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Very nice. The same full wrap: is the seam overlapped or end-butted? What is the QC rate of the wrap as far as the nodes are concerned?

I am looking forward to seeing a full review of that sword! When I first started getting into swords, the "Ryujin" were the cheap knock off brand. I see they have much improved over the years and are making some pretty decent stuff now. As far as the ninjato is concerned: it's hard to be...

Ok, it's been a while since I made an update. My main area of improvement has been with my flexibility and coordination. I've been through a series of injuries that have slowed me down and stiffened me up, but I see some marked improvement in that area. As for the sword technique, I can only...

What do you call a shorter samurai? A summarai I'll see myself out now.....

Here is a list of some guys you might want to connect with: Handle Wrapping Joe Ho 650.493.3395 Traditional Polishing Jimmy Hayashi 415.922.0618 Habaki Brian Tschernega 425.771.6339 Saya, ShiraSaya and Lacquer John Tirado 610.754.7535

Yes, dual wielding requires far more strength than one or two hand styles which is why it was never very popular. Musashi mentions this directly and says that you have to work on it every day to build the strength. It's been my experience that if you are having fun, then you won't know that...

So then, the bug bit me and I am exploring the wide world of dual wielding. So far the only reputable source I have for this is (obviously) Musashi's writings. However, they are very generalized as they were intended to be "Cliff's Notes" for his students and therefore don't go into exacting...

Nice sword. Definitely a lot to work with. I will be interested in seeing how it turns out! For finish work, I would suggest Cottontail Customs https://www.cottontailcustoms.com/ for the tsuka and tsukaito. As for the rest of it, I don't really know anybody that makes sayas and such...

So what exactly is a ninja? Who were they in real life and what part did they play in fuedal Japan? Clearly, the Hollywood version of a black pajama wearing super fighter that can walk on water and jump 20 ft backwards into a tree is a myth. So what is a real ninja? From my research, they...

I suspect that by and large, what you say is exactly true. For a modern production blade, I would think that manufacturing is done by a relatively small group of forges, using much the same materials and methods. So the retail pricing is based on finish options and third party mark-ups. I am...

Oh, trust me, I have a "wanna" list a mile long! But first I plan on starting reasonably small on my next purchase. I want my next kat to be differentially hardened with bo-hi. I won't be looking for top drawer, probably $300 range since I will be more concerned with the blade than the...

I congratulate you on "putting yourself out there" for all the world to see. I often have self doubts when sharing something I've done, knowing full well my efforts fall far short of most others. But we learn by doing. And I also look forward to seeing how you progress on your projects...

Thanks, verity. I think it will be a good lot of fun for all of us to grow my collection along with this forum. I can't wait to look back on this intial posting two or three years from now and see how things have changed! As I reflect on my "collection" and the last few decades, I've come to...

As I grow older and less stupid (I don't dare say "wiser"), I discern patterns in life that make me believe there is some universal key to it all. For example, with a sword, a person practices with a stick- when the time comes and they need to use a real sword; they can. The sword doesn't make...

Thank you for your kind words! You know, it's odd that I've been training on the katana for 25 years, but never made it a priority to own a functional blade. My money was always being spent on training- either dojo fees or for equipment. I guess I've reached that point in my life where...

I've never tried it myself. But the science behind it is reasonable, and if it works for you, then it's a good thing. I'm not sure I would consider it a "cure-all", because if it was, everybody would be doing it to the exclusion of all else. I guess it's like any other kind of treatment; for...

Right, ok. The rain stopped just long enough for me to take a few shots of my meager "collection". I'm a believer in "put up or shut up", and now it's my turn to "put up". Since this is a katana specific forum, my sword "collection" is even smaller than it looks in my head. But, as every...

Very nice!

Nice hamon for a buck sixty....

If it EVER stops raining, I'll lay out my welfare state collection and take some grainy, out of focus pictures of it and post them...if for no other reason than to make everybody else feel better about their own collection. If that bright yellow skybeast ever shows it's face again..