Interesting. All this discussion lead me to Wiki it (cats got nothing on me for curiosity) Here is the part that seemed to fill in the what? Why? How? questions for me the best.
Long seax – Blades are 50 cm or longer, often with multiple fullers and grooves, patternwelded blades, and long hilts. The edge is generally straight, or curved slightly towards the tip. The back either curves gently, or with a sharp angle towards the tip, which is located below the centerline of the blade.
The general trend, as one moves from the short to the broad seax, is that the blade becomes heavier, longer, broader and thicker. Long seaxes, which arrived at the end of the 7th century, were the longest of the seax. These were narrower and lighter than their predecessors. Initially, these weapons were found in combination with double-edged swords and were probably intended as side arm. From the 7th century onwards, seaxes became the main edged weapon (next to a francisca), sometimes in combination with small side-knives.
The rest of Europe (except for parts of Scandinavia) followed a similar development, although some types may not be very common depending on location. In England long seaxes appear later than on the continent and finds of long seaxes (as opposed to knives) remain very rare in comparison to finds of swords throughout the period
Almost all of my users get hit with 600 grit. On a stabby, slightly slippery grip like the seax I don't think 200 is overkill.
