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birdmantis420 t1_j5xwvbd wrote

Reply to comment by Und3rSc0re in Longest ‘dako’ iron sword at 2.6m, along with a unique shield-shaped mirror, found in 4th-century Japanese burial mound — Finds indicate that the technology of the Kofun period (300-710 AD) was more advanced than previously thought by marketrent

These long swords were usually a show piece for blacksmiths, like an example of skill

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sanndman t1_j5yej73 wrote

Forged in fire goes back to 300AD.

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Bozee3 t1_j5yjimq wrote

There is a slight warp at the tang I liked to see addressed if you move on, but otherwise good work.

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muskratboy t1_j5z2yqw wrote

There’s a lot of meat left here so you should be able to grind it out.

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TheRealJuksayer t1_j5yipfp wrote

Blacksmithing been going on for thousands of years

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Velghast t1_j5ymbdc wrote

Blacksmiths today make Bank. It's such a niche profession.

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Laowaii87 t1_j5ys7pr wrote

SOME blacksmiths make good money, but it is hell to get your business off the ground. Very few people need their services, so not only is your trade niche, so are your customers.

If you can get the word out, and you have a portfolio of good looking stuff, then yes, you can get paid absurd money for the right project. Every successful blacksmith has 99 dudes making nails and clothes hangers, toilet paper holders and similar ”neat to have” items they have to sell by the hundreds to stay in business.

Peter Jonsson sells his works for tens of thousands of dollars each, and some instagram smiths get tons as well, but these smiths are very much the exception.

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baumpop t1_j5znkw0 wrote

You just described the trade of blacksmithing for thousands of years. Almost all the work is small piece work to pay the bills while you take commissions or contracts for larger pieces. Every blacksmith was a ferrier before, now it's a standalone profession.

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Laowaii87 t1_j62gdpc wrote

No, for thousands of years, blacksmiths were critical lynch pins for every settlement in the world.

This is literally the opposite of their position in our society post the industrial revolution.

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baumpop t1_j62ms09 wrote

they were the lynch pins because they made literal lynch pins and other very vital but common place things. now obvious they are 1/1000 of the quality of they used to be but hinges for example while stamped on machines havent really changed much in a thousand years.

nails. for example were so crucial they used to burn down buildings just to recover the nails. once these nails were at their final end of life they were used to make doors and nailed over and into themselves through the door. Hence the term - dead as a doornail.

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Laowaii87 t1_j640z32 wrote

Yes, i know, this is literally the point i am making.

Modern blacksmiths do not make crucial items, they make, again, "neat to have" items. Nobody needs stuff made by hand by a blacksmith, because if you need the item, then it will be made cheaper by industrial methods.

So, i am not describing blackmithing for thousands of years. I am describing the place blacksmithing has in our modern, current society, which is a very niche trade, with very few customers. The only way for nearly all blacksmiths is either making bespoke items for rich people, assuming the smith has managed to make a name for themselves, or by making trinkets to sell at markets.

So a very small percentage of them are making a living, and an even smaller portion is "making bank".

And no, they did not "use to" burn down buildings with the express purpose of getting the nails. Buildings burning would always carry the risk of spreading the fire, which carries with it both material costs, and possibly cost of lives. Possibly in situations where houses had burned down, they would sift through the ashes for the nails, or if the entire building was enough of a wreck to leave the nails as the only part worth salvaging.

Aside from a few "i've heard stories of" i can find no sources to back the claim that houses were burned for this purpose, and having made nails by hand myself, i can tell you that it's not time consuming nor difficult. It is one of the first items i was taught to make while studying blacksmithing, and by the end of a week i was able to reliably make two or three nails in one "heat". This means that an absolute beginner can make 2-3 nails every minute, and a skilled nail maker could make twice that.

Good wood was also valuable, and if the house was in good enough shape that the nails were still of use, so would the wood have been.

As for dead as a doornail, it's not called dead because old nails were used for them, it's because when you make a staple out of it, the nail can't move. You deaden it. It's because the door would be a "soft" entry point into a building, and would have to be made sturdy in order to not break.

Finally, no, items made now are not worse than ones made by hand. The hinges you buy buy at Ikea or whichever hardware store you find it is likely much more reliable and economically made than most made a thousand years ago.

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baumpop t1_j645ve9 wrote

https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2021/11/19/dead-as-a-doornail/

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Laowaii87 t1_j64g46o wrote

Exactly "i've even heard stories of" that's not a source, that is hearsay

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baumpop t1_j64sbi6 wrote

So is what you're telling me.

Bust me off your source for 13th century coloquialisms.

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Laowaii87 t1_j656yl3 wrote

I have to prove you wrong? No bud, that’s not how it works. You claim one thing, and refer to a baseless claim from a video for a source, and then i have to back up not believing you?

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baumpop t1_j65kf8x wrote

You not liking a source is not the same as discourse of the content of the source.

Read Shakespeare. I don't know what to tell you.

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Laowaii87 t1_j67eh6e wrote

It isn’t a source. It is literally a youtube video where someone says ”i’ve heard”

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probably_not_serious t1_j5yz7ob wrote

The article said it was meant to protect the dead or something and that the size of the sword was to increase its “power.”

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kaybee915 t1_j5yrth1 wrote

You're probably right, but what if they dig up a giant near the sword? Then what!

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Bonesmash t1_j5z81kw wrote

While you’re probably correct, I have seen other absurdly long swords in museums before and the explanation was that they were really used more like spears. Seems like they would have been really heavy though.

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danteheehaw t1_j60lx0h wrote

Good steel weapons are not as heavy as you'd think, because you can make a high quality steel fairly thin and strong. Japanese steel was extremely hard and rigid and armor was rare, so it being "brittle" (compared to soft steels) wasn't a problem.

As long as you're not swinging it like a sword a metal rod, or blade, won't feel much heavier than a quality staff or polear..

That being said, making a long ass sword to use as a spear instead of just making a spear would be weird as hell, and I could only see it being done as some dick swinging contest.

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birdmantis420 t1_j60n5oc wrote

You’re not wrong, but this article is about specifically Japanese swords, and I’ve not heard of them being used as spears in Japanese warfare, as someone else pointed out, this one was possibly left to ward off evil spirits, meaning it was a show piece no matter what, not meant to be wielded

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