Identifying swords and daggers

Blade, guard, and tang.

Blade section, fuller (groove), guard, and tang construction are all datable. Pattern-welding — twisted rods forged together, showing as a herringbone grain in the steel — marks early medieval work and shows best under corrosion or X-ray.

Hilt furniture is often the closest dating evidence: pommel and guard forms have published typologies that place a sword within decades. Record the hilt fittings separately if they survive loose.

Corrosion hides much; X-ray reveals structure, inlaid inscriptions, and pattern-welding invisibly buried in rust. Never grind or polish a blade to “see the steel” — the surface is the evidence.

Store dry, support the blade along its length, and oil only on conservation advice. Measure blade length, width at the guard, and tang length; those numbers drive the typology.

From the guide library inside Collectors Catalogues, a free app for cataloguing antiques and finds with honest, museum-grade records.

More on weapons

Identifying arrow and spearheads — Socket or tang, and section.

Identifying axeheads — Stone, bronze, or iron.

Arrowhead types by period — Flint barbs to iron bodkins — which arrowhead is in your hand?

Identifying crossbow bolts and quarrels — Short, heavy, square-headed — the crossbow's ammunition.

Identifying sling bullets — Lead almonds, some with messages for the enemy.

Identifying maces and polearm heads — Flanged heads, spiked stars, and the business ends of hafted weapons.

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