Hi Josh,
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Originally Posted by josh stout
Thanks for the explanations on wrought iron. I still doubt that the business end (blade?) of this gen (sai in Japanese) is iron simply because I have seen many such Chinese sword breaking weapons such as bian and taichi rulers (chih) with tempered steel bodies. There are often some signs of folding, and signs of differential hardening at the edges. I have seen some polished ones where this is clear.
Am I correct in thinking that wrought iron would never be bright and shiny like steel?
The bian were designed to bite into a sword when they hit it, and severely damage it hence the advantage to hardened edges. In the case of the taichi chih, it was fashioned after actual rulers complete with "inch" marks, which would make it more of a craftsman's tool than an agricultural implement. It is interesting to think of the gen originating as a kind of pitchfork. It seems that many of these weapons were made after tools in order to avoid laws against carrying weapons.
Josh
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My understanding is that apart from hurting the opponent, the primary aim of these weapons was to parry and trap the opposing sword. Damaging it was a secondary consideration. In this respect it is worth remembering that the quillons on Euro left hand parrying daggers were essentially wrought iron and they could trap sword blades without suffering damage.
As to whether these `sais' were tempered steel or soft iron, I guess is that it all depended on who did the forging. We are told that a lot of these weapons, depending on the time and place, were illegal, and were made clandestinely under less than ideal conditions. Also we are told that iron, let alone steel, was very scarce in Okinawa. Iron and steel in olden times was an expensive and hard to come by commodity.
Wrought iron can polish up fairly well and can also be case hardened. But to damage a sword, soft iron would have sufficed, though no doubt hardened steel would have been better. In any event, Japanse swords were notoriously easy to bend and have their edges chipped.
Cheers
Chris