PAGE 9 (-->) Home Invasion Robbery: What would You Do? ( Continued )

Rusty

Rusty

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THREAD THREE OF BROKEN ARROW'S CLASSIC TOPIC - POST 202.

So far my favorite is BA's friend who put a field ( or was it a target point? ) arrow into a dumb crook who didn't believe the guy with the bow and arrow was serious. All yours guys. I'm still thinking on the cane ( and the shepherd's crook, and a 3-5 foot assegai ) but I have this bayonet with a 17" blade...

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Himalayan Imports Website

Himalayan Imports Khukuri FAQ
 
What about using a walking stick similar to the one Rutger Hauer used in the movie Blind Fury? Or Zatoichi's version? Too bad they are illegal in California. I think this would be a cool weapon for self defense in the city and in the woods.
 
Rusty,
This movies are out on tape. These simple looking walking staffs have a blade concealed in them. The blades are very similal to the so called ninja-to blades. They are straight compared to the Katana and Wakizashi blades.
 

I own Blind Fury it's a very cool movie! The sword cane that's in it looks in every respect like a walking stick, and Rutger Hower's character is blind it fits. I've never seen a high quality sword cane, but I really want one! When I'm in the woods i usually carry a 5 1/2ft piece of oak. Very functional, totally legal.

- D

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Three of the four elements are shared by all creatures, but fire was a gift to humans alone. Smoking cigarettes is as intimate as we can become with fire without immeadiate excruciation. Every smoker is an embodiment of Prometheus, stealing fire from the gods and bringing it back home. We smoke to capture the power of the sun, to pacify Hell, to identify with the primordial spark, to feed on the marrow of the volcano. It's not the smoke we're after but the fire. When we smoke, we are performing a version of the fire dance, a ritual as ancient as lighting. The lung of a smoker is a naked virgin thrown as a sacrifice into the godfire.
 
You guys that haven’t seen a ZatoIchi movie need to go and rent one. They’re classics.

Ichi is a blind sword master. He uses a sword cane. He’s kind of a cross between Colombo, Clint Eastwood, and Duncan McCloud.
 
Now I understand. Can't recall the proper terms. There are two similar looking but very different purposed types I recall

One is a plain wood ( for long term ) storage scabbard for the blade/with the blade properly curved for Wakizashi/Katana/NoDachi, and matching plain handle to replace the handle fittings. Maybe WrongFriend or others can correct me where I've gotten lost.

The other is the straight ninja-to in a walking stick - kind of an oriental equivalent of the sword cane - a way to be armed yet appear unarmed.

I still like the mace behind the seat of my truck.

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Himalayan Imports Website

Himalayan Imports Khukuri FAQ
 
Rusty,

after having seen the pic of that mace I wouldn't want to go up against it, sword cane or not! That looks like it would snap anything thinner than an khuk
wink.gif


[This message has been edited by MauiRob (edited 02-04-2000).]
 
The storage scabbard for the Japanese blades is called a Shirasaya. These were used as resting scabbards for blades. Kris Cutlery use to sell some, but due to legality problems with the banned "cane sword" in Kalifornia, Cecil just dropped it from his regular line. The scabbards were not holding up to actual use because it wasn't desingned for it. A straight blade in a walking staff would be ideal, but a curved blade of a Wakizashi would make the staff look to odd.
By the way , the Zatoichi (Blind swordsman) movies are awesome! I like the one Zatoichi meets Yojimbo.
smile.gif
 
Howard, can you give us a name of a Zatoichi movie? I saw the Rutger Hauer movie and would like to see the other. Not that I hang out at video stores, but I do, on occasion, rent action movies and I've never seen any featuring a blind oriental sword master.
 
Those walking sticks or shikomi-zuay (equipped cane) were not very popular in Japan but in Zatoichi movies. Owning or carrying katanas was illegal for non-samurai at that time concealed or not. Ichi was darn good at sword, but his reverse grip tells it was not an authodox kenjutsu. It's a pure fantasy good outlaw fight for justice. About shirasaya, BA's always correct about katanas.
A bladed walking stick usually has smaller blade like 6 inches or less for strength as the blade shouldn't touch the scabbard, and very small part near the handle must sustain all the weight of the scabbard. Ninja-to is straight in shape, but shorter in length, usually around 20" .
For better concealing, umbrellas were sometimes used. IMO there in GB were better bladed walking sticks and umbrellas.


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\(^o^)/ Mizutani Satoshi \(^o^)/
 
WrongFriend: thank you. Your input is deeply appreciated by me. Hmmm... so BA is always right about katanas?

And Tom Holt sounds quite knowlegeable himself as to european weaponry.

Tom, you mention a broadsword ( DelTin I think it was ). Which model is/was that, just for reference? I have a 2142, 48" oal, with 39 1/2" blade,listed as a hand-and-a-half, but from what I've heard on netsword and swordforum, it's definitely a two-hander for someone my size ( 5' 4" ).
 
Rusty wrote -

"And Tom Holt sounds quite knowlegeable himself as to european weaponry."

Thank you, kind sir. I need to be; I earn my living writing (among other things) historical novels. There's a special kind of pleasure comes from claiming the cost of a full suit of armor against tax as a (totally justified) research expense; not to mention freaking out the gnomes as the tax office...

"Tom, you mention a broadsword ( DelTin I think it was ). Which model is/was that, just for reference? I have a 2142, 48" oal, with 39 1/2" blade,listed as a hand-and-a-half, but from what I've heard on netsword and swordforum, it's definitely a two-hander for someone my size ( 5' 4" ). "

I considered the 2142, but it's too much sword for a little guy like me. I went for the 5143. which is about as good, I guess, as trad medieval European style swords get. Having compared its weight, length and balance against the originals listed in Oakeshott's 'Records of the Medieval Sword' &c, I took an angle grinder and sawed off about 5 inches, which converted it from a tip-heavy, flimsy piece of junk into a useable sword, as well as making it authentic for size and feel. Because the blade is wide and thin, it cuts superbly, as well or better than a tulwar; but it's still awkward, slow and cumbersome compared to a katana, a dha or the big khuk. As a weapon, it'd be a marked improvement on nothing at all, but I'd rather have five feet of hickory shovel-handle.

Just for fun, I made an all-out two-hander out of one of Kris Cutlery's excellent $75 medieval-style sword blades. I can lift it, but only when I can borrow my neighbor's crane...
 
Rusty, thanx for kind words. I'm just a lurker around the world of swords though sometimes I'm lucked enough to have helps from experts around or have an access to good resources to help someone in minor points. BA and experts around will give every answer if needed.
I feel more comfortable in kukuri world than katana world. Though I believe the "test cut" is overspread with some sad misunderstanding, there surely are some gory episodes. In heat treating quenching process is the essence, temperature of water to dip katana into is most important. It was the secret of a swordmaster even to his apprentice. Once an apprentice dip his hand into the water to "steal" the secret temperature, the master took a sword and cut off his hand at the place.


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\(^o^)/ Mizutani Satoshi \(^o^)/
 
Good story, WrongFriend.

Uncle Bill knows khukuries, I mean he really knows from experience. As he's told us elsewhere, when he decided to start up the venture with Pala, he went to make bolsters, buttcaps, handles, everything himself that he could do so he'd have firsthand experience.

Me, I stumbled across the HI forum over a year back ( on KF then ) and IMMEDIATELY read every bloomin' post on the forum from day one before I said a single word. I own a few khuks, all HI made/imported. Otherwise, all I know is what I read. Don't take what I say with a grain of salt, go down to the feed store and get a cubic foot block of it. On the other hand, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Tom Holt: all of your books that I could find listed were in paperback, and if any were at our local library I missed them. We have a used bookstore that's open a couple times weekly, and I'll hit that ASAP. To me, the 2142 and the 5143 look like almost identical blades, same length handle, but different hilt and pommel. I think I'll keep mine at a two hand length like now, but a single hand or single hand length sword with the same furniture - they say DelTin does sometimes mix and match like he did for the swords in Braveheart.

Arrrgh - I'm in enough trouble keeping up with the khuks I want.

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Himalayan Imports Website

Himalayan Imports Khukuri FAQ
 
A bayonet rehandled as a Scottish dirk wouldn't be a bad nightstand friend. Thanks to John Powell for letting me know the two bayonets I had weren't too valuable to use. Course 15 1/2" and 17" blades are a little long,

"... and me darling says I, I don't mind if I do." ROTFLMAO.

PS - still trying to find a list of cyber BB acronyms.

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Himalayan Imports Website

Himalayan Imports Khukuri FAQ
 
As usual I was surfing tonight and found this! http://www.twilights-door.com/cgi-bin/miva?Mer chant/merchant.mv+Screen=PROD&Store_Code=01&Product_Code=1014-GT&Catagory_Code0112 I hope this works. The item seems funtional and at such a great price! At any rate a good collector.I recieved an e-mail from the company that says the blade is A-2, and quite funtional.

- D

[This message has been edited by Vampire Hunter D (edited 02-08-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Vampire Hunter D (edited 02-08-2000).]
 

Now that I've looked through the titles I remember seeing a Zatoichi move once. Very cool. It was my brothers, I'll have to see if he can remember where he got it.....

- D
 
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