Morphology of the Western sword
The blade functions as the cutting part of a sword. Single-edged swords have a non-cutting edge of the blade -- known as the back.
The blade may also have grooves or fullers with the purpose of lightening the blade while allowing it to retain its strength, in the same manner as an "I" beam in construction.
The hilt functions as the handle of a sword, and consists of the guard, the grip, and the pommel. It may also have a tassel or sword knot.
The name scabbard applies to the case which houses the sword when not in use.
The ricasso or shoulder identifies a short section of blade immediately forward of the guard. Most swords have no ricasso. The ricasso is not sharpened, which sometimes allows a finger to be wrapped around the blade for better control. On some large weapons, such as the German longsword, a leather cover surrounded the ricasso, and a swordsman might be grip it in one hand to make the weapon more easily wielded in close-quarters combat. The ricasso normally bears the maker's mark. On Japanese blades the mark appears on the tang under the handle.
The tang consists of the extension of the blade structure through the hilt and the grip.
In the case of a rat-tail tang, the maker welds a thin rod to the end of the blade at the crossguard; this rod goes through the handle (in 20th-century and later construction). This occurs most commonly in a cheap sword-like object. Traditional sword-making does not use this construction method, which does not serve for traditional sword usage.
In traditional construction, the swordsmith forged the tang as a part of the sword rather than welding it on. Traditional tangs go through the handle: this gives much more durability than a rat-tail tang. Swordsmiths peened such tangs over the end of the pommel. A modern variation of this method involves a pommel nut that holds the pommel on, thus allowing dismantling.
In a "full" tang (most commonly used in knives and machetes) the tang has about the same width as the blade. In European or Asian swords sold today, many advertised "full" tangs may actually involve a forged rat-tail tang.
The term CoP (Center of Percussion), also known as the sweet spot, identifies the part of the blade that can deliver the strongest blow with the least vibration. Most swords will have two of these points along the blade. The secondary one nearest to the hilt becomes a particularly poor point to have struck by another sword, if the user should make the mistake of believing popular mythology and using a sword edge to parry. Being struck at this point will subject the stricken sword to the maximum force of the blow, and may cause a sword to suffer catastrophic failure.
