Tulwar stamped blade mark question

[Jens Nordlunde]

Hi Matt,
I dont know what the crosses are supposed to represent, maybe copies from some European manufactor - I really dont know. I too have blades with crosses.
In one of my many books I read, that the young Hindus trained their cutting skill on a block of wett clay, so that they would not blamish their family, when they had to cut the head of an ox to sacrifice it.
I do think, but I dont know, if you could test a blade by cutting into a clay block, but I would rather think you could train you blowing force by doing so. I think, testing a blade would be something quite different, that hacking in wett clay, you would hack on metal to see if the edge was good, and if the blade breaked.
Jens