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Post by matthewmiller on Jan 2, 2013 2:01:23 GMT
I just purchased a Cheness Tenchi katana. So far I am very pleased with it. the Katana is exactly as the reviews stated, nice blade with so so fittings. The sword cuts 1.5 inch bamboo very nicely and the cardboard box it came in, I don't have any larger yet. One thing the blade does not feel very sharp. Would it help to sharpen the blade once I learn how on some cheaper katanas or will this do more harm than good. I am thinking about using rolled newspaper for targets seeing as I am having a hard time finding a place to get Tatami near by. It will cost me 10 dollars each roll after shipping. Matthew Miller
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jan 2, 2013 19:56:45 GMT
If it cuts adequately, you can just leave it as is. You could sharpen it further. This has two disadvantages: it will be more dangerous to handle, and the edge will be more fragile. The advantage is that it will cut better. If it's sharp enough to cut with already, you won't need to remove much metal to sharpen it further. Cheness swords don't start with a fine polish that you have to worry about ruining, and if you sandpaper-sharpen by hand, you can't do anything terrible to the blade if you take care (you can do nasty things to your hands, so take care for their sake, too!). How to sandpaper-sharpen? Get some carborundum (silicon carbide) wet-and-dry sandpaper/abrasive paper, like this: www.amazon.com/Sandpaper-Sheets- ... B004SCBKIC Hardware store or auto care store or paint stores (or online). Wrap around a hard rubber sanding block or a wooden block, wet the paper and blade, and sand up and down the blade. If the main bevel is flat, just lie it flat against the bevel. If the main bevel is convex (i.e., the blade has niku), make sure you're in contact with the edge. Sand, turn blade over, sand, repeat until sharp. Less than an hour might do it. Best to dismount the blade and clamp it down. Maybe 200 grit is good to start with? Maybe less? (Lower grits are coarser, and remove metal faster, but leave a rougher finish). Go to your local hardware store, and get a variety of sheets (each sheet will give you multiple pieces to use, 3 or more). If you get excited, you can switch to higher grits once sharp, and improve the polish.
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Post by lamebmx on Jan 2, 2013 20:52:27 GMT
One thing I must point out is, swords do not FEEL sharp in the way a knife or other such object does. Research how to sharpen a lot first. The tenchi will have a lot of niku, research what this means. I would not mess with it, rolled news paper is a tough target, and making the sword feel like a razor will most likely leave the edge wanting in strength. Lastly, its safer and easier to move the blade on the stone (or sandpaper block in your case.) Moving edge towards the center of the blade means you will move fingers towards the blade. Sharpening or polishing the other direction will form a burr, which is not conducive to sharpening the edge. But that burr will make it feel really really sharp. But the edge won't really be sharp. While sharpening it you will eventually feel a very light pressure on a fingertip, look down and notice how deep and effortlessly it sank into your skin.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2013 14:26:22 GMT
To test sharpness, see if the blade edge catches on the back of your nail when as you move your singer so the blade edge slides towards the tip of your nail, if it does, it's plenty sharp.
With my Tenchi, it wasn't evenly sharp, and all it took was about 5 minutes with an ultra-fine diamond sharpener stick to 'touch up' the edge. No need for a full sandpaper sharpening routine at all.
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Jan 3, 2013 16:05:23 GMT
Oh dear - opening the proverbial can of worms.
Lets start at some basics, I have been sharpening steel for close to 50 years, chisels, plane blades, pen knives were my starting points, I have collected things that cut for almost all of those 50 years, so I have a little experience.
The Tenchi comes with a blade where the "sharpened" portion of the blade has a curve all the way to the edge, in a perfect world it would look like an apple seed, in reality it looks more like a bullet.
Clamp your blade to a flat surface so the edge is just in front for most of the length, you will need to move it a little due to the curve of the blade. Forget 200 grit sandpaper, you will damage the edge - go to a major paint store and get some 1200 or higher grit "wet-or-dry" paper and a small rubber hand sanding block, dab a little oil (olive, sewing machine, 3-in-1) along the blade, now with your sanding block just lightly "dust" along the very edge starting just in front of the tsuba, you should see a thin line where the oil is pushed away. Move along the edge until your almost at the tip.
Turn the blade over and repeat.
There are a number of explanations of how, why and when to sharpen, this is the "how not to ruin your blade" version.
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Jan 3, 2013 16:08:09 GMT
Please don't try this with a really sharp sword.
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Post by matthewmiller on Jan 3, 2013 17:35:28 GMT
Thank you all very much for all of the great information that people are willing to offer. I have been studying Tang Soo Do, a Korean Martial Art for about 6 years and have just reached my 2nd Dan Blackbelt. It took me training on average 4 days a week in class and on my own 7 days a week. I compete in forms with my Masahiro katana but have never cut anything. Now that I bought my Tenchi I will start to learn about cutting. Thanks again. Matthew Miller
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Post by willhart on Jan 4, 2013 1:27:33 GMT
I don't think 200 grit will damage your blade over 1200 grit any different. But if you have bad technique 200 grit will damage it faster. Bad technique with 1200 grit will just take longer. Also low grits below 400 are to take off a lot of metal or change the geometry of the blade and is overkill for sharpening.
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Jan 4, 2013 9:43:02 GMT
Matthew said "The sword cuts 1.5 inch bamboo very nicely and the cardboard box it came in" - Tenchi out of the box have a reasonable level of polish (mostly) and a fair level of sharpness (mostly) so they only need a touch up, not a re-profile
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Post by willhart on Jan 4, 2013 18:23:46 GMT
Right. That's why I said below 400 grit was overkill for what he was trying to do. I was also stating if he can't sharpen with 200 grit he will probably do the same technique with 1200 grit which will still dull the blade as I'm not aware of a different technique to use as you go up in higher grit.
But you do have a lot more experience than i do.
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Post by Timo Nieminen on Jan 4, 2013 23:40:01 GMT
Cheness finishes blades at about 400g grit these days, iirc. If it has a proper edge, it should be sharp enough, and it should feel sharp ("feel sharp" is subjective; I don't know the OP really means by "doesn't feel very sharp"). "Doesn't feel sharp" suggests the edge needs some work; "doesn't feel very sharp" might need nothing. In any case, I don't think there's much point starting at anything above 400 grit, unless trying to improve the original polish - 400 will take a edge happily to bottle-cutting sharp. YMMV.
Maybe that's the good test: if it cuts bottles, it doesn't need any sharpening at all. If it doesn't cut bottles, consider (a) technique, and then (b) sharpness.
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Jan 5, 2013 5:36:17 GMT
The easiest test of "sharpness" is the basic paper test, take a sheet standard copy paper and -
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