The first HI hasiya. Pix and deal.

Dave,
I have been considering building a model for a naginata blade for Uncle Bill. Thank you for reminding me, because the blade/handle juncture on this sickle is exactly what I needed to see.

The hard part wont be ordering or forgeing the blade, it will be mounting it to a pole in a way that it wont shatter the wood. Model making this weekend sounds good, I will start.

Again I thank you Uncle for the beautiful blade, and Dave thank you for reminding me about the Naginata.
 
:
The more I look at this the better I like it!!!!
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It is a gorgeous little tool!!!!
Maybe it will be sooner than I 1st thought before I get one.
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Perhaps one from Durba? hehehehehehehe!!!!
Hay-ill Far I like ANYthing from HImalayan Imports!!!!!

And with the hardness being where it's at you could possibly use the old trick of tapping the edge gently back to sharp like the old timers did their sickles and scythes if you should happen to dull it.


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Yvsa.

"VEGETARIAN".............
Indin word for lousy hunter.
 
Bro, I know for an absolute fact if you got the "new and improved" bigger version you'd never let it go. This is smithing skill in its purest form. Now as I look at this hasiya laying here on my desk I'm beginning to regret selling it. It is talking to me and that doesn't happen all that often these days.

But it's going to a good home. You remember Jack and his wife who showed up at the convention. He'll appreciate it as much or more than me so this is where it belongs.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Archives (33,000 + posts)
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Dave/Dave,

Perhaps we should go for a yari before a naginata?

I actually have a practice yari made from heavy duty plastic, with a canvas micarta shaft. It weighs about 5 lbs. Anyway, the blade to shaft juncture is delicate.
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Canvas micarta is a great material for impact tools, and the blade will probably break or (hopefully) bend before shafts made from it.

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naginata.html
 
(note: the foregoing is just one type of yari. One of the most common is the "jumonji" style with crossguards.)

In any case, I think affordable, HI quality spear heads would be well received. I actually think the best attachment form might well be a long socket with multiple screw holes, to spread out impact. As with 'hawk handles, I would believe all wooden spear handles will eventually break under hard usage.

 
I've seen several flavors of yari, some like that one that look like armor piercers, and some with leaf blades and/or lugs. I wondered what the historical significance of the differences was (did armor go through evolutions that made the broadheads less effective, for example?) but have never taken the time to read on it.
 
The yari over at Bugei have a 2-foot tang (longer than the blade!) with two crosspins to attach it to the shaft. That's probably the sturdiest design you'll find.

I've only seen the spike-shaped yari like at Bugei and in Spectre's picture. I'm no expert, but that design seems most common.

I became interested in the naginata when I stumbled upon this article while doing researcy for a manga fan site. Interesting stuff.
 
Info from here.

There are numerous styles of yari. The two major types are su yari (those with straight blades) and kama yari (those with horizontal crossbars on the blade)...If the crossbars of a kama yari are of equal length it is called a jumonji yari. A katakama yari has a single sided crossbar or crossbars of unequal length. It has been speculated that katakama yari are the result of a repair of a broken sidearm on a yumonji yari. Some yari were made with sockets which fitted over the end of a pole rather than a long nakago which slid into the pole, such socketed yari are termed fukuro yari. Jumonji yari and katakama yari pose exceptional challanges for both the swordsmith and the sword polisher.

I'm not fixated, though.
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I would be okay without a guard. I would personally think *3* pins or screws would work best. I broke my 2 pin practice yari. (Then again- I'm bad about breaking weapons. A friend laughed when I told my about the "unbreakable knife". They'd better not make that offer to you, he said!)

 
I'll get one soon, Uncle. The bad part is...I'm never trying to break them- I'm just trying to hit the target HARD!
 
I need to clean out a thistle patch and this really looks like it would do the job. Until I saw this I thought the best tool for the job was gasoline, but now I am having second thoughts
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.
Matthew

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By the way which one's Pink?
 
Re: the Yari, what about using the socket connection that's being discussed with a fire-hardened rattan shaft? Rattan doesn't shatter like hard wood and when it does eventually fray to where it's no longer useable, it's very cheap to replace.

I would like to see some HI tough spear heads as well. Maybe even a chinese style head. I vote for no guards though ... just a personal preference.

Dave.
 
I put my design for a naginata blade on grid paper, so that I could accurately enlarge the design measurements onto a piece of lumber. Well, my design came out to being 35" long. It will be a large swept blade, but I still want one
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. Not a good traditional looking naginata though. (The piece of lumber I had wasn't long enough,
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) I am starting to think that the best idea for a naginata from HI, would be a shorter thicker HI Katana with a socketed handle.
Dave, I like the idea of rattan, but if this does become an offering, I believe that the pole/handle will have to be installed by the owner in order to keep prices down. This has been discussed in detail previously, search for "naginata", in previous postings, I agree about the socket and that it would be the easiest to install, and if made the way all the other kuks are the blade/ handle juncture will be plenty tough.
 
I, for one, would really like to buy a spear (or spear head for that matter). I keep picturing something like a boar spear, but I have no idea what a traditionaly Nepalease spear looks like. I will hang out and see what comes up.
Matthew
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by SamuraiDave:
Dave, I like the idea of rattan, but if this does become an offering, I believe that the pole/handle will have to be installed by the owner in order to keep prices down. This has been discussed in detail previously, search for "naginata", in previous postings, I agree about the socket and that it would be the easiest to install, and if made the way all the other kuks are the blade/ handle juncture will be plenty tough.</font>
Click to expand...

I was assuming that the handle would be installed by the owner. I was just mentioning the rattan as an alternative to hard wood because someone mentioned a problem with the pole shattering at the point where the head and pole connect.

Another advantage to the owner supplying the pole is that the owner can affix a pole of the length and material that they want. The same HI spear head could result in anything from a short spear with a 2 to 2.5 foot Cocobolo pole to a long spear with a 10 foot rattan pole. If HI ships a complete spear then eventually they're going to have to deal with requests for spears with poles of different lengths and wood types. I'm sure there will be enough requests for variations in blade styles and dimensions. Just look at the various Khukuris to see what I mean.
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Dave.
 
The model is in thought only at this point Uncle Bill
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But I assure you that it will take shape soon... Sometimes I think the Kamis feel our special projects are real PIAs, other times they probably enjoy a change and a good challenge?

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The khukuri village idiot

[This message has been edited by billpaxton (edited 06-26-2001).]
 
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