Question about bondsmiths

All right, here is the thing. On my current reread Dalinar just bonded the storm father and says "you'll be a radiant with no shards."

My question is this: is this a modern change to bondsmith existence? Because of things we learned in wind and Truth about the storm father, is it possible in your estimation that bondsmiths of the past were able to have sword and plate? How would that work with the spren that we know they bond?