The likeliness of a sword to break depends on how hard the user is trying, lol.
S7 is a shock/impact resistant steel...but I don't know how well it stands up to lateral stresses. I don't think it holds an edge particularly well.
Well heat treated S7 will hold an edge better than any historical sword, I would wager.
It is super tough from both a shock and lateral stress standpoint.
Traditional laminated, differentialy heat treated katana are lovely. Deadly. Fast. But they are not indestructible. They get edge retention from high hardness at the edge.
I recently read a study testing the hardness, across sections of the blade for its entire length, on historical swords, some from famous collections. (Wallace collection was one).
The hardness numbers were shockingly low. Like mid 20 as the average.
S7, or 5610, or 1055, or just about any modern steel with a quality heat treat would be light years ahead in edge retention.
I'm too lazy to find the article.
From a durability standpoint Busse/swamprat/scrapyard have all made swords, and they are pretty indestructible. They are not fencing swords. But for lopping heads and trees, and doors, and cars, they would be just fine.
A proper aword, with distal taper, and weight and balance sorted out for actual fighting won't be indestructible.
You could ruin any proper sword with a bad cut on a target.
I'd honestly take something like a shortened Halberd for the zombie apocalypse. There was a custom sold on we a while ago that was wicked. Long top spike, back hook, long enough edge to lopp off heads, arms and legs. Short enough to swing one handed.
It was a copy of a surviving example in a collection.
A pole axe with hammer, spike and axe edge would be on my short list too.
I have battle axes, a heavy bester bastard sword ( really, to heavy for single handed swinging), pole axe, spike axe, hawks, all steel war hawk from Swamprat, 12 inch khukri from Busse, and a few machettes. I don't need any more to tackle zombies, bur I sure want more.
I want all of the sharps.... and guns....
If I had the funds, I think a Dan Keffler Super Assassin sword would be in my go to zombie tool kit.
Look up YouTube cutting videos of it. Fast, strong. Cuts like a steel light saber. 6 inch trees in two strokes. 2x4's in a single stroke.
Just amazing cutting geometry. If you tried that type of cutting with historical swords I don't think they would last long.
Modern steels in traditional geometries are pretty impressive.
Not to take anything away from a lovely traditional sword, made with traditional methods.
Some one recommended the Busse hog nose. You described it as a Machete. It is certainly not that.
.25 thick. At 16 inches in the blade, full tang, sr101 steel (which is their version of 52100 a high speed ball bering steel), it will be an arm/leg/head/door/tree wrecker.
They have amazingmy high tech heat treat protocol. They get amazing performance from the steels they use.
They have a ton of fun designs! Pricy, but worth it. Great resale value too.
There is no "best" though. Tons of great makers and designs out there. Way more garbage too!
