Todays Blades vs Ancient Blades

[mad3nch1na]

Through out history, blades have been embedded with human societies for thousands of years. Alot of the technology and smithing techniques have been lost over time, and we are still relearning some ancient techniques today. For example the Weapons found in Emperor Qin's Tomb in Xi'an China(Best known for life size clay soldiers) were created 2000 years old. When discovered the excavators were supprised to find that the weapons were still razor sharp and were capable of cutting through 20 peices of paper. They further analyzed the blades and found that it was coated with Chroium. The process of adding chroium was not rediscovered in the United States until 1950.(http://www.igougo.com/travelcontent/JournalEntryFreeForm.aspx?ReviewID=1221520) Thus raising the thorny question, were blades of ancient times comparable or better than similar blades of today, not just ancient Chinese blades but blades from any culture and time period.

 

[moonwilson]

I think today's blades certainly kick the snot out of ancient blades. When comparing, you have to remember that most of the knives that have survived from ancient times- as in the Emperor's tomb, are museum-quality pieces, the best of the best that existed at that time. Knives in the Emperor's tomb would have to be compared to the best pieces from the best custom makers of today. The craftsmanship at that level, between knives of yesterday and today is probably comparable. I would give the advantage to the ancient, because the guy making a sword for the emperor probably had months or even years to work on it. Not many custom knife-makers can afford to invest that amount of time on a single piece today.

The swords of yesterday were the apex of personal military weaponry. We don't fight with swords anymore, and haven't for a long time. Sword technology hasn't advanced for a long time, because it doesn't need to. A contemporary equivalent to an emperor's sword would be a presentation-grade rifle or pistol. A contemporary equivalent to a preserved soldier's sword would be an M4 carbine with all of the trimmings. Which is a more effective weapon?

In general, the knives of today benefit from our much more comprehensive understanding of metallurgy- I would be willing to bet that the steel is much, much better now. And the knives available to common people now are light-years better than what would have been available to the average person hundreds of years ago. There was no stainless steel, there was no G10, there were no safe, locking folders.

 

[S. Brown]

Many techniques such as the Japanese folding and wootz steel were absolute best for their time. With technology and the modern day "super steels," however, many of these ancient techniques were the best for the time, but inferior to what we have today. The folding techniques were simply for pounding impurities out of the steel. I believe Howard Clark stated that the best japanese swords, these days, are not folded. Wootz steel, although very advanced for the time, does not hold up as well as many of the super steels we now have. These people were not able to analyze the compositsion of the steel. To answer your question, I would say that they are comaprable to blades up until recently. But the arrival of the super steels, leaves certain properties to be desired.

 

[wnease]

I'd say modern steels beat ancient metals no contest. However I'm very interested in how chromium got on the blades. Do you have any more info on that?

 

[fedaykincmndr]

One custom maker told me, at a Guild show, that if you asked the Japanese sword makers who was the best at making Japanese swords, they'd point to Don Fogg if he were in the room. The difference, Mr. Fogg uses present day materials, not tamahagane based steels; not to mention the fact that he's inconceivably talented. Thus if you apply the techniques that have been lost over the years with modern materials I would imagine you'd have some nearly indestructible tools IMO.

 

[GoodGuy]

I'm not sure I understand the context of this thread. I dare say the blades produced 20,000 years ago were as sharp or sharper than any alloy blades produced today. They were certainly not as tough or durable, but they were certainly as sharp.