Research
How did you start making swords?
Looking back through the flow of life that led me to being a sword maker for the last four decades, I blame one fello...
Swords and Fashion in Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Today we take a look at four period swords from the Oakeshott Institute collection, two from the medieval period and ...
Castlerock Museum armor and weapons in history
In our work at Arms & Armor, and doing research as The Oakeshott Institute, we have been lucky enough to visit ma...
How do cross guards work on swords and daggers?
A query from one of our viewers on a recent video prompted us to answer his questions in this quick video about cros...
Medieval Weapons, seeing the details
In our last post we talked about some of the pluses and minuses of going to a museum with one of us. It is a great w...
What is it like to go to a Museum with a sword maker?
The answer to this question will depend on whether you like swords or not and if you do how much of a sword geek are ...
Easter Bunnies, A&A Style
We've taken the holiday weekend off, so we haven't written any super-illuminating blog posts that will blow your min...
More tests cutting the head off a pike
Last week we did a little experiment trying to cut an ash haft in half with a two handed sword. You can check out th...
Cutting the head off a pike? Testing a two handed sword.
Today we address the idea that large two handed swords from the early Renaissance were designed to cut the heads from...
Presidential Swords
Presidential Swords are a long tradition from the beginning of our country. George Washington owned several swords ...
Crooked Pommels, Why?
Sometimes our modern eyes will deceive us about medieval swords. We see something we attribute to age or damage and ...
What are sword wounds like?
We are often asked "Can you imagine being stabbed with a sword?" Well yes we can, sadly. Not only do we have some pe...