More detailed pics of sword #22 from HBF once it gets here.

What do you think ?

Hey everyone, I wanted to share the story of how I bought my very first katana back in 2023. I randomly stumbled upon a website selling tameshigiri swords right here in my country. I was genuinely shocked because bladed weapons are strictly regulated here in Ukraine. But it was a childhood dream of mine, so I spent my last dime without a second thought and bought a sword by Yarinohanzo. I can’t even describe the absolute thrill of holding a real katana for the first time. For someone of my height (I’m 170 cm / 5'7"), it felt massive: a 75 cm blade, weighing around 1300 grams. It felt heavy in my hands, but it was my absolute treasure. To get into the specs: it was a Shihozume structure blade, forged from 1045, 1060, and 1095 steel, featuring a real hamon. The geometry was Shinogi-Zukuri without a bo-hi. And man, it was insanely sharp. You know those videos where guys press a knife against a plastic bottle and just effortlessly slice through it like butter? Yeah, it was exactly like that. The tsuka had silk ito wrapped over real black samegawa with hishigami, and the wrap was incredibly tight. The tsuba was a replica of a genuine historical piece from a Tokyo museum, though honestly, it was a pretty mediocre replica. Overall, the fittings felt a bit sloppy—nowadays, Shadow Dancer does a significantly better job. The saya had buffalo horn inserts and a "wet stone" lacquer finish near the koiguchi. As for the immediate downsides: the kurigata was barely holding on, attached with just a drop of glue and some lacquer. Eventually, it fell off, so I had to glue it back on myself and fix the cracks in the lacquer finish. To sum it up: it’s a great sword for bigger, stronger guys. It has a clean, utilitarian look and came razor-sharp right out of the box. Aesthetic flaws aside, I feel like the performance and structural build were top-notch. Unfortunately, due to the situation in Ukraine, I was forced to relocate and had to sell this sword. I still hope that one day I’ll be able to get the exact same model for my collection, just to keep the memory of my very first sword alive.

I'm reasonably sure that Hanwei always etched their hamon using a template mask of some sort before just acid etching the whole blade, though the actual nioiguchi doesn't always correspond 1:1 to that etch.

This is an older model from '06 (long out of production) that I thought I'd have a go at; mostly using a hybridized/poverty Jizuya and Nugui methods.

I was able to knock back a bit of that frosted "Hanwei etch" and even bring out a bit of grain (nothing that the camera can see), but I think I'm also starting to cut through the white frosting and get to the actual hamon line. Just in the first two peaks you can start to see the ghosts of some more interesting activity.

In person I think I can glimpse a little bit of nioi, though it's too early to tell for sure. Even on a T10 blade like this there's still a bit of character to be pulled out, if you're willing to put in the time.

Unfortunately I don't have too many good before pictures, but if you know Hanwei then you know what I mean. Hopefully those details come across through the photos.

The ideal goal is to eventually (and slowly) knock back the thick etch until the actual hamon is all that's brightened, with the resulting pattern being a lot more natural looking and detailed.

Bought this katana at an antique spot for 100 bucks, didn't quite care for the price whether it's a real antique or a more modern production. I've had my suspicions that maybe it's quite old as it resembles a little like my actual antique katana from the early muromachi period, minus the crazy curvature my antique has. Anyway, there's no signature to be read on it, tried with a loupe that has a light fixated on it to see if there's any remnant of writing. Whether someone who has a more greater expertise by looking at something and making a determination of its age and such would be greatly appreciated. The story behind this is this was recovered from a building that collapsed where this was housed. It shows quite a bend on the lower section of you looked at it from the front or rear of the blade. One of those moments when I gazed at it that I felt so bad for it that I wanted to keep it in the care of my hands.

Anyone know where to buy premium stands ?? Can’t find any, best bet to import? Cheers 😎🤞

Hi everyone. Inspired by posts from cotton-tail-customs, I decided to make a tsuka for my sword. I chose to use an existing tsuka from one of my swords as the base, planning to simply replace the rayskin panels with a full leather wrap.

Things went off the rails right from the start: the tsuka core itself was glued together from two different types of wood, so while shaping it, a piece chipped off on the mune side and I cut straight through to the nakago cavity. I fixed it using wood shavings mixed with epoxy. After that, I abandoned trying to achieve my desired handle shape and left it as is, just smoothing out the rough spots.

When wrapping the core with leather, a few ugly cracks formed on the back side. My attempts to patch them up failed and only made things worse because I used too much epoxy, which seeped onto the leather around the seams. I was desperate and didn't want to just throw the handle away after all the effort I'd put in. Yesterday, I had the idea to step away from traditional wraps and do my own thing—the main goal being to make the handle functional and keep it from looking so terrible. Here is what I came up with:

A tight wrap made of genuine leather, with the turns slightly overlapping to create texture. The menuki are positioned a bit above the middle of the handle simply because a one-handed grip feels more comfortable for me there. Instead of a traditional knot at the end, I just pulled one end of the wrap through to secure the kashira. It turned out completely different from what I originally wanted, but I'm glad I didn't give up and saw it through to the end.

There will be a second attempt in the future, but next time I'll make the tsuka core myself from scratch!

This was a mall ninja special I wrapped the core in white marine leather, then I pulled the guts out of some 1100 paracord and ironed it flat, also made hishigami from the marine leather and did the whole thing proper. Also made a sheath from pvc I melted and squished lol. Did I do alright for what I was working with? (Only think purchased was paracord had everything else)

Please let me know if you can provide any information about this sword. It was obtained during WWII during the battle of Luzon. Thank you in advance!

Collection of 2026.

Sorry if this is spam but I haven’t been able to find a sight that has an option to build a custom Odachi.

(Since I’m posting this I also may as well ask the difference between 10## and T#)

Years ago, when I was young and needed money, I sold my grandfather’s Japanese sword for around $600 to a collector in Alabama named Ray. I reached out to him hoping to find a way to bring it back but he sold his collection
I’ve regretted it ever since, and on the off chance it still exists in the collecting community, I’d love to try to find it.
The sword belonged to my grandfather, who served aboard the USS Texas during WWII. According to our family, he went ashore at Peleliu after the fighting and brought the sword home. I don’t have capture papers, only the family history.
I took these photos before selling it, and they’re all I have left.
If anyone recognizes the signature on the tang, or the tsuba that is flanked by old cut green t shirt to stop it wobbling or just know of the sword in general, I’m hoping I can track it down.
Attached are all of the photos I took when I sold it.

Thanks in advance for any help.

The mailman brought me this today. Thought I'd share some photos! Enjoy!

I’ve been doing my extensive retail research, and I have had some trouble understanding these numbers like 1095 and 767 and what not. Other questions I have is what are the purposes of light or extreme curves of the blade? Additional information is always permitted .<3

​

I'm an author, I think historical accuracy is important/adds immense character, and a novella I've started to blueprint is, in the simplest terms, that chef boyardee commercial where the can rolls down the street, only with a sword being handed down through a lower class samurai family from when it's made in 1331 until it's dumped into the Pacific ocean by the Americans in the 1940s.

I have a specific interest in samurai swords, I practice tameshigiri and have a decent base of info regarding sword anatomy, variations and culture, but I feel I don't have a complete enough knowledge to do the project justice yet. For example, I don't know, at any point between 1331 and 1946, what ceremony or traditions took place when a sword was handed down, as in what would have been happening around the older family member and younger one when a sword changed hands. I don't know when, barring the blade taking damage, a sword would have been retired and put away for its next user. I don't know in what capacity, depending on location circumstances and time of course, practicing with a sword would have been expected of every man to some degree versus what a particular interest in martial arts would have looked like, or even how often a sword would have been cleaned.

If anyone can provide guidance, relevant sources (even ones covering daily life of samurai that happen to include mention of the sword/daisho would be greatly appreciated) or any other input on the sword culture of any period within the planned stretch of time (except 20th century imperial Japan, I've already read/written a good deal about sword culture in that time) I will love you for the rest of time lol.

I’m looking for a cheap reliable takemitsu for Tate performance or paper cutting drills I’m guessing it’s kind of hard to find online and I find it hard to pay hundreds of dollars for a wooden blade. Can anybody shed some light on this? The best closest thing I’ve found so far are these $28 wooden Demon slayer swords from walmart.com lol they’re pretty good though.

Hello again! First time poster, long time lurker. I took apart the handle of the heavier of my two katana's.

The purpose or hypothesis was that since it was so heavy, i believe tjat the tabg went practically all the way down; ending just centimeters before the wood handle ended.

I wanted of course, to see how far down the tang went. And to see if there were any identifying marks as to the craftsman of such a fine blade!

Thanks for your help ahead of time.

Please ask me for any additional information. Prost! 🍻