A sword is a bladed weapon, consisting in its most fundamental design
of a blade and a handle. The blade is usually of some metal ground to at
least one sharp edge and often has a pointed tip for thrusting. The
handle, called the hilt, can be made of many materials, but the material
most common is wood covered by leather, fish skin or metal wiring. The
traditional weapon of the highland clansman, the Scottish swords have
sown fear into the hearts of Englishmen for centuries. Having double
edged blade, the hand forged swords are beautifully polished with triple
fullers. The blade cuts very strongly due to its width and "V"
shaped cross section. The early Irish bronze-age sword was not very big and in general size and shape, it looked remarkably like a common sort of pre-Victorian Scottish dirk, except for being double-edged. Construction was with a "notched butt" blade, without a tang, riveted to the handle. By the late Bronze Age, the sword blade assumed a characteristic "leaf" shape which carried over into the Iron Age and which also made it an efficient cutting weapon. This type of sword has been found in both Ireland and Scotland. Dating from the Middle Ages, in its later and quintessential form, the long double-edged blade (often made outside Scotland) was affixed to a two-hand hilt (usually locally made) with downsloping quillons and a heavy pommel.
