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In the show I saw on the History Channel, the folks they were using, who were re-enacters at those medieval dinner theatres around the country, were using titanium swords, because steel swords are too likely to shatter and injuring people with their shards.

OK, I do know where to begin, after all. I may not know much yet but one of the first things I learned was that you never intentionally parry edge-on-edge, with any sword. This is the biggest single mistake you'll see made in movies and staged productions. That's what those guys were doing too. And yeah, that's why they'd break swords. Especially if they were using brittle stainless stage props.

Imagine taking two of your best chef's knives... put one on the counter sharp edge up and hit it hard with the edge of another, over and over. What's going to happen? Of course, you're going to have two ruined blades with massive nicks and chips in them. It may not even be fixable. The nicks will create weak spots and it will likely eventually break at one of them. A sword in medieval times cost many months' wages, perhaps like buying a car today. To let that kind of damage happen on purpose is unthinkable.

Instead, what you'd train to do is to parry with the ~flat~ of the blade. Just turn it slightly and meet his edge with your flat. A sword will flex when hit on the flat, like a leaf spring. It gives a little and cushions the blow, plus it is spread across a wide area. You can do this over and over all day without nicking or chipping either one. It may dull a little, but any dulling can easily be resharpened. So simple, yet so often ignored.

This is supported by archaeological evidence. Most ancient swords recovered in digs, if the steel survived at all, tend not to show many nicks or chips in the edges or stress fractures from same.

Titanium would be absurdly light weight and super whippy. It wouldn't handle or feel anything like a real sword. That's just goofy.

OK, I do know where to begin, after all. I may not know much yet but one of the first things I learned was that you never intentionally parry edge-on-edge, with any sword. This is the biggest single mistake you'll see made in movies and staged productions.

There were horror stories from my college's production of "Camelot." The used wooden swords as props.

One night Lancelot slipped and Arthur almost lost his head...literally.

Instead, what you'd train to do is to parry with the ~flat~ of the blade. Just turn it slightly and meet his edge with your flat. A sword will flex when hit on the flat, like a leaf spring. It gives a little and cushions the blow, plus it is spread across a wide area.

"Mythbusters" have done a couple of "swords myths" episodes. The have an air-powered mechanical "arm" that can swing horizontally at 4x human speed and strength. Using high-quality modern swords in flat-on-flat testing, the rapier went down first. High speed video showed a traveling sine wave moving up and down the blade. It snapped far below the point of contact. The long sword was the last one left standing, after taking out the samurai sword.

In a test of quality steel against cutlery stainless, the "good" samurai sword took out the cheap one edge-on-edge. Again, the cheap blade failed at a weak point far away from the point of impact. An edge-on-edge test of two quality samurai swords showed both "survived", but with huge chips taken out at the contact point. I'm sure close-up study would show that both would be considered useless after that.

I think there will always be a search for reenactment weapons that are safe, affordable, and look and feel right. Meanwhile, I'm very satisfied with my Cold Steel "Brooklyn Smasher" that I carry in my truck. It's solid polypropylene, and is very handy to have in case a baseball game breaks out without warning.