Boy doesn't it just put a real crimp in your day when sword doesn't come out of
your victim cleanly:-)

Ken wrote:

> Charles Krause wrote:
> >
> > I always thought that would be a _real_ accomplishment of sword-modelers,
> > would be the accuarate representation of a Katana. Probably the type whose
> > edge and back of blade followed the radius of different circles would be
> > easiest. However, the blades are actually very complex shapes, and the fact
> > that the metal is not uniform throughout the blade but is purposly hardened
> > to different crystalline structures in different parts of the blade makes
> > for some quite beautiful, and very hard to procedurally model!, textures.
> > And let's not even THINK about doing a wapped handle accuratly,and as far as
> > the orbate tsuaba got........ *shudder*
> >
> > Still - it is probably _the_ sword modellers ultimate challenge. Someday
> > when I have a few months spare time, I may start pulling textbooks on
> > Japanese sword smithing off the shelf a give it a whirl, but not today.
> >
> > The image? Damn close in any case :) Best approximation of that style of
> > blade I've seen I think :)
>
>    I have longed for the talent to accurately model an edged weapon. I have
>  a couple of small books on the subject, one for knives the other mostly
>  french cutlass and broad swords, and buy the occasional magazine off of
>  the rack when something catches my fancy.
>    The textures would be a bit of a challenge but I think I could master
>  that with little effort. What has had me stumped is how to hollow grind
>  a curving edge without leaving scratches of blemishes from the operation.
>  Some of the finest cutting blades in the world have what is called a hollow
>  grind above the cutting edge.
>   It forms a gully of sorts that is actually deeper than the majority of
>  the taped thickness of the bevel leading to the sharpened edge. The
>  advantage of the hollow grind for those curious to know is that when the
>  material that is being cut into passes the keen sharpened edge of the
>  cutting tool the material has a very smooth edge that adheres to the flat
>  smooth surface of the blade. This causes jerky or start and stop cutting
>  sessions and is a nuisance.
>   The hollow ground blade limits this by allowing the material to start to
>  heal back towards itself and then is quickly angled outward breaking its
>  suction like grip to the surface of the blade. This action gives much
>  smoother cutting through materials much thicker than the height of the
>  blade and serves as a self cleaning process as well. In consequence this
>  reduced build up of compounds that will foul the cutting operation leading
>  to successful cutting operation with a repeatability that is refreshing.
>   The hollow grind operation is relatively easy on the right machining
>  equipment and the odd scratch of two can be eliminated by buffing it out
>  on a buffing and polishing wheel. Pov csg operations are not quite as
>  forgiving in this regard and forming a uniform indent in a curved surface
>  is uniquely challenging. Added to that is the limitation of having no way
>  to polish out any blemishes left by csg operations as you would be capable
>  of in the real world.
>
>   I think that I will continue to evaluate my thoughts about this for a
>  while before thinking about thoughtfully attempting a well thought out
>  approach to this thought provoking yet stimulating little problem.
>
> --
> Ken Tyler
>
> mailto://tylereng@pacbell.net

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