S.Shepherd
Active Member
Yes Traditional steel most likely would as you say, bend and hold like Aqua Net, but who could really afford to buy and destruction test 1 of those?
I was referring to some various modern Diff. HT 'd (Hard back soft spine) W Hammon (Some were forged 9260) Katana's testing.
Today a smart user's Katana is all about
Cuts great, no bending 2thumbs if you stuff up a cut angle, or the proper follow through while the blade is in the cut, which would normally lead to edge chipping or Blade bending.
Even Masters have bent a few of the Traditional Tamahagane style blades, during Tamashigiri, so . . I prefer the new cutting edge metallurgy combined W the old Japaneses blade patterns, but W a spring like steel you don't even need a very thick blade any more which of course means you can have a slimmer cross section and that really helps to reduce the blades friction in the cut, and that means all else being equal a much better Gozo cutter! yea!
just a little info, I've seen just about every model of paul chens swords either bend or torque and require some straightening. The new "raptor" line is the most forgiving I've seen- made from 5160 and differentially heat treated. I picked one up at SHOT and although it's a bit heavy it's a very nice blade. Forgiving but not fool proof-- it's pretty common for quite a few blades to been a "tweak" after a long session of tamashigiri.
Any japanese sword differentially heat treated is going to bend and set easier than a blade thats a 56hrc all the way through..it's the nature of the beast with a soft spine taking up a mojority of the blades mass.
I notice you're near Detroit, do you study Iaido at a dojo there ?
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