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Post by LG Martial Arts on Apr 18, 2014 18:16:26 GMT
Wow... just thought I'd share. Hira-Zukuri Tanto with Meteorite and Tamahagane Maker: Yoshindo Yoshihara (click to see more by this maker) Price: $23,000.00 *** This is handmade and one-of-a-kind *** Blade length: 9.90 in. Total length: 14.80 in. Blade width: 0.92 in. Blade thickness: 0.18 in. Item weight: 10.00 oz. Shipment weight: 12 oz. Blade: Tamahagane (jewel steel), extracted from iron sand using techniques developed over 1500 years ago forged together with Gibeon meteorite Bolster: Shyaku Dou and 18kt gold habaki (blade collar) Handle: Ho wood handle and saya (sheath) Description: This Hira-Zukuri Style Tanto (flat sided tanto) is the work of master swordsmith Yoshindo Yoshihara. Yoshihara, who is considered to be among Japan's best living swordsmiths creates masterworks that have a living spirit all of their own. He began by forging the blade from tamahagane (jewel steel) and Gibeon meteorite. The Gibeon meteorite landed in Great Namaqualand, Namibia, Africa. It radio carbon dates to over 4 billion years ago. Gibeon fragments are spread over one of the largest strewn fields in the world, measuring 70 miles wide by 230 miles long and have a distinctive pattern known as the Widmanstatten pattern, which is one of the richest and most distinct patterns found in meteorites. The tamahagane was extracted from iron sand using techniques developed over 1500 years ago. Yoshindo explained to me that it is very rare to find a blade forged with meteorite included. He said that it was first done in Japan approximately 100 years ago. He has only forged 2-3 blades using meteorite in his career! The clay temper on the blade results in a chu-suguha hamon (medium straight) with a long turn-back (kaeri-fukashi) at the point. The steel was repeatedly drawn out and folded over itself, resulting in a grain pattern known as Itame-hada (a pattern resembling wood grain, in which scattered irregular ovals appear). The spine is iori-muni, meaning it forms a sharp ridge at the top. A habaki formed from shyaku dou and 18kt gold protects the blade from scratches that could otherwise be caused by the saya (sheath). The hira-yamagata shaped tang is hand engraved with the following (roughly translated): "Made with meteorite by Yoshindo". It is filemarked in the kosuji-chigai style. File marks slope slightly leftward. The blade is accompanied by ho wood shira-saya, which is ideal for long term storage and display as well as a traditional Japanese silk storage bag. As you would expect, exceptional fit and finish throughout. www.bladegallery.com/shopexd.asp?id=91175
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Post by Beholden on Apr 18, 2014 18:52:07 GMT
Marketing gimmick... Once it's worked into damascus, it's no different from any other high carbon nickel steel.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Apr 18, 2014 19:08:12 GMT
oh, I agree there's not going to be any discernible pattern other than what's brought out by the bladesmith's work, but I know some people are going to be (suckered into) thinking this is going to be so much better than "just" a tamahagane tanto
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Post by madawcisrich on Apr 18, 2014 19:23:43 GMT
Lol. Indeed, it is not the entire steel which has been folded together. He must add some meteorite steel powder. The steel doesn't bring any advantage to the tanto itself.
It is only the title of meteorite which will make unknowledged people thinking that this is the ultimate destroying all super steel.
by the way, he is not the only one who uses meteorite to forge a blade. The well known chinese smith Zhu Ben(Zubeng forge) also has used Meteorite steel powder in his chinese style sword. Himself has said that with his current skill, he still don't know how to forge the entire Meteorite steel, all he could do is to add them as powder form with other steel together, it doesn't add any characteristic to the finished blade.
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Post by Aurélien on Apr 18, 2014 20:01:45 GMT
Post-modern people are definitely allergic to SYMBOLS... This is a blade forged with the iron from a fallen star. A rare gift from Heaven (or whatever name you want to apply here: Ten, Asgard, and so on...).
BTW: In any ancient society, bladesmithes have always been considered as sorcerers - partly because they used an element that comes from underground. From "Hell". The very opposite of "Heaven". The first mythic ironsmith was Tubalcain. Grand grand son of... Cain. That means a lot.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Apr 18, 2014 21:29:54 GMT
I wouldn't say "allergic" to symbols, just more informed. There are lots of cultures around the world that still use meteoritic iron in their weapons, like the Javanese Kris. Here's a pretty good pdf that goes into detail about Kris blades www.kitlv.nl/pdf_documents/asia-javkris.pdf. Like you said, these blades are forged from iron from the heavens, which leads many to believe they have magical properties in them. That's fine and dandy, especially if the person is going to save the blade as an heirloom to pass down through the generations... that's kind of my intention with my Shinto nihonto - I plan for it to be passed down through my family, generation after generation. Why? Because it has a symbolic meaning to me and hopefully to my children and their children's children. But, getting back to the previous posts, it pretty much is a "gimmick" using meteoritic iron in modern swords, if people want to call it that, (so is Chinese tamahagane for that matter, but that's a topic for another post I think), since it really doesn't do much if at all to the blade itself.
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Post by Robert in California on Apr 18, 2014 23:16:39 GMT
No doubt a wonderfully made tanto by a very skilled maker.
No doubt the intended market is not us backyard bottle cutters. :-)
Just as the luxury market has done quite well in the current "recovery", the intended buyers are probably the super rich collector types.
Quick! Someone tell our FaceBook founder about this tanto so he can snap it up /s.
RinC
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Post by randomnobody on Apr 18, 2014 23:37:57 GMT
A neat novelty for those into it, no doubt a fantastic blade for those not. I honestly don't know how the price compares to a more "standard" tanto from this smith, I imagine not significantly different. Really, if I were in want of novelty in a tanto, I'd have gone with one made by from steel recovered from the battleship Mikasa, if memory serves.
Yep, got it right, this one: www.japanesesword.com/Images/Swo ... _steel.htm
I forget the asking price, but it was far less than $23k. :shock:
Still, Yoshindo Yoshihara is a renowned and well-respected smith for good reason. Meteorite or not, it's sure to be somebody's favorite piece. Unfortunately, regardless of the asking price, I'm afraid it does little for me. Neat, though.
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slav
Senior Forumite
Posts: 818
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Post by slav on Apr 19, 2014 1:26:17 GMT
Ugh I missed the chance to buy a fully mounted Gendaito which was signed and made from the steel from a battleship...for $700....
doh.
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Post by randomnobody on Apr 19, 2014 1:38:55 GMT
Yeah... :roll:
I thought it was pretty, then completely forgot about it.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Apr 19, 2014 3:20:14 GMT
:shock:
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2014 23:05:09 GMT
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Post by uchiha998 on Apr 20, 2014 14:29:37 GMT
I wouldn't say it is a "gimmick" exactly. I haven't researched it my self but I trust you guys are right about the steel from the meteorite doesn't make the sword more durable, cut any better, or hold an edge longer. Still it is something that is out of the ordinary and rare to have a katana forged with metal from a meteorite. It is likely nobody else you know will have one. And, I don't mean any offense when I say this but, you know how Japanese people can be with their superstitions and feelings about energies and auras. I must confess I myself tend to be curious about these kind of things, everything in the world is ultimately made from energy. So perhaps some would see it as possible that this holds some sort of spirit or ethereal energy from "the heavens" as you say. I confess to thinking on the spirit, ki, or other ethereal engergies that are left behind in the objects people have made(like hand forged katana) or simply things that they have owned & kept close for a long time, but I won't say I believe it to be true either. Though many paranormal experts do find that ghosts/spirits seem to attach themselves to objects. Usually ones that they had a hand in making or something they owned and coveted(a nihonto for example). I just mean to say a sword forged by and marketed by a Japanese smith with Japanese customers in mind is likely too look at things differently than us westerners would. I think this is especially true in the case of a Japanese swordsmith since he is a swordsmith after all using forging methods from a time when many if not most Japanese believed in all sorts of stuff like that, that he would be even more likely to believe or at least hope that it could be
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Post by randomnobody on Apr 20, 2014 15:58:19 GMT
Part of me thinks this is just Yoshindo Yoshihara, with all the clout he no doubt carries, saying to the sword authorities "I want to try using meteorite in a blade. I've heard about other blades made with meteorite and I want to try it for myself." Who's going to tell him no?
Superstitions/supernatural aside, this is no doubt an excellent piece by a smith whose skill speaks for itself, so were I in a place to drop the price of a nice car into a decent knife, I'd absolutely spring for it, for two reasons:
1) Who doesn't want a blade forged by Yoshindo Yoshihara?
2) Nifty novelty, conversation piece.
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Post by Robert in California on Apr 22, 2014 18:11:04 GMT
I saw on Drudge Report an article about a $800,000usa luxury car made and sold in China for (duh?) wealthy Chinese. Interesting design of modern and retro and "My gosh!" features.
This tanto is so far out of the price range of us mere mortals that we can only stare in astonishment (and admiration). Wealthy collectors are the intended customers for such.
Price and value vary with the customer. For me, it is more like our recent tour of Hearst Castle, along the coast of central California. Huge, big castle-like mansion of William Hearst, a super rich (at one time) mining investor and media guy. In one room was an oil painting (of a person...hard to see details as it was small and kind of dark) that our guide said was worth $7,000,000 dollars. While some people with more money that they knew what to do with, would likely be glad to pay that, not me. I told the guide that I would choose the $7 million over the pic. Guide agreed. Both of us being simple wage slaves.
In fact, I liked the guest cottages better than the castle. Guess it shows that the aristocracy and I would be a poor fit.
RinC
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