A high carbon steel sword is one made from a steel with enough carbon to harden properly, which in practice means 1095 across this range. It is the opposite of the stainless display sword, which cannot be hardened to anything useful and is sold on appearance. Carbon steel will rust if you neglect it. That is the price of a blade that behaves like a blade.
What is on this tag
Side swords around 39 inches overall with 32 inch blades, cutlasses at 30 inches with 24 inch blades, rapiers, fencing swords, short swords, scimitars and elven style longswords. Hardness is 54 to 58 HRC throughout. Grips are leather wrapped, cord wrapped and wood, and fittings run to swept guards, shell guards, ring guards and wheel pommels. Several blades carry etched fullers or knotwork panels.
Thrusting blades and cutting blades
These are two different design problems and the range covers both. A rapier is long, narrow, stiff and built almost entirely for the point, with a complex guard because your hand is the closest target. A cutlass is short, broad and curved with all its mass forward, designed to cut hard in a confined space. A side sword sits between them and does both adequately, which is why it was the practical civilian blade for a century. The naval blades are in the cutlasses and the compact shapes in the short swords.
Carbon against pattern welded
Plain 1095 and pattern welded Damascus both cut. The pattern buys you appearance and a story, not performance, and the honest comparison is set out in Damascus against high carbon. Whichever you buy, mounting it safely matters more than either, and the mounting guide covers brackets and load.
Handling and weight
A rapier at 46 inches overall is far lighter than it looks, usually under three pounds, with the mass concentrated near the hand so the point moves quickly. A cutlass at 30 inches feels heavier despite being shorter, because everything is forward. Neither number tells you much on its own, which is why balance point matters more than weight in any honest comparison.
Rust
No chromium means no corrosion resistance. A wipe and a thin film of oil is the entire routine, and a blade stored out of a closed leather scabbard will never give you trouble.
Free US shipping
On most pieces. Heavier and oversized ones carry a flat charge.
Hand Forged
Heated, hammered and ground by hand.
Engraving available
Names, dates or Norse runes on most pieces.
