Few days ago, I found an absolutely outstanding article about swords. It was just outstanding, like something from another, different world, filled with unbelievable information... Then I realized it's part of a site that is filled with such information.

http://www.thearma.org/spotlight/heymr.htm
Here, some sword freaks visit Royal Swedish Armory in Stockholm, and describe the art of crafting and using swords. The level of experimenting that was needed to be able to make swords in the way they describe they were done... if you have even a passing interest on swords, or blacksmithing, or Middle Ages/Renaissance, read this! Really!

Also, it criticizes replicas, but after reading the article, I understand why making a properly weighted replica is very hard even with modern tools.

The site also has a FAQ of common misconcepts of Middle Ages and Renaissance fighting, e.g. wrestling, locks and unarmed combat was a big part of fencing, and swords rarely weighted above 2 kg, and 2-handed swords over 4,5 kg were either decorative or served some special purpose (as  an executioner's sword or something), and while katanas DID cut through smallswords, smallswords were known to break in normal streetfights... And every answer has a link to a high-quality article describing the facts, and some reasons behind the fiction, and the amount of information on the site is just unbelievable.

There is also a video gallery... Fencing with rapier/dagger, rapier/buckler, a guy going through sword-fighting patterns in armor, a suberb training video of sword-sword fighting utilizing locks, combined attack-and-block moves, etc.
And, finally...
They have a specialized video gallery for cutting tests!Check out the videos with thick, black borders. The first one without other videos next to it shows frightening combination of accuracy and deadly cutting power. The ones after that show what rapier, cut-and-thrust sword and a great sword do to a chunk of flesh. The great sword slices through bone, just like that! Those videos are frightening, really.

I don't believe the swords they use are primitive, though.  ;)

yes that is a good site, also myarmory.com is good. they have a cool compare thingey. there are a few other sites like the arma.org but i forget there names.

The ARMA is a good, but they seem to have made alot of enemies, especially since their founder often comes off as quite arrogant (I have a couple of his books). Either way, good site, though.

I spent an hour and a half going through the site ;D

me too i read the whole artical page.  :)

nice site so many goodies, but whats with the blue plastic over shoes  ???