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Liking the katana motions of Psylock.

Actually blade thickness has a lot to do with cutting power. Having a nice sharp edge at a good angle helps with the bite of the blade - and a host of medieval and ancient swords had that - but blade thickness impacts how deeply a cut can go, the thicker the blade the harder the hit will have to be.

It's why your kitchen knives are measured in milometers. Beyond that thickness of a blade has a large impact on its weight (katanas are a shorter blade but heavier than most longer swords), how long the hilt needs to be (and katana hilts were significantly longer than the remakes of today) and more.

One might think the thickness is there for durability and certainly the blades were durable, it's why there are still some of the originals around today, but the real reason is Japanese steel wasn't very good and full of impurities while at the same time the Europeans were mass producing steel of a significant higher quality. I hear the Japanese folding process vaunted as the height of sword-making but the real reason they folded the steel wasn't because it was a superior process - it wasn't, pattern-welding was and it was used in Europe as far back as a millennium earlier - but because it helped spread those impurities throughout the steel. That extra thickness helped keep the impurities from ruining the blade as well.

The katana... it's beautiful, fun to wield, unique looking, has a treasured past but it just.. isn't.. a very... good.. sword.

I'd hazard that it doesn't make much difference how thick the sword is as long as it has a reasonable edge angle made of something harder than the bullet. I'd contest that Katanas aren't good for cutting (weight of blade + curve), but yeah, the whole mythos about them being extraordinarily more sharp than other swords is bullshit. I've read that the reason for blending high-carbon steel with softer steel was more a matter of scarcity of high-carbon steel than deliberate design.

Carbide (what I think the knife is made from) is tough stuff, and easily cuts through unhardened steel. That's why they make tools for steel milling and rock mining out of it.
I'm not sure why one would need a knife that tough, but good to know someone makes them. It's probably incredibly difficult to sharpen.
I want to see an entire katana made out of it. I wonder how well that would work, or if it might be too stiff.

*dead

*related=http://videosift.com/video/How-to-make-a-Hattori-Hanz-katana-Kill-Bill-Man-at-Arms

I guess they don't understand that Hattori Hanzo is a person, not a style? You can't make a Hattori Hanzo unless you ARE Hattori Hanzo.
I'm not sure this can even be called a katana, since they use mechanical devices to make it, not pure hand forging.

According to numerous 'how to' videos and books I've seen, @Magicpants has a good point, the blade should be straight until heat treating/quenching. Some interesting stuff here, but I'm not 100% sure it's all accurate by historic katana making standards.

And yes, @lucky760, ray skin. Just like shark skin, it's like natural sand paper and would make a grip quite 'sticky' to the hand.

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Tags for this video have been changed from 'Britains Got Talent, Karate Kid' to 'Britains Got Talent, kata, katana, kenjutsu, jesse jane mcparland' - edited by xxovercastxx

I agree. Normal/medium sized two handers seem to pretty much all be designed to allow you greater control rather than to add power (an axe or mace is always going to be better for that).

Wieldyness is much more important for them than power. As Lindy himself mentions in another vid swords like the Katana and longsword are backups and personal protection weapons not primary weapons of war. Convenient to carry around, and handy for parrying blows & grappling but second fiddle to almost any dedicated battlefield weapon (Spears, Naginata, maces etc.).

The most notable exception that springs to mind is the Roman Gladius, but it could be described as a glorified short spear with bonus cutting abilities rather than what most people think of as a sword. Rapiers and scimitars could also be thought of as more like spears and axes respectively in this sense.

And then there's the huge specialised warswords like claymores and Zweihanders but as lindy suggests in yet another vid they are a specialised tool for berserker charges and maybe advancing through a pikewall. Certainly not something you'd want to have a duel with or carry around at your waist.

Longswords and Katanas are like modern pistols. Good side-arms, but almost never a primary weapon of war. (Hollywood fails again)


Also.....Longsword totally > Katana. A well made longsword can hold just as sharp an edge as a Katana, has quillons to hook and lever an opponent and a straight focused point that can puncture steel plate. Katanas can maybe dismember someone easier, but that's about it.(all IMHO obviously)

I'm far from an expert, but I've spent a lot of time practicing with a bokken (wooden training sword) and the technique he shows here (control/pivot with the right hand, cut with the left) is pretty much identical to a Japanese sword cut (at least as practiced in Aikido and Iaido).

Of course, we all know that Katanas are crap the BEST SOWARD EVAAR!

That's exactly what I was looking for; like a sword master with a Katana...

I dunno if the katana was the best sword ever, but it's certainly the coolest