"Secrets of the Samurai Sword" on NOVA tonight.

no...i think your the one who seems to know something that all of us round eyed Europeans seem to be missing.

Your the one who made the original claim, thus the burden of proof rests with you.
 
The show was ok. Good stuff about the making of the original steel itself, and about both folding (hardly mentioned, but shown in animation) and the insertion of the tougher core into the harder "shell". They presented the hamon, though, as purely decorative, and never mentioned that differential heat treating added yet another superior dimension to the sword. The stuff about "the soul of the samurai" was lamely presented, I must say. Something I really didn't know was that the curve of the blade was created by differential core and shell steels contracting differently during quenching. It was fascinating to watch the hot, straight forged sword get quenched and come out curved.
 
DRider said:
The show was ok. Good stuff about the making of the original steel itself, and about both folding (hardly mentioned, but shown in animation) and the insertion of the tougher core into the harder "shell".
Click to expand...

That was the best part :) just can't believe they could do all of this in that age :p
 
I liked the show and was most impressed by the way they used to test sword sharpness - by cutting through bodies, they claimed that the sharpest sword was able to cut through 5 bodies:confused:
 
It was really good. I happened to catch it in its entirety. It was pretty complete with the exception of the handle wrapping and scabbord and techiniques to do that and the materials. Otherwise excellent!

Who knew? I've read a lot on the Japanese swords but never quite got it in my head until watching this just how many people were actually involved in the making of just one sword. 15 different men, six months work and for one sword and that was only up to the handle wrap not being put on yet or the scabbord being made. I guess in the olden times there would have been some 'slave' and prisoner testing after the handle and scabbord and then it would be complete. So if it was a 5 body sword what between 16 to 23 or more people involved in the making and testing of just one sword.

No wonder they are so sought after and expensive!

PBS has always impressed me with some of their programs.

STR
 
I believe they tested a 1, 2, 3, or 5-body sword by seeing how many dead hanging bodies it could go through in a single cut. If they were all hanging close together it could be possible, though 5 is simply amazing.

I was esp. impressed by the fact that the Samurai blade's curve is from the softer core steel contracting more than the hard out core, this pulling the blade back into its distinctive curve.
Jim
 
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