Real handmade swords

Real handmade swords have a wood grain like pattern in the outer skin called the jihada. It comes from laminating many layers of steel to make the blade flexible. The blades are made by starting with a piece of hard steel to serve as the foundation of the sword. The skin or is made of hundreds of layers of softer steel that serve as a way to make the sword more flexible and resistant to breaking. Next the sword is covered in a ceramic like clay with just the cutting portion of the blade exposed and heated and tempered. This results in a very hard cutting edge on a flexible yet hard blade. Then the blade is adorned with artwork like the tsuba and handle and scabbard.