Imagine how happy they would’ve been to just heat up some spring steel and hammer on it for a bit and make a better blade with a fraction of the effort.
You still have to admire the craftsmanship and the length they went or still go.
Yeah. When you really think about it, Europe really did start on easy mode in that regard. Continent was chock full of good quality, easily accessible ore of all kinds.
Meanwhile, Japan had to fight tooth and nail just to get any workable metal. If I remember correctly, most of their “ore” was from iron-rich sand.
As they say, necessity is the mother of all invention. If you need extremely high quality craftsmen just to make a half-decent weapon, that’s what you’ll get (as long as money is no object).
Imagine how happy they would’ve been to just heat up some spring steel and hammer on it for a bit and make a better blade with a fraction of the effort.
You still have to admire the craftsmanship and the length they went or still go.
Yeah. When you really think about it, Europe really did start on easy mode in that regard. Continent was chock full of good quality, easily accessible ore of all kinds.
Meanwhile, Japan had to fight tooth and nail just to get any workable metal. If I remember correctly, most of their “ore” was from iron-rich sand.
As they say, necessity is the mother of all invention. If you need extremely high quality craftsmen just to make a half-decent weapon, that’s what you’ll get (as long as money is no object).