Fun thread on Sword Forum: Japanese sword terminology flame war

Looked more like a savage beating than a war.

Some folks seem to enjoy stirring up trouble. At least on the internet you loose fewer teeth. :)
 
what... you mean that crack on my Bura made WWII bolster is supposed to be there???



:mad: :mad: :mad:

;)
 
just shows that if two people talk about the same subject, they'll invent an 'in' language (1) so that they can feel smug & superior, if a third comes along one of them becomes an expert (2) and charges the newcomer to translate. the third then sets rules when the language can & can't be used and excuses for why plain laguage is no good, so he can feel superior to the others as well (3). they then need a 4th to enforce (4) the rules against those who don't know the secret code (5). we of course then need to pay all these, so we get no. 6, the worst of the lot.


(1) law
(2) lawyer
(3) politician
(4) police
(5) the common man (us)
(6) the tax collector
 
Lots of good stuff at that site.

I recently tried making an axe head out of a leaf spring but it was a laughable failure.:o

I _will_ try again, though.

-Dave
 
Ok, just what I needed, another place to spend my money.:D
Who am I kidding, WHAT money?:D Nice weapons there kronckew. Just wish I had some more money.
 
Hi davek,

i think the secret was to make the main part of the axe in a mild steel which was easy to form, then to hammer weld a strip of high carbon steel on the edge, mine has a very distinct transition line & the axe is a pain to sharpen even with a diamond hone....i made the mistake of ordering it without specifying it to be a sharp, so it came nice & re-enactment blunt, not a convex edge, a hemispherical one!
 
I hear those hemispherical edges are really strong...:D

I'll have to go and get some scrap mild steel to pound on instead.

I thought the jelling dragon catalog said the axe heads were just mild steel. If they do have high carbon edges I may have to buy one myself.

-Dave
 
If you're stateside, try Ragweed forge for Simialar axes and viking stuff. Saves some postage.

Keith
 
Originally posted by BruiseLeee
Looked more like a savage beating than a war.
Click to expand...

Considering the rude, ignorant, abrasiveness of the original poster, I think he got off pretty easy. :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by Dave K
I thought the jelling dragon catalog said the axe heads were just mild steel. If they do have high carbon edges I may have to buy one myself.
-Dave
Click to expand...

Depends on what he can get in stock, they all come from a guy called paul binn, you can order one with a hardened steel edge for £25 extra (about $40) fom paul, along with alot of extras, color hardening, brass inlayed celtic patterns, etc. but you may have to wait a year.

more purty sparkly things to spend money on:

http://www.paul-binns-swords.co.uk/longaxes.html

and yes, the postage can get a bit excessive....

anyway, we're getting off subject, so to steer it back a bit, you can see the distinct 'hamon' (transition between tempered and untempered section of the edge) on my axe in my avatar picture. see - i can use japanese on a weapon as well. i think the jap sword purists are like a bunch of geeks who overly complicate the whole thing.
anything else is getting pedantic, like a lawyer taking simple english

'get off my land or i'll poke you with my pointy steel stick'

and translating it into

'the party of the first part enjoins the party of the second part to cease and dis-engage from trespass on the party of the first part's personal domicilic premesis or he'll assault the party of the second part with a tachi with a shinogi-zukiri, fumbari and a strong koshizori, iorimune, ko-kissaki blade, and a komidare hamon with many ashi and konie, and here and there brightly shining kinsuji.'

this is why they locked the thread, it starts getting a bit silly to argue about about arbitrary terminologic labels for minor differences, instead of how well it chops or cuts.
 
Very nuice sites both here and in the UK.

Ragnar would definitely save me quite a bit on shipping, but he seems to have mostly cast steel axe heads?

-Dave
 
Originally posted by Dave K
but he seems to have mostly cast steel axe heads?

-Dave
Click to expand...

Dawi there's not necessarily anything wrong with cast steel. Some of it can be quite good!:)
 
Just for interest the axe is 8 in. from socket to edge, and 8in. edge, and approx. 1/8 in. thick over most of the blade. the handle was 5 ft. long originally, and you can feel the forge marks if you run your fingers over the blade. it can take repeated full strength overhand blows onto a hunk of tree trunk without problems, it's thin 'cause it was designed as a weapon to slice people in 9th century chainmail, not chop trees. Diminsions are compareable to the originals.

harold's men used these in 1066 at hastings to hold off the norman horseman charging the saxon sheildwall. they recorded that they would frequently behead a horse AND kill the norman horseman with the same blow.

they only lost because they had just force marched a couple of hundred miles south to meet william after annihilating a viking army twice their size, and their replacements had not yet caught up. they still might have won if they had not been tricked into breaking the sheildwall by a feigned retreat by william, some of the fyrd (militia) chased after them & got killed in the counter attack, seriously weakening the saxons. tricky buggers, these frenchies.

i found that 5ft. haft a bit long for me so cut it down to 4ft., swings better for me now.

dpn't think a cast steel version would be anywhere compareable for this use, tho it's fine for hand-axes.
 
Fascinating stuff Kronckew. Are you associated with any reenactment groups in the UK?

And as far as cast axeheads go, if Yvsa says its OK, maybe I will have to give ragnar a call.

-Dave
 
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