sword making is a fascinating art,
some bbc history program had a fellow making one out of varying strips
as described above -
i believe that Japanese Katana was one of the few swords in the world
that would be extremely strong and yet sharpened that it could cut a sheet of paper slid down on it (edge to edge).
- which wasnt the case (supposedly) with European or other swords.

the Japanese sword was made by alternately heating and making a cut halfway and folding the sword many times, just 10 times will give you a 1024 layers.