How many people here........

[Ingemar]

Go for it, Ingemar. Four sentences, one comma apiece.)

That was really random. I don't have a katana, but 95-tan does.



You'd better not get your fingerprints on the blade!

Yes, dear.

[SpikeSpiegel306]

Lets see...I've got 5 katanas, 3 unbroken bokkens, 1 Wakizashi, 2 Tantos, 1 Kogatana (for show), a very old Tachi set, 1 Shoto, 2 Daitos, a wooden Zonbattou, and a Steel Zonbattou (They dont make these...you have to get them made).

Hehe, it may seem like a lot, but I do weapons fighting so you win a lot of them in tournaments and stuff.

[TKD Samurai]

I have 1 iaito katana, and 1 bokken. I used to have a katana and wakizashi set, but I sold it to get the better katana.

[Pent]

On a little family trip to Branson, Missouri, we visited a $5 store. There where some nice knives for $5. I persuaded my dad and me and my little brother each got one. So there not swords, but there all I got.

[spirit-me-away]

I have One katana and Another but there both just because they look pretty

[sanitysux13]

I have a ninja katana, a machete that I recently "inherited" from my grandparents, and an oversized bokken that I used in a play I was in.

[Sparrow Writer]

I have a butterknife! Fear it and its butter-cutting action! ^_^

I have no swords whatsoever...maybe someday I will.

[dragonsleeping]

1- Katana
2- Ninja swords
1- wakizashi
1- fantasy broad sword
and many knives

[Kisa]

ah yes....
2 spanish swords, 1 boken, 2 samurai type swords (my bro's so he knows what they are), 1 dagger, japanese type dagger (also my bro's and have no clue exactly what it is called), bayonets for M-1's.....

[Kaligraphic]

Japanese dagger - a tanto, you mean?

And there's no such thing as a "ninja katana" - the straight blade was simply one form that the blade could take. (it was more common among the earlier tachi and katana)

[avidrkfan]

Hey Kaligraphic, were straight swords still made in Japan during the Meiji era? I don't remember seeing any in Rurouni Kenshin.
As for me, I have 1 cheesy reproduction katana, a katana set (Katana, wakizashi, and tanto) a medieval broadsword, a roman gladius, two saber style fencing foils, a renaissance style dagger, and a letter opener shaped like a stiletto.
The katana set is supposed to have been made using Japanese style sword making methods, but it was made in Sweden, so I have my doubts about that. Cleaning it is a real pain too! I'm almost out of the rice paper that came with it in the cleaning set. Anyone know a good source for rice paper that doesn't involve the internet and a credit card?

[bbboy21]

wow I would never thought that amount of people here would have blades.

[Solid Ronin]

One single handed Daito , One Ninja To (Display piece due to faulty constartion), and One Bokken.

[Madeline]

Sadly, my mom is afraid of weapons and won't allow me to buy any...

I have a cheap machete, a scalpel, a wooden baseball bat, a pen knife, a dull and pretty much useless knife, and my dad has given me permission to use his Les Paul! They can hit very hard, and it won't even damage the guitar! ^.^

When I move out I want to start collecting knives. Knives are so pretty, and shiny, and lethal...@_@;

My favorite weapon is still the baseball bat. My dad has a really heavy one. They're multi-purpose too! You can use them to crush skulls and play a nice game of whiffle ball afterwards. XD

[Sonic_13]

you... guys.... scare the... TAR OUT OF ME!!!

Thank goodness for this wonderful and reliable glass shield protecting me from non-real and IRL people

[Banana-chan]

we have katanas and i have an athame hidden in my room. ^^;;; its pretty thats the only reason i bought it

[Kaligraphic]

avidrkfan, straight blades went out of fashion relatively quickly as Japan learned swordmaking on its own and stopped relying as religiously on Chinese examples. It pretty much went out of fashion, at least on the single-edged blades, something like half a millennium before the Meiji period. Tanto, of course, follow different patterns than katana, tachi, wakizashi, or other types of swords, and are typically straight. If you see an old tanto with a katana-style curvature, it may have come from a broken blade, because they weren't made that way to begin with. The tip on a "ninja sword" is often sort of a straight slanted cut, but in reality it would have been a convex curve.

Also, the cross-section of the cutting edge should be convex as well - the convex part outside of the straight-line path is called niku, and keeps the blade from breaking if you don't hit perfectly straight. Some competition cutting blades don't have niku, they have straight wedge cross-sections (some are even nothing but wedge), which is nice for cutting softened tatami mats, but not so good for any real use.

As for the "Japanese style sword making methods", that's probably referring to the folded steel construction or the differential temper, or both. If the temper line looks "interesting", and is somewhat irregular and even slightly messy, it may be a genuine differential temper. This is not restricted to swords made in Japan. Of course, if the temper line (hamon) looks artificial, or is a perfect sine wave, or continues straight off the end without covering the point, it's probably a cheaper etched temper line and would not be differentially tempered. The folded steel construction is harder to tell, but usually costs more than straight steel.

Unless your sword is particularly good/expensive (in which case you should listen to real experts and not just people over the internet), you can clean it with a decent gun oil and paper towels.

Madeline, I am shocked and horrified by your post. My mind is now filled with visions of atrocities being committed on a Les Paul. You gotta remember, FLCL is just TV, it isn't real - guitars aren't (that kind of) weapons. I'm glad you don't have any guns.

[Madeline]

Madeline, I am shocked and horrified by your post. My mind is now filled with visions of atrocities being committed on a Les Paul. You gotta remember, FLCL is just TV, it isn't real - guitars aren't (that kind of) weapons. I'm glad you don't have any guns.

Are you teasing me or are you serious? Because if you were, I'm sorry for shocking and horrifying you...o_O I'm not very strong, so if I need to protect myself from harm I have to use whatever is available, and that's what's nearby.
Maybe I'm being naive, but what's FLCL? I don't watch a lot of TV so I wouldn't know.

[HikariChan]

I dont have any swords, but I have a shotgun. I named her Betty XDD;;;

[Kiba-kun]

Are you teasing me or are you serious? Because if you were, I'm sorry for shocking and horrifying you...o_O I'm not very strong, so if I need to protect myself from harm I have to use whatever is available, and that's what's nearby.
Maybe I'm being naive, but what's FLCL? I don't watch a lot of TV so I wouldn't know.

FLCL is a show about some supposed alian girl hitting her guitar on ppls heads to get something to come out and she finds a kid who is compatible with it and she hangs around him to see what happens and a bunch of weird things do(im not spoiling it and i dont remember it that well) . Its only 6 episodes long but still good i think they have a manga for it but im not sure

[avidrkfan]

Thanks Kaligraphic for the information on swords! My swedish/Japanese one does have the distinctive nioi misty type pattern on the hamon, and is roughly diamond rather than wedge shaped (the muni at the top is flat, of course rather than the top 'point' of a diamond shape). So I think the metal was folded and pounded to make the blade. Do you think it's still OK to use paper towels on it? I have enough clove oil to last for a while so I don't have to go shopping for oil any time soon. My cheesy repro sword has uniform triangular shapes marching up the hamon so I know that one's safe with paper towels. Gotta love stainless steel - fingermarks wipe right off and it doesn't rust.

I have a question though, is the 'niku' anything like the shinogi-ji (the flat part of the blade above the hamon and below the muni)? I couldn't find the term 'niku' in my book on Japanese swords!

Sonic_13 - Aw, don't be scared! I don't actually know how to use my swords, I just trot them out every year to show my students in my history class, so they are really only for show and tell. If I did ever tried to use a sword in battle I'd be more likely to chop my own silly head off than anyone else's - I have absolutely no eye/hand coordination at all. I can't even throw paper wads into trashcans half the time!

[Sonic_13]

Sonic_13 - Aw, don't be scared! I don't actually know how to use my swords, I just trot them out every year to show my students in my history class, so they are really only for show and tell. If I did ever tried to use a sword in battle I'd be more likely to chop my own silly head off than anyone else's - I have absolutely no eye/hand coordination at all. I can't even throw paper wads into trashcans half the time!

Yah... but thats one sane person!

... *invisions 30 crazy sword wielding anime fans*

[avidrkfan]

Yay! One vote for my sanity! Thanks Sonic_13, I'm flattered that you think so. Consider yourself hugged!

[Kaligraphic]

Here's a writeup on niku: http://www.geocities.com/alchemyst/niku.htm

Basically, niku is the degree of convexity of the cutting edge, and is not part of the shinogi-ji. Think of the surface from the shinogi forward, not back. It means that the blade isn't quite as sharp, but you can cut smoothly even if your angle is a little bit off. (it also was used to keep the blade from chipping/taking damage in such circumstances. The cutting edge can be somewhat brittle when thin.) Anyway, the writeup has an illustration which probably will explain it better than words can.

[avidrkfan]

Thanks for the link! Great article, and highly informative. I'd never thought of how the width or 'fatness' of the blade could affect how well it cuts through various targets.
All my katanas cut through it paper - to demonstrate sharpness. It impresses the students without endangering the blade.

[TurkishMonky]

I like to make wooden swords, but heres my list:
a brazilian machete (sharp enough to easily cut thorugh old cables i have lying around, wiht hardly any effort)
a african handmade knife
a wooden broadsword (up to my chin, and 4 fingers wide)
a wooden longsword (4 feet tall, 2.5 fingers wide)
a wooden elf-sword (like the ones in the opening battle of LOTR, but not as intricate)
several smaller knives
and at least 8 padded "swords" for combat practice (the longest being 5 feet long)

i would love to get a katana though...

[Starfire1]

I am the proud owner of a hammer, a yardstick, and a butterknife. yay for me.

[Syaoran]

I don't know if my family has a sword in the family.....but I do know that we do have a kilt

[Gala]

i have a pocket knife and a dagger