The Doc is right on.
The Jananese did/do polish the blades to an extreme degree. This is done by a polisher not in most cases by the smith. Polishing is it's own art form where a poisher must apprentice for many years. They are able to bring out the subtle qualities of the steel. This is called Hada. These are the impurities like the Doc said. And they are broken down and arranged into random patterns. This is not like mosaic damascus. Looks more like wood grain.
The polish can cost more than the sword. A good book to get is "The Craft of the Japanese Sword" The authors name is japanese and starts with a Y. I can't remember or begin to spell it.
The crappy steel IS why the japanese smiths, and other ancient smiths made the swords the way they did. The japanese elevated this to an art form and polished out the blades so you could see it. Most western smiths did not. But all the historical pattern welding was for function NOT astetics. Our modern high quality steels eliminate the need for this. The techniques were at one point in time in danger of being forgotten, but they weren't and now pattern welding AKA damascus steel, is done for artisitc and asctetic reasons. Some say they cutt better, but I think that was a rumor that was debunked. Edge geometry and the polish/sharpening are what determines the cutting ability.
-D
The Jananese did/do polish the blades to an extreme degree. This is done by a polisher not in most cases by the smith. Polishing is it's own art form where a poisher must apprentice for many years. They are able to bring out the subtle qualities of the steel. This is called Hada. These are the impurities like the Doc said. And they are broken down and arranged into random patterns. This is not like mosaic damascus. Looks more like wood grain.
The polish can cost more than the sword. A good book to get is "The Craft of the Japanese Sword" The authors name is japanese and starts with a Y. I can't remember or begin to spell it.
The crappy steel IS why the japanese smiths, and other ancient smiths made the swords the way they did. The japanese elevated this to an art form and polished out the blades so you could see it. Most western smiths did not. But all the historical pattern welding was for function NOT astetics. Our modern high quality steels eliminate the need for this. The techniques were at one point in time in danger of being forgotten, but they weren't and now pattern welding AKA damascus steel, is done for artisitc and asctetic reasons. Some say they cutt better, but I think that was a rumor that was debunked. Edge geometry and the polish/sharpening are what determines the cutting ability.
-D
