Engraved Design Lines on Mesh (Sword) so I'm currently modelling the buster sword (crisis core version), and I've come across a problem with the engraved lines on the blade of the sword.

This is what I've done but I think there is a better way to do it because the method I'm doing is very messy and hard to fix (after subsurf modifier).





This is what happens with the bump map
Since the engravings are just very fine and only on a straight plane, I would suggest to use a normal map which simulates the engravings. So you can keep your mesh simple, while the engravings are always visible, depending on the light.