Samurai Swords and The Swordsmiths

Back in the early times of sword manufacture,but in the constant folding and hammering of the
the production of super strong high-grade carbonsteel, it would create internally something
steel wasn't even a vague dream. But we know,comparable to layers. Take a book and fold it
as history has taught us, that sword makers ofparallel to the spine, roll it up and you'll see what a
ancient times still managed to produce superbswords structure inside would look like, and also
quality, strong weapons.see how strength increases. This gave the sword
So just how was this possible all those hundredsa superior strength. As in much of Japanese
of years ago? How did these ancientculture, like Martial Arts for example, many
swordmakers manage to craft weapons of suchadvancements and ways are attributed to
high-quality? What was the secret to this skill ofemulating natures ways and by observing natures
taking poor quality ore and turning it into thepatterns.
finest quality steel blades? Well, it seems theIt is sometimes thought by some that the idea
process of Japanese samurai swords making wasfor this 'folding' to create the 'rings/layers' inside
an highly advanced artform. It wasn't as simple asthe samurai sword came about by looking at the
casting a sword shape with molten steel andcross section of the inside of a tree trunk and
sharpening an edge. What the swords makersobserving the way these almost layer like rings of
would do was to hammer the heated andwood gave the tree the strength to stand upto
softened steel flat, and fold it over and hammer itnatures forces without breaking very easily, but
flat again, and repeat this process over and over,merely bending with the wind. This is thought by
maybe by upto as much as thirty times.some to be the idea which gave birth to the
This was a very long and labor-intensive process,folded steel concept of Japans samurai swords.