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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2012 15:35:46 GMT
I am wanting to build a new katana to be my main show piece. It would only be used as a back yard cutter occassionally. I am considering starting with the Cheness differintially hardened Shirisaya and adding my own choice of fittings, my question is there someone you guys can reccomend to polish the blade further and enhance the natural hamon on the 9260 sping steel blade, I found a place online that sells top quality fittings but they are pricey, I want quality fittings but I don't want to pay more for the fittings than the blade if you guys can reccomend a place to buy from that has a good selection and quality items for a fair price I would appreciate any advice you can give, thank you very much.
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Post by stickem on Nov 24, 2012 16:52:29 GMT
Shawn ~ 1. I wouldn't pay to have this type of blade polished. Sword polishers charge lots of $ because it takes lots of time to do this. For instance, well known sword polisher Keith Larman works on Howard Clark custom blades, not Cheness production blades... However, you can "enhance" the hamon yourself relatively easily with acid. If you can squeeze some lemons or pour vinegar, it really isn't that difficult Here's a thread on how to do that: forum.sword-buyers-guide.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=117382. As far as fittings go, there is someone like Fred Lohman on the high end and ArtsFeng on the low end. My suggestion would be go somewhere in the middle. As you say, you want to upgrade the fittings without spending a lot more on them then you did on the blade itself. IMO, something like ArtsFeng is not an upgrade over most fittings. Anyway, so here is a summary of good places to look for fittings and a little on how to judge 'em: forum.sword-buyers-guide.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=13770&p=172850#p172850Hope this helps!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2012 20:45:53 GMT
Thank you very much, that is exactly the type of info I was hoping for, I'm sure I can do the hamon enhancing myself as I am a gunsmith and do alot of work with my hands, I am new to working on edged weapons other than sharpening my knives but I do know enough to realize my limitations and polishing a katana is not something I would want to undertake without guidence from someone with alot of experience, I would love to do a more expensive build but it just isn't in the budget right now, I really appreciate your help on this thanks again
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Nov 24, 2012 21:25:08 GMT
Howdy, Shawn. Welcome to SBG. I have a Cheness Kaze, which is the same blade as the shirasaya you are looking at. I like it a great deal, but I'd like to mention a few things about it. Cheness is pretty famous for leaving uneven marks along the spine, and for somewhat sloppy kissaki's. The blade is very beefy, and is thicker along the spine that any other Ive owned or handled(not so much a bad thing, but worth mentioning.) Polishing a modern blade is much more difficult than an antique, as modern steels are much harder to work with. Many of the traditional stones won't work. Add to that the fact that a cheapish polisher charges between $25 and $50 an inch, ouch! I'd like to toss this out to you as a consideration. www.ebay.com/itm/39-4-Clay-tempered-japanese-white-shirasaya-katana-sword-real-hamon-sharp-blade-/320808005057?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4ab1a5adc1As for fittings, one of the best suppliers would be www.yamatobudogu.com/. Top-flight quality and decent prices. Fred Lohman makes very nice fittings, but you will definitely pay for them, www.japanese-swords.com/. Japanese Swords LTD. makes some cool stuff, www.japaneseswordsltd.com/frames.html. Nihonzashi has a nice selection to choose from, www.nihonzashi.com/. Lastly, there are a couple of sales going on in the classifieds section here at SBG, forum.sword-buyers-guide.com/viewforum.php?f=36. Are you wanting to build it yourself? That would be cool to see an A to Z build. If you need any help, I'd highly recommend forum member frankthebunny. His work is incredible, and his prices are about as fair as can be had. Here is his site, cottontailcustoms.com/About. He can be PM'd here at SBG through his member page as well, and he is one of the most helpful guys I've ever met, forum.sword-buyers-guide.com/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=339
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Post by Kumdoalan on Nov 25, 2012 3:21:10 GMT
I agree with this...
The steel you got just does not have it in itself to make the money and effort worth it.
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Nov 25, 2012 13:07:49 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2012 3:07:37 GMT
I really appreciate all of your guys advice and knowledge, I am not afraid of doing alot of work to get the end result I want, I just don't want to mess something up, but I think with all of the information you guys have here I can do the polishing, I am not againt buying a different blade as my starting point but ebay makes me nervous unless the seller has very good customer service and offers a better product than the Cheness, I have read very good things about the Kaze blade here, I know that it isn't a 1,000 dollar blade and will need work to be as beautiful as I want, I have seen so many blades while doing my research before buying, so I really need advice on the best blade to start with, I have a 500.00 budget for the blade alone. I want the blade with the best looks and still be tough enough to handle occasional light to medium cutting, it will not be abused in anyway and mainly will sit on my mantel, I really want it to be a mirror when finshed with a beautiful hamon, thanks again guys
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Nov 26, 2012 3:35:35 GMT
I agree with being cautious about ebay. The particular vendor linked does have a very positive reputation here. There are three well known ebay vendors, those being Huawei-sword, Sinosword and Zhiforge. There are a couple of others that are coming into popularity as well, but those are kind of the big three. With a $500 budget you could get a very nice blade made to your specifications from any of them, and I would say that indeed the quality would be on par with or better than the Cheness. I really like the Kaze as well, and if you are willing to put into some work to clean up the appearance then I would say go for it. One thing to mention about the polish is that a mirror finish is not ideal for that style. It will heavily decrease from the visibility of the hamon. Rather, try out this method, known as a hybrid polish. www.arscives.com/bladesign/hybridpolish.htmThis will yield much better results. I hope this helps, and please don't be shy about asking questions. I have found that I garner the best results by frequently doing so.
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Nov 26, 2012 3:44:02 GMT
There is one option that has been overlooked - that is a bare blade in shirasaya - this would allow you to get the best blade value, eg. the ronin-elite-2012-bare-blade, you still get all the things you need like a brass habaki but are not paying for things you will put aside. www.roninkatana.com/ronin-elite- ... blade.html
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Nov 26, 2012 4:05:42 GMT
Aussie-rabbit is right, and I wish I had recalled that. Ronin Katana makes some of the best production katana around, and their Elite lines is pretty amazing. If you have an extra $75 you can add to your $500 budget for a blade alone, that would be the one to get. There would be no need for any touching up with one of those. roninkatana.com/ronin-elite-2012-bare-blade.html
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Nov 26, 2012 4:24:46 GMT
Time and hand polishing your own blade can still make a big difference
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Nov 26, 2012 5:11:46 GMT
Hahaha, yeah. I should have written "No need to touch up upon receipt." Eventually, you will have scuffs and scratches on anything you cut with.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2012 18:30:31 GMT
Wow those are very nice looking blades! I am definately interested in them, I just may have my starting point. Thank you for the link, I have been looking for a while and it can be a daunting task trying to find the best value in a blade, a Shirasaya is what I have been wanting all along, the Cheness I was concidering was their shirasaya with the Kaze blade, that way I can add my own personal touch to it, I airbrush alot of things, so I can do a custom design on the saya and add the fittings that I like the best. Thank you for your guys help, I have been wanting to start this project for awhile now but something has always came up to get in the way, but that has given me time to look and learn alot of info from this site, you guys have a wealth of knowledge here.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 26, 2012 18:55:46 GMT
Aussie-rabbit, that work is stunning! I can't wait to get to the polishing phase of my learning! But may I quote something here. No opionions or comments, just a quote from a guide that is used in study of blades and Kantei. Thank you www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/acid%20polishing.html
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Post by stickem on Nov 26, 2012 18:56:42 GMT
This is definitely a good shirasaya blade to get, if you are wanting to build from the ground up. Just remember the Elite is not a mirror polished blade. They won't make you go " hmmm... shiny object!" the way something from say, Dynasty Forge does with their mirror polish on their Musha series. The Elite I have is more of a satin finish than shiny mirror, which may have something to do with the 3-steel lamination. Not sure what your hand polishing would do to/for 'em to make 'em more "shiny" if what you are looking for is to be able to see your reflection clearly. You could, however, ask the owner (Chris): forum.sword-buyers-guide.com/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=87about the subject of polishing 'em further, as he probably has had this conversation with the folks who forge 'em in Longquan and/or had customers who may have done this. I've found Chris very willing to take the time to talk about swords with me, so he probably can be a big help as far as deciding on whether further polishing would accentuate an Elite, or whether it would be more tricky considering their lamination methods, and not necessarily something to do if you haven't polished a sword before... Hope this helps
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