Here at Sterling Armory, we work to produce quality hand crafted arms and armor for stage combat use, sparring blunts for sword on sword martial arts training use, and even sharp pieces for martial arts cutting exercises. Each piece is designed by mechanical engineer Chris Fields, who has an extensive history of pratical applications for swords in today's world, with 14 years stage combat experience, and 20 years martial arts experience in several arts.

What does "Stage combat use" mean? This means all swords are designed and engineered to be unsharpened and able to withstand heavy blade to blade contact for years and years, but still remain authentic looking. All shields are built to take heavy blows from various weapons and keep the wielder safe.

Sparring blunts are designed to extremely blunt, including large radius tips, but still retain the handling characteristics of their sharp counterparts.

Many swords in this industry tend to be just thick bars of steel, here at Sterling Armory, we strive to make each stage piece as historically accurate as it's sharp counterpart, with correctly designed distal tapers and blade geometries, which make each piece feel more authentic in the hand.

Also, for anyone who has ever participated in a stage combat show, the swords have to have a nice sound on impact as well. Each blade is adjusted to get the best accoustics possible.

We have also engineered in some benefits that make us stand out from all other stage combat weapon makers.

•  All Sword guards and pommels, are made from your choice of Stainless Steel, Bronze, or Brass, unless otherwise asked, to keep the maintence of each piece to a minimum. Shield hardware is also Stainless Steel. No more cleaning the rust off the hard to reach parts of your swords and shields.
•  Each blade is made from either 5160, 6150, or 4140, or 4130 steel, and is through hardened and tempered to the optimum hardness for flexiblity and thoughness, approx. RC 50 edge.
•  The guards and pommels of these blades are not welded on, like all other stage combat weapon producers do. The blades are set into their handles and contained via a large 3/8 or 5/16 stainless bolt or rivet that is welded to the wide tang of the blade. This bolt/rivet is either peened over or a nut is used to contain the handle. After testing several methods of handle attachments over the last 7 years, this seems to work the best. The main benefit is that the blade remains strong through the attachment point of the guard, because there is no weld, there are no weak spots of the blade at this vital section. A benefit of using the nut with this method is that the sword can be easily disassembled for cleaning purposes, though a peened over rivet is more authentic. 

Warranty:

Each stage combat blade has a warranty against breakage during normal stage combat use. This warranty is good for the life of the company. Any usage determined to be exceeding normal stage combat usage may void the warranty. Warranty covers the blade and metal handle parts such as the guard and pommels, but not the leather or hickory of the handles. In the instance a handle may become unwrapped, but the leather is still in good condition, we will rewrap the handle at no charge.

Sharpening: Stage pieces are designed to be blunt for stage combat, however, we sometimes make sharp pieces for cutting exercises for various martial arts use, or our customers may want to sharpen a piece they have purchased. In this case, the warranty stands as long as the blade is used soley for cutting exercises, however the blade is no longer warranted for stage combat use.