I was wondering if anybody saw the new show, Weapon Masters, on the Discovery Channel last night? It was a show where they try and improve on ancient weapons. The show last night was all about swords. Two guys went over to Japan and saw how sword metal is forged. They also showed the sword masters forging and then sharpening/polishing the authentic Japanese swords. Then one guy came back to the US and forged his own sword with some master sword maker in the US (unfortunately I forgot his name). Finally, they put an authentic Japanese sword and this guy's sword in several tests to see which one was better. Personally, I thought the idea of comparing the two swords was kind of stupid, but I was really interested by all of the parts where they were in Japan. It was really neat to see how they forged the metal for the Japanese swords. I'm not really much of a sword guy, but the first half of the show or so really interested me. I just like to know what anybody else thought of the show?
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Weapon Masters on Discovery Channel
- Thread starter coolcrow
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- Mar 23, 2000
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I saw the show also. It has a cheesy factor to it but at the same time it's entertaining to watch.
The comparison between a "traditionally made" vs a modern made sword was poorly done. They made it look like at least to me that a traditionally made sword was nothing better than a roughly forged and polished shade tree sword and that’s just not the case.
I think the comparison would have had more substance if it had been between a Japanese traditionally made tamahagane steel katana and say a Howard Clark L6 Banite. But a test of this nature would have been a significant portion of there filming budget hence the reason it was not done.
It was nice to see James Williams in the show while I don’t personally know him I have watched his demo’s at blade west. He owns Bugei and the swords he sells are highly regarded. He makes it look very easy if you ever get a chance to see him it’s time well spent. I don’t know if he supplied the replica sword/s used in the show but I found it interesting that the replica sword edge chipped on the armor. At the same time the replica sword had no harmonics during the bullet test while the rough sword did. Given how the rough sword was made this really didn’t surprise me.
All in all the show was good entertainment my son enjoyed it.
The comparison between a "traditionally made" vs a modern made sword was poorly done. They made it look like at least to me that a traditionally made sword was nothing better than a roughly forged and polished shade tree sword and that’s just not the case.
I think the comparison would have had more substance if it had been between a Japanese traditionally made tamahagane steel katana and say a Howard Clark L6 Banite. But a test of this nature would have been a significant portion of there filming budget hence the reason it was not done.
It was nice to see James Williams in the show while I don’t personally know him I have watched his demo’s at blade west. He owns Bugei and the swords he sells are highly regarded. He makes it look very easy if you ever get a chance to see him it’s time well spent. I don’t know if he supplied the replica sword/s used in the show but I found it interesting that the replica sword edge chipped on the armor. At the same time the replica sword had no harmonics during the bullet test while the rough sword did. Given how the rough sword was made this really didn’t surprise me.
All in all the show was good entertainment my son enjoyed it.