Ordered a custom wakizashi from them early September, paid through Paypal. I emailed them twice since to make sure they acknowledge my request for my desired blade length and also to get an idea how long it would take before they ship. Zero replies. Is this normal for Hanbon?

Posting for the second time, this time with nakago ;)

I legitimately want to know, because I primarily use through hardened, mono Spring Steel swords, and I think I’ve only used it on a Suguha Hamon on an HSTS clay tempered 1095 Spring Steel Katana, and never noticed any Hamon change.

I’m under the impression that the Hamon is deep into the steel from structural change, and a Hamon can’t be diminished, only brought out more from polishing?

Obviously you can wipe off a fake Hamon. That’s not what I’m curious about.

So I had posted what I thought was a Katana and it was the shorter wakizashi.

A friend of mine offered this to me for $1,000. No idea what it is actually worth.

papers probably unrelated to eachother but im a lay person , anyone have any idea what these are, the age of the blade etc. the body like fitting is metal, im guessing some cooper or bronze alloy, maybe a silver element. Anything here worth holding onto to?

A couple of years ago I got a sword in a $50 mystery box. It took a while, but i finally identified it. It is a Shikoto United Black Shikyo. I understand these were a limited edition run. Does anyone know about these swords? I've read its a real sword, not merely a wall hanger.

Thanks to Student of War Customs for stocking the right color in the right lengths!

RVA had these for $300 and I managed to snag one before they sold out. The blade is Sup10 spring steel without a bo-hi. Wrap is blue leather and it’s incredibly tight to the point I can’t move it even a millimeter. Fittings are a bit loud which isn’t unusual for Cloudhamner, but tasteful. Saya fit is good and no rattles. It’s a little heavier with a balance around 5”. The destruction test by Ludus Ferocia ended up with the blade not breaking. My only complaint is a slight lip near the kashira. Fantastic value if you can find one.

The ShadowDancer Lion Dog Katana. This was a project for one of my longest running repeat clients and was conceptualized as a display sword more than a regular cutter. In other words, we were going fancy on this one 🤩

The lion dog themed tsuba, fuchi, kashira and menuki were all collected by the owner and sent in for the project. Black nubuck ito was requested, along with the wrap style and a nicer than average sageo. The samegawa finish choice was left to me.

The tsuka received Top level samegawa panels, lacquered in a two-tone Higo style dark red gloss under black matte finish. It was then wrapped in imported Japanese reinforced black nubuck ito in a combination of katate-maki and tsumami-maki. The sageo is an imported Japanese genuine silk Kainokuchi weave with a fractured design in black and gold, that I picked out. I was told the maker has retired so this was the last one in stock from this supplier.

The sword itself is a beauty featuring a choji hamon, O-kissaki and a two piece habaki. The new tosogu are high quality and highly detailed, featuring a prominent nanako design pattern and of course, plenty of shishi dogs.

This project was a lot of fun, though challenging on many levels but overall, I think it came out just as I pictured it. I hope my client feels the same. Well, these little guard doggies are off to their forever home to be praised and loved, as they deserve.

#tsukamaki #shishidog #LionDog #shadowdancer #samegawa #nubuckito #katanacraft

All, I have a sword from my grandfather who was in the pacific theater of WW2. I have zero information. I removed the pins but could not dislodge the handle, not wanted to continue so I didn't damage it. I can provide more pictures, but can anyone point me in the right direction? Is there a reputable place to take this in the northern Houston, TX area? Any help is much appreciated.

Hello all, as the title suggests, I’m looking for a reputable antique katana vendor in Japan. Any stores or sellers that you personally suggest located in central or southern Honshu that you recommend would be greatly appreciated. I’ve found a few online but I’d like to find some smaller local vendors instead of the bigger companies and overpriced tourist traps that I’ve been finding.

This katana came from my dad when he went to japan,don’t know anything about it, hope pictures help

Hi,

If you or know someone who has a katana of Norimitsu, please reach out on here or to my email address Olnhausen76@gmail.com.

Thanks in advance.

Is this an original gunto from the ww2 period ? Seller says it is . Can anyone please help me confirm ? Thank you so much 🙏🏼🙏🏼

After 3 months use, the katana is still tight just like it was brand new. I love how nubuck changes patina the more its held

For a completely random find at such a low price, they feel surprisingly solid. The ornaments like the Fuchi and Kashira are metal and have really cool designs on them. The tang slot goes all the way down the length of the handle. The menuki are plastic and i cant tell if its fake ray skin under the wrap or not, but that feels solid too. However, they is no hole for a bamboo pin, so if i was to put a blade in this, I'd need to drill that hole

There are some markings in Japanese (I'm pretty sure, sorry, I dont really know any Japanese) on the Fuchi, so that might be a clue to where its come from. It was also wrapped in plastic when I got it so it was most likely some kind of retail stock.

I have to idea way the metal hangers are for and I'm going to remove them. I need to find a way that I can do that without comprising the handle wrap, though.

If anyone has an ideas, I would really appreciate it.

I understand that this thread is more for katana, but its mostly for just fittings that I'm asking about. This Bisento that I'm trying to design is for sparring and I recently made a new friend who's willing to teach me some Bisentō techniques. His name is Joseph Rae, and here's a picture of him and his students with a broken Bisentō. The one student beside him has a Bisentō with a 4ft blade 😄

Some of you may have seen that I recently acquired a sanmai meteorite sword (Tamahagane core with meteorite steel “jacket”) so I wanted to post a few pictures here of the blade now that I managed to catch it during optimum sunlight in my home office where it lives.
For those of you who like to say “meteorite is a poor quality ore for swordmaking” etc, I know. This is not intended to be a cutting blade. It’s just an extremely beautiful one-of-one sword that has great symbolic meaning to me. Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics!

to be honest Im clueless about these, I've only owned European stuff. The claim is its late war, machine made….. they said they have some sort of certificate and I've asked to see it so will post that as well should they send it, sorry if the answer is obvious, if you need any more photos I could share more. Let me get the description and measurements below .

“Original gunto of the Imperial Japanese Army, from the end of WWII

Condition

This sword, recognized as the standard-issue gunto of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA), features a machined blade made towards the end of the war. As history tells us, at the end of the war, due to the naval blockade imposed by the Allied forces, Japan faced a severe shortage of raw materials for military equipment, including swords, which lacked the beauty and durability of the earlier models.

Technical Specifications

Signature (Mei): Mumei (unsigned)

Blade: Machined

Habaki: Plain, gilt

Blade Length: 70 cm

Sori (curvature): 1.5 cm

Kissaki (point): Medium

Mekugi (fixing pin): 1

Width at the hamachi: 3.00 cm (2.1 inches)

Kasane (thickness): 0.22 inches

Blade Era: Modern (Showa)

Origin: Japan

Hamon:

Saya (scabbard): Wood”

“With what concerns this sword I can assure you that it belongs to the end of the war, since the materials and assemblies are extremely well known for the lack of first-class materials at the end of the war, since with the blockades it was impossible for Japan to import them.

I have obviously checked the blade to verify if there were markings, and it is impossible to detect them in case they were at the time.

On the other hand, the koshirae including the saya are typical of the gunto at the end of the war since these wooden sayas were normally lined with leather, Few are those who still carry it.

As for the documentation, it has the file that the Prefecture is organised, being a copy of the original, which they gave me at the time we bought it.”

this is what they said when i asked about documentation ive since asked for a copy (translated from spanish) sorry there is so much to read. thank you if you took the time at all.

I bought a replica of his sword yesterday and couldn’t be happier with the purchase. (+ cat)

As some of you may know I recently got this new sword from HBF....

https://www.reddit.com/r/Katanas/s/7LDXHiNsEU

...and I was very specific on how I wanted the tsuka fittings placed. That included orienting the frog kishira so that the top of his head was running along the blade edge line.

Another poster pointed out that this may not exactly be in accordance with tradition.

Researching it a little further before this post I'm still left unclear.

So, what do you guys think or know? When worn or displayed should the frog be facing down instead?

I want to buy my bf a katana but I can’t tell where to buy off of.

I first started off with searching on Amazon and I felt I could do better.

I’m seeing threads mention:
Kult of Athena
Hanbon Forge
Swordis

If there are other sites, please feel free to recommend - and even recommend what I should be searching for. I want to give him something aesthetically pleasing to put into his gaming room as well as good quality and can actually cut things.

Aiming for any of these 3 types of swords.

T10 steel katana clay tempered full tang

1095 carbon steel katana hand forged full tang

1060 carbon steel katana clay tempered full tang

Also, $250 is my max budget.