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Link Posted: 4/6/2017 2:46:33 PM EST
[#1]
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DO. WANT.



CMOS
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 2:48:21 PM EST
[#2]
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Quoted:


One thing I wish is if someone would do SEM determination of the alloy content on preserved historical blades like that.  Maybe someone has.
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Someone posted a video in this thread of that English character that does sword videos. He was talking to some expert who mentioned that damascus blades had superior steel than Japanese blades since there was less slag in it.
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 3:12:26 PM EST
[#3]
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Someone posted a video in this thread of that English character that does sword videos. He was talking to some expert who mentioned that damascus blades had superior steel than Japanese blades since there was less slag in it.
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yeah, damascus (actually an indian process) was better than anything out of europe or the far east.  first man-made carbon nanotube structures that we know of.
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 3:23:28 PM EST
[#4]
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Quoted:


Someone posted a video in this thread of that English character that does sword videos. He was talking to some expert who mentioned that damascus blades had superior steel than Japanese blades since there was less slag in it.
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I believe it.  Their smelting technique was inferior to other contemporary techniques.  They were doing what they could with what they had and came up with some ingenious techniques to produce the finest weapon they could with the materials available.

But I'm a nerd and would love to see actual chemical composition of various weapons.
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 3:27:54 PM EST
[#5]
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 3:54:13 PM EST
[#6]
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Ouch.  Right in the feels.  

At the risk of more mocking, I'm somewhere in this picture.

https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/1715/2490.JPG  
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I see you, but given your freakish height I would need an ODACHI in order to chop off your head.
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 4:02:05 PM EST
[#7]
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yeah, damascus (actually an indian process) was better than anything out of europe or the far east.  first man-made carbon nanotube structures that we know of.
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What is known of the actual process?
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 4:03:43 PM EST
[#8]
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What is known of the actual process?
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hell, i'm no metallurgist.  i just like shiny things.
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 4:13:08 PM EST
[#9]
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w00t(Z) !!  
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Just to clarify here (for others).  Wootz steel, carburized crucible steel with alloy banding is historically "Damascus" i.e. ingots of wootz steel imported to Syria from India and forged into blades for sale in Damascus.  Alloy banding and segregation related to how it was carburized, trace alloy elements, and how it was heat treated lead to alloy banding that appeared to be lines running through the blade.

Pattern welded steel which is layers of different steels forge welded together and referred to as Damascus by nearly everyone today is not wootz steel, although you could pattern weld wootz steel if you wanted.

Some of the 1095 I've heat treated recently looks very similar to wootz though only in the clay insulated portion and not the hardened portion, causing a very odd looking hamon when developed.  I wish I could say I know how I'm doing it but I think it has more to do with this particular batch of steel than anything I'm doing in heat treat.  More knowledgeable members of BF than I have a theory on how this occurs at the end of a run during smelting and the phenomenon is localized to that particular portion of the ingot.



Link Posted: 4/6/2017 4:14:16 PM EST
[#10]
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What is known of the actual process?
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Verheoven duplicated it.
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 4:16:51 PM EST
[#11]
Also even though this thread has now gone from dopey to nerdish I still <3 this thread



Link Posted: 4/6/2017 4:26:03 PM EST
[#12]
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A European halberd, and a Japanese wakizashi for emergencies.
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I need a bottom line: what sword for the Zombie apocalypse?  Cavalry saber?
A European halberd, and a Japanese wakizashi for emergencies.
Atta boy.


Link Posted: 4/6/2017 4:33:01 PM EST
[#13]
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Not just respect, but recognize nuance.

it seems, and I've practice very little kendo, "cutting" is a  huge complement of the Japanese sword arts, while in HEMA it's in a back room if present at all.  It also seems much of the European styles favor an attacking cut that incorporates defense, while the Japanases style seems more purely offensive to me (this is potentially ignorant).  This distinction can be seen between European styles even. 

Both good, but different.
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i missed this post earlier.  not quite sure what you mean by complement, but i'd definitely agree that MJER (my ryuha) seems much more tactically committal than fiore's 'strike to/from cover' and the german meisterhau, but i'm still quite new to JSA and there's a ton i don't know yet.  

as for cutting, the way it was explained to me is that proper form and technique are heavily emphasized early on in the sense of programming good muscle memory, but as good technique gets internalized the emphasis shifts from kinematics to tactics.  that's part of the koryu (traditional) teaching approach, evidently.
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 5:06:19 PM EST
[#14]
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Here we are having a nice discussion on swords and the fucking pikemen gotta shit all over the place.
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 5:24:23 PM EST
[#15]
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What is known of the actual process?
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yeah, damascus (actually an indian process) was better than anything out of europe or the far east.  first man-made carbon nanotube structures that we know of.
What is known of the actual process?
Enough to duplicate it.

The myth that ancient damascus was some kind of unicorn that we modern people can't figure out is idiotic.
Link Posted: 4/6/2017 7:53:59 PM EST
[#16]
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Here we are having a nice discussion on swords and the fucking pikemen gotta shit all over the place.
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Here we are having a nice discussion on swords and the fucking pikemen gotta shit all over the place.
"That's it, lads! Just take one out of the umbrella stand and head to General Discussion!  Those katana fruitcakes are acting up again.  We'll catch them with their pants down... it's after 8pm and they're all watching hentai."

Link Posted: 4/7/2017 10:17:51 AM EST
[#17]
Link Posted: 4/7/2017 10:30:11 AM EST
[#18]
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The variety in European halberds/pole arms is just fantastic.
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"That's it, lads! Just take one out of the umbrella stand and head to General Discussion!  Those katana fruitcakes are acting up again.  We'll catch them with their pants down... it's after 8pm and they're all watching hentai."

http://imageshack.us/a/img924/4876/VMp2To.jpg
The variety in European halberds/pole arms is just fantastic.
I like the ones that look like giant can openers.
Link Posted: 4/7/2017 9:39:47 PM EST
[#19]
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I like the ones that look like giant can openers.
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"That's it, lads! Just take one out of the umbrella stand and head to General Discussion!  Those katana fruitcakes are acting up again.  We'll catch them with their pants down... it's after 8pm and they're all watching hentai."

http://imageshack.us/a/img924/4876/VMp2To.jpg
The variety in European halberds/pole arms is just fantastic.
I like the ones that look like giant can openers.
Link Posted: 4/8/2017 7:43:25 AM EST
[#20]
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"That's it, lads! Just take one out of the umbrella stand and head to General Discussion!  Those katana fruitcakes are acting up again.  We'll catch them with their pants down... it's after 8pm and they're all watching hentai."

http://imageshack.us/a/img924/4876/VMp2To.jpg
The variety in European halberds/pole arms is just fantastic.
I like the ones that look like giant can openers.
http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/728/094/8e8.gif
Damn War Thunder bullshit.

Kharn
Link Posted: 4/8/2017 3:09:58 PM EST
[#21]
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Quoted:
Damn War Thunder bullshit.
Kharn
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"That's it, lads! Just take one out of the umbrella stand and head to General Discussion!  Those katana fruitcakes are acting up again.  We'll catch them with their pants down... it's after 8pm and they're all watching hentai."

http://imageshack.us/a/img924/4876/VMp2To.jpg
The variety in European halberds/pole arms is just fantastic.
I like the ones that look like giant can openers.
http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/728/094/8e8.gif
Damn War Thunder bullshit.
Kharn
I have no idea what that is. I just thouht it was funny for this thread.
Link Posted: 4/8/2017 3:41:39 PM EST
[#22]
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Quoted:
I have no idea what that is. I just thouht it was funny for this thread.
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Quoted:
Quoted:
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Quoted:
Quoted:

"That's it, lads! Just take one out of the umbrella stand and head to General Discussion!  Those katana fruitcakes are acting up again.  We'll catch them with their pants down... it's after 8pm and they're all watching hentai."

http://imageshack.us/a/img924/4876/VMp2To.jpg
The variety in European halberds/pole arms is just fantastic.
I like the ones that look like giant can openers.
http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/728/094/8e8.gif
Damn War Thunder bullshit.
Kharn
I have no idea what that is. I just thouht it was funny for this thread.
A Russian made video game, in which the American aircraft are complete shit, and the Russian, Japanese, and Germans punch far above their designs. For example, show an American flight manual and you'll be told those characteristics are BS so those performance numbers will never be put into the game. Someone else shows up with a bar napkin with some super Russian aircraft bullshitted to be better than a P51 and available in 1940 and it's added to the game within weeks. It took years to get anything beyond the worst P38 to ever take flight (it didn't even have a bomb or rocket hard point),  when the better models were far more famous and influential.

Kharn
Link Posted: 4/10/2017 7:55:47 AM EST
[#23]
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SEM like Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, or is there a different technique with the same acronym? You'll be hard pressed to find a SEM with a big enough chamber to fit a sword, and I doubt anybody wants to chip a cross-section off of a historical sword.

Maybe one of those hand held X-ray fluorescence machines?
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Quoted:


One thing I wish is if someone would do SEM determination of the alloy content on preserved historical blades like that.  Maybe someone has.
SEM like Scanning Electron Microscope with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, or is there a different technique with the same acronym? You'll be hard pressed to find a SEM with a big enough chamber to fit a sword, and I doubt anybody wants to chip a cross-section off of a historical sword.

Maybe one of those hand held X-ray fluorescence machines?
They have cross sections of old swords.  The alloy was steel (Iron&Carbon) in its most basic form.  Japan had only one source for the Iron they used and it was an Iron bearing sand that they smelted down.

The folding that is so mysterious was to make the steel more consistent like needing dough.  Swords made with modern steel don't need it unless it's done for aesthetic reasons.

There were many construction techniques that used low carbon steel core with high carbon steel jacket for added durability.
Link Posted: 4/10/2017 7:57:38 AM EST
[#24]
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What is known of the actual process?
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Very little just some theories.  Note that pattern welded steel sold as Damascus today is not the same thing.

Best theory I heard was that the Indians had a way to melt steel(making it very consistent) at the time that was lost to history.  At that point in history no one could make a fire hot enough to melt steel to a liquid(except maybe the Indians).  Hence all the folding techniques used by ancient smiths that evened out the carbon content in the steel.
Link Posted: 4/10/2017 8:27:03 AM EST
[#25]
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Very little just some theories.  Note that pattern welded steel sold as Damascus today is not the same thing.

Best theory I heard was that the Indians had a way to melt steel(making it very consistent) at the time that was lost to history.  At that point in history no one could make a fire hot enough to melt steel to a liquid(except maybe the Indians).  Hence all the folding techniques used by ancient smiths that evened out the carbon content in the steel.
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The exact detail may be theoretical in nature but the production is replicated commonly since Pendray and Verhoeven did their experiments.  Crucible steel (melting iron in a crucible) with carburizing agents like plant matter and seashell.  What's produced today is effectively the same.  Whether Grandma used shortening or vegetable oil the chocolate chip cookie is still a chocolate chip cookie.

The melting pot + alloying agents is what leads to the alloy banding and carbide segregation.
Link Posted: 4/10/2017 9:07:04 AM EST
[#26]
Link Posted: 4/10/2017 9:28:40 AM EST
[#27]
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Quoted:
A Russian made video game, in which the American aircraft are complete shit, and the Russian, Japanese, and Germans punch far above their designs. For example, show an American flight manual and you'll be told those characteristics are BS so those performance numbers will never be put into the game. Someone else shows up with a bar napkin with some super Russian aircraft bullshitted to be better than a P51 and available in 1940 and it's added to the game within weeks. It took years to get anything beyond the worst P38 to ever take flight (it didn't even have a bomb or rocket hard point),  when the better models were far more famous and influential.

Kharn
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Did Oleg have anything to do with that? Because that sounds like the stuff he tried to tell me about US planes before the first Il-2 even came out and he was already thinking about doing the West front and Pacific. I gave him flight manuals, pics out the ying-yang, color chips, blueprints, data sheets, etc. for every Corsair variant there was, and he pretty much told me the performance figures were Yankee propaganda. Yet he decided to use performance figures for the Zero based on US testing of captured ones. Why? Because the figures were better than the official Japanese ones because they were using higher octane US fuel. Don't even get me started on the .50s on US planes hitting softer than .303s...I spent over a year banging my head off my desk every time I talked to him, and I was just trying to help out, wasn't getting a check or anything.  Although when mods became possible I helped fix as much as I was able to.

/threadjack

Katanas are neat, Claymores are cool, and I've always had a soft spot for the edged weapons of the Thirty Years' War, but I always figured if I wanted to do serious damage to someone geared up in full plate or the like polearms, maces and picks are where it's at; for slaughtering the skeevy unarmored peasantry though swords would work great.
Link Posted: 4/10/2017 9:31:52 AM EST
[#28]
They're certainly not magic, but I imagine they'd leave a pretty nasty gash
Link Posted: 4/10/2017 9:35:02 AM EST
[#29]
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They were big, long and sharp. So, yeah, they'd hack off a limb or a head or pretty much gash the fuck out of someone dead.

But, so would a big axe. Or a big hand/half swod.

What Hollywood gets wrong is the endless parrying and sword-on-sword blows during real fights.
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That's Hollywoods attempt to show the swordsmen as equally skilled.
Link Posted: 4/10/2017 10:00:49 AM EST
[#30]
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Quoted:

Not just respect, but recognize nuance.

it seems, and I've practice very little kendo, "cutting" is a  huge complement of the Japanese sword arts, while in HEMA it's in a back room if present at all.  It also seems much of the European styles favor an attacking cut that incorporates defense, while the Japanases style seems more purely offensive to me (this is potentially ignorant).  This distinction can be seen between European styles even. 

Both good, but different.
View Quote
I like Meyer, he is heavily into offense:  "Every missed cut is the opportunity to make a thrust.  Every missed thrust is the opportunity to make a cut".
Link Posted: 4/10/2017 10:18:05 AM EST
[#31]
The notion that swords were worn and used only by the nobility is a complete and utter nonsense. Perhaps in 11th and 12th centuries that was somewhat true. But in 15th, 16th, 17th centuries, swords were carried by any free citizens. In fact, sword ownership was a must for a guild apprentice, journeyman and master. Possession of arms was a requirement for a citizen, as well as participation in town militia. Peasants wore swords as well, although not on the scale of the townsfolk. Jews and students wore and used swords, even though they were not full citizens. Sword masters were tradesmen overwhelmingly. If you are interested, you can read B. Ann Tlusty's "The Martial Ethic in Early Modern Germany: Civic Duty and the Right of Arms". Awesome book that will open your eyes to a lot of truth. She does make some mistakes in the book concerning Jews, but in general, she is great.
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