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Post by sweiaidoka on Sept 20, 2021 5:46:52 GMT
When I was 28 and started practicing iaido, I got my first iaito then. In 2015 when I was 49 I acquired my first shinken Now I have about 15 tanto, wakizashi and katana both nihonto and china made.
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Post by acjones on Sept 20, 2021 5:59:50 GMT
2002 I was 32 years old. My first real katana was a custom Bugei from Paul Chen. A very nice sword. although I am not into them, I wish I still had that one. that's one hell of a starter katana
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Arlequin
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Posts: 644
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Post by Arlequin on Sept 20, 2021 16:58:26 GMT
Since we have some older collectors in the thread.., what was like buying swords before the Online market place was really established? I know some retailers like KOA have an online space since 2001 but I can't imagine everyone just knew where to go or even trust them.
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Post by treeslicer on Sept 20, 2021 17:15:28 GMT
Since we have some older collectors in the thread.., what was like buying swords before the Online market place was really established? I know some retailers like KOA have an online space since 2001 but I can't imagine everyone just knew where to go or even trust them. New stuff sold a lot at mall cutlery stores, booths at ren fairs and flea markets, or by mail-order catalogs. Quality was a whole lot lower overall, with a few custom smiths as bright spots. Antiques moved via gun shows, specialty shops known to sword and gun nerds, and specialty monthly newspapers. Prices were tremendously lower than now.
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Post by captainh on Sept 20, 2021 17:18:33 GMT
Since we have some older collectors in the thread.., what was like buying swords before the Online market place was really established? I know some retailers like KOA have an online space since 2001 but I can't imagine everyone just knew where to go or even trust them. Those days were known as the Dark Ages 🙂
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Post by treeslicer on Sept 20, 2021 17:31:26 GMT
Since we have some older collectors in the thread.., what was like buying swords before the Online market place was really established? I know some retailers like KOA have an online space since 2001 but I can't imagine everyone just knew where to go or even trust them. Those days were known as the Dark Ages 🙂 I prefer, "The Golden Age".
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tera
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Post by tera on Sept 20, 2021 18:10:03 GMT
There was a small kiosk in the largest mall in the 2nd largest city in my State that sold pocket knives, folding knives, other collectables, and had two short racks in the middle holding no more than 6 swords altogether. I remember at one time they had the Hanwei bamboo shirasaya model and at least one other Hanwei of some make. They were very over priced, but nobody else around had them.
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Post by acjones on Sept 20, 2021 18:50:20 GMT
sadly being 29 i never got to experience seeing swords at the mall everything was online at the time but talking to cecil over from kris cutlery alot of sales where made at gun shows and knife shows early on and through catalog placements
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steveboy
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Measure twice, cut once.
Posts: 368
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Post by steveboy on Sept 20, 2021 19:01:58 GMT
Since we have some older collectors in the thread.., what was like buying swords before the Online market place was really established? I know some retailers like KOA have an online space since 2001 but I can't imagine everyone just knew where to go or even trust them. I don't consider myself a collector at all; the katana I own have been almost entirely related to martial arts training, so my motivation has been mostly pragmatic. (Nowadays I customize a lot of low-end iaito, but I usually give them to friends or my dojo.)
That said, in the 70s/80s, even practical information wasn't easy to come by, and I wish I'd had access to more than I did. It would have helped enormously for maintaining and repairing iaito. When I got my first iaito (around 1975), I didn't even know you could disassemble it. Learning how to rewrap the tsuka might as well have been wishing for alien broadcasts from another planet. I'm old enough not to take for granted how much education and practical application I can pick up through YouTube alone. Access to a forum like this in 1975 would have been like having a time machine set for the Library of Alexandria.
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Post by snubnoze on Sept 20, 2021 20:33:01 GMT
I have still yet to actually purchase a Katana, even though it is what initially drew me into swords. I've always been a big fan of Japanese culture and Samurai films. When looking into purchasing one I went off on a tangent and was drawn to medieval swords and purchased one ironically from Ronin Katana which I was looking at initially to buy a Kitana from. This was 2 years ago. I then shifted to antique military sabres and am now waiting for a Kreigsmesser to show up.
I still want to purchase a Katana but I'm more interested in antique examples. Hoping to find a reasonably priced Shin Gunto, I just keep getting distracted by more cost effective Euro Sabres that pop up in auctions.
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Post by paulmuaddib on Sept 20, 2021 21:31:46 GMT
I only bought my first sword in 2018 but in 1986 I was doing a job in Albany NY and went to the mall there. Like others have said they had a cutlery shop there which had katana. Asked about them and the clerk said right away that they weren’t sharp so guessing stainless steel wall hangers. Asked why and he said it was illegal to sell sharpened swords in NY state. Was a bit surprised but soon found out about the restrictive gun laws there (was my first time in NY state). NY city really screws the rest of the state on a lot of things. Did buy a Brewer Explorer survival knife by Marto which I had recently seen in a survival magazine and really wanted.
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