There is no definite lifetime of the sword rather, the lifetime depends on a few things. If the swordsman takes proper care of the sword, it may go and last for the user's entire life.
A sword can last for a few years and even for more than thousands of years as well.
In the opposite scenario, if the sword gets rust due to improper caring, it is impossible getting a long-lasting service from it.
If you love keeping a collection of ancient or Middle Ages swords, you may also love to know the lifetime of these swords. Don't leave it here because the whole article contains everything about the durability and lifetime of a sword.
What is sword
Sword is a melee weapon, which comes with a longer blade that is attached to the hilt. Depending on the sword length of the blade and also on the length of the hilt, there are short swords as well as long swords available. Some swords have one-handed usability and some require both hands for this.
However, the lifetime of the blade doesn’t depend on single-handed or double-handed usage. There are more types of swords depending on the blade styles. This list includes curved blades, straight blades, double-edged blades, single-edged blades, etc. A double-edged blade is deadlier than a single-edged one of course as it can attack from both ways.
Durability of swords
It's not the case that a well-constructed sword will be durable and long-lasting. Even this well-constructed weapon can rust and lose its usability. When you are thinking about the lifetime or durability of a sword, you have to go through a few crucial aspects of the sword.
The build quality
The build quality of a sword affects the lifetime of the sword mostly I suppose. The reason behind this is the durability of the material used to forge or cast the blade of the sword. One more thing you need to know, the durability of the sword mostly depends on the durability of the blade.
There are mainly three types of materials used to construct a sword, bronze, iron, and steel. Bronze was used in ancient times and the oldest swords were made of bronze. Bronze was cast to make swords. However, it is not the durable or stronger materials that could last longer.
Then came iron swords, which were far stronger than bronze and the makers also could assure the durability of iron swords. But the problem was created when it started to rust. Iron isn’t a rust-resistant material and keeping the sword unused for a while will result in rusting causing degradation in durability.
The most durable, strongest, and long-lasting material used to construct swords is steel. Makers used steel to forge swords. The swords are not much prone to rust like iron. Even they aren’t as heavy as iron, but the sharpened blade used to produce deadlier blows. Also, the sword lightweight design makes it easy to handle and ultimately increases the lifetime.
Rust
The second most important fact that affects the durability of a sword is getting rust. When the weapon gets rust, it becomes useless day by day. The reason is that rusted weapon can’t produce proper swings or blow to cut the object. Thus the loss of durability causes the decrement of the lifetime.
Properly take care
If the user keeps the sword unused for a longer period and also doesn’t take proper care to reserve its sharpened nature, it will lose its durability. The sword, which was once used to cut things with efficiency, will remain of no use.
Sharpening too much
Most of us think that sharpening the blade of the sword will make it capable of producing more precise blows. Yes, it’s true, but at the same time, it damages the thickness of the blade because of the continuous sharpening. As a result, the blade's thinness makes it inappropriate for battles, and it loses its durability.
Being unused
No weapon can keep its original sharpness or quality if it remains unused. No swordsman should keep his sword unused for a long time without taking the minimum care. If that happens, the sword will rust, lose its sharpness and ultimately lose durability as well.
How to make a sword long-lasting
The reasons shown above are the main reasons why a sword loses its durability. However, as a sword keeper, you could do something to increase the durability and make it a long-lasting one.
Look for high-quality construction
Having a quality construction ensures a better lifetime of any weapon first up. So while forging any sword, try using steel for the construction to have the strongest and most durable construction.
Clean after every use
Never store an unclean sword because the dirt will stay on the blade and hilt that will damage the quality of the sword ultimately. Take a soft cloth and rub it over the blade and hilt area to clean the sword.
Keep away from moisture
Rusting is one of the main reasons why swords lose their durability. And keeping swords near moisture will enhance the chances of rusting. Moisture creates an environment that damages the rust-resistant feature of the sword. It is that’s why necessary to store the sword away from moisture.
Apply oil or wax on the blade
There’s another major thing you could do to make the sword rust-resistant is to apply oil or wax. Mineral oil on the blade will go well to make the blade of the sword rust-resistant. And when the blade is rust-resistant, it will definitely increase its durability.
Avoid excessive sharpening
Don't rely on sharpening the sword on a regular basis to get quality cutting performance. It actually makes the blade thinner, which also damages the performance quality in place of increasing it. When the performance is decreased, it is left unused and finally loses longevity.
Are swords breakable
When both the swords are of similar quality, there’s almost no chance of breaking any of the swords. But if one of the swords is weaker than the other and the other one produces any deadlier blow, you may break the sword while defending the blow. Basically, there are three main reasons I found that can be the reasons for breaking a sword.
Mismatch of swords
The stronger sword can break the weaker one with one strong blow. But it’s not that easy if the person with a weaker sword defends the blow with the right spot of the blade.
Powers of the users
Another reason can use the mismatching power of the swordsmen. The powerful one with the same sort of sword can break his opponent's sword with an accurate swing.
Over-bending design
Swords that are easily bendable are more prone to breaking. Try not using over-bending swords if you are in a combat fight and your opponent isn’t using the same sword as you.
So there is no definite lifetime of a sword. If you take proper care of the sword it can even last for the whole life.