Cutting silk - the japanese way

Most people I've talked to about that scene agree that tension on the silk seems to appear for a few frames, allowing a cut. Again, you tie some really heavy magnets to the silk...
 
The cut is totally faked/edited, but is sort fun to watch. When I saw this in the theater and wasn't expecting it, I was stunned.
 
In the Movie The Last Samurai Tom Cruise cuts a bolt action rifle in half in the last battle.:rolleyes:
 
Cliff Stamp (yes, yes, I know) has stated in a post on this forum that he's either accomplished or seen accomplished the silk cutting via sliding down the edge of a long blade sharpened to its limits (that is, beyond the point making it useful for daily chores.)

If you trust him for an assertion lacking any visual proof (or numbers up the wazoo), there you have it.

I think the falling silk probably only works with lightsabers. Swords aren't going to get that much sharper than a well-sharpened straight razor and it doesn't work with one of those.

-j
 
UffDa said:
"As for the cutting a machine gun barrel well, I’m not entirely convinced that it could not be done."

Yes, it could be done, but you would have to use the same method that Buck used to cut through a bolt. Place the machine gun barrel on a solid surface, place the edge of the blade on the barrel and tap the back of the blade with a hammer. If you have a good blade, you should be able to eventually cut through the barrel. The blade will be damaged. BUT, that's not the story. The story goes that the barrel was cut with one slash of the sword blade. It ain't gonna happen.

There is a reason why these tales are called stories. They are just that, stories. Believe what you want and don't forget Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

Japanese sword blades varied from very good to very poor. Just because a blade is 500 years old does not make it good. I doubt that even the best of them would fair very well against modern tool steels.
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That was a stupid challenge for the guy to make...then back down from. Who the hell is going to wack their 500 year old sword into another piece of steel anyway. Nothing like screwing up a piece of history over a strong belief!

Ron Kosakowski
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Roger999 said:
link doesn't work.......it sounds a lil unrealistic, but there's a vid of a guy shooting a 50cal machine gun at a katana though(well i think it's a 50cal...), it cut 7 bullets and then broke.

[youtube]HO8Ot10hIiA&[/youtube]
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50 cal bullets are just lead coated aren't they? Steel on the inside? Thats not a good test. They shoulda used solid lead bullets for a test like that. Plus a 50 cal is a monster and travels to fast. Its a sure shot deal (no pun intended) that it would cut that and any sword in half.

Ron Kosakowski
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zman308 said:
Another version of the story like yours: One of the great myths about swords was that when Richard the III (I think or some other number) met Saladin during the crusades they compared swords. Saladin took out his damascus scimitar and cut a silk scarf in two in mid-air. Richard then pulled out his broad sword and chopped a metal helmet in half. So which was better?
Click to expand...

I'd say if Saladin's head was in the helmet at the time, then Richard's blade was the winner :D
 
It's rare that I visit this subforum, but when I do I have enjoyed a lot I have seen... And since someone brought up the movie, The Bodyguard, I knew I had to chime in! :D

I may be mixing up my characters here, but IIRC, Masamune, a bladesmith of yor, was challenged by another bladesmith who claimed his pieces were sharper than Masamune's....
Long story short, they went to a stream and the challenger stuck his sword into the flow - as each leaf or Lotus blossom floated along, his blade cut everything neatly in two.
Masamune stuck his in - as everything floated by, they all drifted around the blade...
Story ends as challenger humbly walks away in shame...

Can't attest to the veracity of the story, and while I agree that most of the stories regarding cutting silk and machine gun barrels are apocraphal (sp?), the fact is that a well made sword can cut steel under the right conditions - Michael Bell of Oregon tests his Japanese-style blades by cutting steel cable... And hopefully, I'll get to talk w/him at the OKCA show this weekend!! :D
 
UffDa said:
"As for the cutting a machine gun barrel well, I’m not entirely convinced that it could not be done."

Yes, it could be done, but you would have to use the same method that Buck used to cut through a bolt. Place the machine gun barrel on a solid surface, place the edge of the blade on the barrel and tap the back of the blade with a hammer. If you have a good blade, you should be able to eventually cut through the barrel. The blade will be damaged. BUT, that's not the story. The story goes that the barrel was cut with one slash of the sword blade. It ain't gonna happen.

There is a reason why these tales are called stories. They are just that, stories. Believe what you want and don't forget Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.

Japanese sword blades varied from very good to very poor. Just because a blade is 500 years old does not make it good. I doubt that even the best of them would fair very well against modern tool steels.
Click to expand...

If you watch that one Mythbuster video they attempted to do it. It was busted and the Katana couldnt cut throw the barrel even when it was steaming red hot.
 
I have heard a similar version of the masamune sword legend, which stated that the difference was not in the steel but the soul of the blades.

If I had a choice I would have choosen the masamune blade.
 
Bors said:
That’s interesting about the Lewis. The Lewis is an air cooled (not water cooled) gas operated drum fed machine gun. The barrel is surrounded by a cooling jacket that dissipates the heat generated by firing. The barrel is relatively small in diameter (along the lines of a modern hunting rifle gun not tapered). Below the barrel and running most of the length is a gas tube which cycles the gun during firing.

Now, the claim is that the sword cut through the barrel however, in doing so it would have also had to cut through the cooling jacket and the gas tube.

From a reasoning stand point I just don’t see this happening even with the absolute best Japanese sword wielded by the best swordsman. This borders somewhat in the realm of light sabers.

Now if the barrel and gas tube were removed leaving just the cooling jacket perhaps then.
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Sorry, I got my machine guns mixed up. Vickers is what I was looking for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_gun

Presumably due to the water cooling the barrel would be thinner?
 
I've seen this discussed over on SFI quite a bit, and the general consensus is that both of these are myths. A katana could possibly cut into the thin shrouding of the water cooler on the machine gun barrel, but certainly not the barrel itself. Silk is an incredibly difficult material to cut, and used to be worn by the Mongols to prevent arrows from creating a deep wound. The arrow would not pierce the fabric (or at least very much), and though it would still push into flesh, the fabric would prevent it from passing through and made the shaft easy to remove.
 
it's fairly easy to cut free floating silk with a moving blade...impact speeds would commonly be around 75 fps, but falling silk and stationary blade results in impact @ perhaps 2 fps, pretty much no chance of cutting anything significant. Even a slug can locomote across a razor blade.
 
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