Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 February 1901 — Sword of a Thousand Pieces. [ARTICLE]

Sword of a Thousand Pieces.

What do you think of a sword blade that contains a thousand sheets of metai? Yet they are not uncommon, and as you will readily imagine, are of Oriental workmanship. Our painstaking, patient Japanese friends are the makers of them, and a few days ago I had the pleasure of seeing one in a Fourth avenue curiosity shop, and had its method of j .anufacture explained. The blades of these sabres are made from magnetic iron ores. The steel is produced in small very thin sheets, and the workman begins by fixing one of them to the end of ".n iron rod, which serves as a handle. To this are soldered other small sheets, until the mass has a length of about eight inches, a width of about two inches and a thickness of a little more than a quarter of an inch. This bar is brought to a white heat, doubled on itself, and hammered until it is down to its original dimensions. This process is repeated fifteen times. Four similar bars are then soldered together, doubled upon themselves, resoldered and heated, the operation being repeated five times. This process makes the superposed layers so thin that a sabre contains at least a thousand sheets of metal. If you find one of these swords that has a veined appearance you may know it is caused by alternate layers of iron and steel being soldered together.—New York Herald.