For this, says Chen, "I got most of my information from the sword itself." In the past he had made micrographs from broken ancient swords to analyze the grain flow, and used a hardness tester to map the distribution of different microstructures within the steel. Twist and clout But he could not use these destructive tests on the Kouming sword.
這方面，「我大部份是向古物學習」，陳朝波說，他過去曾拿一些已經毀損的古刀劍，用顯微照相去分析折疊花紋的流派，用「洛氏硬度計」去分析金屬的組織分佈。