Tactical Wak + 550 cord

Thank you very much. I went through a few iterations with this "project," and it never looked quite right to me until I started to get close to what you see in the pics.

The saya for this was wood coated in a thin layer of plastic that could be scratched pretty easily with keys or a dull knife and I figured a "tactical" wak should probably hold up better than that when it comes along for a jaunt in the bush (I can think of few potential sword-related pains in the ass that would be more annoying than having a saya fall apart in the woods).

That and black didn't seem like the most camouflage-y color in my opinion. Some of the cord I left as is when I wrapped it and some I removed the guts to have lay more flat (on the handle, for instance). The cord on the handle I also "distressed" with a flame from a Zippo (partly for aesthetics, partly to fuse the cord together to minimize slipping with use).

I have yet to put it through anything that would test whether or not all of that will be worthwhile, but I feel pretty confident that it'll hold up pretty respectably with some hard use. And hopefully look good doing it.

Thank you. I have to say, now that I've let "my creation" sit for a little while without tinkering with it, I like the finished product.

It's exactly what I didn't know I wanted. The only thing I have left to figure out is what kind of belt attachment I should affix to it. I like the idea of using two heavy brown leather straps, maybe, to slide onto a riggers belt or pistol belt.

I haven't found anything online that quite fits what I'm looking for, so I may just have to sort of jury rig one, myself.

And, yeah, a push button latch would be a HUGE bonus for these things. My wak did fit snugly in the saya, at first, but with gentle use it's become quite loose. It's, to put it mildly, a huge annoyance. The last thing I need is a huge gash down my hand if this thing jumps out at the wrong time--hence the retaining straps. I'm thinking about adding some slices of plastic into the saya (suggested on Hanwei's site in regard to their tactical saya). But a latch would negate this issue, altogether.

People can say whatever they want about the Japanese, but it's without question that they had a knack for thinking things through to the end when it comes to design.

That's a good idea. I was wondering if you might know where I could find an ideal latch-mechanism to use for that?

I did some looking around eBay and did some Google searching, but I wasn't able to find anything that would suit that purpose.

If anyone has any ideas in that regard, I'd love to know.

I did end up putting a strip of plastic (super glued) into the mouth of the saya and did some work to make sure that any excess glue wouldn't gum up the blade, but a latch would be a far better solution than the strap I'm using now.

Personally, I would tend to agree with you. It's sold as a "tactical wakizashi," but the form of it, in my opinion, is closer to a ko-kat.

It seems like the definitions are a bit loose with these things (I'd probably have my internet privileges revoked if an expert heard/read me saying/writing that). I've seen items sold as naginata that basically look like katana with a longer tsuka and I've seen all kinds of other artistic license used by different sword makers (to our benefit, I think).

I've long wondered, too, what makes a tachi so different from a katana, other than the more severe curve (not always the case, I've noticed) and mostly cosmetic differences.

I'd much rather have a ko-kat as a blade than a wakizashi, anyhow. I also wouldn't mind if the tsuka were just an inch or two longer (I have big meat hooks for hands, so the more handle I can get, the happier I am).

The Cheness Oniyuri is most definitely my "I would so buy that, if my wife wouldn't divorce me if I bought another pointy object" dream purchase. I'd probably end up spending the next several weeks trying to figure out how I could make new handles out of delrin/acetal and chop down the saya so it's merely the length of the blade (because I don't care about fooling roaming samurai into thinking I'm carrying a full-length katana).

That would be my idea of a near perfect ko-kat to carry in the post-apocalyptic wastelands or wherever else I could presumably do so.

ha ha! Horses for courses, man, different swords for different people. You know what I'd really like to have? I'd rather have an (JSA dudes please forgive me for this) "o-wak."

Hanwei's tac-wak has 20" of blade and 10" of tsuka, more or less. Man, I'd swap that in a heartbeat for a 24" nagasa and 6" of handle.

Does it go without saying that I'm probably the number one shashka nut on this board?

I, personally, tend toward the other end of the spectrum (handle-wise). My ideal next "I love me" acquisition would be along the lines of this:



A spring steel "Naginata" (although, I'm not 100% sure this counts as a legit naginata, I also confess I don't care, as long as I can chop things with it).

It has a 27-29" blade with a 15" tsuka. not quite sure how I'd carry this thing around if sword-weilding ever came back into fashion, but I'd figure something out.

I'm still not a huge fan of traditional tsuka/handles. It just seems to me to be the weak link in the overall design of Japanese pointy objects and with today's fabrication standards, I cannot believe that wood, dead fishy-thing scales and shoe-lacy cord-stuff is superior to all the manufactured handle options modern technology has come up with.

Like with a lot of other things in the sword world today, "home brew" is the answer.

Here's a new "modern gunto" that I just finished.

I went a slightly different direction with this one.

Opted for brown paint and tachi fittings, along with a coyote paracord handle and matching coyote retaining strap.

I'm on the fence as to whether to further mod it or leave it be.

It has a nice rough look. The durability should be moderately acceptable.