Continuing and quoting from a post in the General Discussions thread;

First and foremost, I LOVE FO4 and Skyrim, I was introduced to both this spring and autumn respectively and instantly hooked. I have an issue with Skyrim's weapons though, maybe small to some, but it really bugs me.

They basically look like something out of Warhammer Figures and weighs correspondingly. But... real weapons do not. Why then would Skyrim ones do?

I have 24 years of experience with Viking fighting reenactment, my swords are on the heavy side and weigh 1350 and 1850 gr respectively, usually Viking swords would weigh 850- 2000 gr (from memory).

Other swords usually weigh:

Longsword: 1100- 1800 gr (can be used one or two-handed)

Katana: 1100- 1300 gr (having a single edge and strong back allows for light weight)

Zweih?nder (which are VERY large): 2000- 3200 gr.

Rapier: 800- 1200 gr.

A Daneaxe weighs 1000- 2000 gr only (and is a killer) with the largest battle axes of the late middle ages weighing up to 3000 gr. Meanwhile a one-handed would weigh between 500 and 1100 gr.

Hence the Skyrim weapons are too heavy and look extremely unwieldy with their 6 cm thick, 20 cm broad blades. Perhaps a skilled modder would like to make weapons more realistic- they can still look cool, awesome and "fantasy", but at least get the dimensions and weights right.

One can get inspiration from Dimicator's youtube channel, and from the HEMA/ARMA organisations online pages.