Added: 4 years ago
From: JeriShea
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  • the plural for Katana is "Katanas"

    not ...."katana's"

  • too close to the mic...

  • very informative, knew most of it... but not in that much technical detail, so thanks for posting!!! just a little feedback, don´t speak so close to the mike. Check out my NEW video "KATANA APPLE BOOM!!!" to see a katana in action!!! ありがとう

  • Just saying but the katana takes several months if not a year to make. Or longer.

  • Narrator's voice reminds me of Angus T. Jones' voice !!!!

  • this basically rips off "the craft of the japanese sword" by leon and horuko kapp with yoshindo yoshihara. A must have for katana aficionados.

  • this is the worst "narration" or whatever you call I have ever seen. Take some classes on how to do this.

  • adamantium FTW

  • LEARN TO USE THE DAMN APOSTROPHE. USE IN POSSESSIVE CASES.

  • Please redo this with better audio.

  • cool video , but you should try to make the audio quality better

  • anyone else hear him say, "How a traditional Katanas are made" at the beginning?

  • Oh! Well! Now its day two & still no chemistry lecture from gaijinmodoki !!!

  • Oh! Well, looks like my chemistry lecturer, taken a vacation :)

  • Dude, you kinda sound like Kakashi in the dub series :D

  • the sand is from japanese mountains, not beaches.

  • Does anyone know how much it would cost to have a katana made this way? I will be willin to pay a LOT to have a true katana. Not the cheap chinese crap i see all the time.

  • @wingedsword93

    A min of $10,000 and that’s a conservative estimate 

  • japanese bitches!!xDDDD

  • @dave27786 Hurrah.

  • @kishan20101 ahh unoriginal comment, we meet again.

  • ahh 240p, we meet again

  • 1:33 that's what she said.

  • Glorious master race Zweihänder beats the shit of punny ancient japanese katana anyday.

  • please move away from the mic to breathe

  • You sound just like James Earl Jones. This video was riveting.

  • it's called ductility and malleability, dingbat.

  • Hardest known steel in the world? I don’t think so pal.

    Hardest steel in the world Carbon steel 1090

    C=0.90%, Mn=0.75%, P=0.04% max, S=0.05% min

    tensile strength 122,000 psi, yield strength 67,000 psi

    & there is no way that two guys are going to bashing that quality of steel with a couple of hammers. Nor is this type of blade making unique it was found in Spain in Toledo where the blades were called “Alma de hierro” Soul of Iron. 

  • Role on when Hollywood starts to catch up on the research & practitioners not just of European Arts but other cultures martial heritage. When we can at last get away from the hyperbole BS of eastern arts as the only place these art lived and the weapons were the best.

  • Cont:

    They weren’t and they never were. if these swords were so shit hot then the European

    Aristocrats & merchant class would have imported them on mass, they had the money and over a hundred yrs of contact.

  • @Bulllseye2012

    That, right here, is just spot on (ironical, considering your nickname) - Europeans have been sending ships to Japan for over a century, yet they haven't ever attempted to import the katana.

    Hell, forget about importing, they haven't even attempted to emulate the design at home - throughout all of Europe's museums, there isn't a single European-made blade even remotely resembling a katana...

  • @Bulllseye2012 You know he is talking about the crystal structure of steel? Not compund content right?

  • @gaijinmodoki

    I think that we’ve dealt with that. All I know is other societies around the old word were doing remarkable work with steel well over a thousand yrs ago.

    That there is a lot of hype over these swords, that the manufacture was more about ritual then efficient manufacture. That if these swords were the be all and end all of swords. The European merchant class would have taken them back to Europe, to sell & they didn’t.

  • @Bulllseye2012 What does that have to do with anything I said about martensite being a crystalline structure of steel not chemical composite?

  • @gaijinmodoki

    "martensite being a crystalline structure of steel not chemical composite"

    So martensite is not found in Stainless steel then?

    However if you are able to point out exactly what is unique in either blade, design, steel or manufacture that was not found else where or bettered, I’d be intrigued to know?

  • @Bulllseye2012 Wow, what a troll. I never said anything but martensite is a crystalline structure of steel and you start ranting.. And stainless steel is a steel mixture and not even made in the same way martensite is, stupid. Calm the fuck down and learn chemistry instead of masturbating to your History of Ancient weapons book.

  • @gaijinmodoki "I never said anything but martensite is a crystalline structure of steelW

    Then what crystalline structure are you going on about then?

    "Calm the fuck down and learn chemistry"

    OK you start giving me a chemistry lecture, What is the unit cell of the crystal, that your going on about?

  • Interesting video. BTW, the plural of katana is katanas not "katana's." The apostrophe s means it's a possessive.

  • @cogliostro713 The plural of katana is katana. It is a Japanese word and does not add an 's' to denote plural.

  • @cogliostro713 Actually, they both are wrong, there is no plural in Japanese and the English convention would be to borrow the Japanese convention of one katana, two katana, three katana, four. Though, you are right about it being possessive.

  • just fyi, they don't shape the curve into it, that happens during the hardening process automatically thanks to the layers of clay.

  • the folding was to help remove some of the impurity's in the metal and the cirviture of the blades are a result of the quenching of the blade as for the finishing the cheep ones back then took a week but the expensive one could take up to six months to polish and the handles were and still are made from Rey skin of carp scales with a inner surface of cord. other then that every thing about this video is acuret i person-ay have a titanium katana that i hand forged over the course of 3 years

  • @8splashplayer Titanium katana, for what purpose, decoration? I think you can get only like 42 HRC out of HQ grade 5 Ti, which is nowhere near what is needed for the cutting edge of a light sword. Just because a cool vampire in a big Hollywood movie claimed to have a Ti-katana, it does not mean this would be the metal of choice for blades... :)

  • @MrZetor titanium is a poor steel for a blade. doesnt hold a good edge and hard to sharpen.

  • @8splashplayer a traditional steel katana is better than a titanium one titanium is strong but dosent hold an edge

  • yeah lame!!!!!!! disliked

  • i'm new to collecting swords...Is a high carbon steel katana decent?

  • @gameterrain yeah, almost every katana nowadays is made from that steel, and its pretty descent, in fact its better steel than the one japanese used, you should care more about the making of the sword instead of the steel used, not that its not important, but as you can see, they made/make the best swords with crappy steel because their construction was flawless

  • what stops people from goin to the beach and getting sand to make swords

  • Where can I get a real blade, I have stainless steel ones they break often.. any help?

  • @kidtaj93 how did you use it? smash it into the wall?

  • Jesus get a wind break!

  • Its just that easy.

  • i want one can sum1 gimme advice :)

  • One of mine broke....

  • @jalobeaulieu1 probably a cheap stainless steel replica then, youd have to pretty much set out to break the thing on [purpose if it were an actual katana

  • the "hand guard" is called a tsuba

  • the vikings folded swords houndred of years before the asians :I

  • @TheLawnWanderer Everyone did the folding, its what they did before they figure out how to smelt good iron for their steel.

  • @kovona folding still makes the steel today better

  • @davidwaddell3393

    Actually no it doesn't. Good steel (swedish powder steel for one), L6, etc are all superior steels that DO NOT ned to be folded. You do know WHY you fold steel right?

  • @EvilxMerlin the folding still helps m8 the more you fold it and hammer it out it removes any impurities and no steel is free of all impurities from a liquid metal form. when you hammer and fold the metal it creates a fine grain microstructure. L6 steel is an air hardening tool steel that is usually not used for sword making. The only tool steel i know they still use is W-2 which is hard to come by. but even when they use w2 for a katana making any real sword smith would still fold the steel.

  • @davidwaddell3393 the best katanas are usually several different kinds of steel

  • Respond to this video... sorry i said air for l6 i was thinking of w2 the l6 is oil or water depending on the content of other metals

  • @davidwaddell3393

    Um, L6 makes some of the best katana's period. Go look up Howard Clark... and again, there is NO reason to fold modern steel.

  • @davidwaddell3393

    Endlessly folding and hammering out imaginary impurities will decarbonize the blade, bro...

  • @Zyamaman Folded 4 times, but has a layer of over 16k folds :p

  • @Silverflame702 He said 14 times: layers per fold respectively: 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,102­4,2048,4096,8192,16384. that is 14 folds. Now to to 20 folds (beyond which is pointless because further folding does not do anything for the blade) 32768, 65536, 131072,262144,524288,1048576. That is 20 folds.

  • @PaddyBishProductions

    I'll tell you something else - it's pointless beyond 12 folds, too.

    14 and more, and the only thing you're gonna do is decarbonize your metal.

    At 20 folds, the only thing that'll remain would be a worthless piece of iron, wich would cost you a small fortune due to all the man-hours wasted on it...

  • @davidwaddell3393 Yes, even today I know that artillery gun barrels and other steel parts are folded in hot form for strength, except these days its with powerful hydraulic presses. But generally for high grade alloy steel, you want to keep the grain as homogeneous and continuous as possible, and sometimes folding goes against this. But still, folding back in antique helped homogenized the wrought and cast iron irregularities in the iron bar that would become the sword, so its the same idea.

  • @TheLawnWanderer Yeah but their swords sucked....

  • @trolltodadome " a wild troll has a appeard"

    "wild troll uses unoriginal comment"

    *its not very effective*

  • zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz­zzzzzzzzzzz

  • It sounds like hes talking with his tongue constantly at the roof of his mouth...lol

  • Quite amazing to see how much effort goes into making a tool designed to kill other people... But also quite fascinating.

  • Comment removed

  • "Hardest known form of steel in the world" hahaha, oh wow, this guys faggotry is unbounded. The strongest steel known to man is EGLIN STEEL, you fucking tard, not martensite. If Katana's are made from the strongest steel on earth then why the fuck would they constantly chip and get damaged if they remained unmaintained or hit armored targets? Oh, that's right, because this is a fucking fanboy vid.

  • hte curve is put there deliberitly or else it wouldnt retain its streingth

  • The lexus

  • how katana's what are made?

  • @ mutmataco- It's not the strengths of the steels, but the densities. Also, the addition of the clay to the back of the blade helps retain a small bit of the heat.

    But you're correct on the rest of it.

    The result of the blade curving in the hardening process is that the edge, on a microscopic level, resembles a very fine saw - formed by the erosion of the steel between the carbides during sharpening/polishing. This is why they SLICE so effectively. Jap. sword techniques embrace this.

  • @SomeViolentKid Cause he got them from a reject shop

  • FUNNY CUZ I THOUGHT HATTORI HANZO MADE ALL KATANA'S YOU LIAR!!!!!

  • MADE IN CHINA

  • god, that is amazing!

  • Speak up! I could barely hear you.

  • Thumbs up for putting a wind screen on his mic

  • nice vid though!

  • What belongs to Katana?

  • breathe in the mic much

  • @mst3ksanta **He didn't move away from the mic to breathe.

  • I am a blacksmith & he got 2 things wrongs that I noticed, 1 is shaping the sword into a curve tht only happens when the blade is cooled BC the softer steel cools faster than the harder thus a warp. 2 heating the metal until it sparkles sounds like wht is called burning, when that happens the carbon atoms begin to leave the steel not flow freely it makes it brittle & carbon uneven the katana is so overrated the folding techniques are to remove impurities not make it strong I could go on forever

  • @locodriver107

    dude have u seen the samurai v long sword vid samurai ones are more agile and more deadly

  • @InvasionUnknown

    Everyone have seen that video: it's nothing but a pile of arbitrary, unscientific drivel - it proves absolutely nothing

  • such an overrated weapon im a combat teacher and id take my broadswords and claymores any day!!!!!!!!!

  • @locodriver107 The katana is only overrated because of stereotypes. And no, no you are not a combat teacher. You're probably just some greasy 13 year old that's just learned how to masturbate. Go learn your shit.

  • @SomeViolentKid Your friend doesn't have an original katana. OR he has the dulled ones that you can pretty much buy anywhere. Not an original one which im sure they dont just make for anyone.

  • OMG buy a pop filter

  • katana's are not the "sharpest swords in the world"

    a freaking cutco knife is sharper

    my friend has 12 katana's and the cutco knife cuts better

    lol

  • @SomeViolentKid Depends on the blacksmith.

  • @SomeViolentKid umm.. idk what kind of katanas your friend has, but a traditional made katana is the second sharpest blade known to man. The only thing sharper is a scalpel that doctors use in surgery.

  • u forgot to say that only japanese man can make one

  • @salvadoraugustus hahahaha

  • now thats what i call *puts on sun glasses*

    killer origami.

    YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!­!!!!!!!!

  • You forgot about the soul of a criminal that is given a chance to regain their owner by putting it in to the blade and serving the Samurai.

  • If only he had some kind of absorber for his dubbing. He keeps spitting on the mike and it's kind of annoying to listen to.

  • So many mistakes in this video. But it's still good.

  • dude ur WAY off

  • always good to learn something on youtube

  • in world war 4 they will use sword as weapon cuz they nuclear in world war 3.......

  • @muhammadrazman maybe LOL

  • I think he means were made. Now most of them are made in china

  • When the day comes that i master the katana, i will craft my own blade.

  • I want one :p

  • Comment removed

  • @mutmataco i always thought they were made like that so they can atack and unsheeth in one move

  • @platinumgunz98 Most swords can be unsheathed and attack in one move a long as the wielder has no trouble of getting it out of the scabbard. The problem of the Katana in the Obi (belt) is that it doesn't hang down freely so yes the curve helps in this case. But the curve was mostly useful when the japanese sword was used mainly as cavalry saber (the tachi). The curve helps to make a slicing motion when cuting downwards and helps the wrist to endure the shock when hitting.

  • @mutmataco hey retard read the description

  • @MrNiceman07 hey retard, he changed the description after i corrected him cause of the thumbs up i got, he had some other mistake written in the description, that why my comment starts with, another mistake!

  • @mutmataco I was about to make that correction myself, good eye!

  • Comment removed

  • @mutmataco NO! your also wrong. The hardening process does not involve metal to metal contact. It is when the katana is rapidly cooled after it has been subjected to immense heat. The katana is coated with clay, the part which covered with a thin layer of clay cools very rapidly does it is very very hard forming the edge of the katana. While the non-edge part is coated with the thicker clay which cools slower and is more ductile, which results in the katana's bending and forms its curve.

  • @mutmataco

    That is false, the blades were originally intended to be curved to aid in the unsheathing of the sword. The katana's curved figure allows it to be drawn quicker than its precursor, the tachi which is forged in nearly an identical fashion using folded and carbon steel. The curve has nothing to do with the metal or cooling process.

  • @TheMasterKush1 depends on the maker dipshit, the clay is to protect the blade whilst quenching and used as a signature for sword makers, my comment has more likes so i must be right!!! hahaha! clay on the sword will only affect the strength of the metals not the curve, sword makers rarely use one sold metal!

  • @TheMasterKush1 incorrect...the curve was both intended to be there, but is indeed created by the forging/cooling process

  • @mutmataco - Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. The curvature of a katana is attained by a process of quenching; the sword maker coats the blade with several layers of a wet clay slurry which is a special concoction unique to each sword maker, but generally composed of clay, water, and sometimes ash, grinding stone powder and/or rust.

  • @mutmataco - The edge of the blade is coated with a thinner layer than the sides and spine of the sword, then it is heated and then quenched in water (some sword makers use oil to quench the blade). The clay slurry provides heat insulation so that only the blade's edge will be hardened with quenching and it also causes the blade to curve due to reduced lattice strain along the spine.

  • @mutmataco - You were headed down the right path, but you left out some very crucial information.

  • @mutmataco I thought it was more in the differential rates of cooling that caused the curve. The areas covered with the clay mixture cool more slowly than the exposed areas which contract much more quickly.

  • @mutmataco actually they do do it on purpose they put something on it and as it cools it bends into a curve

  • @mutmataco you dont have a clue about what you are talking about... idiot jackass

  • Id make mine from lava and id put it in a katana outline see how that makes it :P

  • i love katana's so much art put into each blade.

  • WolfghosT0@ dont read this remove that crap comment or my grandma wil fuck you in ur sleep

  • no, the steel is not melted. if you melt the steel, its going to lose its carbon prosent, then its not anymore good for blades... and the hardening temperature, the steels color is tellow-orange, 770-850celsius, if it sparkless, it burns

  • @nivenheim Ok, I just got the impression that the Romans had somehow superior weapons. Truth is, their weapons weren't really _that_ good, but by far probably the best for fighting like they did. IMHO, they won with discipline, not with their weapons.

  • @nivenheim Well, the Romans did have some significant edges over the Celts. Disciplined & trained tactics, for example. As well as armor & pilums. But your point is valid, though.

  • I love how the microphone is in your throat give it some distance jeez no need to deep throat the mic

  • Wow. I wonder how much the Japs knew about the science behind making a Katana. I am sure they did not know 16 thousand layers where in 16 folds. Did they learn to forge swords from years off trial and error or they knew the science involved from the start??? Clever stuff!!

  • @Ritchiebaxter

    I very much doubt they had any understanding of the chemical processes occurring inside the blade during work - they developed all their techniques by trial and error, and passed it onward by strict tradition.

    That's how any kind of craft, anywhere in the world, worked in the ancient times.

    As per the number of layers - well, that's simple multiplication was around way before the 16th century, there's no reason why they couldn't figure it out.

    It's 65 thousand, BTW, not 16.

  • @Ritchiebaxter

    It's 65 thousand layers, BTW, not 16 - that's why no one ever folded a blade more than ten times.

    At more than a dozen folds you're running into the risk of decarbonizing the metal, basically returning to a piece of plain iron...

  • @Ritchiebaxter "I am sure they did not know 16 thousand layers where in 16 folds."

    its pretty simple maths, the number of layers is exponential to the number of folds, ie: 0 folds is one layer, 1 fold is 2 layers, 2 folds is 4 layers, 3 folds is 8 layers and on and on... but i agree with you totally, its very clever, and very interesting. greets btw :)

  • @frackcha Greets to you also :) Its common knowledge to know the Katana is special in it own right. but an average Joe does no appreciate how much work goes into a Katana till they watch a clip like this one. Its must have taken years off trial and error with there limited science.Very fascinating stuff.

  • @Ritchiebaxter Yes. And the Celts did the same about two millenia before. The Japanese on the other hand, came to this and stuck with it for 900 years or so. They came up with perfection, and stopped refining it further.

  • I want a Ktana now!

    Let's cut some trees!

  • @USFullOfLies Yeah, good luck with that. It works about as well as with a kitchen knife. Or a herring, for that matter.

  • Can a sword really be called a katana if it's not made from Tamahagane?

  • @NovaScotiaNewfie Yes. You got more silly question scruffy boy?

  • @newtubetubetube scruffy boy???

  • @NovaScotiaNewfie Google motherfucker, do you use it?

  • @NovaScotiaNewfie No sword can be called a 'katana', unless you're talking Japanese. A sword is a sword. Katana is sword in Japanese.

  • @DiabolusIgnis Ken is sword in japanese. katana is a certin type of sword in certin mountings. So you are wrong. a katana is a katana in any language so long as it is mounted in the buke-zukuri style. how ever a lot of poeple even think of a tachi as a katana. Katana has became a word wich to most semply mean sword" of any kind" in japanese. This is wrong and naive.

  • @1990christopher Hmm... You're right, sorry. I just checked with someone more proficient in Japanese. But most agree that the word katana nowadays imply any Japanese sword, however wrong it may be.

    But please don't call me naive because of one mistake.

  • @DiabolusIgnis I was saying more that most of the population is naive when it comes to japanese swords, and there colture. Wasn't trying to offend you, just currect you. And I'm sorry if I did. But, I must say I am impressed with the way you exepted this knew info and addmited your mistake. Most poeple would rather deffend till the end as opposed to learning. It takes a real man to addmit his mistakes and learn from them.

  • @1990christopher No worries, fellow sane person. Being active on YouTube for some months now have had me lose hope for humanity several times, and I'm happy someone is actually mature. You're a good person, keep up with it.

  • no...no he does not sound like charlie sheen

  • Everything els is correct though, thanks for the vid.

  • At 1:32 it is wrong, the traditional katana did not get it's curve at that stage, they are made straight and it wold get its curve when he tempering it at 2:07.

    how it woks is that because the back of the blade is softer than the edge, when you rapidly cool it the softer part contracts and the harder part dose not, this forces the blade to bend automatically. in other words the sword gives itself the curve, not the smith.

  • fairly accurate, could i suggest making another vid, with a few alterations, first a better mic, second the "Hardening" process is called tempering and the "cooling" is called quenching, and i believe it is in oil not water as quenching in water is too harsh and makes the sword brittle. sources, brown belt in jujitsu, and undergraduate in technology., otherwise good vid though...

  • Funny voice

  • bad mic

  • dude youre too close to the mic but everything else is awsum :D

  • That's not the hardest steel, everyone knows the hardest steel is carbon steel. Best combat knives are now all made with carbon steel, even the new generation katanas. The tradional katana maybe hard but no way the melting sand is the hardest steel.

  • @CorruptedLeo This is a form of carbon steel you moron..