Well, it's certainly stronger; how much I can't meaningfully quantify. Carbon steel, especially suphurous carbon steel, especially but not only when hardened is much more liable to cracking and to cracks spreading than wrought iron. In practical reality I've never broken a sword at this point, but then I've never broken a "real" sword of forged steel. Often the idea is that the blade is thick enough at the base that bending is not much an issue, and the edge at the base is not an issue on many sword types (often enough it is unsharpened, and though it's sharpened all the way down on Japanese swords, for instance, I've seen an inlaid edge on one start several inches out into the blade.). Thus, the soft blade base offers little if any disadvantage (the main danger being a bad weld) and is stronger. Whether this strength is "overkill" in practical reality, I can't say, but it seems to have been the intention, and my feeling is when someone is swinging a sword at me, every little bit helps. Also, the thick soft part of the blade is supposed to make the hard part stronger, by absorbing shock and vibration that would otherwise damage/endanger it.
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25th February 2005, 12:50 PM
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