Samurai Sword TV

mete

mete

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Jun 10, 2003
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Today PBS TV will show "Secrets of the Samurai Sword" .It will be repeated, check local listings.
 
One of the few times I regret not having a TV is when shows like this are being shown. Hopefully since it's a Nova special, it'll be in the library or whatnot before too long.
 
Seen clips on youtube, and it isn't all golden info, alot of embellishment in the whole show, as is a given with the japanese sword. but still a fun show to watch instead of some slop like desperate housewives or whatever new 2 week long run reality show fox has on.
 
channel 12 at 7 o'clock here....Donna pouted when I auto tuned it LOL
Thanks for the heads up,
Bruce
 
:( Man, my cable sucks...just scanned through and not on here....dangit...
 
I managed to borrow a TV, PBS 2 broadcasts from only a short way away from me so it came in fine. Was actually quite a good show, not nearly as much mysticism and glamour as I thought there would be, and more (dummed down) physics than I had hoped to see.

I didnt feel like i had just listened to an Angelsword sales pitch after watching it, so that was good !
 
I remember an older TV show on the Samurai sword that was much better. I would show it to my introductory metallurgy students. The Nova left out a very important piece on the doubling of the metal. When the sword blank was forged they would double it a certain number of times. 2 layers, 4 layers, 8 layers and so on. I cannot remember the magic number that they did this to give the proper number of layers which gave the sword both flexability and strength. Like the show said, it was a very rigid, ritualistic process which gave the swords their desireable properties.
 
Actually the folding was described more or less as needed. The folding was done to refine the steel, as talked about in the special. There was no 'specific' layer count that they aimed for, just a quality of refinement obtained by the repeated forging.
 
Justin ,are you sure about that because in the older show they specifically mentioned the exact number of folds and their relationship to the swords properties. I am not an expert or have any knowledge of Samurai swords but this fact has stuck with me all these years. The number 11 sticks in my mind which would give it over 2000 layers. Jerry
 
I caught most of the show and thought it was well done.
The "5 body sword" did raise an eyebrow tho.:eek:
Mace
 
By all historic acounts they did use "bundles" of criminals to test blades during the Tokugawa shogunate. I have seen mei the signify that the blade cut through 2-3 people but no more. I think cutting through 5 people would be more of a logistics porblem than anything lol. Maybe the last 2 guys were on the back side of the bundle and only got sliced into and not through lol. Or maybe they were really emaciated from captivity without much food lol. Most likely just exageration that turned into a myth. Still I have watched old swordsmen cut very thick pieces of both fresh and dry bamboo Like it was butter but 5 just has to be an exageration.

Zman308, there was no magic number in general. Many different groups/families of sword makers did things different from one another. Some swords were even folded steel wrapped around a core of poor steel. I'm shure your information was from a specific family or group of swordmakers who used that number of layers in there work, but was not a "rule" for sword makers of japan. In any case extra layers would never become a problem. People are making 600 layer damascus today and it preforms as well as any 11 layer folded steel would if the steel is good and the HT is right. I think the "special properties" so often attributed to Samurai blades come from the differential heat treatment more than the folding. Certainly the folding helped the quality of the steel though.
 
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