How do you make the perfect sword?

The curve of the katana should come from the differential heat treating of the blade and is not forged into it. San-mai steel [ that of which the older swords are made] is diffrent from true damascus as it is a sandwich of two types of steel, whereas damascus is a pattern weld type. San-mai is only folded once, and is a harder steel wrapped around a softer iron core. This gives the blade flexibility as well as hardness. It just so happens that the curve from the heat treating process is at an optimum level for a draw slice, as it allows for the minimum amount of steel to be in contact with the cut surface thus allowing a quicker deeper cut.

respectfully
reluctantpawn

I too like the asian swords over the european ones. But I have to say one thing. the metal whatever it is has to be flexable to some extent if it's a light or thin sword. not only will this ability to flex and bend slightly increase the ability of the sword to absorb impact with bone etc and not shatter but also because a lot of sword technique that 've learned (chinese stuff) requires the blade to flex a little to hit the right targets and to deploy power in a lot of the wrist related movements more efficiently.

Originally posted by ignorant_ape
perfect for what ?

there is IMHO no such thing as a single " perfect sword "

what ever design you think is " perfect " is infact optimised to your favoured prenotions of idealised combat in conditions of your chosing and against your ` favoured ` oponent

change any one of thouse parameters and your " perfect sword " will demostrate its shortcomings / flaws

yeah, no such thing as a single " perfect sword

Don't laugh too much but I came up with the perfect sword for virtually no money. You could call it the "Situation-X Sword". Not only is it's cheapness a possible virtue, but the fact that it's crude and ugly and made with minimal skill means nobody would ever steal it for its looks. I know it's how I'd make it, because the ability to make it already exists in my skill set (as well as the majority of people that don't have specialized metalworking trade skills.)

I pondered over and imagined what would make an interesting weapon in bad times and came up with the idea of making a pair of really crude short swords from an old rotary lawnmower blade. (You'd probably want a large diameter lawn tractor blade, but some big knives yielded from a push mower blade may be handy too.) Once the blade is removed from a lawnmower you'd cut a notch near the middle and halfway across, up the length in the middle and then another notch all the way across. (This could be done either with a spiral cut metal hacksaw, cutting torch, or some rotary tool.) Once the pieces separate you'd have a narrower handle tang area. Put some wood around or weld something to the handle tang bit, wrap with rope or leather, and now you have two blades that can be left squared like a machete, rouded to a point at the tip, or filed to an edge on both sides and pointed.

Now how is it best? In a SHTF scenario, finding a lawnmower blade doesn't seem too terribly hard. In many places, it's actually quite easy. Also there's no need for forging or blacksmithing (or the more refined swordsmithing) knowhow. Cut, file, and hone, that's all. Now it may not be anywhere good as a traditional sword in keeping an edge, it's only a half lawnmower blade in reach, but the tradeoff for some softness in the metal is that it's going to be highly resilient. If the blade material can slam into a hefty rock while being spun at 3000 RPM by a 5HP motor and not shatter or noticably bend in it's original form, you know it can bludgeon, lacerate, or smash through just about anything if still not quite able to cut it. Also whatever steel is used doesn't seem to rust or corrode too easily when considering the original purpose. Commonly found decorative/ceremonial and some other types of useable but more difficult to make traditional swords may not even get near the kind of abuse something this crude and cheap could take. (Nor would you want to treat them in such a disposable manner.) If the improvised form and handle holds up, it's probably something more utilitarian than just a weapon and falls somewhere between a hatchet and machete in usefulness.

Alternately you could try cutting a hand grip into one end to make one long blade, but it may be a bit more unwieldy in regards to balance. Also some lawnmower blades taper at the ends in regards to thickness, thus the area with the most "meat" that would make a good handle is around the bolt hole in the center.

[edit on 4-7-2010 by pauljs75]

For the most cutting power, have the tip weighted.