The Gun Counter

THANKS!! HS's NOT the only one interested in Japanese blades, and I also appreciate your posting even if I don't have the money available to purchase an awesome Japanese Katana or Wakazashi. I still like to dream and do research on such blades when they provide enough information.

Hand-made Japanese blades are very valuable and might even be historically interesting if used during a time of unrest and/or war (some VERY valuable swords are still uncounted for since the defeat of Japan in WWII and could be worth THOUSANDS and perhaps MILLIONS - depending on the blade).

The Japanese worship their blades even more so than gunnies in this country worship old handguns and/or specific/historic rifles. It's not unheard of to find a blade dealer sitting on an INCREDIBLY valuable blade and not know it, selling it for trade/retail prices only and kick themselves for not looking further into the blade's history before selling it so cheaply.

Beware, thee are LOTS of forgers and cheats out there trying to make copies of famous swords and the only way you can tell the difference is by direct examination - however, several sellers/houses have reputations of selling counterfeit blades and it helps to know where the blade is actually coming from (not from some shipping "partner" who deals in cheap imitations).

Buyer BEWARE!!

Mikes right, the CHICOM's have made an industry out of faking Japanese blades, and they are pretty damn good at it.

I'm still struggling with the 'hamon' - that wavy line which shows the differential hardening between the edge and the spine.
I can do the differential hardening OK, but producing an interesting hamon with lots of 'activity' in it is very difficult. The variables in the application of the clay, the temperature at which you quench, how long you let the metal soak beforehand are all really important. I'm just starting to get a handle on it now, but it was totally bewildering at first.
The hamon is only a cosmetic feature really, but it does define the style of the blade.

My next step will be to smelt my own steel. That's another easy\difficult process. It's easy in that all you need is some clay to make the furnace, a lot of charcoal, iron ore and a source of forced air induction. The difficult part is ending up with useable steel when you have finished.

By the way, I have ordered the steel for your letter opener Ag - I found a friendly US bladesmith supplier who will ship internationally.

Sounds good - I'm sure the papers are my desk are trembling in fear... Although, my desk is mostly covered in things I haven't bothered to file, but have read...

I should add my usual disclaimer when talking about Jap blades

They aren't what a lot of people make them out to be. No katana ever cut through an M-1 rifle barrel. Basically we are talking about a 28 inch long razor blade which had to be made by such a long and involved process purely because Japanese steel smelting technology lagged hundreds of years behind the West. But it did produce something very, very beautiful.

I'm pretty ambivalent about what I have gotten into because one of my uncles was a 'guest' of the Japanese after his battleship was sunk during the fall of Singapore. He survived their 'hospitality', but died before I was born thanks to the lingering effects of the 'kindness' they showed him as a POW. I have no time for that martial arts zen bullshit either.
It's almost like a Jew deciding he wants to make reproduction SS daggers

What I hope to do eventually is to make pattern welded swords in the Viking\Dark Ages tradition. But that is MUCH more difficult than any Japanese blade, and there is a fraction of the commercial interest in them ( despite the fact that they are superior as a battle weapon in almost every respect )

C.R.E.A.M, but I've never been confused about the Japanese' lack of technology - pretty much any isolated population ends up in the same situation.

To be honest, I think I'd rather have an Italian longsword just to annoy people who say katanas are so much better.

George guy wrote:To be honest, I think I'd rather have an Italian longsword just to annoy people who say katanas are so much better.

The Japanese sword fighting 'arts' are enough to make a cat laugh. I'm amazed by the amount of people who fall for that bullshit blend of mysticism and spend hours upon hours walking up and down repeating strikes at unresponsive targets and call it training for war.

What the hell is the point in having a ritual for drawing the sword ? or putting it back into the saya ( scabbard ) ?

I was a member of a medieval re-enactment society years ago ( not like those SCA pussies, we were hardcore ) and we fought with live steel.
Believe me, any Japanese sword dude would have lasted about 2 seconds flat with us unless he got the first shot ( Which he wouldn't have done because he'd be too focused on respecting the sword, his opponent and the fucking cherry blossoms probably )

Well, "martial arts" created by people who slaughtered their way to power might be expected to be a bit more results focused... (That gymnastics was created as a form of training/exercise for a medieval knight does put things into perspective...)