katana, junk?

S

Salvatorparadise

Joined
Sep 17, 2007
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I am just beginning to learn about swords, although I've spent a lot of time on knives. Is this katana of any quality, or how could i find out? From my scant research i've learned that its mounted mainly for storage, but would have to be mounted differently if one were to use it. The scabbard and handle are wood, but the pieces at the top of the scabbard and handle (they meet when the blade is slid all the way in) appear to be plastic or resin. It melts when touched with a hot pin, but doesn't really have much of an odor. Seeing that it looks plastic there, I almost immediately assumed it isn't very high quality. The blade is very heavy and looks to be good quality, but like i said, i don't know much. I'm at work now and don't have a length, but i'd say the piece, in the scabbard is 30 to 35 inches total. i'll measure when i get home in a bit. Here are some pics!

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The tip on it really is not a traditional tip for a katana. So that makes me pretty sure it is either chinese of western made. If you take out the peg in the handle yes i know that is not the traditional name. You should be able to slide the blade out and there is normally a sig there.
 
i want to take out the peg, but want to be careful too, anyone know a good way to do it?

I suppose i could just put a thin dowel over it on a cloth and tap it through with a hammer...
 
Honestly signatures don't really mean all that much, you can find good signatures on bad swords, fake signatures on good swords, fake signatures on fake swords, no signatures on good swords and no signatures on fake swords.

Having said that the way you describe removing the mekugi pins is the way I've heard that it is supposed to be done.
 
When I removed the handle from my production-line made katana just to have a look, I ended up using chopsticks to hammer out the pins since I didn't have anything else suitable on-hand. :)

I was surprised to discover that my factory-made katana was signed as well as numbered on the tang. So yeah, signature doesn't mean a damn thing.
 
The type of mount is called shura saya, and is a storage mount. The tip is indeed very odd. The blade should also have a miror polish.

To remove the wooden peg, tap it from the left side of the blade using a small hardwood dowel. Then hold the hilt in your right fist with the blade at 30 degrees away from you and hit your right hand just behind your thumb with your left fist. This should loosen the tang of the blade from the fitting.

Don't be too surprised if there is no signature, most blades have none. Only the good stuff has, but also the fakes do
 
It´s a chinese copy,I have one just like it.:thumbdn:

Don´t bother to take it apart you will only be disappointed and you will most likely not be able to put it back toghter.

It´s not a traditional shirasaya mount because the the wood is coated with someting making it hard for the saya to breath with is important for a storage mount..

Hope this help out..:):)
 
Chinese made. Looks like the maker tried to make it look old. I have 20 Katana and 3 are absolutely worthless. One looks exactly like this. I picked it up at a gun and knife show years ago for $200 or so bucks. What did you pay for it? That would be your first indication. You will not find a quality blade in shirasaya mount for under $5k unless you find a seller who doesn't know what they have.
 
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