Fuck katanas.

I can relate. My dick's so big I have to get an IV of blood so that I don't faint from blood loss everytime I pop a boner. It's like inflating an enormous, fleshy balloon.

 

I have a Damascus steel dagger. I got it in Damascus (this was just pre-9/11, in August 2001. I don't think Westerners are allowed to go to Syria anymore). Apparently, if I ever drop it, it will shatter the earth and-

Well no, but the Arabs used to use them to smash European Crusaders' feeble sword and proceed to bash them with it for their insolence.

 

Yea, I'm pretty sure you had to fold the iron at least 6 times to get a decent katana, and the really great ones (epic like) were folded around 100 times.

Two layers of metal doesn't make a weapon more deadly, only heavier.

 

A true katana is a weapon I can respect. However, I think their are nicer swords out there. A wide and large scimitar, for example.

 

Alright, I'm officially pissed that I missed the entirety of this thread. I know enough about katanas to efficiently defent their cutting ability and usefullness in killing.

A good katana is started as a lump of steel that's been hammer forged from the once plentiful iron-sands of Japan. It's then folded up to 12 times, making it a layered steel with up to 4,000 layers. This makes it stronger than one contiguous mass of steel in much the same way that plywood is stronger by weight than solid wood. The layering effect of the sword's steel causes the blade to be not one large razor, but several thousand angled blades driven to one point. This coupled with the hardness of the steel (a high carbon alloy with small amounts of tungsten) means that once the blade has been honed to a razor's edge, it never needs to be sharpened under normal use, i.e. cutting people into pieces.
With no other blade will you get a cut of the same quality and clean-ness of a katana. As you know, sharpness is determined by maximizing surface area while minimizing contact points, and coupling that with the smoothness of the blade's body means there's more surface area in the blade than the entire rest of the sword combined. This comes out to an extremely clean cut. In this, the Japanese sword can't be beaten.
I'm not about to say that a katana can cut through steel without being damaged;
They were never designed to cut through steel, and anyone who uses a weapon of war to slice through random metals is an absolute idiot.
Now, I will address the superiority of European armors, but I will remind everyone that the equipment, while it does add certain advantages, has nothing at all to do with who's carrying it.

 

"Slice" perhaps... but pardon me for asking for clarification on this; The Godendag was specifically designed as a melee weapon to pierce plate armor.

As far as the katana goes; I was more impressed that they were able to make as superior weapon as they did, considering they have some of the most impure iron deposits in the world. That's why it took so much time, I'd imagine, for them to make them.

Also! A machine made, high carbon steel saber is effectively the same. Just one handed and with a basket. I happen to own both(saber and katana). Oddest thing is they're both total length of about 42"(roughly 107cm).



(I had to post something somewhere... I was being called a lurker by some members of this forums acman: )

 

A grievous insult to be sure

 

Youre right. Most weaponry was never designed to slice through anything but flesh and quilts, but there were weapons that were designed to pierce or puncture plate and chain armors.

 

Or, you grab yourself a common european winged mace and never worry about armor ever again. Blunt weapons made for bashing are the nemesises of the platemail (because you go for the head and not the body).

 

Those filthy bastards.
Words are needless, the Pacman explains everything.

 

Don't really see how this relates to the Grossenschwamm's quote, but the pattern warfare follows in general is the creation of weaponry, then protection against said weaponry, then weaponry to overcome that, so on, so forth, until you reach tanks and anti-tank weaponry, and their airborne cousins. It'll be a while before that pattern ends, but notable innovation on either front is no longer as simple as driving a spike through plate metal, or intricate, large clumps of staved metal to make tinned tomatoes of knights' heads.

What lovely thoughts.

 

Speaking of innovative modern weapons, do you people know what the AA12 is? If not, look it up.

I'd like to see a body armor that could tackle something like that fucking monster.

 

A crossbow can go through modern body armor and Kevlar vest like nothing. Then again... the crossbow was partially designed for it's armor piercing capabilities. AA12? never heard of it.

 

The AA12 is an epic piece of weaponry.
Must have one.
Wish they would have tossed it into Doom. (the game not the Dwayne Johnson vehicle)

 

Ah, Doom. The first movie I ever saw where I actually fell asleep through sheer boredom.

 

I liked that movie, but then again I liked this movie called Teeth which is about a girl who has a toothed vagina and eats people's penises.

 

If you think the AA12 is interesting, then it is most definitely Hammer time!
Fish: in lieu of a long conversation I think you missed, I'll simply provide you with a single word: braces.

 

Has there already been a thread about vagina dentata. Although it wouldn't surprise me.

 

Yep.
There was even talk of marketing a vaginal cream/tooth paste hybrid.
Something to stop the annoying itch and burn as well as prevent cavities.
Plus it would leave you smelling spring fresh...
or like a salad.
Your choice.

 

That's on e ugly piece of weaponry.

This might be fun for anyone who like guns and rails. It's a flash application, no pr0n here.