Could a knife or sword be made that could cut iron bars

kancler said:
Ok! What do you think guys? Can sword cut women's the softest and the lightest flying scarf?
Click to expand...

Some time ago my martial arts teacher actually claims to have seen such a display at a gung fu demo. He said the swordsman threw a silk scarf in the air, and sliced into pieces as it came down.

Not having seen it myself, I can't give further details than what I've just recounted. That would have been a most interesting display of skill, and the keenness of the blade.
 
I took Gollnick's angle and tried to think how this might be possible. If a video does exist of a sword chopping through a gun barrel maybe it didn't really cut through the metal but simply cracked it! I can't picture a sword slicing through metal, but I could picture something like a sword with a hard edge cracking a gun barrel, metal pipe, etc. All that force being concentrated in a small area by a hard piece of steel, probably harder than the gun barrel. Kind of like one of those glass breakers that breaks car windows.

If a sword cracked a gun barrel in two it would look like it was slicing through it. Maybe the gun barrel even had a defect in it and maybe it cracked at a point other than where the sword make contact. This makes the most sense to me, and usually the simplest answer is the correct answer.
 
That's plausible, but that would make the barrel very brittle, wouldn't it? Glass shatters because it's, well, glass.

In my opinion, the simplest answer is a manipulated video, and/or exaggerated first-hand accounts. In other threads at swordforum.com, there was a huge discussion about what might actually happen. There were a few musings that a sword might well be able to cut through the barrel shroud of a liquid-cooled design, rendering it inoperable. There was also a passed-down war anecdote of a soldier with an empty rifle confronting a Japanese soldier with sword drawn. Supposedly the blade went through the wooden stock, and stopped at the barrel. All it takes is one small misunderstanding (due to excitement, or whatever) - "The sword cut into the barrel and broke the gun" becomes "the gun cut through the barrel, breaking the gun." Happens all the time.
 
What if the gun barrel was brittle? I'm no expert on how gun barrels are made. Maybe someone could offer more info there about the type of gun that may have been "cut" with a sword. Is it possible that if these guns were being heavily fired in a war situation that the barrels could get hot enough to ruin the temper, or do something to the steel to make it brittle?
 
FWIW.....
(Magic 101: Misdirection)
Maybe the gun barrel wasn't a gun barrel.
Something else of a similar shape attached to the rest of a real MG?

I have never seen the film in question, but have heard it called a WW2 Japanese propaganda film.

As the others have said, a bad thread gone good :D
 
Sorry to resurrect the story :)

I have a book on Japanese swords that states that on a visit to London, the Emperor of Japan was to present a sword to King George. The sword was made by the Emperors personal sword maker, the finest in Japan, The Emperor handed the sword to his swordmaster (the guy that would test swords on bundles of bamboo, cadavers, and live prisoners), and cleaved a Lewis gun barrel in two, mounted on two wooden blocks. He checked the blade, wiped it with silk, re-sheathed it and handed back to the Emporer, who in turn presented it to King George. The sword is on display in Windsor Castle and I saw it 2 years ago. Seeing the sword and knowing the story made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. It is a beautiful piece of craftmanship, and has a wide and heavy blade.

I have some Japanese swords myself alas not of that quality. A 1942 Katana with hanging chains, 2 wakazashi made between 1395 and 1425, (one shows parry marks to the rear flat of the blade), an 1826 Tanto, and a Japanese Naval Dirk. All were purchased in auction blind, without seeing them except for the Katana which was given to me by a major in the Gurkhas who got in a presentation ceremony in French Indo China (now Vietnam). I have a large silk battalion prayer flag from the same source, and his personal Kukri.
 
For instance Japanese armour was primarily lacquered bamboo/silk/some leather and was meant to deflect blows -not directly absorb cuts-in battle;whereas European plate armour was stronger and more protective although heavier.Chainmail probably being a good compromise between the two.IIRC,the silk-scarf-being -cut -by-its-own-weight comes comes from a story originating from the Crusades comparing Richard the Lionheart's massive broadsword(which reputedly chopped an iron bar in half(!) vs.Saladin's scimitar(made from Damascus steel) which sliced a silk scarf in 2 just by being dropped on the upturned blade.And wasn't the old argument of Samurai sword vs.Rapier &Dagger solved when a confrontation between samurai and Spanish/Portugese conquestidores occurred during the late 1700's with the Conquistidores clearly winning with minimum losses? :)
 
Stickbait said:
And wasn't the old argument of Samurai sword vs.Rapier &Dagger solved when a confrontation between samurai and Spanish/Portugese conquestidores occurred during the late 1700's with the Conquistidores clearly winning with minimum losses? :)
Click to expand...

It doesn't say much about the objective advantages of either weapon (set), but I read an interesting ARMA article recently about the possible outcomes of a rapier vs. katana battle. One of the informative points (really the only useful part of a speculative essay) was that, while rapier fighters would probably have a good grounding in cut/slash oriented swordsmanship from their own nations' histories, Japanese fighters would have substantially less understanding of the threat presented by a relatively light, highly maneuverable thrusting sword.

Can you tell us more about that confrontation? I'm beginning to think that military history might be a fun hobby...
 
This isn't about cutting a gun barrel, but explains why the sword became of less use as armor got more advanced. At the height of the plate armor manufacturing, the sword became pretty useless. The only thing they could do was to use a short sword with a sharp point to stab in the weak places of the armor and in between the plates. The Pollaxe was the answer. An axe/hammer weapon is and will always be a superior penetration weapon. Other such weapons were the Halberd, Bec De Corbin (Beak Of The Raven) and the Flanged Mace. Sorry that I got off the subject, but when it comes to cutting and/or smashing metal with metal. Any of the above mentioned would be far superior to any sword.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top