Paintball

[Mstrtal]

Yeah it sucks that after the war we went and forced them to melt down centuries of culture and history. I am not being sarcastic or joking in any way shape or form. I understand it was mostly a knee jerk reaction but it still sucks that thousands of swords that had been passed down for generations where melted down and scrapped. Those swords where not just weapons they where true works of art!

[sable]

they were. and they will never be made that well again.

literally months of work could go into making just one sword, from what i understand.

[Mstrtal]

From what I understand a Master Blade smith and his apprentices could spend a year or more working on a single blade.

[Stuffy]

Heres a couple sites that might help you.

Japanese Sword Restoration Parts & Supplies - Fred Lohman Company

SamuraiSword.com - Fine Japanese Swords (Nihonto) For Sale; Free Evaluations

Japanese Swords, Samurai Swords, Samurai Katana, Japanese Wakizashi, Japanese Weapons

The Bugei Sword Discussion Forum :: Index

[drg]

There was a pretty interesting mythbusters where they tested the movie myth about one sword being able to cut another sword (leaving the holder with just the hilt). Interesting in that they tested several grades and styles of swords.

i can't seem to find a video of it on the interweb though.

[Mayvik]

Originally Posted by Stuffy

Heres a couple sites that might help you.

Japanese Sword Restoration Parts & Supplies - Fred Lohman Company

SamuraiSword.com - Fine Japanese Swords (Nihonto) For Sale; Free Evaluations

Japanese Swords, Samurai Swords, Samurai Katana, Japanese Wakizashi, Japanese Weapons

The Bugei Sword Discussion Forum :: Index

Ah, was wondering if someone was going to post Bugei in this thread. They make some really glorious swords, been drooling over getting myself a proper daisho from them for like 5 years.

[Shiba-Kun]

Contact my friend Mike. He's here in SoCal. When he travels to Japan he works out of here:






If you decide you'd like to get in touch with him or to check out his pedigree, here's his website:
Japanese Samurai Swords and Japanese sword fittings - Buy and Sell - Restoration - Appraisals - RiceCracker.com Navigation

[Walking_Target]

Sable, there are still master smiths today.

And high quality japanese blades are made from many, many layers of pattern welded steel. The 'Sand Steel' is folded lenghtwise, not widthwise and is worked until folded a minimum of 64 times (traditionally) Then a piece of lower carbon steel is worked into the final fold to serve as the spine of the sword; Once the final shaping has been performed, the sword is handed off to a master polisher; Once the blade and Hamon have both been polished out to perfection, it is *usually* given back to the smith to be given it's brass or iron cast fittings, silk and sharkskin grips and the all important scabbard.

that's traditional Japanese swordmaking.

it hasn't been lost, it's just not practiced by many.

[TrojanMan]

Originally Posted by sable

when i said steel was crap i was reffering to the 440c steel repos pushed by companies like BUDK and the like.

Just as a point of order, 440C is simply a "recipe" that denotes content, it does not indicate the quality of the steel. Cheap sword like that are made from sheets of steel that are simply stamped out on a press. They're not forged and they have no temper. They're dangerous for anything besides looking at.

While 440C is not an ideal blade steel, it does a decent job of it when given good construction, proper treatment and, most importantly, a good temper.

But see, if you're going to go through the trouble of forging a blade, you're not going to use a commercial sheet steel at all anyhow. You're going to fold and forge your own steel and, failing that, you'll use a raw carbon steel ingot. Most hobbyists get their start reworking old files into short blades with very acceptable results.

Carbon steel (simply carbon and iron with trace elements and no significant nickel or molybdenum content) generally makes a better blade because it holds an edge well and can be made harder and sharper without sacrificing strength. On the downside, it rusts (in some cases very easily) so proper care is a must.

But yeah, a good blade is going to have an edge hardness of at least 55 HRB, preferably higher, and also a relatively low modulus along its spine and slabs with a hardness around 40 HRB or so in these areas. It's easy to get some nondestructive testing done to determine how good your blade is if you're not sure.

[Schmitti]

WT... correct. was wondering when someone was going to mention the fact that steel is folded. They start with a block of steel that is about an inch to two inches per side and heat and hammer, heat and hammer. You end up with a patter "like" damascus steel but with out the color difference as you mainly using one type of steel for most of the sword.. but it you look closely you will still see the pattern.

And steel is not an element... iron is. So steel is made from iron. Sable while you get points you don't get a gold star... also there is no need to bump something in a thread.... copying and pasting your own text "to prove a point" is in poor form.

E