The Katana Discussion and Discourse Thread - totally can cut vaccums yo

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I Love Beef said:
what is metallurgy

Also I doubt everywhere else in the world had such great steel prior to the Industrial Revolution.
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Japanese had access to low quality bog iron. They turned lemons into lemonade, but didn't have the resources the Europeans did.
 
Town Drunk said:
Japanese had access to low quality bog iron. They turned lemons into lemonade, but didn't have the resources the Europeans did.
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Yep. The best swordsmiths would get iron from volcanic areas because it was higher quality than the iron ore from the rest of the Japanese islands. And the fact that they folded the steel is nothing special, because all steel was folded back then. That's how a blacksmith/swordsmith would introduce carbon to the iron to turn it to steel.

European style swords are in general stronger than Japanese swords, partly due to the low quality iron available on the Japanese islands, and partly because of the sword design. Katana and Tachi need to be wielded in a particular way or else they can be damaged. You don't just swing a Katana, but instead you have to make a slicing motion with them. There are videos of Bushido students practicing cutting tatami mats who will make a bad cut and snap the blade on good quality swords. European swords are stronger and much more forgiving weapons to wield.

I've got nothing against Katana or other Japanese swords. I think they are beautiful weapons, and would love to own a quality Tachi one day. But if I were in a situation where I needed a sword as a weapon, I'd much rather have a European hand-and-a-half or lighter weight two-handed sword. A hand-and-a-half Falchion would be awesome.
 
Poppavalyim Andropoff said:
You know that’s not how it works right?

they used iron sand & charcoal. Not a bad effort really
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They basically made the best with what they had available. As has been stated, the quality of the iron ore found in Japan was very low. The best quality iron they had available was typically found near the volcanoes and was found in the form of grains, sometimes nuggets. The Japanese have a specific word for this kind of iron, but it slips my mind at the moment. Of course, the higher quality iron was typically reserved for weapons going to royalty, nobles, and the highest ranking Samurai. By the time Japanese had become open to trading with Westerners, the age of the Samurai and the master swordsmiths had ended, so it wasn't until more recently that Japanese swords made from higher quality steels started getting made, and it's for people collecting weapons, not actually owning them for using as a weapon. And Japanese made swords tend to fetch a much higher price than swords made elsewhere, and the laws regarding the manufacturing and sale of Japanese made swords can be kinda screwy in Japan.
 
The Dude said:
They basically made the best with what they had available
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I know. Iron sand & charcoal. Pretty good effort to make quality swords out of that.
Kera? Tamahagane? It’s a rabbit hole you can go down (I did about 10 years ago) & honestly a lot of stuff I learnt has been erased from memory. From what I was taught its the construction methods that make the sword more than the steel. The combination of hard,soft & medium steel made them tough. From Maru being just a slab of hard steel up to the 7 layer combination Soshu.
I did some small switchblade sized blades just to experience the techniques but ended up going down the ‘recycled knives’ path overall.
Have a cpl of WW2 pieces but nothing earth shattering like a pre 1600’s piece. One is from the early 1800’s the others are just 1920’s mass produced .. crap.
 
who needs a katana when you have a naginata?

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katanas were indeed shit but japanese warfare was all about polearm cavalry and archery until someone imported a gun and they went hog wild over that shit
 
VIPPER? said:
katanas were indeed shit but japanese warfare was all about polearm cavalry and archery until someone imported a gun and they went hog wild over that shit
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Exactly. Popular culture has created the image of the Samurai armed only with a Katana (and sometimes with a Wakizashi along with it), when in fact the Katana was typically a backup weapon to their primary weapon, typically a bow, Yari spear, Naginata, or other weapon with greater reach than a sword.
 
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