Quality of edged weapons (101)?

[driftwould]

Originally Posted by spiral

Savage.. but true & correct!

Also the butterscotch horn hilt was clearly cracked while still on the animal, but was still used for the hilt.

So despite good colour clearly a defective & imperfect material, so presumably not top quality.

spiral

Savage I don't mind. Clear and concise? Now that's useful! Your comment about the horn being cracked while still on the animal, and the significance of that, was also a useful and much appreciated observation, thanks. As a novice, I'm quite aware that there is a lot that I don't know that I need to know. As an educator, I know it's my duty as a learner to ask clarifying questions and to learn from unsuccessful attempts. It was suggested above that I count mistakes like this as tuition on my education, but if I'm to do so I need to know why and how they are mistakes. Only experienced people such as yourselves can clarify this. I'm also hoping that this thread can help other people in my position to learn more before making purchases. So please, be brutal and tell me everything you see that's, shall we say, less then perfect on these pieces! I'm not afraid of embarrassing myself- I said this was 101 right in the title. I AM afraid of making similar and/or easily avoidable mistakes in the future.