Samurai Swords on PBS

[ringzero]

Did anyone else see the show on PBS Tues. night?

Followed creation of a sword from smelting the iron ore to finished product and had some history of S. swords.

I never knew S. swords were rated by how many human bodies they could pierce, with a "5-body sword" being the top rating.

Also, didn't know they actually tested the swords by lopping off the hands and heads of criminals.

The "William Tell" bit with the daughter shooting the arrow at her swordsmith father was sort of crazy and scary.

What if he had missed the arrow with his sword?

What if he cut the arrow in half but one of the pieces traveled on to hit him in the eye?

Also had some good stuff about the metallurgy of iron and steel.

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[prime77]

I watched it and thought it was really interesting. I was hoping to catch it again. Your right about the arrow bit, scary stuff.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Yeah I've seen it before, and it was a bloody good show (if badly acted in places). A friend of mine's a bladesmith so I've been told a few stories about the Katana