Fatal Flaw (?)

[Ken-Hawaii]

Oh, I could easily kill with just the nakago, but my point is that if a blade is likely to break where it is usually used to strike an opponent - the monouchi & boshi - that, to me, defines a fatal weapon flaw.

 

I'm really not trying to pick at words, Luis, just attempting to make the point that when a sword is evaluated, it does depend on whether you're a collector (who might be willing to live with, say, a hagire on an early Kamakura blade) or someone who depends on the blade not to break in combat.

[TheGermanBastard]

Hello Ken,

 

 

Oh, I could easily kill with just the nakago, but my point is that if a blade is likely to break where it is usually used to strike an opponent - the monouchi & boshi - that, to me, defines a fatal weapon flaw.

 

I'm really not trying to pick at words, Luis, just attempting to make the point that when a sword is evaluated, it does depend on whether you're a collector (who might be willing to live with, say, a hagire on an early Kamakura blade) or someone who depends on the blade not to break in combat.

 

I agree.

 

 

So we can agree that a Hagire is about the only fatal flaw in a blade from the point as a weapon as it may cause the sword to break into parts - while so many other things a collector will consider fatal will not prevent the swords from use as a weapon at all.

 

Just take the issue of retempering for example. It may "heal" a blade and make it useable as a weapon again while it will most probably fully destroy its purpose as an art sword.

 

As far as the Boshi goes: How often do you stab with a katana and how often do you slice / cut? 99 out of 100 time you will cut rather than stab ... and then again if you are good at what you are doing, you can probably - as you correctly said - kill your opponent with the wrong end of the blade or even with a broom that has neither a tempered edge nor an edge at all.

[Ken-Hawaii]

That's actually a pretty good question, & the answer depends on which ryuha you train in. In Muso Jikiden Eishin-Ryu iaido (iaido=sport, iaijutsu=killing art), of the 174 waza, only 14 include thrusts (8%), but in Shinto-Ryu iaijutsu, 13 out of 24 waza incorporate thrusts (54%).

 

Certainly no argument on hagire, but actual breaks in the monouchi/boshi are fatal, too.

[EastCoast]

Hey everyone!

 

I will not be able to get the blade into the lab until after the holiday. Stay tuned.

 

-James

[EastCoast]

Update!

 

So, when looking under magnification we were able to determine that is a combination crack and ware. The crack portion has a thickness of < 20um and it is only at the far end of the spine. It is tiny to say the least. There is no depth to the additional ware line that runs the rest of the way forward, as can be seen in the picture.

 

When I first tried to run the paper through it, what I was actually seeing was an optical illusion that could not be replicated under magnification due to the reasons noted above. While it looks nasty, it is not as bad as I thought and at this point I feel it gives the blade character.

 

-James

[Jean]

Like a scratch on a painting...

[PNSSHOGUN]

Like a scratch on a painting...

https://youtu.be/l9AX6r7wSZg

[EastCoast]

PNS - You are killing me.