The Deadliest Warrior

[SoonerMP]

Hows the weather in Valhalla Ink?

[ink]

Hows the weather in Valhalla Ink?

seeings how I am alive and kicking, couldn't tell ya

[SoonerMP]

Nice.

[mechanic]

both those swords are stupidly sharp. The Viking sword piercing a plastic bottle without moving it in a thrust was impressive.

[ink]

both those swords are stupidly sharp. The Viking sword piercing a plastic bottle without moving it in a thrust was impressive.

"scary sharp" is the way I describe it
 thats the worst I have done with my blade,(water bottles) but that viking sword seems to really slice through them so sweetly.
I did 6 in a row and it looked like a razor cut them, oh wait it was
I keep laughing over the " Viking swords were not even sharp..." or some such nonsense

the Paul Chen viking was very nice also, Damascus blade, done differently then the Samurai,  it is made with 512 layers of alternating soft and hard steels,  its not folded. but when they do fold the 512 layer Damascus that is when you get the most beautiful patterned  blades.

except for the fact that this guy uses Bronze for fittings, very sweet blade
http://www.powning.com/jake/commish/progress1.shtml

[Saxman]

What's wrong with bronze fittings? First, it's absolutely historical, especially for a wealthier man (cheaper swords would have used iron fittings, or even layers of bone or horn). Second, it makes for a beautiful sword.



And believe me, this is GORGEOUS.

Also, saying that the katana could "cut metal" from that video is still partly exaggeration. Sure, it penetrated a few inches on the first cut, but the second cut had no deeper penetration than the axe. The first cut probably found a weak point on the barrel that the axe could have exploited just as well, and both cuts caused significant damage to the edge of the blade. The katana's mythical metal-cutting capabilities are just that: mythical. Try doing that on a piece of good steel plate armor.

[BnZs]

Look, I don't really have the bandwidth at the house to fool with Youtube so I'm kinda working blind here....

If this is the famous "machine gun barrel" cutting video from WWII, that was a Japanese propaganda film. The MG barrel in this case was actually painted wood.

If by "barrel" you mean a storage drum, those things are pretty thin and and not treated for resistance to sword attack.

[Saxman]

It was a storage drum.

The Mythbusters pretty decisively disproved the machine gun barrel thing. Even if the barrel was hot from firing it would have taken force WELL beyond the maximum human capabilities to have cut the barrel, it wouldn't have been a complete slice through, and would have destroyed the sword in the process.

[ink]

What's wrong with bronze fittings? First, it's absolutely historical, especially for a wealthier man (cheaper swords would have used iron fittings, or even layers of bone or horn). Second, it makes for a beautiful sword.

(Image removed from quote.)

And believe me, this is GORGEOUS.

Also, saying that the katana could "cut metal" from that video is still partly exaggeration. Sure, it penetrated a few inches on the first cut, but the second cut had no deeper penetration than the axe. The first cut probably found a weak point on the barrel that the axe could have exploited just as well, and both cuts caused significant damage to the edge of the blade. The katana's mythical metal-cutting capabilities are just that: mythical. Try doing that on a piece of good steel plate armor.

I absolutely agree, that is awesome.
although I like the Damascus fittings much more.

Look, I don't really have the bandwidth at the house to fool with Youtube so I'm kinda working blind here....

If this is the famous "machine gun barrel" cutting video from WWII, that was a Japanese propaganda film. The MG barrel in this case was actually painted wood.

If by "barrel" you mean a storage drum, those things are pretty thin and and not treated for resistance to sword attack.

no its a barrel, 55 drum.  not something I would try to cut with a sword, but it does show the ability to take a hard hit and not bend or break.

[bigsky]

excuse me but i might ad that northmen were sailors also

[BnZs]

(Image removed from quote.)
no its a barrel, 55 drum.  not something I would try to cut with a sword, but it does show the ability to take a hard hit and not bend or break.

The lack of spring I was referring to in typical authentically-made Nihonto was in the lateral plane, i.e, it would come up if you struck a target with very poor edge alignment or your sword was struck forcibly about the flat. Obviously a sword needs to be able to strike something with the *edge* without bending or breaking to be called a "sword".

[bozon]

here is a video of a Katana cutting metal, I know someone said "it couldn't" 
Mind ya I do not agree with what they are doing, but it does cut the barrel,  I am not saying that it proves the Samurai would win, but just showing a Katana will cut metal. they have destructive test videos on a crap load of swords. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHm_pJceN5Q

It cut the barrel edge, not the surface. It takes very little to stop a slashing weapon, regardless of how sharp it is. A chain mail is practically impervious to slashes and so is plate. Even hardened leather armor is a serious obstacle.

Samurai themselves did not use the katana  as their primary weapon as it is not very effective on a battle field - for that they had the naginata, later replaced by the Yari (spear). I suspect the switch to the Yari was its better ability to pierce armor, while the naginata is basically a slashing blade on a stick. For chopping peasants or dueling another Samurai wearing pajamas the katana is an excellent choise. This is the exact equivalent of medieval knights who carried their arming sword with them at all times, but preferred other weapons on the battlefield as primaries.

By the way, in the movie, the axe the guy is using in comparison with the katana is a regular wood axe. It has little to do with the fighting/battle/war axe - these has a flat and relatively thin blade which could be sharpened like a sword's. Because of the large surface behind the sharp edge, it could sustain much harder strikes then a sword without shattering. Essentially a very wide blade, unlike the broad wedge-shape cross-section of the wood axe that also makes it very heavy and bad for combat.