Hank Reinhardt's The Book of the Sword by Hank Reinhardt Read Free Book Online Page B

turning the iron ore into steel. Although they used rather sophisticated methods of heating and purifying the ore, heating, reheating, beating the metal to remove impurities, and doing this with the usual Japanese thoroughness, the basic ore they started with was not quite as good as the Indian. But excellent techniques of manufacture, great care in the construction, and strict observance of ritual (which aided keeping to the precise time required for various operations) and the Japanese were able to produce truly excellent swords. Not the magic swords of movies, but truly fine weapons.
    There is one incontrovertible fact about steel. The harder it is, the more likely it is to break, shatter, or chip. All of the efforts the swordmaker exerts are intended to minimize this. The Japanese wrapped soft steel around hard steel, and vice versa; differential tempering, with the edge left hard and the body soft, was also used. Oftimes the smith tried "packing" the edge (repeated hammering to make the edge denser and thus stronger). Most times the sword was tempered so that the whole blade had a tough spring—able to cut well and still be springy enough to absorb the shock of a blow. All of these things worked to a degree, but none of them produced the perfect sword. Since each weapon is made for a specific type of combat, each will have different requirements. There is simply no perfect sword.
Suggestions for further reading from the editors:
    De la Bedoyere, Guy, The Finds of Roman Britain . B.T. Batsford, Ltd., London, 1989.
    Grancsay, Stephen, V., Arms & Armor: Essays from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1920–1964, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986.
    Spring, Christopher , African Arms and Armour . Smithsonian, 1993.
     

3: Design and Geometry of Swords
    People have been designing swords since the discovery and use of copper. They found that copper, even with a central rib down the blade, was not really a good material for swords. With the invention of bronze, swords became more practical. But even here the material helps to dictate the shape of the sword and consequently its capabilities and usage.
    Iron gave a much wider range, and steel increased it even more. But there is so much more involved in sword design than merely the material involved. How was the sword to be used? How was it to be carried? What was the type armor it was likely to face? How strong was the individual carrying the weapon? And just as important, what was the fashion of the day? These are just a few of the questions that might be asked regarding the design of the sword. So let's examine it bit by bit.
PARTS OF THE SWORD
    In discussing the sword most people like to start with the blade and separate it into three parts: the forte, which is the strong section of the blade near the hilt; the middle of the blade; and the foible, which is the weak section of the point. This is fine if you happen to be talking about rapiers or nothing but straight-bladed European weapons. If you happen to be talking about a kora it makes no sense at all. (The kora is a down-curved Nepalese blade that ends in two cusps.) To me, when talking about swords and sword design it makes more sense to divide the sword into two basic parts, and then subdivide them and discuss each.
     

     
    The two basic parts of the sword are the blade and the handle. The handle can be broken down into the grip, the guard (if it has one) and the pommel (if it has one).
    The blade can be broken down into the body of the sword, the edge, and the point. Now it is quite possible for the sword not to have a point, as in the case of the above mentioned kora. It can also not have an edge (many thrusting swords did not have edges).
     
    Even the kora shares the subdivision into two basic parts: blade and handle.
     
    The body of the sword, the blade, governs which working part, the point or the edge, is the most important, and it also governs how the sword is to be used in general.
    There is