Katanas, pix and deals.

Just make up your mind what you want, mail Unc the money, and you go onto a list. If no-one else is ahead of you, you get the nest to come in.
 
Hi, Bob, there are two categories for Iaito. One is "second class" katana made from traditional sand iron by certified kaatna master's forging, the other is aluminum katana-like stick that can never be sharpened for its round, and hollow crosssection - a toy!

I've tried variations of customs declaration when I imported 20" AK, and found out that declaration seldom matters. They xray the parcel, touch magnet on the blade, etc, etc. I can expect more possibility as a tourist or a business person back from a trip. BA can also tell how Japanese customs officers are generous with family tourists.

Of course, visiting US will give me good chances to Uncle Bill and some of forumites... Not sure about when, but I'll make it some day.

Berk, the "GSP" page was so difficult to realize what good I can make use of from it. I'm not ambitious to be an HI dealer, only want one or two HI katanas for myself... But thanx for your post. I'll take more time on "GSP" site.


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Otokohadaremo yumenofunanori.
Shonennohinoakogare shinutokimade wasurezunidaiterumonodayo.
 
Bob,
Good plan, but I'm usually so busy in the afternoon that I wouldn't be able to monitor it and would probably miss out anyway! Not to mention that the cost of such a setup would be better spent on blades.
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Rusty,
Thanks for the info, but I know how that works. Right now my money is going in too many directions at once, so I figured I'd wait a few months to order. But I also told myself that if a deal came up to go ahead and grab it. What really got me was that if I had logged on right after getting home from work I could have had the wood handled one, but I got sidetracked and missed it. Oh well, some things are meant to be and some things aren't. But before this year is done, I will almost certainly own a katana. (And a tarwar too!)
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Carl
 
On the question about the curve of a katana or any blade as far as that goes. I'm a blacksmith of 18 years with experience in working carbon steel for tools and knives. A blade is forged as close as possible to its finished shape(less grinding) then when it is hardened and tempered it really shouldn't move much. Now it is possible to warp a blade but that will typically be to the left or right, edge up or down.

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Don't Worry Be Happy!
Gary
 
:
From what I've read and understand it's the clay wrap on the blade that makes the blade curl on the katanas.
The edge hardens much faster than the soft back and it "draws" the blade into the curl.
And the katanas are similar to the way the khukuris are hardened in the fact that when the blades are hardened they're not tempered back to a lower hardness.
And that sudden dip into the water from being that hot is enough to crack some blades, not all of the katana blades come out perfct.


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Yvsa.

"VEGETARIAN".............
Indin word for lousy hunter.
 
Black Bear, a katana is made from composit carbon steel that contains carbon about 0.6% at the edge, gradually decreasing to the spine. When quickly quenched in water, a katana bends sideways as you mentioned. There also happens backward bend to some degree by different ratio of multensite(sp?) crystalline(sp). It may cause the edge part stretched out resulting in small rip(s) on the edge (ha-gire, edge rippin), but never shows up in marketplace. How to release remaining stress in the blade by this process is another difficult part of katana smith's job.

A blade made from one piece stell does not act like composite steel. HI katana is forged into the same shape as seen in final product, where a katana is made straighter (not straight) than its final shape. The curvature of katana is shaped half by katana smith's hammer, and half by the bending process through quenching.

Hope this helps.


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Otokohadaremo yumenofunanori.
Shonennohinoakogare shinutokimade wasurezunidaiterumonodayo.
 
WrongFriend, I think the "multensite" you mentioned is "Martensite" in English.

But we all knew what you meant, anyway.
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wrong friend and yvsa, Good points. The laminated blade and the clay wrap are elements I hadn't considered. They would both effect the final shape. I guess thats one of those skills you pick up after the mastersmith raps you in the head for the 30th time while serving your apprenticeship. Thanks for the input guys. :) :)
 
DocPat, sorry for terrible misspelling and thanx for correcting me.
When heated or quenched, steel ( iron, and carbon alloy) expands and shrinks by temperature and crystalizateion / decrystalization. Quenching results in different style of crystaline by carbon ratio, quenching speed, etc. Katana's spine is thicker, and contains less carbon than edge part. So a katana bends in its heat treat inevitablly. some intentionally.

As Black Bear may know much better than I, unintentional bend also happenes, but they are all adjusted by hammer and anvil afterwards.

HI katana doesn't need to bend by its single source of 5160 steel. I'd like to see a straight HI katana albeit not sure if I can successfully import it here.
 
Uncle Bill,
If you were to give me a perfectly shaped, and forged blade, and tell me to harden and temper it, when I'm done you'd a professional quality cork-screw. :)

Bob
 
OK, I can understand the "guild" or whatever you call it, supporting laws to prevent imitation katanas from being imported.

But some swords daos from Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, Tibet, Nepal may be quite differently made while happening to be superficially similar to a katana ( gee, what works works and folks come up with the same ideas, what a concept! ). Why would Japan bar a sword like that from entry? A tarwar is definitely not derived from a katana, so you can't even bring a tarwar into Japan? And granted the Everest Katana is derived from a Japanese blade, would one of the Vietnamese daos copied by HI be denied entry if so described?

Not meaning to criticize any body, just want to know and understand the situation.
 
HI makes vietnamese Daos?
That's news to me...of am I just misinterpeting?

regards
Matt
 
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