07-27-2006, 01:30 PM
J. Kim Siddorn in Viking Weapons and Warfare:
"For the Japanese... during the turbulent years of the Civil Wars, sword smiths could also hammer them out in quantity. However,... a good blade takes weeks of concentrated effort and whilst one smithy increased its rate of production from one every two weeks to ten a day, the pattern welded blade vanished until it was re-invented in the twentieth century.
I would particularly like to mention that the methods of pattern welding that the Japanese used were in use in Japan some 700 years after they had been superseded in the west. Considerable nonsense has been spoken and written about the sword of the Samurai and it should be realised that they were no better nor worse than the finest examples of the northern swords made by the same process of over 20 generations before... For the filmmaker, the traditional dress, the ceremonies and the painstaking handwork all combine to make excellent camera. This over all considerations is why the Katana and its ilk are much better known than the pattern welded Northern European swords in whose path they tread....
Personally, I find them clumsy and one requires considerable practice with the type to use one effectively... Being difficult to control, their use dictates a two-handed style that naturally rules out the use of a shield. Therefore, the warrior has to use his sword as a means of defence, imparting great stresses to the blade.
...However, a good man with a broadsword and in equal standard of training would find few problems in making his presence felt against such a weapon."
"For the Japanese... during the turbulent years of the Civil Wars, sword smiths could also hammer them out in quantity. However,... a good blade takes weeks of concentrated effort and whilst one smithy increased its rate of production from one every two weeks to ten a day, the pattern welded blade vanished until it was re-invented in the twentieth century.
I would particularly like to mention that the methods of pattern welding that the Japanese used were in use in Japan some 700 years after they had been superseded in the west. Considerable nonsense has been spoken and written about the sword of the Samurai and it should be realised that they were no better nor worse than the finest examples of the northern swords made by the same process of over 20 generations before... For the filmmaker, the traditional dress, the ceremonies and the painstaking handwork all combine to make excellent camera. This over all considerations is why the Katana and its ilk are much better known than the pattern welded Northern European swords in whose path they tread....
Personally, I find them clumsy and one requires considerable practice with the type to use one effectively... Being difficult to control, their use dictates a two-handed style that naturally rules out the use of a shield. Therefore, the warrior has to use his sword as a means of defence, imparting great stresses to the blade.
...However, a good man with a broadsword and in equal standard of training would find few problems in making his presence felt against such a weapon."
TARBICvS/Jim Bowers
A A A DESEDO DESEDO!
A A A DESEDO DESEDO!
