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Post by ambulocetus on Jan 18, 2018 21:28:50 GMT
Maybe one of you can tell me what I have here. I found a used KC 26 from about 2006 and snagged it up because everybody says how the old ones are very good. I was expecting a beefy blade with a lot of niku from all the reviews, but the sword I got is rather thin and has no niku. Is this a feature of certain models? It has a nice shape and a geometric yokote, so I'm not unhappy with it, just a little disappointed. Do you think I will be happy with it in the spring when it is time to do some cutting? Also, it's one of the old ones with the glued on tsuka, if you could tell me what the tang looks like under there, I would greatly appreciate it.
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Post by randomnobody on Jan 19, 2018 0:14:10 GMT
Hmm, odd. Like you, I've only heard good things about KC's stuff prior to their forge outsourcing. Perhaps your sword is an anomaly, or maybe it's been modified at some point.
I do know KC used to sell their bare blades, as well, and had some of the nicer nakago on the market.
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Post by zabazagobo on Jan 19, 2018 2:52:48 GMT
I've never used KC katana, but like you I have heard resoundingly positive feedback on them. This looks like a pretty odd specimen though, pretty atypical as far as katana go. Perhaps if you could post some pictures of the blade in more detail and the handle as well we could chime in with ideas on the construction and design.
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Post by ambulocetus on Jan 19, 2018 3:26:43 GMT
Ok, here's some pics. First, the best I can do to capture the flat niku Now a picture of the geometry of the yokote And finally the width compared to a Hanwei Renshu I don't know why the first pic made a nice thumbnail but the other two are giants.
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Post by randomnobody on Jan 19, 2018 3:38:23 GMT
I've never used KC katana, but like you I have heard resoundingly positive feedback on them. This looks like a pretty odd specimen though, pretty atypical as far as katana go. Perhaps if you could post some pictures of the blade in more detail and the handle as well we could chime in with ideas on the construction and design. KC wasn't really known for their traditional appearance for the first few years. This katana is pretty typical of their lineup for a while. Great blades, weird furniture.
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Post by ambulocetus on Jan 19, 2018 3:42:19 GMT
I forgot the handle The hamon is subtle but I tried to get it
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Post by Richard Arias on Jan 20, 2018 1:13:22 GMT
Maybe one of you can tell me what I have here. I found a used KC 26 from about 2006 and snagged it up because everybody says how the old ones are very good. I was expecting a beefy blade with a lot of niku from all the reviews, but the sword I got is rather thin and has no niku. Is this a feature of certain models? It has a nice shape and a geometric yokote, so I'm not unhappy with it, just a little disappointed. Do you think I will be happy with it in the spring when it is time to do some cutting? Also, it's one of the old ones with the glued on tsuka, if you could tell me what the tang looks like under there, I would greatly appreciate it. What you have there is an Early generation KC from maybe 05. If it was made in 06 it must have been very early because I was placing orders for traditional wraps in Late 2006. Either way you have a 5160 Kris Cutlery that was a water quenched 5160 as opposed to Oil quenching a lot of 5160 get. As for Niku I never knew a lot of Kris Cutlery to have any Niku worth noting. I have owned bare blades, custom full mounts all from the Era of your blade and I had to request Niku, it was not recommend by Cecil (the founder) that I add niku. This was pre performance series geometry from Hanwei I always felt the blade profile of a blade like yours are not Unlike a Hanwei Shinto. Some people might say it has niku compared to the super thin performance blades. But I would not say many blades that claimed to have "plenty" had much. You kinda have a piece of production blade history as Kris Cutlery doesn't make em' like that anymore. It should be a decent cutting solid sword. Even when not spring tempered 5160 can make a tough Blade and to my knowledge I have never heard of a Kris Cutlery Blade breaking or chipping horridly. If you paid a fair Price for it I would say you could do a lot worse. The only modification I can see is the weird saya addition. How is the sharpness?
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Post by ambulocetus on Jan 20, 2018 2:38:08 GMT
Thanks, that's what I was hoping to hear. It's not quite as sharp as my Hanwei Renshu, but it's still pretty sharp. It goes through paper really easy. I can't wait until the weather breaks, I have some pool noodles sitting on my porch that are just asking for it. In case you're curious, I plan on re-mounting the blade and making a reproduction of this sword ohmura-study.net/726.html Do you know what the nakago looks like?
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Post by Richard Arias on Jan 20, 2018 4:22:42 GMT
Thanks, that's what I was hoping to hear. It's not quite as sharp as my Hanwei Renshu, but it's still pretty sharp. It goes through paper really easy. I can't wait until the weather breaks, I have some pool noodles sitting on my porch that are just asking for it. In case you're curious, I plan on re-mounting the blade and making a reproduction of this sword ohmura-study.net/726.html Do you know what the nakago looks like? On bare KCs I owned from the era it was your standard mass production Nakago. If you have a magnet you can see how far down the Handle it goes. But Cecil used to be pretty firm on the 3/4 of the handle tang. So I would be curious myself to know how long. But I doubt any structural integrity issues. I like my tang thick with no Taper, but almost nobody else does. It would be an interesting blade to do some work on. Let me know how it turns out. You could also send pictures to Kris Cutlery. Cecil could probably tell you a lot about the sword.
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Post by Novice_Surgery on Jan 22, 2018 7:55:56 GMT
Im familiar with this model. These were made before the koshi sori 5160 kris katanas that became famous. They are wicked light cutters though.
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Post by zabazagobo on Jan 23, 2018 0:20:48 GMT
I've never used KC katana, but like you I have heard resoundingly positive feedback on them. This looks like a pretty odd specimen though, pretty atypical as far as katana go. Perhaps if you could post some pictures of the blade in more detail and the handle as well we could chime in with ideas on the construction and design. KC wasn't really known for their traditional appearance for the first few years. This katana is pretty typical of their lineup for a while. Great blades, weird furniture. Weird for sure, but kind of cool. Now I'm curious to see what the other older models look like
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Kuya
Registered
Posts: 1,396
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Post by Kuya on Jan 29, 2018 18:15:56 GMT
My experiences with the KC katana were from the 2012-2013 era. Those were the ones with the heavy niku that one could definitely see and feel. Cutting mats with them had a rather jarring feel compared to other katana due to the thicker geometry. I kinda like the old KC handle style yours has, because the ones I have/handled with the more "traditional" style of wrapping and the synthetic cord were very harsh on my 1st-world hands.
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