Japanese custom sword work

hrm, as you all probably know, im the obcessive samurai sword guy anyway lately ive been undertaking custom work to my cutting sword, Kazekiri. so i thought it might be nice to give yall an idea of what it is that im doing.

Im working for a base model of Paul Chen's Practical Katana. Its a fairly cheap sword, intended for tameshigiri (test cutting) for those who can't afford a more expensive blade. Its a basic sword that holds no ties to traditional fittings. However, the blade is a true high carbon steel, differentially tempered blade.

When i first recieved the blade a couple months ago, the tsukamaki (handle wrapping) was very loose, hence i decided to do my own custom work on the blade. In that state the blade was virtually unuseable because of the loose tsuka maki, thus i unwrapped the handle and made some slight adjustments to the handle.

my current idea is to re wrap the handle in Katate-maki in blood red silk cord instead of the matte suede that the blade is currently wrapped in.

pictures will follow once i figure out how to upload images INTO the post so you dont have to see attachments.

 

www.imageshack.us

Problem solved.

 

thanks Neph


this is the original reason for doing the custom work

note that the Hinerimaki (wrapping style) has come quite loose



Kazekiri in its original form



katate Maki. This is the way Kazekiri will be wrapped only using a Blood red Ito



this is the ito that i will be using

 

wow... the factory did a horrible job on your tsukamaki... mine's very tight, but i may change the menuki and ito just for the sake of making it more "one of a kind".

 

That really sucks. You would think they would do a decent job on it but I guess not. The new wrapping tsuka is gonna look a lot better i think.

 

Unfortunetly, the Hanwei forge is somewhat lax about their swords. Many of them come up in bad finish or not fullysharpened. and such in my case, with loose fittings etc. Thus they arent the highest quality possible, However, for custom work the Practical Katana and Practical Plus Katana make excellent base models.

Both swords are cheap and easy to work with, and provide a stable base model for custom work such as what im doing with Kazekiri.

 

Aright

Using the old suede as a temporary wrap, ive completed the temporary wrapping as it should look in the end. Looking at it now, im starting to seriously consider using a black silk ito in place of a red ito.

also the Hineri maki part has very wide diamonds, im going to attempt to instead wrap very small tight diamonds to make the overall look more asteticly pleasing.

Im also going to attempt to break down the laquer thats on the saya and re laquer it or I may simply lay down the Rattan and then put a clear laquer over that.

 

Hitokiri, I have to say that it is very, very, very cool that you know what you're doing and can fix that stuff!!

I think doing it in the red will look amazing!!! Now, me, I haven't a clue and wouldn't dare start because I'd be afraid of ruining it.

Good luck with it!!

 

hrm yeah im not sure if im gonna use the Red Silk anymore...

 

I think that redoing the tsumaki would be a good idea anyway. Both because it’s fun and because it would make your sword unike. Good luck Gensai!

A friend of mine spontaneously bought a katana. We had much fun with it. We sharpened it and we went into the garden at my place where one of us would throw apples from one of our trees at the other who would slice it up while in the air. Totally childish but great fun Anyhow, the blade started to loosen at its base and we constantly had to bend it back to its original position. The hand guard also seemed to start to loosen, no longer sitting in place tightly. Then, one time when he threw an apple at me and I swung the sword after it, I suddenly had nothing but the hilt in my hand while this sharpened blade flew 30 feet. The part of the blade where it entered the hilt had snapped.

I realized that it really sucks having a katana that can't stand practical use, so I'm wondering how one knows whether a katana can do so or not... How much is a reasonably cheap prize for a katana that wouldn't shatter, snap or bend on an impact? Can anyone name a good dealer? Where did you buy yours Gensai?

(Btw, this is a great forum :anime: )

 

its truly a custom sword at this point because of the work ive done so far.

Hrm... thats not a good thing... the Japanese sword is not a toy nor is it something to mess around with. They have long since been considered to be the sharpest swords on earth. Since ancient times, the Japanese have been perfecting their forging techniques and honing their blades to razor sharpness.

it sounds like the sword you had was probably a 440 Stainless blade mounted in a abs plastic handle. those blades are simply glued into the handle and have no menkugi or anything of the sort to secure the blade to the handle. The glue is weak and over time it will come lose very fast and eventually just as you found, either the blade will break or the blade will simply fly out of the handle. which is an extremely dangerous situation. I remember hear a story of a full trained martial artist who was using a real Nihontou and the mekugi of his sword were worn through... he was preforming kata when the blade flew out of the tsuka and struck a child in the head. The blade had sunk into his brain and killed him. Flying steel is a very very dangerous situation and all i can say is that unless you have some practice in Kenjutsu or Kendo, playing around like that is very dangerous.

My Nihontou that you see in this forum is a Paul Chen sword. Called the Practical Katana its a fairly cheap blade thats quite suitable for tameshigiri and other practical uses with out breaking the bank so to say. Typically youll find one for about 150 USD but they sometimes run as high as 200 even. Eitherway the blade is a differentially tempered work of art. but in terms of tradition it wont quite stand up to the test. Still its a beautiful sword and quite a capable cutting sword.

Id still warn that playing around like that is NOT a good idea and using a sharpened nihontou is not something for play or messing around with. Not only is it an insult to the creator but its also such for the history of the sword in general.

 

Sorry about that Didn't mean to insult anybody or anything.

In our case it was the blade itself that snapped (at the point within the handle where mount passes through the blade making the blade extra thin for practical purposes). And yes, it would have been a dangerous situation if people had been around and I wouldn't have repeated the act again. But at the time I didn't expect that a blade to snap simply from the centrifugal force of my cut.

Anyhow, thanks for the answers!