Broken Friend

I noticed a small tear in my favorite broadsword. I guess it's time to retire it. Very sad.

Really, very sad - that sword has a lot of sentimental value to me, and it was a really good one, too. :(

It was light enough not to tire my arms. The point of balance was near to the grip, making a light sword feel like it weighed even less. And yet, the distribution of metal was just so, such that the far end of the blade wasn't too 'flippy' the way that wushu swords often are. It was reasonably static, the way you'd expect a much heavier blade to be. One complaint about wushu practice weapons is that they're so light that they're like tinfoil; you make noise just waving them around. Not this one; this one stayed quiet, but voiced a strong snap when your technique was proper. A perfect weapon to practice with; honest, balanced, and with a grip so perfect, it gave the weapon a very good sense of control. I didn't need to wrap the handle with tape or grip, file it down, or modify it in any way; the bare wood grip was quite sufficient. Three good qualities in a practice sword - you're generally lucky to even find one that has two of these at once.

Like most wushu practice blades, it was made of spring steel. (Literally, the same grade of steel that springs are made of. It's resilient, light, and can be plated with rust-proof chrome in order to eliminate the usual care that real swords require, but these same qualities make them relatively unsuitable for use as real weapons) When these blades wear out, they bend, warp or tear; they don't tend to actually break along the blade. If they do snap, it's always at the base of the blade where it joins the tang, because these swords are fairly cheap, usually stamped out of stock metal, not hand-ground or forged. These cost $25 to $35; they're not hundred-dollar wallhangers or even serviceable weapons in the traditional sense. So it's not like I'm losing a family heirloom or anything. These swords tend not to be made that well or with an eye to particular care. They're functional, cheap, and rather easy to replace.

But I've had it for seven years. That's a long time; they often don't last quite this long. More than that, it's the one I've had most of my years practicing; it's seen most of my days, I've learned almost all that I know of sword-work with it, and have carried it at almost all of my tournaments. And though the tear in the blade is not visually catastrophic, it certainly numbers its days. I would only be able to use it a few more times before the tear widens dangerously. Better to leave it on the wall and try to find a new one.

I know it must seem silly to get all sentimental about an old $25 practice blade, but one of my fellow martial artists understood completely. He likened it to the time that his favorite fighting stick finally snapped after years of use. He couldn't just toss it out with the garbage - it had seen him through as much of his training as my broadsword had seen me through mine. "I know exactly how you feel. It's a friend - you don't throw it away." That old fighting stick is taped together and hangs along his wall, beside his more serviceable weapons.

He's entirely right. It's a friend. They're not the Shards of Narsil or anything - no one's going to fix it for me, even if it was feasible to do so, but I can't bring myself to throw it away.

I've cobbled together a replacement, combining a spare sword blade with a halfway decent grip that fits it, and I'll need to find a few flags to tape to the handle, as is the general practice in wushu. The balance is decent, the handle needs some wrap - but it's rather heavy. It's also pretty flippy at the tip.

It's not the same at all, but I'll just have to get used to it.