That is such a rabbit hole! A book I can recommend is "The Art of the Japanese Sword" by Leon and Hiroku Kapp. Also a great resource if you want to go into knif

That is such a rabbit hole! A book I can recommend is "The Art of the Japanese Sword" by Leon and Hiroku Kapp. Also a great resource if you want to go into knife / blade making yourself. What is really interesting so, is the metallurgy behind that. Basically, Japanese blacksmith had to work around the fact that all they had was basically crappy ore deposits with loads of unwanted impurities. And they did so masterfully. Modern day mono-steel is ahead of whatever historical swordsmiths had, it is almost ridiculous. One of the greatest benefits, besides having clearly defined and refined properties regardless of batch, is how easy heat treatment is. Those standardized properties mean what ever part one makes behaves the same way when heat treated at a certain temperature. And that temperature is surprisingly easy to control, guessing the right temperature was what kind of made sword making a black art so to say. EDIT: Also look up Peter Johnsson, he has great content on the geometry and dimensions of European swords. His swords, from Viking style all the way to renaissance ear ones, are pieces of art. He is also really accessible, I just shot him a mail with questions regarding heat treatment of blades for a yet to start project, and the back and forth was really, really helpful.