Re: Needed: Advice on best material for special application

On Wed, 15 Oct 2003 09:29:07 +1000, "Simon Kay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

>Why not use steel?  It has all the characteristics you are looking for, and
>will behave like a real sword.

I wouldn't use steel.  It's too sharp, and it doesn't behave like a
real sword.

Steel is dense, so a "sword weight" of steel is going to be narrow.
Too narrow for an impact to be safe, even if not sharpened (and this
does happen from time to time).

Secondly, steel doesn't have the balance of a real sword, unless you
go to a lot of trouble in profiling it.  Handle a real sword sometime
- you'll be amazed at how well balanced it is. OK, so this is
different for a Japanese sword (relatively blade heavy, and useless
for fencing) compared to a 19th century European sword, but it's still
an issue.

I'd favour wood - hickory or ash.  Both are strong enough to survive
dojo use.  If they don't, then look at the quality of the timber
you're using. Both these timbers are potentially strong, but highly
variable. Look for _coarse_ growth rings, especially in ash, as
fast-grown timber is stronger than slow grown (for a ring porous
species like this)

Being light, you can also make a wooden sword much fatter than a dense
sword, improving the impact safety aspect.


(I practice iaido, and I'm also a woodworker)

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