my new katana short review from HI

johnAK

johnAK

Joined
Oct 22, 2001
Messages
14
I just got my first HI katana on friday. woo-hoo.
It has dragon carved handle, I was worrying whether handle I saw on pic in HI web site would be slippery or not. dragon carving seems to make grip pretty good.
I practice kendo, so i used to handle several katana. This katana from HI has most balanced feeling for me. $10,000 katana my sensei showed me was kinda nose heavy for me, possibly because its blade is longer than HI katana though.
I did several cutting test on packing box. 1/4" thick, most strong box my company has. very easy cutting thru, oh yeah.
But edge is quite dull. my wwii model was pretty dull too when i got it. not too sure why kami make blade dull. maybe it's difference between their manufacturing standard and ours?
I have no choice but to learn to polish katana myself because I haven't won lotto yet. professional katana polishing is like $80-150 per inch.
all in all, best katana you can get unless you win lotto. I love this.
 
Glad you like it, I haven't gotten one of these beauties yet but I've been happy with all of my other HI products. About the dull edge, that seems to be a common problem lately, I don't know why it's happening. Maybe Uncle Bill could send a message to Pala for us, and ask the kamis to have an apprentice put a decent working edge on all of the blades before they leave the shop?
 
No need to get a professional polish on the blade. I made mine shave-sharp with a ceramic rod. Easier (but time consuming) with high-grit sandpapers and a mousepad or other suitable springy surface for stropping action. I would look at Pendentive's posts about the Sharpening CD. He does convex sharpening by hand and demonstrates it. $5 for the CD, maybe $20 in materials (you can get fine grit papers at Auto parts stores in the Body work section near the Bondo).
You'll become very accustomed to your blade if you sharpen it yourself.
I have an HI katana and love the balance, it is very swift and strong. Mine came pretty sharp but I touched it up anyway. Be confident, sharpening is a skill, not an art. You can do it. Polishing is an art because it involves bringing out the hamon as well as sharpening, and done traditionally, is very time consuming (but does make a fine sword into a work of art).
Let us know how your katana holds up against the rolled tatami mats compared to that $10,000 blade! :)
 
What they said.

:)

And welcome.

Katana or not, these are meant for sharpening with common materials.
Here, polishing these blades means making them shiny.
& you can learn these things yourself in a very short time.

! It would be nice to see an HI blade of any type that had been
"polished" in the way you mean.

Search this HI forum for:
sharpen sandpaper or sharpen mousepad or sharpen convex.

Also search HI forum for:
vinegar or hamon acid or etch acid
to see how we show the zone hardening.
 
I also highly recommend Dan's CD, if he can find the time to send out anymore. Lots of good info on there.
 
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