It's that time of year again, when the pumpkins start to shudder with fear in anticipation of the slaughter to come - because while pumpkin carving is fun, pumpkin slaying is somehow even more cathartic, faster and more enjoyable - and very hard to resist! Just make sure you quickly clean the blade before the acids in vegetables and fruits stains the blade in as little 30 seconds, sometimes even less (some WD-40 and a cloth is a good idea for quick wipedowns between cuts/pumpkins).

Oh yes, and of course you can also carve a pumpkin with a sword.. Here's a video by YouTube channel Woodsmonkey showing how to both cut and carve with a tough affordable beater, the Hanwei Banshee..

It actually might not be a bad idea, as recently UK customs keep on confiscating or rejecting valid shipments to genuine collectors and enthusiasts - but while a license will not stop bad people from making or stealing swords to use in violent crime - it will at least be a way of signalling to customs 'hey, I have a license!'.. Though it is rather sad that it has reached a point where actually having a license might clear up a lot of issues..

Back when SBG first started, it was at the height of 'Kill Bill' and so the most popular swords were Katana and Samurai Swords. But in recent years, TV shows like Game of Thrones, Vikings and the Witcher have contributed to a massive increase in interest for medieval European swords and swordsmanship. This article examines the growth of sword fighting schools in Australia.

I remember back in the day, Toledo swords were IT. There used to be thousands of smiths in this Spanish city, but now there are only 2 remaining smiths - and this is their story.. Includes a cool video from BI's Facebook page.

Did you know that many so called 'Viking' graves have the swords placed on their right side when they are usually worn on the left side.

Swords are not used in armed conflicts these days - so we used to say. But have you seen the modified, non-explosive Hellfire missiles packed with, well, swords? Nicknamed the 'Flying Ginsu' or the 'Ninja bomb' it is designed to minimize collateral damage and put individual bad guys on notice.

Created by South Dakota Mines university's department of materials and metallurgical engineering, the new Junior Bladesmithing Championship competition is open to high school students across the nation, with entries closing the 15th of November. Great to see this kind of thing - maybe you are someone you know could enter..

Quite suitable both for our current era and Halloween, the practices of medieval and early Renaissance period burial practices reveals a fear of the living dead common to both the Slavs and German speaking regions over a period of nearly 1000 years..

Standard medical looking facemasks are increasingly becoming integrated into fashion and everyday wear, and in Tokyo, some are taking the traditional Samurai mask portion of the helmet as design inspiration for mask covers and face shields.

From the multi-bladed flesh-flaying 'belt' swords of India to the Egyptian Khopesh and the Ngulu swords of Africa - the video below, most TERRIFYING swords in History, covers 9 unusual and effective sword designs that are, well, rather scary..

While they don't get all their facts completely right, they do cover some swords and facts that you probably have not heard of and I am sure you will learn at least one new thing, or perhaps spark your interest in swords you are not familiar with.

You may remember that a few years ago we attempted an audacious launch of our Fantasy Sword themed website with content submitted by SBG members - the Legendary Swords Project.

Those of you who were following along no doubt saw us do our best but for various reasons the site never quite took off as we had hoped - but despite this and ongoing (and rather substantial) costs, it remains intact an online and has one project still in development, the creation of a single run of Link's Master Sword inspired by the Legend of Zelda by Nintendo.

You can read more details about how this project is taking shape here in this post over on the Legendary Swords blog - but in the meantime for those of you playing along at home, here are some first pictures of a completed sword and scabbard.

Finally after months of 'sword production hell' we are pleased to advise that the horror story will soon be behind us, with the sword scheduled for completion by the end of the month.

If you are interested in this sword, sign up to either the store newsletter or the Legendary Swords newsletter (on every page of the Legendary Swords site: https://legendary-swords.com/) to be notified when it is completed and get a chance to get one for yourself.

Here is a fantasy sword designed to inflict some serious damage, though whether the damage is to the person wielding it or anyone within range of its surprise 'helicopter of death' attack (+3 to hit bonus against peasants) depends on who is closest.Yup, this sword is THAT badass that it really doesn't care who it hurts.

I mean look at it. LOOK AT IT! It has freakin' claws holding skulls into place. Claws AND skulls? Yes, you heard us the first time - this piece of crap has it all. Including:

And the best part, the price. Yup, the nornal price for these swords is just $29.99 but as part of this special promotion we are willing to add $100 so you get it for only $129.99! That's an extra $100 for us, which is good for everyone - especially us.

Now that is horrible.

No doubt this will help some of you who were a little slow in cleaning their blade after taking on some pumpkins over or after Halloween...

Back in the day, these attractive decorative swords made United Cutlery a lot of money - though not enough to save them in the industry wide decline that began in 2010... Find out what happened to them as well as read about this re-release for die hard LoTR fans..

It is an older thread that was revived this month, but contains a wealth of information for anyone considering to buy one of these small but extremely effective Nepalese cutting blades.

You might not know his face, but in this brief review we see one of the last members of the 'old guard' of sword designers - Bruce Brookhart - test the new Kingdom of Arms swords for his friend Clyde Hollis! Very cool to see these guys on SBG.

Hope you enjoyed reading the Halloween Special as much as I did writing it.

In the meantime, despite living in a scary world at a very scary time, I hope you find a way to celebrate and enjoy a modified Halloween with your closest friends and family.

Until next issue, Happy Swordening!