advice on large HI swords

A

alexs

Joined
Nov 26, 2009
Messages
516
Hello HI addicts (meant in the best possible way; I would be one of you if not for a depressing lack of funds, but that is soon to change),

I am a big fan and practitioner of sword martial arts (mostly Asian, but really any). Given my size, I have been advised that the best Samurai or Chinese swords for me would be with a blade length of about 31" and handles of 13" and a weight close to 3 lbs (though of course different styles vary a lot, e.g., miao-dao swords are huge).

Are there any HI offerings whether in the shape of o-katana of chinese jian with similar lengths and weight? (I know about the swords on the HI site, but not about exclusive DOTDs since I can't do a search of the archives and I am new here).

Are there any martial artists (whether iaido, kendo, or gung fu) with experience with HI swords, whether dull for draw practice or sharp for tameshigiri?

Thanks,
Alex
 
Are you asking for a nodachi or just a katana that's got a 13 inch handle and a 31 inch blade?

If you train in a formal japanese dojo your teacher would advise you where to procure a sword....

All HI blades come ready to use out of the box. They are sharp. They do tend to overbuild them a bit. Katanas shouldn't weigh more than 3 pounds unless they are some ridiculous length like a nodachi.

Dannyinjapan can help you with this better probably.
 
I'm going to move this to the HI forum from the Cantina.
I think it's a legitimate subject for the main forum.
 
I was asking about just a katana; for a nodachi I would seek an even longer handle than 13". It seems that the longest katana handles by HI are about 10" which is fine, but the blade being about 25-26 is too short for my taste, and it seems that some come with a rat tang (unsure?). A sensei would give one a few ideas of course starting with cheap beaters up to Bugei pricing and more as one progresses in skill and thus is less likely to botch a cut and I have bought quite a few. Yet, I don't think anyone would be able to match the warranty and reliability of an HI product so I would love to practice with one, whether a straight or a curved blade. I realize that an HI katana is an entirely different design from a nihonto and so the weight issue comes up, but I was wondering if special HI models have come up over time with larger size (over 40" OAL) even at the cost of added weight.
 
Some of our most interesting models have come about through HI customers -- like Yvsa and DannyInJapan -- coming up with ideas and designs for the kamis to try. Getting up a discussion on this may lead to a new, improved, authentic HI product.
 
alexs said:
... and it seems that some come with a rat tang (unsure?). ...
Click to expand...

? - japanese katana also have 'rat tangs' , ie. narrower than the blade at the grip junction and totally enclosed in the grip, and usually only held in by a small wooden peg to boot.

i have seen some cheap full tang katana like objects (klo) usually in nice 400 series stainless.
[youtube]MMYrhGxpO0w[/youtube]
i think they still have them in stock.
(lifetime warranty :) )
 
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Certainly, if you see a chiruwa/panawal katana, then you are dealing with a modern design (the stainless steel comment made me laugh soooo hard!).
I guess I meant to draw a distinction between the flat and very long tang usually held by pegs (one wooden and one brass, though traditionally I woudn't be surprised if it was just one wooden one like you say) versus the tang that is a thin cylindrical screw-on and no pegs. For example I consider the tang on an AK 15 a full tang because of its size and length to the pommel, not a rat tang.
As for Everest Katana, the H.I. site shows some with pegs in the handle, but some recent DOTD ones don't have pegs. What is their tang like?


That's a pretty old video, but if it educates even just one kid on the value of high-carbon steel for swords, it was all worth it.
 
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as far as i know, HI do not do mild steel threaded rods or wood screws tacky welded to short stub tangs like some, but all are forged rectangular, some chiruwa style & pinned, some hidden with peened end. do not have one myself of either style (yet) but am sure that they are substantial and designed for their intended use. i do not think anyone has one they want to dis-assemble, and do not remember photos of any hidden tang swords with broken grips.

p.s. - the video, if you look closely, they are some of those cheap chinese style swords that i would not even consider worth being a wall hanger. still an object lesson on why stainless and sword do not normally go together. especially with 'cheap'. the little red silk adornments hanging from the pommels are a nice touch, a feature most katana people will appreciate. i also note the care taken with the grind that shows up when he maneuvers the blade in the light.
 
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Email up Aunt Yangdu for a request for a longer everest katana and then let the kamis do what they do best. :D
 
Love the video; but just think about the sheer number of cheap, brittle, stainless steel "katanas" out there and it becomes truly scary.

Friend stationed in Okinawa and familiar with Japanese ones thought my HI kat heavy, but it is a Himalayan kat by name and therefore, weighs exactly what it should. :D Yetis have thick bones.


Mike
 
Ad Astra said:
Love the video; but just think about the sheer number of cheap, brittle, stainless steel "katanas" out there and it becomes truly scary.
Click to expand...

A perfect example:
http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t=43606

Even one such "sword" is too many. It is the parent's responsibility to teach their children that some of their collectibles are to forever remain on the wall like a painting and others are to be used only under constant adult supervision if at all. I find the danger swords pose for children far more severe than the danger of handguns which are normally better locked and more demonized in a child's mind.
 
alexs said:
A perfect example:
http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?t=43606

Even one such "sword" is too many. It is the parent's responsibility to teach their children that some of their collectibles are to forever remain on the wall like a painting and others are to be used only under constant adult supervision if at all. I find the danger swords pose for children far more severe than the danger of handguns which are normally better locked and more demonized in a child's mind.
Click to expand...

Swords are indeed dangerous! Important public service announcements follow:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_RpbaUU7NI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW4tbAFC6cM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-g_P2i8Co&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-g_P2i8Co&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-g_P2i8Co&feature=related

This is why swords are illegal in the UK.
 
These videos are so good, they should be a sticky or at least added to the sticky on safety rules.

As for the no-swords-in-UK law, it makes me happy not to live in the UK. I mean, I understand some people's concerns with handguns being small and concealable, but swords are huge and rarely taken outside. A martial artist (a kid really) recently killed a home intruder with his Katana in the US. If he were in the UK, he would probably be dead now or sleeping with a Sirupati under his pillow.

P.S. More importantly, how can Highlanders live in the UK if they didn't have a sword under their trenchcoats? There can be only one!
 
I have always thought of katanas as an expert's sword. There is a movie from 1982 called "The Challenge" aka "Sword of a Ninja". In one of the scenes the sensei hands a katana to the untrained american and tells him to make a cut through a 3-4 inch thick bamboo stalk. The american tries and bends the sword.

Now I grew up on highlander and other films where it was made out to be an unbreakable light saber of sorts that's super duper sharp and never even takes a ding. My father even had one in the house that was about 200 years old. But even as the little five year old girl I knew not to mess with it, because I could tell that I would need some guidance on how to use one! Well that and the thing was as tall as me! Dad saw me staring at it one day and suggested I master how to use knives first. :D

A day ago, a friend asked me why falcatas have a pistol grip. Told her if you actually ever pick one up you will understand that the sword is very forward weighted and in the heat of the battle that type of handle helps the warrior hold on to it.

Another friend's daughter apparently has a "samurai sword" at home. I asked mom if the sword is stainless steel. She said yes. Told her, tell your daughter to never swing it and that the thing is completely unsuitable for combat. Got into a whole conversation on why real swords need to be carbon steel and how they are constructed for relatively safe use.

Swords are no joke and should be treated with care and respect.
 
at one point the man's one and only weapon/tool was vital for his survival... This was often handed on until it broke or was taken to the grave. The sword in particular was a weapon requiring a lot of skill to make and use because it is such a long and sharp edge made of metal. Thus, in some ways, more valuable - though not necessarily more effective.

Many of us on the forum live great lifestyles allowing us to collect stuff... lucky us huh?


to the poster of the question, maybe a custom work is in order?
Order something in the size and style that suits you best?
 
This is why swords are illegal in the UK.
Click to expand...

Swords are NOT illegal in the UK.

The Home Office did try and ban them back in 2007/2008 I think but this guy:

http://www.raven-armoury.co.uk/

kicked up a huge stink about it.

He had spent years working as a courier to fund his dream of becoming a swordsmith. He eventually made it and got his own swordsmith business.

Then the ban came in and he went straight down the Home Office and persuaded them (I wonder if he took a sword with him?) to change the law so that handmade swords are exempt from the ban. The result is you can still buy real handmade swords in the UK.

I found all this out when I was chatting to him last year at the London Arms Fair where he had a stall. He has a stall there every year and still does.

The ban did apply to cheap mass manufactured imports and all the "tat" shops selling them had to stop.

However, there are many internet vendors in the UK that I am not sure I can post links too (use scroogle search) that still sell them and it is legal, so that ban must have been overturned as well. You can literally buy one right now October 2010 online and have it delivered.

There are loads of these shops around the net so that ban must have been repealed.

Not a word about it has ever been uttered in the MSM so people still think swords are illegal in the UK. This is not true at all on any level.

They TRIED to make it illegal and failed spectacularly.

Besides any nutcase can walk into B&Q or Tescos and buy a weapon for £5 that is easily concealable and deadly. So what was the point in trying to ban swords in the first place?

It is doubly ironic when you consider that the UK makes a fortune making and selling and using weapons of mass destruction like BAE systems. Seems that the only people not allowed these things are the little people!

Total Insanity if you ask me.

Anyways ring the Home Office and check for yourself. IF they tell you something different then hit them with a huge list of businesses selling them and ask them why they are not in prison, and ask them why they just lied to you. What is their agenda ?

Simples!

:)
 
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Normally I would make a whimsical comment about thread necromancy, but that's some real helpful stuff for our oversea members evolvingape! Thanks :thumbup:
 
evolvingape said:
Swords are NOT illegal in the UK.

The Home Office did try and ban them back in 2007/2008 I think but this guy:

http://www.raven-armoury.co.uk/

kicked up a huge stink about it.

He had spent years working as a courier to fund his dream of becoming a swordsmith. He eventually made it and got his own swordsmith business.

Then the ban came in and he went straight down the Home Office and persuaded them (I wonder if he took a sword with him?) to change the law so that handmade swords are exempt from the ban. The result is you can still buy real handmade swords in the UK.


Anyways ring the Home Office and check for yourself. IF they tell you something different then hit them with a huge list of businesses selling them and ask them why they are not in prison, and ask them why they just lied to you. What is their agenda ?

Simples!

:)
Click to expand...
Considering at the moment you are allowed to have them; I'm not sure stirring the pot is a good idea. I would be willing to bet that there are many "liberals" that don't like swords (so obviously nobody should be allowed to have them) who are blissfully unaware the ban has an exemption for handmade swords. If they start pestering the politicians to ban them you might not be so lucky next time.
 
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