h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Who the hell wrote this article? The line about wether you can fold a sword 2000 times needs clarification. No, you can't fold a sheet of paper more than 7 times, I believe. A sword is pounded, over and over again, to a new length and thickness, so it can be folded more and more times. The total "folds" may come up to thousands of layers. Think before you write.

Mike
after 3 beers and an "ichi-go" of sake

The naginata you mentioned in the article is one of my favorite weapons as well as the broadsword.
Thanks for the tips on makeing my own.
A good sword is hard to find.

Well, personally, I think that since the steel is folded and hammered into submision, it could take more than 7 folds, but I also think that 2000 would be a bit much. It could be done, it would just take months, which is not really what oyu want if your producing an army of samurai, but who knows? Oh, and the staff with a sword on the end would kick but anyday if used properly. I wish I knew how to use one. Oh well. If anyone has any good online tutorials on how to sword fight, or how to weild the sword-quarterstaff thing, let me know. And it needs to be free, too. The tutorial that is.

As a nihonto enthusiast, it appears the '2000 folds' discussion comes from a misunderstanding.

A traditional japanese sword, made in the shinto style from tamahagane steel is put together out of say, nine steel ingots, then drawn out into a single bar. This bar is then folded into three, creating 27 layers. This process is repeated 14 times and on the 15th fold, it is folded in half again and drawn out once more.

Although this process involves only 15 or so actual folds, the result is well over 85 million iron/carbon actual layers which are also misleading referred to as 'folds'.

N.B. All these figures are approximate within reason, no two swords are the same.