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Very beautiful piece ! If another blem comes up at that price I might have another bout of HIKV. It's truly an incurable disease, it just goes into remission.
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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Auntie's Kindness and a Mini Wajaski
- Thread starter Scara
- Start date
Bawanna
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- Dec 19, 2012
- Messages
- 10,334
I'm curious about this remission. What does it feel like? I don't think I've experienced that yet.
I don't want to miss it in case it happens to me ya know?
My wife requested I send a wall picture for show and tell at work yesterday. What better reason to fondle and love a few blades while I'm there ya know. I held the mini wajasaki for a bit. Splendid, just splendid.
I don't think I got remission yet and don't foresee it for me in the near future I'm afraid.
I don't want to miss it in case it happens to me ya know?
My wife requested I send a wall picture for show and tell at work yesterday. What better reason to fondle and love a few blades while I'm there ya know. I held the mini wajasaki for a bit. Splendid, just splendid.
I don't think I got remission yet and don't foresee it for me in the near future I'm afraid.
So here's a more detailed review I wrote for a friend. I've omitted some portions that aren't pertinent and edited a few bits for clarity.
The blade turned out to be broader than I expected. The blade is 1.25" broad, and 3/16" thick at the bolster, and 1/8" close to the tip. Its point of balance is about 1.5" out from the bolster, which is about 1.25" long itself. I don't know how this compares to an Japanese made high-quality Wakizashi, but it doesn't seem to affect its performance negatively. The blade is just barely over 12" measuring from the bolster, making this barely long enough to be a Wakizashi. An inch less, and this would be an O-Tanto and not a Ko-Wakizashi, if I understand correctly. I've experimented with my favored florets, and it performs them well. Not quite in the same way as my kukris, whose forward balance and weight seem to keep them moving fast and aligned in a floret, but it moves well in florets. I suppose one big difference in the florets is that with a kukri the floret is very aggressive and powerful. With this Ko-Wakizashi they would still cut and do damage, but the florets don't maintain the blade in a killing orientation and force throughout the florets. A floret with this blade is good for fast cuts, but not the deep ones, or at least that's what it seems like. I'll have to do some comparative testing, floret cutting with this and a kukri. I guess it does also depend on the floret. Doing one that ends with a descending strike to the left will position the blade more aggressively both with a kukri and with a straighter blade. As you might be able to tell, I was worried that a lighter blade like this one may have more difficulty with florets. I know shorter weapons often do. The shorter and lighter the kukri, the harder it is to do a flourish. And my light weapons tend not to flourish well. My Tanto for instance handles well, but it doesn't flourish well. However it is a maneuverable enough weapon that it isn't a major flaw. But my Ko-Wakizashi is definitely a very fast blade.
I did some cutting practice, starting with the triangle box it came in, and then moving to a pair of milk jugs. It cut as well as any kukri into the box, cutting through two sides, but not the third that was flat to it at the start. At that point it picked up the box instead of cutting further. The milk jugs were the more interesting target. Milk jugs filled with water are easy to cut, as you can imagine, but there's a lot that can be learned from them. Of all my kukris, my Yek Chirra seems to cut the best in milk jugs, as it has the easiest time making a full cut from end to end of the jug instead of not cutting all the way through. My ko-wakizashi cuts cleanly through, leaving two completely separate pieces like the Yek Chirra does. The interesting thing is that it feels different in the target. The Yek Chirra makes it very clear when you've made contact, it's both noisy, and there's a sort of "bang" feeling when you make contact with the jug, especially in a good cut that cuts through and through. My ko-wakizashi shocked me in its first test. I thought I had misjudged the distance badly and only slashed one side of the jug. Then I saw that more than half of the jug was on the ground. I had made a perfect cut, but because of how smoothly and quietly it cut through I initially thought that it hadn't. The same thing happened with the second cut, though I more quickly saw that I'd made a good cut. When I get more jugs on hand I'll do some more experimenting, cutting from different angles with different methods. Maybe I should forgo cutting for a little while to build up a larger stock of milk jugs for experimenting.
So now I'll move on to the flaws. The scabbard is well built, though I don't think it is the best designed for a good draw. It is hard to get it to cant well on the belt and stay there. The tsuba is also a bit smaller than I'd like for the size, but that's a minor nitpick, and it's not that small. The other complaint is that the handle is a bit on the small side. I'd like the wooden portion to be a bit longer, and a bit thicker too. The lack of any texturing, with a handle that isn't that thick for the size of the blade makes it feel just a little precarious at times. I just had a look, and the handle is similarly sized to that of the V-42 Stiletto in girth, though it doesn't have the champagne profile or the textured handle, although it does have the pinched cylinder cross-section of the V-42. It's also just under 4.75" from the bottom of the guard to the bottom of the buttcap but before the peened knob on the bottom. I've been pondering the possibility of some kind of wrap to add girth and texture to the handle, but I'm not sure how that would work out, since it lacks a ferrule to hold the wrap, or a drilled slot like you see on many Japanese blades for finishing the wrap. My gunsmith has told me where I can find Rayskin for sale, but it's expensive, and I've no idea how to work with it.
One other thing that might be a flaw is that the flattened cylinder of the handle, the blade, and the points of the Tsuba are not lined up with the tsuka's cross-section and the edge. I consider this to be a nitpick, especially since these blades are not made with the finest in modern tooling, they are made with relatively primitive tooling, and I suspect the lighting is not always ideal during the fitting process. Besides, even if these were issues, I only paid $95 for this blade. This blade is definitely worth more than $95. And frankly, if I wasn't looking very closely I never would have noticed it. In fact, I just experimented with other methods of having a look, and it looks more like the buttcap is oval shaped and that its oval is slightly off. By holding the Tsuba in two fingers and sliding them along until I felt the peaks I found that the peaks correspond pretty closely with the Tsuka and the blade. So it seems I was a little premature in saying they were misaligned. Any misalignment, if there really is any, is slight.
Edit: Forgot to mention, the digital kitchen scale sales it weighs 14 and 1/8 ounces.
The blade turned out to be broader than I expected. The blade is 1.25" broad, and 3/16" thick at the bolster, and 1/8" close to the tip. Its point of balance is about 1.5" out from the bolster, which is about 1.25" long itself. I don't know how this compares to an Japanese made high-quality Wakizashi, but it doesn't seem to affect its performance negatively. The blade is just barely over 12" measuring from the bolster, making this barely long enough to be a Wakizashi. An inch less, and this would be an O-Tanto and not a Ko-Wakizashi, if I understand correctly. I've experimented with my favored florets, and it performs them well. Not quite in the same way as my kukris, whose forward balance and weight seem to keep them moving fast and aligned in a floret, but it moves well in florets. I suppose one big difference in the florets is that with a kukri the floret is very aggressive and powerful. With this Ko-Wakizashi they would still cut and do damage, but the florets don't maintain the blade in a killing orientation and force throughout the florets. A floret with this blade is good for fast cuts, but not the deep ones, or at least that's what it seems like. I'll have to do some comparative testing, floret cutting with this and a kukri. I guess it does also depend on the floret. Doing one that ends with a descending strike to the left will position the blade more aggressively both with a kukri and with a straighter blade. As you might be able to tell, I was worried that a lighter blade like this one may have more difficulty with florets. I know shorter weapons often do. The shorter and lighter the kukri, the harder it is to do a flourish. And my light weapons tend not to flourish well. My Tanto for instance handles well, but it doesn't flourish well. However it is a maneuverable enough weapon that it isn't a major flaw. But my Ko-Wakizashi is definitely a very fast blade.
I did some cutting practice, starting with the triangle box it came in, and then moving to a pair of milk jugs. It cut as well as any kukri into the box, cutting through two sides, but not the third that was flat to it at the start. At that point it picked up the box instead of cutting further. The milk jugs were the more interesting target. Milk jugs filled with water are easy to cut, as you can imagine, but there's a lot that can be learned from them. Of all my kukris, my Yek Chirra seems to cut the best in milk jugs, as it has the easiest time making a full cut from end to end of the jug instead of not cutting all the way through. My ko-wakizashi cuts cleanly through, leaving two completely separate pieces like the Yek Chirra does. The interesting thing is that it feels different in the target. The Yek Chirra makes it very clear when you've made contact, it's both noisy, and there's a sort of "bang" feeling when you make contact with the jug, especially in a good cut that cuts through and through. My ko-wakizashi shocked me in its first test. I thought I had misjudged the distance badly and only slashed one side of the jug. Then I saw that more than half of the jug was on the ground. I had made a perfect cut, but because of how smoothly and quietly it cut through I initially thought that it hadn't. The same thing happened with the second cut, though I more quickly saw that I'd made a good cut. When I get more jugs on hand I'll do some more experimenting, cutting from different angles with different methods. Maybe I should forgo cutting for a little while to build up a larger stock of milk jugs for experimenting.
So now I'll move on to the flaws. The scabbard is well built, though I don't think it is the best designed for a good draw. It is hard to get it to cant well on the belt and stay there. The tsuba is also a bit smaller than I'd like for the size, but that's a minor nitpick, and it's not that small. The other complaint is that the handle is a bit on the small side. I'd like the wooden portion to be a bit longer, and a bit thicker too. The lack of any texturing, with a handle that isn't that thick for the size of the blade makes it feel just a little precarious at times. I just had a look, and the handle is similarly sized to that of the V-42 Stiletto in girth, though it doesn't have the champagne profile or the textured handle, although it does have the pinched cylinder cross-section of the V-42. It's also just under 4.75" from the bottom of the guard to the bottom of the buttcap but before the peened knob on the bottom. I've been pondering the possibility of some kind of wrap to add girth and texture to the handle, but I'm not sure how that would work out, since it lacks a ferrule to hold the wrap, or a drilled slot like you see on many Japanese blades for finishing the wrap. My gunsmith has told me where I can find Rayskin for sale, but it's expensive, and I've no idea how to work with it.
One other thing that might be a flaw is that the flattened cylinder of the handle, the blade, and the points of the Tsuba are not lined up with the tsuka's cross-section and the edge. I consider this to be a nitpick, especially since these blades are not made with the finest in modern tooling, they are made with relatively primitive tooling, and I suspect the lighting is not always ideal during the fitting process. Besides, even if these were issues, I only paid $95 for this blade. This blade is definitely worth more than $95. And frankly, if I wasn't looking very closely I never would have noticed it. In fact, I just experimented with other methods of having a look, and it looks more like the buttcap is oval shaped and that its oval is slightly off. By holding the Tsuba in two fingers and sliding them along until I felt the peaks I found that the peaks correspond pretty closely with the Tsuka and the blade. So it seems I was a little premature in saying they were misaligned. Any misalignment, if there really is any, is slight.
Edit: Forgot to mention, the digital kitchen scale sales it weighs 14 and 1/8 ounces.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2010
- Messages
- 7,751
funny when I saw that cause my keyboard crapped out about a week ago and i havent been able to post anything anywhere unless I cut and paste letter for letter including spaces etc but it was worth it when I saw that pic! Thats exactly what I was feeling! Im trying now to decide which Khuk to waste it! Maybe a sword? Whadya think? I wish I had a wakizashi to teach it to type! I do have a Katana! Maybe a big AKB? Love your new blade man! Im waitin for the right time to get me one:thumbup:
I wouldn't take out a keyboard with a blade. Plastic doesn't cut or chop well, and there's metal in them there keyboard. What you need is something big, heavy, and blunt. You live up in the hill country, I'm sure you can take down a cedar tree to make room for the oaks, and then use it to make a club.
cul4u01
Gold Member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2012
- Messages
- 4,101
:thumbup:, yup, that'll do it.