[Preparing to build. What to do?]

Hey guys!

I've decided to try my hand once again at building, but it's been quite some time and I hear all sorts of things about mesh and sculpting, as opposed to simple prim builds which is what I was once familiar with.

I'm looking for tips, help, reccomendations.

I am preparing to start my adventure with a sword. I am going to create a sword and a set of animations with it.

The sword will be worn and I don't want it to actually move people.

 

What should be my course of action? stick to the in world builder? 

Scuplt a sword using a program such as Blender or Lightwave?

Or should I give a go at this new mesh thing everyone is talking about?

For my sword it will have a sheath, I will script/animate it to be drawn out and be made visible or invisible whenever I click the sheath. What course of build should I take to create this? If it works out I'd like to continue creating objects of this nature and eventually move onto something new.

What build tool should I use, and if there is more than one please list where to get started for each and the advantages to using them.

Thanks!