I've only been doing longsword for a little over a year. This week (for the first time), I saw a sword snap and break during a fight. I just wrote about swords bending to absorb the impact from a thrust , but this sword didn't. This sword had been hit, stabbed, and blocked (probably for years), and it said, "I'm done." The initial lesson in class was, "Swords break. This is why it's important to control your power. Because we're not actually trying to kill each other." My t