It's that time of year. Check your tangs.

That's right and Bura demonstated this with a piece of 1/4x2 inch stock when he was demonstrating how NOT to harden a piece of steel. But which one of us has not fallen heir to the old adage, "Haste maketh waste"?
 
Originally posted by Yvsa
If the steel is hot and the kami gets water on it the dayumed thing is likely to break, Chiruwa or standard, makes no difference.:rolleyes: :p
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I stand humbly corrected. :o

But...I still like chiruwa's better than them rat tail thangs!! :D
 
Think more like 'gator tails than rat tails when you're thinkin' on the hidden tangs on HI's.

But slap the blades of all HI's flat against a tree or stump on both sides with increasing strength getting up to PDH ( pretty ____ hard ).

There are stories about the pin that holds katana blades to their handles breaking during demonstrations and those blades literally flying off the handle into the audience at full tilt.

Research and read a few examples of what happened there, and then consider what if your family were around when an 18 or 20 inch khuk snapped off at the bolster or a little under. That'll give added impetus to your testing.

Almost any khuk you get could have sat on the shelf for months. Test them all, just be more careful of those that you know came from times around this Holy Day.
 
is more of a long, thin tang, not much more than a long screw or bolt. The HI tang would be better described as a "stick tang" while your average 40 dollar stainless steel katana woudl have a rat tail tang or welded rat tail tang.

Te difference lies in the "shoulders" of the blade. The rat tail tang is thin along its whole length, from blade to butt, making a stress point the join between the blade and the thin tang.

The HI tang is much thicker and wider at the blade shoulder, and then tapers and thins gradually as it goes toward the butt.


Keith
 
OK...(now pouring more gasoline on the chiruwa vs. rat tail aka stick tang fire)......

An improperly hardened chirawa tang has GOT to be stronger than an improperly hardened rat tail, stick tang! There is more metal (although weak metal) in the handle. Makes sense to me (of course lots of things make sense to me that don't to others :D ) I might be wrong, could be wrong and probably am wrong but don't think I'm wrong, am I? :confused: :D Of course it all depends on the weakness of the metal in question, both improperly hardened but one worse than the other. Such a slippery slope and down the rabbit hole I go.
:D
 
Originally posted by Semper Fi
An improperly hardened chirawa tang has GOT to be stronger than an improperly hardened rat tail, stick tang! There is more metal (although weak metal) in the handle. Makes sense to me (of course lots of things make sense to me that don't to others.
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Semp, where the tang generally breaks the chiruwa handle really doesn't have any more steel than the stick tang. The stick tang is the same thickness of the blade and damned near as wide so the stick tang actually has more material.

As to preferences...............
Different strokes for different folks. That's why there's a Flat Earth Society. :rolleyes: :p ;)
I don't care which a man prefers, but I got over the full tang being stronger idea years ago as I also once preferred the full tang blades.
I find the stick tangs prettier, more user friendly and the handle material actually creating a stronger handle all the way around because of it's uninteruppted grain.:D
 
I knew I was sliding down the rabbit hole. :D

If a rat tail(stick) AK is as strong or stronger than a chiruwa, then why does Unnca Bill give a "two for one" guarantee on the "substitute prybar" chiruwa?? The implication is that the chiruwa is stronger. :confused:

I have both types and like both types. I also like to argue a little. :D
 
Originally posted by CAVEDWELLER
P.S. I'm a jackass.
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As opposed to being a Jenny, Cavedweller?

Or as opposed to being a horse's arse?

Whichever of the above three possibilities obtains, it far from helps in distinguishing you from the rest of your fellow HI forumites. In fact I know the forum has a number of bulls in it ( some Texas longhorns too ), though I can't say I've actually sighted one. The evidence left behind is unmistakable ( as opposed to buffalo chips - well, actually american Bison* chips if you want to be technical - we have a few of them too ) or water buffalo. We also have a few donkeys and monkeys, and one claimed camel, of the arabic rather than bactrian sort. Possibly even a few yaks and yetis around. Don't make me get into dzos ( cow/yak crossbreeds ) or beefalo.

* If you didn't know there are Polish bison, there are, and it's been discussed at length. It may have been archived. ( One more reason for frequenting the Cantina: you learn something new all the time. )

For those previously unaware of this, the term Cantina comes from the bar scene in the original Star Wars, and the different types of oddballs around it. It eventually became known as Uncle Bill's Cantina and Stage Stop. Coming from the east, take the ferry at Lake's Crossing. You may need a Court Order to get in legally via Lake's Crossing, the new building north of the brick buildings of the Nevada Mental Health Institute. I took some special training sessions there and also visited a friend while he was being assessed there ( on suicide watch ) pretrial.

If you're coming from the past/present/future, you can get to us by transfering/linking through Callahan's Crosstime Saloon ( get a note from Spider Robinson ), or Star Wars, or one of Heinlein's universes**, or just bookmark the HI forum on your computer.

(** Tunnel in the Sky, Glory Road, Number of the Beast and more )

You oldtimers know Bill or I or Howard or Yvsa - or one or another of the folks who're always around here - we used to always try to welcome new folks as they showed up. Year or two back we just plain lost it. Got us confuseled with all the folks dropping by. Understand that we still want too, it's just like trying to remember all the grandkids and great-grandkids birthdays. You can write them down all you want, but somedays you get up running in the morning and forget to check the calendar for a week or two.

If any of you ain't gotten a personal welcome, HELLO THERE! We're glad you're
here, and we really mean it. Gotta go now, I think it's past time for my medication.
 
Originally posted by Rusty
As opposed to being a Jenny, Cavedweller?

Or as opposed to being a horse's arse?

Whichever of the above three possibilities obtains, it far from helps in distinguishing you from the rest of your fellow HI forumites. In fact I know the forum has a number of bulls in it ( some Texas longhorns too ), though I can't say I've actually sighted one. The evidence left behind is unmistakable ( as opposed to buffalo chips - well, actually american Bison* chips if you want to be technical - we have a few of them too ) or water buffalo. We also have a few donkeys and monkeys, and one claimed camel, of the arabic rather than bactrian sort. Possibly even a few yaks and yetis around. Don't make me get into dzos ( cow/yak crossbreeds ) or beefalo.

* If you didn't know there are Polish bison, there are, and it's been discussed at length. It may have been archived. ( One more reason for frequenting the Cantina: you learn something new all the time. )

For those previously unaware of this, the term Cantina comes from the bar scene in the original Star Wars, and the different types of oddballs around it. It eventually became known as Uncle Bill's Cantina and Stage Stop. Coming from the east, take the ferry at Lake's Crossing. You may need a Court Order to get in legally via Lake's Crossing, the new building north of the brick buildings of the Nevada Mental Health Institute. I took some special training sessions there and also visited a friend while he was being assessed there ( on suicide watch ) pretrial.
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Well I'm actaully Pre-Coloumbian Jackass, Juan Valdez's donkey is a great uncle or cousin or something. And if you look hard enough in the family plow line you'll see a couple burros in there, but we'll all deny it. The only difference in the Star Wars catina and this one is nobody here has lost an hand to a light-khukuri.....yet. I've been told I look like Ponda Baba, and all this time I thought I had the dashing good looks of Dr. Evazan. I think I ate some beefalo once, now that I think about, or wait maybe it was Chirkey or Porkin?
 
Maybe I should find a doctor and beg for a prescription. All of this is making way too much sense.

Loved 'Glory Road', Rusty. Always thought there must be an Irish Sweepstakes ticket laying around with my name on it. Good swordplay in that one, too.
 
Man Rusty,just hit some of my favorite Scifi there.

And of the list, your'e one of two people I've met who know of Spider/Callahan's.
 
Originally posted by etp777
And of the list, your'e one of two people I've met who know of Spider/Callahan's.
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Ah yes.......
I remember Callahan's.
"Duck, duck!"
Make it three.

I still have those somewhere.
Somehow my reading habit dropped from a few a week
to none a year after I got married.

:rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by Aardvark
Maybe I should find a doctor and beg for a prescription. All of this is making way too much sense.
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You needn't worry about us making sense. By now the change has become irreversible.
 
Just because of you Rusty, dug out Glory Road this morning, which I will start reading as soon as I finish one I had in progress(Farmer in the Sky) and will probably dig out Tunnel in the Sky after that.

And that quote in my signature is still from Tunnel. :)
 
I use my non-chiurwa like a prybar, no problems. I thot the guarantee wasn't limited to the Chiruwa Ak model.

Chri or stick tang, water on the tang will cause the steel to ahrden too fast and across too much metal, making it a possible brittle weak point.

Keith
 
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