A *BIG* thumbs up to the DF Daimyo folded blade

[Timo Qvintus]

Aaron, you haven't polished the Orchid blade by any chance, have you?

[Ty N.]

I think production kats, at the level they're at today, offer decent value. Old-school Japanese blades tend to be too heavy on niku for most people anyway, and modern producers are putting out a lot of variety, as compared to just a few years ago.

[Mat Rous]

I think production kats, at the level they're at today, offer decent value. Old-school Japanese blades tend to be too heavy on niku for most people anyway, and modern producers are putting out a lot of variety, as compared to just a few years ago.

Surely if it's made in the correct style, the Niku is appropriate? What could be too much Niku?

[Timo Qvintus]

Surely if it's made in the correct style, the Niku is appropriate? What could be too much Niku?

Not if it's a tatami-cutter. If you mean traditional as in "armour-cutter" then more niku is good. But for cutting softer targets, niku is not necessary.

[Bogdan M.]

That's what I'm complaining about. The katana is supposed to be a flesh and bone cutter, not a tatami cutter. I can understand people who do competition tameshigiri to try to get a blade as flat as possible. For the others, a cheese slicer katana is more like cheating themselves. But I think the manufacturers adopted "performance" or "competition" geometry because it has a nice "buzz" for beginners, because it cuts well (only tatami, but who cares) and the geometry is much easier and cheaper to obtain. The proportion of flat blades and blades with niku is something like 3 to 1 at least, in production katana. While blades with no niku existed in the past, I would bet that the proportion was pretty much the contrary, or even lower. But hey, production katana are for the masses and masses don't care much about niku...

[Mat Rous]

Not if it's a tatami-cutter. If you mean traditional as in "armour-cutter" then more niku is good. But for cutting softer targets, niku is not necessary.

Japanese Blades were never designed to "Cut Tatami", designing competion blades is a modern thing. Hira Zhukuri blades existed but they weren't designed for that! Besides which, you don't aim for the Armour!

[Timo Qvintus]

..shouldn't post before I think.. AFAIK tatami-cutters would cut meat as well (not bone, though).

[Bogdan M.]

..shouldn't post before I think.. AFAIK tatami-cutters would cut meat as well (not bone, though).

Most probably, and I think we all understand eachother here.

I guess the evolution of the common target type dictates the evolution of the sword.
Koto era swords were very flexible, they needed to survive the contact with heavvy armored targets (they didn't aim for the armour, of course but $..t happens in battle ).
Later on, katana became an infantry sword, armor got lighter, so katana became shorter, harder and less flexible. Then it turned from a battle weapon into a weapon used for duels or self defense (peace sucks, heh? ).
Then tatami cutting was introduced as a means of apreciating the skill of the swordsman and the quality of the sword. Today katanas are mostly used for tatami cutting, or similar targets, which means tatami tranformed from means for testing of katanas into the purpose of katanas. I agree, this makes niku rather pointless. You end up with thin and wide blades like most of the hanwei new gen. As these blades will perform better than the traditional ones for this purpose, they will be chosen by evolution, because the type of targets is the evolutionary (selection) criterion.

So unless a new trend imposes some targets closer to the traditional ones, i guess traditional geometry blades will disappear from mass production.
Sorry for the hijack and end of my offtopic rant...

[Alexander Chin]

C'mon, give it a while at least! The Bugei blade I mounted in December didn't go until July almost... My Kami I had over a year.

Also, I am running out of blades. I have this, an Orchid, a PK I am getting from Michael, and a Sorrells blade that isn't finished yet. That's it! Selling pieces now would be like selling off a piece of my body... do look further into that...

...as a "weekender" who is running a side business Aaron is already at the limit for the number of swords, etc. he can sell on the non-business classifieds. He, and another few, have overrun the 1-2 per month limit and will either be reined in or made to use the business classifieds.

If he DOES eventually choose to sell the sword then this is a great ad and test of market interest.

[michael wilson]

I am grateful for Aarons presence on SFI - the amount of production sword remounts he has influenced is staggering if you look back over the last few years or ran a poll

Back on topic - or is it off topic ?? anyway for me the katana edge is a trade off
between a profile with niku for edge support and a flat meat'less' profile - sharp as hell but prone to chipping ( ? )
anyway you dont need a half assed niku lesson from me - read keith larmans excellent article - sword blade niku , at rich steins site , that article is priceless

The legions of mat cutters wont care a jot about niku especially the newer guys I mean - they favour their wide as hell PK XL 's and cheness SGC's - niku is a moot point for them as it does not aid laser edge sharpness for mat cutting -

although the may see their folly when they try cutting something a bit more resiliant than cheap goza .

sadly I dread a time when people coming through think the katana has to be
like nearly 4 cm wide and paper thin - theres so much more variety and purpose to the japanese sword than just "cutting stuff "

Mick

( a recovering back yard cutter )

[max roberson]

Fred Chen and Huanuo sword has come a long way, in my opinion.
http://www.huanuosword.com
Dynasty Forge seems to be the less expensive distributor.

[Bogdan M.]

Fred Chen and Huanuo sword has come a long way, in my opinion.
http://www.huanuosword.com
Dynasty Forge seems to be the less expensive distributor.

Not really. I think Oni forge and LL have/had even more affordable prices.

And that huanou site is awful, it's slow, not structured and has very scarce info. It is possible to gather info on their products by visiting their retailers only...

[Aaron Justice]

By the way, i am going to try to get some hi res and well lit photos of the blade so you guys can see some of the activity better. These shots provide the impression of low layer forging when actually it seems like it has a decently high level of layers, just with some visible layers being a bit wider than the others.

[Aaron Justice]

Aaron, you haven't polished the Orchid blade by any chance, have you?

Actually, I have. It looks better, but I'm surprised that the habuchi didn't show up more than it does. Usually Paul Chen blades when they are repolished show a great deal more detail. This one didn't for some reason. But the blade a bit more muted in the hada and slightly more defined in the hamon.

[Timo Qvintus]

Actually, I have. It looks better, but I'm surprised that the habuchi didn't show up more than it does. Usually Paul Chen blades when they are repolished show a great deal more detail. This one didn't for some reason. But the blade a bit more muted in the hada and slightly more defined in the hamon.

Have you posted that somewhere? We want pics!!!

[Alexander Chin]

By the way, i am going to try to get some hi res and well lit photos of the blade so you guys can see some of the activity better. These shots provide the impression of low layer forging when actually it seems like it has a decently high level of layers, just with some visible layers being a bit wider than the others.

Please use either thumbnails or links when doing posting the images.