Steel Vs Steel?

by Jason Roland
(bastian_reinhardt@yahoo.com)

QUESTION: How would a traditional Katana stand up to plate or chain maile? I have seen demonstrations of traditional English broadswords and even roman gladius against plate and chain maile and it uses its weight and blunted edge to rip and smash more than cut. But I'm curious as to how well a traditional katana, or even our modern Paul chen practical plus style katanas would do.

ANSWER: Swords of all types aren't good against plate. Chain can be punctured by a good thrust, and occasionally cut - though the damage is hugley minimized. Real plate vs a real sword though and the results are not promising...

A Katana is no exception, and probably even worse as it never faced plate on the field and was designed for cutting an unarmored opponent in a duel - not on the battlefield.

The best weapons against plate are maces and warhammers, that rely on pure force and concussion.

Hope this clarifies things a bit.

- Paul




Jason Roland.