The Martial Artist's Katana

Have you tried the 9260 steel from Cheness? Through hardened or clay hardened?

Does anyone make a steel true to the traditions within price reach of humans?

Larry
Tinkerer
 
The German company that comes to my mind is WKC. They have been distributing what they insist are from their forges but I would think it likely they are sourcing from China and a proprietary forge they contract swords from.

http://www.wkc-sports.com/wkcbetter.html

Citadel products are also distributed in Europe and have some nice looking goods. They continue to be pretty low on the radar horizon but have been in business selling swords for more than a decade.

Cheers

GC
 
tinkerer said:
Have you tried the 9260 steel from Cheness? Through hardened or clay hardened?

Does anyone make a steel true to the traditions within price reach of humans?

Larry
Tinkerer
Click to expand...

HAVE used the 9260 from Cheness. The weakness with the Cheness swords I have used is not in the blade(5-6, cut fairly well) but in the unacceptable(to me) handle construction....they feel blocky, and the handle furniture does not meet my minimum expectations.

Define the price reach of humans? Considering the time involved with producing a sword that is made of tamehagane, the afformentioned tamehagane cutters produced in Japan that Danny in Japan has written about are excellent deals, better than they should be....they are bendy, though:

http://www.swordstore.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/03648.1.1140861999779618134/apps/cart/docategory.html

Best Regards

STeven Garsson
 
The Kamakura-styled blades were made thicker and longer (I have one) but they were not intended to "cut" well through light materials. They were more like chisels, intended to smash wrists and stab through gaps in the armor of the period. It's like comparing a knife to a chisel: different designs for different purposes.

Come to think of it, I have seen iron mekugi used. I have also been told that disassembly of the katana was rare and most cleaning done did not involve removing the tsuka. (One reason the nakago was left to oxidize)
 
Thanks for the reference. Very reasonable blades.

Also thansk for the opinion on the 9260 steel. I like their balds in sarasaya fittings, might pick up a set and finish it out in my leasure.

Larry
 
horseclover said:
The German company that comes to my mind is WKC. They have been distributing what they insist are from their forges but I would think it likely they are sourcing from China and a proprietary forge they contract swords from.

http://www.wkc-sports.com/wkcbetter.html
Click to expand...

Yes! I looked at their booth at SHOT 2007 and was very impressed with their stuff. The blades had a little more sori than others- which I liked- and theirsharpened blades were VERY sharp. I also liked that they weren't tip heavy , but pretty well balanced
 
DannyinJapan said:
The Kamakura-styled blades were made thicker and longer (I have one) but they were not intended to "cut" well through light materials. They were more like chisels, intended to smash wrists and stab through gaps in the armor of the period. It's like comparing a knife to a chisel: different designs for different purposes.

Come to think of it, I have seen iron mekugi used. I have also been told that disassembly of the katana was rare and most cleaning done did not involve removing the tsuka. (One reason the nakago was left to oxidize)
Click to expand...

Thank you!
 
What is the name of the martial art that teaches the use of swords? I know there are some different techniques or I at least believe that is the case? whatwould you recomend for a newb?


I apologize if you mentioned it and I missed it, I just returned from a late, late night mission so I am a little "smoked" to say the least.
 
Excellent posts, STeven. As I am fumbling though my first attempts to make a couple of Japanese style blades, I look forward to anything you will post in the future on this topic. Could you also tell us what you would recommend as far as reference materials for someone trying to make a Japanese sword? Thanks and keep up the good work,:thumbup:
 
This was a great post! I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Question. On the notion of replacing the stock pins with bamboo needles. I have a Cheness Deluxe Iaito on the way. Would it be smart for me to do that? Or, since I don't know what I'm doing, would it be smart to just leave them as is? It's for Iaido, not cutting, so there won't be nearly as much stress on the tsuka. I have to pull the pins anyway because I'm swapping out the tsuba right away.
 
jdm61 said:
Excellent posts, STeven. As I am fumbling though my first attempts to make a couple of Japanese style blades, I look forward to anything you will post in the future on this topic. Could you also tell us what you would recommend as far as reference materials for someone trying to make a Japanese sword? Thanks and keep up the good work,:thumbup:
Click to expand...

http://www.amazon.com/Craft-Japanes...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264964266&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Japanese-...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264964266&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Swor...=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264964266&sr=8-3

These three books should get you started quite nicely, Joe, and collectively, will run you around $100.00 or less....that is THOUSANDS years of information collected into 3 very easy to understand books.

Noshtero said:
This was a great post! I enjoyed it thoroughly.

It's for Iaido, not cutting, so there won't be nearly as much stress on the tsuka. I have to pull the pins anyway because I'm swapping out the tsuba right away.
Click to expand...

Noshtero, must say that the Cheness Iaito, or most iaito for that matter are VERY hard to reassemble once they have been taken apart. Both the Japanese and the Chinese use compressed paper to make up for loose tolerances between the nakago and the corresponding recess in the tsuka.

In other words, they really are not meant to take apart.

When I took apart my formerly owned Cheness to change the tsuba....glued it back into place with Brownell's acraglass, and this means in order to take it apart again, would have had to destroy the tsuka.

Can say with almost complete certainty that if you take apart the Cheness to change the tsuba, you will have a loose handle that will drive you crazy if you are anal retentive.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Kohai999 said:
http://www.amazon.com/Craft-Japanes...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264964266&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Japanese-...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264964266&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Swor...=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264964266&sr=8-3

These three books should get you started quite nicely, Joe, and collectively, will run you around $100.00 or less....that is THOUSANDS years of information collected into 3 very easy to understand books.



Noshtero, must say that the Cheness Iaito, or most iaito for that matter are VERY hard to reassemble once they have been taken apart. Both the Japanese and the Chinese use compressed paper to make up for loose tolerances between the nakago and the corresponding recess in the tsuka.

In other words, they really are not meant to take apart.

When I took apart my formerly owned Cheness to change the tsuba....glued it back into place with Brownell's acraglass, and this means in order to take it apart again, would have had to destroy the tsuka.

Can say with almost complete certainty that if you take apart the Cheness to change the tsuba, you will have a loose handle that will drive you crazy if you are anal retentive.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
Click to expand...
Thank you for the suggestions, sir. They were all three were on sale, so it was a fair bit less than $100. Better lucky than good.:thumbup:
 
what happens to the retired swords? do they go up on the wall? used for destructive testing? used for practice polishing?
 
wnease said:
what happens to the retired swords? do they go up on the wall? used for destructive testing? used for practice polishing?
Click to expand...

Retired swords do go up on the wall(rarely), or are given to friends who would like a wallhanger/practice sword.

If I would like to keep the fittings, I strip the sword to the wood parts, and give it to friends who are free to do as they choose, but are specifically warned that this is a "USED" sword and can be dangerous for tomfoolery.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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