1898 Japanese sword.

K

Krull

Joined
Aug 18, 2005
Messages
869
Just bought a 1898 Japanese sword,from my local gun/pawn shop..looks like a europe type calvery sword,was sharpened at the end of WWII use in the last battels (blades has nicks) prob killed American and poss Russian soliders.

I'll get pics up in a couple hours.
 
Ok here's the pics.





There's a locking device on the handel which locks it to the scabbard,I'm pointing it out with my thumb on one-the other you'll see the stub and extension on the scabbard.





The blade has some good nicks to it..someone was whacking away at something at one point! can't see much in my pic sorry.



It has the sakura flower on the knuckle guard as well as Japanese (Kanji) writing around it,and a serial number on the base of the blade 66435
it's in very good+ shape.

So now I need to see what I got here! I paid $150.00 for it :D
 
Looks like an awesome sword to me. Thanks for posting.
 
No,it has some dents and dings on the scabbard and the blade is a bit nicked-it looks like it was used somewhere,plus it (like a German sword in my family) is said to have been a trophy of a G.I. gotten from an enemy solider.

It sure as hell is not a parade sword!
 
Let's all try to remember to give the other guy the benefit of doubt...okay guys?

If you have comments...private messages are always a good idea.
 
Nasty said:
Let's all try to remember to give the other guy the benefit of doubt...okay guys?

If you have comments...private messages are always a good idea.
Click to expand...

Only I can't be PM'ed,I need to upgrade for that.
Well as I said elsewhere I just got rung out for no good reason and I'm a bit "touchy" still...so no big deal yea? ;)
 
No one fights courageously for a cause they don't believe in. People die on both sides in a war. Let us dwell on the sacrifices of the fallen, not the manner in which they fell. We all know what weapons are used for.

Sarge
 
Sylvrfalcn said:
No one fights courageously for a cause they don't believe in. People die on both sides in a war. Let us dwell on the sacrifices of the fallen, not the manner in which they fell. We all know what weapons are used for.

Sarge
Click to expand...

Well put Sarge.
 
The blade looks a whole lot like the issue katana blades during the war,what's odd...the front half is all that's been sharpened and it's got some real nicks.
Ether that was done after the war or for whatever reason they did it at the end and used it is possible,but whatever it's an old sword and it may have got some time in use so I likes it! :D

Now then...it looks easy to dissassemble and I want those nicks gone,not right for an old warror to be left as such,so I intened to get it cleaned up some and pretty much do what we do to khuks get that grime off from however many years of storage-sound smart?
 
Many swords with battle damage have big chunks out of them, many swords especialy old Japanese ones {& kukri.}have tiny rolls & or chips from bone damage.

most "nicks" are from children or adolescents playing swordfigthting with them.

All in my humble opinion of course! {{& expierience.} But its generaly true.}:D

Grown men fighting for thier lives dont put "nicks" in blades.

Spiral
 
In some circles cavalry sabers were indeed only sharpened over half of their length. It's thought that this was done to prevent breakage; without going into the whole debate about blocking with the edge, blocks would normally be conducted with the bottom half of the blade. Not having an edge here would prevent chips and ultimately cracks from forming should another edge contact it without adversely affecting its performance. I sharpen some of my swords the same way.

I was not aware of the Japanese ever doing this during that period of time. This doesn't mean that they didn't -- it merely means that I have more reading to do. Interesting piece.

Care to post a pic of the kanji?
 
Dave Rishar said:
In some circles cavalry sabers were indeed only sharpened over half of their length. It's thought that this was done to prevent breakage; without going into the whole debate about blocking with the edge, blocks would normally be conducted with the bottom half of the blade. Not having an edge here would prevent chips and ultimately cracks from forming should another edge contact it without adversely affecting its performance. I sharpen some of my swords the same way.

I was not aware of the Japanese ever doing this during that period of time. This doesn't mean that they didn't -- it merely means that I have more reading to do. Interesting piece.

Care to post a pic of the kanji?
Click to expand...

I tried to get the pics and just about went nuts! (it's hard to see in person) so I'll try a bit more,then I'll just copy it by hand on winpaint.
 
Krull said:
I tried to get the pics and just about went nuts! (it's hard to see in person) so I'll try a bit more,then I'll just copy it by hand on winpaint.
Click to expand...

Krull,

A tip for bringing out hard to read engravings is to have the light source skim across the surface. This will cause hard shadows and they will bring out the detail for you. You will have to play with the exact angle, but somewhere around 80* to the surface would be a good start.

This technique works really well for petroglyphs also. I discovered the technique while visiting Indian Grinding Rock in Volcano, CA with my girlfriend at the time, who was Miwok indian. There is a large rock outcropping that has lots of petroglyphs, but you can only see them at sunset and sunrise when the sun is low in the horizon and the light skims across the surface of the rock.
 
tedwca said:
Krull,

A tip for bringing out hard to read engravings is to have the light source skim across the surface. This will cause hard shadows and they will bring out the detail for you. You will have to play with the exact angle, but somewhere around 80* to the surface would be a good start.

This technique works really well for petroglyphs also. I discovered the technique while visiting Indian Grinding Rock in Volcano, CA with my girlfriend at the time, who was Miwok indian. There is a large rock outcropping that has lots of petroglyphs, but you can only see them at sunset and sunrise when the sun is low in the horizon and the light skims across the surface of the rock.
Click to expand...

I'll need to try that thanks! :D I'll also need to clean it up some,it has some sticky gunk from storage so that may help.
 
If you want to copy the characters so that you can take a picture you might put a piece of paper over them and lightly rub a pencil over the paper. In essence you will be tracing or more correctly rubbing the characters on to the paper.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top