Japanese Swordsmithing - Commercial Folded Steel Swords

Commercial Folded Steel Swords

In recent years, as the public has become more aware of the Japanese style of sword making, many companies have begun to offer laminated steel swords, typically marketing them as "damascus" swords, which usually command higher prices than their non-folded equivalents. Many people are willing to pay a premium for such blades in the belief that any laminated blade will be superior in performance and quality to any non-folded blade, but in fact it is just the reverse—a low quality laminated sword may be more likely to contain metallurgical flaws than a sword made from a single piece of steel that came off the line in a modern steel plant, and any flaws would significantly increase the likelihood of breakage at the moment of contact. Add to this the lack of differentiated heat treatment, which already renders the blade brittle compared to a traditional Japanese sword or even a Western-style sword (which would typically not be tempered to as high a hardness due to expectations of striking metal armor), and the result is a sword that would be much more likely to break or shatter at the moment of contact, even for demonstration or "test" cutting, making the use of such a sword potentially highly hazardous to the wielder and any bystanders, as any breakage at the moment of contact will result in sharpened metal flying at unpredictable directions with the force of the blow.

Sword manufacturers marketing such low end laminated swords tend to choose softer steels such as 1020 or 400 for this purpose, since they are easier to work and weld, and will also often attempt to enhance the appearance of the layers by using comparatively few layers (thus leaving them thicker and more easily visible), laminating soft iron with steel, laminating stainless steel with non-stainless steel, using an acid wash to blacken the layers that are less corrosion resistant, or some combination of these techniques, resulting in a blade with extremely prominent laminations. Where the acid wash technique is used, the blade will be various shades of gray and black and hamon is merely etched and grit-blasted afterwards, not as a tempering line. All swords made by the traditional Japanese method, regardless of the quality or assembly type, results in a bright and shiny blade upon completion, and therefore any blade that is black or gray in color when new absolutely cannot have been made in the traditional manner of the Japanese swordsmiths.

Commercial "folded" steel swords are made by layering multiple sheets, usually of two different steels, and then welding them by hot-rolling the entire stack. The completed stack is then rolled thinner and cut to blanks the size needed for each blade. These blanks may then be drop-forged or water-jet cut to shape them. The blanks are then ground down to form the edges, exposing the folds. Due to the comparative ease of manufacturing and greater efficiency (in the sense that less of the sheet tends to be lost during the stamping process), this method is most commonly seen in the manufacture of straight "damascus steel" swords such as sword canes and what are often called "double-edged samurai swords" but which are really just Chinese-style ken swords with Japanese-style fittings. The physical act of the stamping alters the molecular structure at the location of the cut, which can cause deterioration in the quality of the steel in subtle ways. While it is possible to adjust for this by simply grinding down the edges further and removing the portion of the blade that has had its molecular structure thus disturbed, it is doubtful that a manufacturer that has sought to reduce cost and production time by stamping folded sheet steel would then go through such additional efforts and costs to improve the quality of the blade. In any case, even if the stamped edge is ground away, what one is left with is still a low quality blade.

Regardless of the price or the production method of the sword, it is worthwhile to remember that the choice of materials and manufacturing techniques based on the desired appearance, rather than the performance of the resulting product will predictably result in swords which are serviceable for display only in the vast majority of instances.

Replica swords, varying and copying the major styles, have an active market world-wide. Replicas usually do not have a sharp blade but the point is quite sharp and easily used as a stabbing weapon. Replicas sell to tourists in Tokyo for about $100 to $250 USD. Export is no problem, but some nations limit imports even of replicas.