Links to Other Sites of Potential
Interest
This section, presented alphabetically by categories, includes links to other sites with related themes on the Internet, usually not otherwise specified within the body of the text, which I have found to be especially useful, informative or enjoyable. While some sites could be listed in multiple categories, a single "best fit" has been attempted.
Bladesmiths Books & Magazines Forums Linkpages Martial Arts Metalworking and Blacksmithing Resources Search Engines Swords-Commercial-Antique Swords-Commercial-New Swords-Noncommercial Web Rings
Armourers
& Bladesmiths
BladeGallery.com includes illustrations of new custom swords and knives as well as of antique and ethnographic examples for sale.
Kevin Cashen, master bladesmith and creator of pattern-welded swords.
Castle Keep on the Isle of Skye, being the trade name of bladesmith Rob Miller, and supplying both unique custom and standardized traditional swords and knives.
Mercenarys Tailor Armoury for handmade plate, mail and leather armour, to include shields.
Salamander Armoury is the trade name for Dr. Jim Hrisoulas, and this site includes much information of interest on bladesmithing and blade design. A section on pattern-welding is also includes an on-line catalog of this maker's work.
Zowada Custom Knives is the business trade
name for Tim Zowada, a master bladesmith doing fine pattern-welded
work, who also coordinates the annual Ashokan Seminar of the
New England Bladesmith's Guild. His site includes illustrations
of his fine work, general information about blades and a section
of photomicrographs of blade edges.
Books
and Magazines
Please refer to the Book
Dealers and Periodicals Page
Please refer to the Book Dealers and Periodicals Page
Forums
Related to Swords
Ethnographic Edged Weapons Forum for
discussion of the traditional edged weapons of many diverse cultures
worldwide (a feature of the parent site to this page).
The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts (ARMA) Forum for serious considerations about the actual use of swords in historical combat, as opposed to fencing and stage combat (formerly HACA).
NetSword includes a number of subforums including sword-making, medieval swords, and generalized weapons archaeology. Probably the best first choice for discussions on the places of swords in medieval and other ancient societies. The site also includes essays on sword related topics.
Sword Collector Forum for topics of interest to "mainstream" collectors of antique swords generally of military origin, hosted by Mike McWatters.
Sword Forum International for lively discussions on all sword related topics with a special emphasis on swords currently being made in all styles.
Linkpages
Lone Keep Internet, an ISP in New Jersey with a medieval theme, provides a linkpage to medieval related sites.
Therion's Arms & Armor Resources of the Web contains some links to great sites that I (and possibly you!) had not previously seen.
Martial
Arts - Using the Sword
Academy of European Medieval Martial Arts, a training school located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, emphasizes 11th through 14th Century European fighting arts.
The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts (ARMA) pages feature a wealth of information concerning the design and, especially, actual use of swords. A number of essays on a wide variety of topics is included as is a large annotated bibliography and glossary of terminology. I especially enjoyed John Clements' Fantasy of Swords essay.
The Blade Society is a fencing club located in Portland, Maine.
Metalworking
and Blacksmithing Resources
Anvilfire is presented as resource for blacksmiths and related metal workers and includes book reviews, a discussion group, information about suppliers, and, of course, links.
Damasteel AB (Söderfors, Sweden) produces patterned steels by means of a powder metallurgy process and supplies Damascene steel billets and bars for a variety of applications.
Search
Engines
Ask Jeeves search engine which prompts for related searches on the results page.
Dogpile "All the best search enines piled into one"
Excite has special features which allow listing the search results by URL and a one-click feature allowing a search for additional similar sites (relevance feedback).
Go.com (formerly Infoseek).
Google is a search engine which reports a page rank based upon the number and importance of inbound citations (links), hopefully listing the most useful first. (On my most recent check, this site came up #1 for "viking sword", so I'm convinced!)
Hotbot was the first search engine to list this site, and may usually be counted upon to provide relevant links.
LookSmart has a broad array of categories as well as a search engine and they appear to have done a very good job not only in separating the wheat from the chaff but in providing brief descriptions of what to expect.
Lycos allows a re-search of the results of a broad query with additional words to rapidly narrow results to pertinent documents and also includes a one-click feature allowing a search for additional similar sites (relevance feedback).
Mamma, a consolidator of sorts, searches across several search engines and prompts for related searches by subject.
msn includes a search engine as well as a guided directory.
Planet Search not only manages to list this site near the top in a relevance search for "viking sword" but includes a site preview feature for a quick deeper look and a relevance feedback option.
Thunderstone searches return a list of sites, as opposed to pages, and must even cross-reference the Internic Whois database as they advise the site owner's name and city.
Yahoo! provides a comprehensive, categorized list of web sites and will automatically switch to Alta Vista when a topic is not found in its database. Hits on this site increased four-fold the day after it was included in Yahoo!
Swords
- Commercial - Antique
Please refer also to the Mediaeval Sword Sources subpage of the
Collector's Guide
Please refer also to the Mediaeval Sword Sources subpage of the Collector's Guide
Liongate Arms and Armour deals in antique edged weapons, specializing in British swords but including ethnographic examples from many cultures as well. The site includes a links page listing many diverse sites.
Swords
- Commercial - New
Arms & Armor (Minneapolis, MN, USA) offers their own full line of reproduction arms.
Arms of Valor is an on-line merchant dealing in a wide variety of replica arms and armour.
Del Tin Armi Antiche (Maniago, Italy) offers a full line of reproduction arms.
Men at Arms in South Africa offers the Del Tin line of reproduction historical swords.
Swords
- Noncommercial
See also the Documents Section
See also the Documents Section
Björns Svärdssida (or "Björn's Sword Page), from Sweden, includes a number of well researched essays on historical swords and an ever expanding virtual museum with photographs, descriptions and dimensions of antique swords (Presented in Swedish and English versions).
The Ethnographic Edged Weapons Resource Site,
though later in inception than this medieval sword site, is now
in fact the parent site of which this site is a subset. It is
still very new and under continuing development, and is intended
to be an on-line encyclopedia of the diversity of historic edged
weapons world-wide, containing original illustrations and descriptions
as well as links to outstanding noncommercial sites. The sites
linked to on this, my Ethnographic page, are strongly recommended
and are not duplicated here.
The Internet Sword Collectors Association web site includes information particularly focusing on military and fraternal swords and includes numerous articles and tips on recognizing various types of swords and caring for them. An essay on swords used in movies is of special interest.
MyArmoury.com, while focused or reproductions of European arms and armour, also includes articles on antique swords, including medieval swords. While you are there, be sure to try out the 'weapon comparison tool'.
The Oakeshott Institute - a nonprofit education and research center with the purpose of furthering the study of ancient arms and armor.
Web
Rings
Click here for the site Web Ring Terminal.
Click here for the site Web Ring Terminal.