- Joined
- Oct 28, 2000
- Messages
- 1,077
A while back I ordered another Everest Katana from HI. Yesterday I received it and my first thought was that the BirGhorka kamis must be ardent fans of the Japanese Ninja Movies. Email from Uncle Bill confirmed this.
My initial impression:
The sword: The blade is fairly straight, with only a slight curve in it that I feel justified in calling it a ninja-to rather than a katana. Nice battle bulge near the tip. Blade is 1/4 inch thick. Impression of the blade is that it flows smoothly from tsuba to tip. As for hamon, that will have to wait until I get a chance to etch the blade with some ferric chloride. Brass habaki. Tsuba is square (2 inches by 2 inches), engraved on both sides with dragons on one side and flowers on the other side. Just past the tsuba and ahead of the saatisaal handle is a square brass bolster(for lack of a better term) engraved with the Himalayas. The saatisaal handle is like an 8 inch long cucumber, pleasant feeling in the hand and pinned in place with 2 steel pins. Bottom side of handle had developed a crack, but this may be due to handling in transit and climatic changes. Simple enough to repair. Brass and steel buttcap is square with more engraving. Looks to be filled with laha and noted one side slightly indented, no doubt from transit. Ninja-to length is about 36 inches.
Scabbard is leather, no wood in it so the ninja-to should not experience any difficulty in extraction or insertion. Standard brass chape. Modified HI frog to allow for horizontal carry on either right or left side - just slip it off and reverse it before slipping back on for your preferred side of carry. The stitching quality I feel approaches the average western leather sheath.
At the present time I have no pix to post, but am anticipating a new digital camera in the next week or so, hang on until then.
Summary: Execution of design on this katana/ninja-to took a different turn than expected, but I like the result . Balance is good and will be looking forward with interest in testing this out on Mr. Tatami Man.
Thank you Uncle Bill and Sanu who had the privilege of making this blade for me.
------------------
Harry
Himalayan Imports Khukuri Range Safety Officer
Himalayan Imports Website
Howard Wallace's Fabulous Khukuri FAQ!
"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
That dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all...."
- James Graham, Marquess of Montrose (1612-1650)
My initial impression:
The sword: The blade is fairly straight, with only a slight curve in it that I feel justified in calling it a ninja-to rather than a katana. Nice battle bulge near the tip. Blade is 1/4 inch thick. Impression of the blade is that it flows smoothly from tsuba to tip. As for hamon, that will have to wait until I get a chance to etch the blade with some ferric chloride. Brass habaki. Tsuba is square (2 inches by 2 inches), engraved on both sides with dragons on one side and flowers on the other side. Just past the tsuba and ahead of the saatisaal handle is a square brass bolster(for lack of a better term) engraved with the Himalayas. The saatisaal handle is like an 8 inch long cucumber, pleasant feeling in the hand and pinned in place with 2 steel pins. Bottom side of handle had developed a crack, but this may be due to handling in transit and climatic changes. Simple enough to repair. Brass and steel buttcap is square with more engraving. Looks to be filled with laha and noted one side slightly indented, no doubt from transit. Ninja-to length is about 36 inches.
Scabbard is leather, no wood in it so the ninja-to should not experience any difficulty in extraction or insertion. Standard brass chape. Modified HI frog to allow for horizontal carry on either right or left side - just slip it off and reverse it before slipping back on for your preferred side of carry. The stitching quality I feel approaches the average western leather sheath.
At the present time I have no pix to post, but am anticipating a new digital camera in the next week or so, hang on until then.
Summary: Execution of design on this katana/ninja-to took a different turn than expected, but I like the result . Balance is good and will be looking forward with interest in testing this out on Mr. Tatami Man.
Thank you Uncle Bill and Sanu who had the privilege of making this blade for me.
------------------
Harry
Himalayan Imports Khukuri Range Safety Officer
Himalayan Imports Website
Howard Wallace's Fabulous Khukuri FAQ!
"He either fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small,
That dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all...."
- James Graham, Marquess of Montrose (1612-1650)
