaker than a pattern-welded piece.

Maybe it was choya. That cactus is pure evil... I could see it shattering a sword. Used to live out in Joshua Tree. Those choya would jump up at you even on a dirt bike and nail you from behind. Once dried it has a skeleton that forms an impenerable web of evilness that will try to still bite you. Its thorns are barbed and will cause nasty infections... Evil I tell you.

On the other hand, the cactus wasn't doing anything to anyone and may not have appreciated being attacked with a sword....

Use the dragons fire and power to weld your sword, after it kill the dragon, and take a bath in his blood. Don't forget to wash down all the leaves on your back!!!! Than go to kill the desert spirit (if you have luck it wont be Chuck Norris).

Jen, how about you go and find a blacksmith to make a new sword based on that broken one.
Or you buy a new one similar to that (Sounds like wasting money to me, though).

It had to be a petrified cactus. Fear will do that...

Welding the pommel would have no effect at all on the center on the blade. Hmmmm.

Bad cactus! Needs to be taught a lesson.
Maybe a chanisaw would work?