True Combat Value of Wootz

[tsubame1]

Originally Posted by Chris Evans

Now, we have to remember that energy is required not only for the shearing of whatever is being cut, but also to displace the already cut material sideways, so that the thicker shouder of the blade can penetrates, not just its edge. ...OMISSIS... The energy of the sword is dissipated by the effort required to displace the cut clay and the friction that the flat of the blade encounters.

So true that the japaneses polishes their blade from back to edge and by hand instead of from handle to point with wheel-grinders as most of other cultures. In this way they create the Niku (http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/niku.htm)
that helps to displace the already cut material sideway. The way to perform the cut is also important, as well as the weight of the blade, a detail undervalued by many wannabe experts.