Posted on 11/15/2006 11:04:58 AM PST by blam
King ?Richard? and a Saracen sheikh are in a parley and are bragging about the "sharpness" of their swords.Richard has an aide lay the metal handle of a mace across two chairbacks and, with a single mighty blow with his two-handed sword, hacks it in two.
The Saracen tosses a gossamer silk scarf into the air and holds his scimitar out horizontally, blade edge upward. As the silk wafts down onto the blade, it falls on either side -- neatly sliced in two.
Then the Saracen says, "Your sword is strong. Mine is sharp -- and strong."
~~~~~~
I attributed the scarf trick to special effects, (which were pretty primitive back then) -- but I always wondered...
Yes. Yes. They can trade and receive technology. We can invent, in short order, ways to annihilate entire cities with a single weapon the design of which required a component only discovered 13 years previous (i.e. the neutron). I don't doubt savages can arm themselves. In the race to survive, though, the free and creative will vanquish.
From Thomas Sowell:
There are only 18 computers per thousand persons in the Arab world, compared to 78 per thousand persons worldwide. Fewer than 400 industrial patents were issued to people in the Arab countries during the last two decades of the 20th century, while 15,000 industrial patents were issued to South Koreans alone.
From Churchill ("The River War", circa 1899!)
"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries.
Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.
The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science‹the science against which it had vainly struggled‹the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome."
Pure iron is not brittle. Iron, as it is commonly called, is the product of smelting operations and contains high amounts of carbon which renders the iron brittle although there are two forms, ductile and malleable, of iron which are more ductile. Steel usually has significantly lower amounts carbon. Alloy steels contain significant amounts of metals such as nickel,chromium,etc.
Well get me some Damascus steel screwdriver tips for my Gerber multi-tool. I've snapped three of them off, easy as cake.
There are custom knife makers turning out damascus blades today.
Damascus was a terrific material hundres of years ago. Because of the mixture of steel and iron, it was flexible yet kept a far better edge that the soft iron swords of the time.
You can now get better steel in a $4.00 pocket knife at a gas station.
There are a few outfits making Damascus Steel pocketknives ... the blades tend to be more expensive even than some modern steel alloys, but they sure do look nice. And they take one heck of an edge.
Yeah, and the "legendary Gerber blade" on my G-tool snapped into at least three pieces while I was cutting a 1/2" green pine limb. :-(
And since we brought up Japanese swords let me address this issue also (I'm a former fencer):
Japanese swords were technology advanced for their time, but they lacked the abilities that a European broadsword had.
The Japanese sword was sharpened the same way as a knife, at a 9 to 10 dgree angle. A European broadsword wsa sharpened at 60%, like a chisel because the broadsword was designed to blow through chainmail or breaking bones. I suspect many knights died of broken ribs rather than cuts.
The Japanese sword was esentially a large knife that was optimised for removing heads and would not have faired well at all against the broadsword.
The lack of a usable hilt on a Japanese sword has always bothered me until I figured out that the stiff leather and bamboo armor of the Samurai would protect them agains those swords. A broadsword would severe that armor as if weren't even present.
And if you want to compare light swords to Japanese swords the rapier was one of the most lethal weapons ever invented in the hands of cavalry office of the 17th century. Would have been no contest. Samurai down in under a minute.
I remember my 7th grade history teacher telling us about Damascus steel. He said that it was extremely flexible yet hard at the same time and they didn't know how it was done. How interesting.
Today's Damascus steel is much harder than the old stuff. One of the knife makers I know uses heavy telephone wire to forge the blades. Apparently the wire bundle has a nice selection of hard and less hard steel to work with.
I've looked at some Dmascus blades but they appear to be nowhere near the hardness of good current knife steel. They are, however, very beautiful.
Okay, sooner than you think...
God bless Richard Smalley's soul. My son knew him. (father of Bucky Balls)
Right ... my S30V and ATS-4 blades are much harder, hold their edge considerably longer. The one Damascus blade I own does sharpen quicker, though, but doesn't hold its edge quite as long.
From Syria?
Gillette used to buy old submarines to make razor blades. They may still do that, I don't know.
Maybe.
bump
"The one Damascus blade I own does sharpen quicker, though, but doesn't hold its edge quite as long."
Exactly as you would expect. The Damascus steel is quite a bit softer than your other blades. I use Case knives because the steel is so hard and strong. I don't dare shave with them.
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