[The Saucepan Man]

Concerning the "art" of sword-fighting:

Of course, there are many different types of swords, and therefore many different types of sword-fighting. Wielding a rapier is a very different matter from weilding a broad sword, a cutlass, or (quite clearly) a two-handed sword.

Concerning Axes:

In the films (and the video-game [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] ), I believe that Gimli carried a battleaxe for hand-to-hand combat and two (smaller) throwing axes for long range damage. Which makes sense, since I doubt that a bloomin' great battleaxe could be thrown very far and, as noted, throwing it would leave one weaponless. Mind you, the book only mentions him carrying one "broad-bladed" axe, and anyway (book) Gimli doesn't appear to have been a great one for long range combat (much better to get stuck in with the ol' axe [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ).

Concerning long-range weapons:

For sheer range and destructiveness, combined with minimum noise, the crossbow would surely be the optimum long-range weapon. I stand to be corrected, but I don't believe that there is any mention of crossbows in JRRT's works. Certainly, bows seem far more "Elvish", but it wouldn't seem amiss for Dwarves to have made use of crossbows.

Concerning Orcrist, Glamdring and Sting:

All I can find is that these three weapons were forged in Gondolin (Glamdring was Turgon's blade), but fell into the hands of Morgoth's forces when they overran the city. Nothing is known of what happened to them between then and their unearthing in the Trolls' hoard. It seems unlikely that they would have been used by Orcs (given their fear of these weapons). It is also doubtful that they ever passed into the hands of Elves, who would have recognised their significance. Most likely they passed from one (non-Orcish and non-Elvish and most probably Mannish) owner to another until they came into the possession of those unlucky enough to be waylaid by Tom, Bert and William Huggins (great names [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img] ).