Is it possible for a sword to cut clean throught another sword. Also is it possible with enough force for it to go through a door or wall.

they tryed the sword cutting a nother sword but they havent tryed the other ones but depending on wat the wall or door is made of

i would think a sword would easily go through a drywall wall.

Metal will not cut metal cleanly, it will shatter or snap a lesser or weaker metal, all these myths of CUTTING a sword are rubbish.

The reality is a weak sword snaps at its weakest point.

As for going through a wall or door. A samurai sword can cut wood easily, and a heavy claymore (scottish or not) can be used as an axe to cut wood, (as it is a heavy metal blade that can build momentum when swung.

Stone may chip, the question is would the sword snap before the stone was chiped all the way through.

steel wil not cut steel, no matter the tempering. it can only shatter or break a nother peice of steel if it has been better tempered

[quote]ut clean throught another sword. Also is it possible with enough force fo[/quote]
[quote]Is it possible for a sword to cut clean throught another sword. Also is it possible with enough force for it to go through a door or wall.[/quote]



i know for sure though my history class that a mongol's sword can break a samurai's sword

[quote]know for sure though my history class that a mongol's sword can break a samurai's sword[/quote]

The Mongols were very fierce warriors, but they were not skilled metallurgists. A katana is made of much better alloy, and forged far more skillfully than a mongol's blade.

If i may make a point, it would be nicer if they properly tested it. Am i the only sword geek that saw the inherent problems with their tests? Even the clips from the movies that they showed had edge on edge contact, yet the rig had edge on flat contact. Edge on flat would never work even good quality vs bad quality because they are making contact on the point of flex. swords are not brittle objects.

[q]Edge on flat would never work even good quality vs bad quality because they are making contact on the point of flex.[/q]

Whatchoo talkin' bout, Willis?? It's way easier to snap a sword if you hit it on the flat.

What do you mean by go through a door or wall? you could most likely stab though a modern, not solid door, and stab though dry wall, but i think you would have more troubles slicing though it. An ax would be a much better choice.

[quote]Whatchoo talkin' bout, Willis?? It's way easier to snap a sword if you hit it on the flat.[/quote]

Actually, if you look at old swordwork manuals you'll see they taught to use the flat of the blade to parry an attack by another sword. Parrying with the edge -- the hardest part of the blade -- is almost guaranteed to cause at least a massive chip in the edge, and probably a broken blade.

Catching an attack on the flats gives the steel a chance to flex, and massively increases the surface area being struck (thus eliminating a narrow point of impact).

[quote]Actually, if you look at old swordwork manuals you'll see they taught to use the flat of the blade to parry an attack by another sword.[/quote]

That would depend on the manuals you are reading. Capo Ferro, Di Grassi, Sweatnam, Silver, all had you parry with the edge as it is a stronger parry.

the form probably depended on the time period and blades. Later european blades were of high enough quality that very little damage would come from an edge parry (I parry with mine all the time, even vs full swings, and havent seen any major issues that a light filing would take care of)

Also if it comes down to making a parry that will save my life, i really dont care if my blade gets a little chip in it.

I'd assume it was wear you hit the two. Like warding a blow with the strong(bit closest to the hilt) of the sword, it would be neigh on impossible(nearly anyway) to break through. However the weak(the buisness end e.g. pointish) if the person holds their ward, it could break off the tip of the sword.
Or so I'd assume.

[quote]However the weak(the buisness end e.g. pointish) if the person holds their ward, it could break off the tip of the sword.[/quote]

Yeah being thinner it might be a bit more breakable near the weak, but then there is no way that you could hold a blade strong enough to not just have the blade beaten away rather than cut. and of course any attack on the blade strong enough to do any damage would leave the attacker way open and you merely have to disengage and counter attack. basically its really hard to do any real damage to a sword in combat, besides its kindof the same thing as cutting at a gun barrel rather than the guy holding the gun.

I really dunno if it's possible, but it's possible to cut through a metal pipe cleanly.
Ecrime Romaji is a romenian martial art. Based on Knifes, daggers and swords. The clean cut it's not based only on the strengh. There's a really cool technique stuff related. There's people who can cut perfectly through a steel pipe with a dagger...
And there's more blades sharpest than the katanas...
Like the indian tulwar (or tulvar or else talwar)

[quote]but it's possible to cut through a metal pipe cleanly.[/quote]

If you mean a standard, 3/4" steel water pipe,using human power, then no, a sword, dagger, or other knife won't sever it, no matter what technique is used.

I think (having read the manuals a little more clearly, thanks) the point i was trying to make is that all of the clips from the movies that they showed in the episode, of people sundering other's swords, the contact was made blade on blade. I know this is all from a fantasy world, and all metalurgic theories aside, I still would like to see them set up the experiment as shown in the movies. Not blade against flat. Whether or not it will work (and i'm not saying it will), is beside the point, they didn't test the movie myth by the movie's own rules.

One thing I would like seen done is a common event in the movies. Two actually... The first is having the two swords swinging instead of just one. Time and time again samurai movies have the hero and villain clash to only have the one sword break/be cut. The second is having the tip of the blade braced against something to see the effect that has on the blade. An example for the second is the movie Dragonheart. The sword is braced against a log when it is struck.

In the clip from sword vs. sword the hero cut the other persons sword in half he slices down would the gravitational pull give extra force to slice the sword in half.

My biggest issue with the test is that the sword swinging robot was not swinging the sword properly!!!

The robot, holds the sword perpendicular to the arc (straight out from the rotation point along the radius.) This swings the sword in a chopping or hacking motion better suited for something that has no cutting edge like a mace.

What they need to do is move the hilt of the sword out away from the point of rotation AND hold it at an angle from the support. This way, for a katana at least, they will be better testing the actual technique of swinging the sword. Better yet, the swinging sword should also have some spring to it's support so that when the sword makes contact it will have some give.

Swords that are hand made by swordsmiths, especially Asian swords, are actually layered, layers. They have a soft core to give them flexability, and a hard blade to hold a sharp edge.