"Zombie's Bane" Tactical KC Custom
Aug 17, 2011 16:24:05 GMT
Post by frankthebunny on Aug 17, 2011 16:24:05 GMT
I didn't even realize there was a section just for tactical swords so I will post my version here. (it's been up in the customs section already)
I'm definitely no writer so please go easy on my intro, lol it was just to add a little flavor to my presentation. if you don't like it, there's always the scroll bar :lol:
It's been about seven weeks since Big Brother turned against us and unleashed the worst epidemic in the history of man.
Every minute that passes seems like a lifetime, I forage for food where I can, abandoned supermarkets and bodegas mostly, sometimes an office building cafeteria but since the virus was thought to be spread in our food supplies and water I can never be completely sure what is safe to eat and drink. I always try to test it on the rats first but when none are available, I take a small bite and just hope for the best.
I haven't seen another uninfected person for approximately 23 days and I'm starting to loose hope. I am still having nightmares about the last one I was traveling with, I told her not to drink from the fountain in the park since it is fed by the main water lines but she could not hold out another day. the infection spread throughout her frail body within an hour and she was screaming so loudly I had to make a choice to either stay and eventually take her down myself or flee before she attracted the others. I chose to flee since I had great doubts I would be able to do what needed to be done. It is a horrible choice to have to make but the only important thing now is to survive for as long as possible.
I ran out of ammo for my Baretta 9mm within the first 36 hours and I only have 3 shells left for my shotgun. Weapons and ammo are scarce since they have been pulling them off the streets and out of our hands for years now so I hold the few I have left for the worst of emergencies. I saw a police officer get taken down a while back but the infected lingered for too long and I couldn't chance being spotted so I had to give up whatever ammo he might have had on him.
I don't know how long I will make it or even where I am trying to get to, I only think about what I need to do to survive the next minute, the next hour and the next day. Are there any others who survived this long? If so, do they possibly have a cure? I can't be the only one left.................................. can I?
All I know is that when my shells are gone............................I will only have
Zombie's Bane
The above might not be the way things will turn out but just in case, I will be as prepared as one can possibly be under the circumstances.
This is a Kris Cutlery 26III 26" Katana I customized for a friend. the original stats are:
(from their web site)
Katana 26 III (four inches of groove on one side) The curve blade is a shinogi-zukuri and is 5/16 of an inch or 8 mm thick near the iron habaki. A hardened edge, hamon, is straight and is 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch wide. There is a 4 inch groove on the left side of the blade and none on the other side. It has a 3 inch round blackened iron Tsuba with two small holes on top and brass seppa (spacers).(P) The removable handle is traditionally wrapped with a poly-blend brown or blue ito/ flat cord and has two bamboo pegs. A beautiful brass dragon menuki/ornament is set on both sides of the handle. Blackened iron fittings are used for the fuchi-kashira/ferrule-pommel, koiguchi/mouth of scabard and kojiri/butt of scabbard. Wood scabbard has a water buffalo kurikata (knob) and an iron kojiri/butt. (shp. wt. 5 lbs.)
Blade: 26 inches; 5160 carbon steel
Hamon:straight 60 RC hardness
Handle: 10 3/4 inches
Nakago (tang): 8.5-9 inches
Tsuba: 3" diameter
Weight: 2.6 lbs. (without scabbard)
I did a lot on this one and also used a new element(for me)as an experiment. The thought behind it started a long time ago when I was thinking about all the talk of zombies and apocalyptic battles and what tools were thought necessary if and when the occasion arose. I wanted to make a sword that could actually have a decent chance of withstanding the abuse such an occurrence would dish out. Unpleasant and unpredictable weather, the more than occasional drop on the ground, strikes/blocks with the saya and blows with the kashira end of the tsuka, mud and rocks, etc.
this Katana could look a little Bud K-ish but I assure you that it is a tough bad-ass through and through. I defy anyone to move the ito without heavy tools and I wouldn't be surprised if the saya could actually deflect many full strength hits over and over again. I made sure there was a very tight seal around the koiguchi without making it difficult to open so I bet it could survive a prolonged submersion in water without damage (provided it was closed properly).
It wasn't made to be a gimmick even though it is far from traditional, it was made to be a real tool that performs beyond expectations when the inevitable happens.
I guess I mean when the s**t hits the turbines I would want this sucker between me and the brain eaters.
The Blade
was polished with finger stones by SwordLord to bring out the suguha hamon (which was difficult to capture with my crappy camera)
The Tsuba
was purchased from SanMarc here on the classifieds. It is made from steel with a sort of bat wing design and is nice and hefty which brought the POB to approx. 4 1/4"
I painted it with POR15 paint and then filed the edges to look blade like and then coated the whole thing with satin polyurethane to prevent future rusting where it's filed.
The Iron Habaki
was colored with Perma Blue liquid gun blue and I gave the top edge a slight bevel.
The Fuchi, Kashira, Kojiri and Koiguchi
where all coated in POR15 and decorated with a three line design representing a trinity. the Fuchi and Kashira were then coated with satin poly while the rest have a glossy finish.
The Horn Kurikata
also has the three line design and is coated with POR15
The Tsuka
the wood core has a full wrap using Namikawa #4 samegawa. this was coated with POR15 and then wrapped in leather ito in a tsumami-maki style. I then covered the leather with POR15, then a coat of black textured exterior spray lacquer to give it grip and then I applied a few coats of satin poly to protect the textured lacquer. after this I went back and applied a gloss poly to the diamonds to make them stand out from the matte look. I also chose not to shorten the tsuka this time resulting in the end knots being reversed. it wasn't important to me since this is a tactical weapon and not just a display piece.
The Saya
I wrapped the wood core (after sanding some meat off) with a full snake skin to give it a unique texture. when the skin and glue dried the scales were a little raised so I sanded the entire length until smooth and then proceeded to coat the whole thing with more POR15. I then decorated it with some spatters of green zombie blood and sealed it with eight coats of clear gloss poly. I was not able to capture the color of the blood correctly and in person it is a dayglo green, it really jumps off of the black gloss and you would swear it was glow-in-the-dark.
(sorry for the fingerprints)
The Sageo
well, there is no sageo on this one but I did fabricate a tactical back sling to free up the hands when on the move.
Now, a little about POR15. this is an automotive rust preventing paint that is typically used on the chassis and is proven to be practically bullet proof. if you google it you will see that they have preformed all kinds of durability tests on this including smashing a painted part with a large hammer with no ill effects to the paint and even bending metal without a bit of chipping or cracking. it can be used on many different materials including wood.
I chose to use this product on Zombie's Bane because I wanted to make a fully functional tactical type sword that would withstand a lot of abuse and the harshest of climates. since every part (except the blade and habaki were coated in this paint, I feel very confident it could survive almost any punishment thrown it's way.
When people here talk about which sword they would take into battle or to the dreaded zombie apocalypse, this would be my number one pick without any doubt. it looks the part and can definitely back it up with brutal certainty. Only problem is that I now have to make one for myself, lol
Thank you all for looking
I'm definitely no writer so please go easy on my intro, lol it was just to add a little flavor to my presentation. if you don't like it, there's always the scroll bar :lol:
It's been about seven weeks since Big Brother turned against us and unleashed the worst epidemic in the history of man.
Every minute that passes seems like a lifetime, I forage for food where I can, abandoned supermarkets and bodegas mostly, sometimes an office building cafeteria but since the virus was thought to be spread in our food supplies and water I can never be completely sure what is safe to eat and drink. I always try to test it on the rats first but when none are available, I take a small bite and just hope for the best.
I haven't seen another uninfected person for approximately 23 days and I'm starting to loose hope. I am still having nightmares about the last one I was traveling with, I told her not to drink from the fountain in the park since it is fed by the main water lines but she could not hold out another day. the infection spread throughout her frail body within an hour and she was screaming so loudly I had to make a choice to either stay and eventually take her down myself or flee before she attracted the others. I chose to flee since I had great doubts I would be able to do what needed to be done. It is a horrible choice to have to make but the only important thing now is to survive for as long as possible.
I ran out of ammo for my Baretta 9mm within the first 36 hours and I only have 3 shells left for my shotgun. Weapons and ammo are scarce since they have been pulling them off the streets and out of our hands for years now so I hold the few I have left for the worst of emergencies. I saw a police officer get taken down a while back but the infected lingered for too long and I couldn't chance being spotted so I had to give up whatever ammo he might have had on him.
I don't know how long I will make it or even where I am trying to get to, I only think about what I need to do to survive the next minute, the next hour and the next day. Are there any others who survived this long? If so, do they possibly have a cure? I can't be the only one left.................................. can I?
All I know is that when my shells are gone............................I will only have
Zombie's Bane
The above might not be the way things will turn out but just in case, I will be as prepared as one can possibly be under the circumstances.
This is a Kris Cutlery 26III 26" Katana I customized for a friend. the original stats are:
(from their web site)
Katana 26 III (four inches of groove on one side) The curve blade is a shinogi-zukuri and is 5/16 of an inch or 8 mm thick near the iron habaki. A hardened edge, hamon, is straight and is 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch wide. There is a 4 inch groove on the left side of the blade and none on the other side. It has a 3 inch round blackened iron Tsuba with two small holes on top and brass seppa (spacers).(P) The removable handle is traditionally wrapped with a poly-blend brown or blue ito/ flat cord and has two bamboo pegs. A beautiful brass dragon menuki/ornament is set on both sides of the handle. Blackened iron fittings are used for the fuchi-kashira/ferrule-pommel, koiguchi/mouth of scabard and kojiri/butt of scabbard. Wood scabbard has a water buffalo kurikata (knob) and an iron kojiri/butt. (shp. wt. 5 lbs.)
Blade: 26 inches; 5160 carbon steel
Hamon:straight 60 RC hardness
Handle: 10 3/4 inches
Nakago (tang): 8.5-9 inches
Tsuba: 3" diameter
Weight: 2.6 lbs. (without scabbard)
I did a lot on this one and also used a new element(for me)as an experiment. The thought behind it started a long time ago when I was thinking about all the talk of zombies and apocalyptic battles and what tools were thought necessary if and when the occasion arose. I wanted to make a sword that could actually have a decent chance of withstanding the abuse such an occurrence would dish out. Unpleasant and unpredictable weather, the more than occasional drop on the ground, strikes/blocks with the saya and blows with the kashira end of the tsuka, mud and rocks, etc.
this Katana could look a little Bud K-ish but I assure you that it is a tough bad-ass through and through. I defy anyone to move the ito without heavy tools and I wouldn't be surprised if the saya could actually deflect many full strength hits over and over again. I made sure there was a very tight seal around the koiguchi without making it difficult to open so I bet it could survive a prolonged submersion in water without damage (provided it was closed properly).
It wasn't made to be a gimmick even though it is far from traditional, it was made to be a real tool that performs beyond expectations when the inevitable happens.
I guess I mean when the s**t hits the turbines I would want this sucker between me and the brain eaters.
The Blade
was polished with finger stones by SwordLord to bring out the suguha hamon (which was difficult to capture with my crappy camera)
The Tsuba
was purchased from SanMarc here on the classifieds. It is made from steel with a sort of bat wing design and is nice and hefty which brought the POB to approx. 4 1/4"
I painted it with POR15 paint and then filed the edges to look blade like and then coated the whole thing with satin polyurethane to prevent future rusting where it's filed.
The Iron Habaki
was colored with Perma Blue liquid gun blue and I gave the top edge a slight bevel.
The Fuchi, Kashira, Kojiri and Koiguchi
where all coated in POR15 and decorated with a three line design representing a trinity. the Fuchi and Kashira were then coated with satin poly while the rest have a glossy finish.
The Horn Kurikata
also has the three line design and is coated with POR15
The Tsuka
the wood core has a full wrap using Namikawa #4 samegawa. this was coated with POR15 and then wrapped in leather ito in a tsumami-maki style. I then covered the leather with POR15, then a coat of black textured exterior spray lacquer to give it grip and then I applied a few coats of satin poly to protect the textured lacquer. after this I went back and applied a gloss poly to the diamonds to make them stand out from the matte look. I also chose not to shorten the tsuka this time resulting in the end knots being reversed. it wasn't important to me since this is a tactical weapon and not just a display piece.
The Saya
I wrapped the wood core (after sanding some meat off) with a full snake skin to give it a unique texture. when the skin and glue dried the scales were a little raised so I sanded the entire length until smooth and then proceeded to coat the whole thing with more POR15. I then decorated it with some spatters of green zombie blood and sealed it with eight coats of clear gloss poly. I was not able to capture the color of the blood correctly and in person it is a dayglo green, it really jumps off of the black gloss and you would swear it was glow-in-the-dark.
(sorry for the fingerprints)
The Sageo
well, there is no sageo on this one but I did fabricate a tactical back sling to free up the hands when on the move.
Now, a little about POR15. this is an automotive rust preventing paint that is typically used on the chassis and is proven to be practically bullet proof. if you google it you will see that they have preformed all kinds of durability tests on this including smashing a painted part with a large hammer with no ill effects to the paint and even bending metal without a bit of chipping or cracking. it can be used on many different materials including wood.
I chose to use this product on Zombie's Bane because I wanted to make a fully functional tactical type sword that would withstand a lot of abuse and the harshest of climates. since every part (except the blade and habaki were coated in this paint, I feel very confident it could survive almost any punishment thrown it's way.
When people here talk about which sword they would take into battle or to the dreaded zombie apocalypse, this would be my number one pick without any doubt. it looks the part and can definitely back it up with brutal certainty. Only problem is that I now have to make one for myself, lol
Thank you all for looking