I like the way bound weapons are handled in game, especially the bound swords. Equipping the spell to both hands and casting them at once puts an ethereal bound sword in each hand for dual wielding (of course you can just use one if you like). There is some mystery however regarding just how good these weapons are.

I did a very quick test against a mud crab with 35 health using the same attack from an Orcish sword and Dwarven Sword (both non-enchanted), and the bound 1-h sword, both with and without the Conjuration talent "Mystic Binding" which increases the damage of bound weapons by an unspecified amount.

Here are the results:

Orcish 1h sword (damage rating 13): One regular hit takes health from 35 - 22.26, so roughly as advertised at 12.74 damage.
Dwarven 1h sword (damage rating 14): One regular hit takes health from 35 - 20.84, again roughly as advertised at 14.16 damage.
Bound sword without the talent: One regular hit takes health from 35 - 22.26, same as Orcish with 14.16 damage..
Bound sword WITH the talent; One hit takes health from 35 - 15.18, or 19.82 damage.

These values were consistent through several tests. This would seem to suggest the Mystic Bindings talent increases the damage of bound weapons by ~40%.

Since you can pick up Mystic Binding early on (level 20 conjuration), this is a viable option which will outperform vanilla (non-enchanted) weapons you find or buy in game of the same type. However, many enchanted items are found in-game along the way, which will usually be a better option. For example, I found a 1-h steel axe with an effect that burns for 15 extra fire damage per hit, so while it's damage alone was only 13 like the Orcish blade, one hit took Mr. Crabby down to 6.28 for a total of 28.72 damage.

To be fair I didn't find this until level 11, and the bound weapons are still a close runner-up for items at my level.

It needs more testing, specifically how they would look next to a smith's weapons they have improved, and with a custom enchant the player puts on these. Combined with alchemy and some skill fort items to boost these (smithing and enchanting) before applying the effects, that combination would probably by the way to go for a serious dual-wielder.

Something that concerns me about the bound items is whether they are leveled with the player and if so, how this is handled? For example, this test was performed on my level 12 Imperial. Dwarven seems to be the highest level weapon I can find at a merchant at this level, so if the game scales bound weapons that way, so they do roughly 40% more damage than the non-enchanted versions of the highest level equivalent weapon grade commonly available at any given time, I can see them staying viable as a situational option.

The trouble is, I am not sure if this is the case. Bound Sword is a Novice level spell. Perhaps there will be a Bound Swords 2 later on? Or does this one scale?

Also, I can confirm that one's level in conjuration does not appear to effect the damage ratio of bound weapons in any way, aside from reaching level 20 so you can pick up the Mystic Bindings talent for the 40% damage bonus.

Guess this could probably have gone in the "hints" forum...