Sharpness of a sword? Auction problem

[Ken-Hawaii]

Tom, please withhold critiques on subjects you know little, if any, about. Chris is fully capable of identifying a traditionally-made blade, & selling it as such. You are not.

[Lance]

Weird. Im sure the auction and sale would have been more smooth without a strange/picky buyer.

Aside from being physically ground down to a dull edge,most Nihonto are sharp, just not straight razor sharp.

This reminds me of an iron Nara or Hanmana school tsuba I sold on ebay many years ago, Multiple photos, as described, and the buyer said the one I sent him was different because I described the patina as chocolatey, and it was more of a caramel color (I kid you not)

+At least I ended up reselling it for more than the first time but sometimes you get problem buyers, often very strange.

A separate thread about unusual finds orthe characters involved might be entertaining.

Regards,

Lancei

[Tom Darling]

Ken,  after the NFL. game tonight, you'll be hearing from me. You have no idea what I don't  know, but, you think you know. You're a genius.Peace.

 

 

Tom D.

[Tom Darling]

My esteem colleague deemed a dull edge blade is perfectly acceptable, I respectfully disagree. 

 

The description noted, "I said to him sharpness was not described in the offer."  "I have never looked or tested if one of my blades are sharp,

that's not important for me."   I wouldn't be interested in a nihonto with a dull edge blade.  

 

Since when do we get involved to this extant with sellers business transactions?  

 

Condescending chatter is not what this forum is about, , zip it!  Have a nice day.

 

Tom D.

[Jim P]

 Hi Tom,If sharpness or a dull edge was of great importance then that's something that would be on papers which it’s not nor do most of the nihonto sites in Japan speak of sharp or a dull blade take Aoi Art for example because it depends what the sword is cutting. If they ground them like razors they would not do well on Japanese armour that's why we speak about the meat of a blade kitchen knives are flat ground swords are usually convex for good reasons a lot less chips and cracks. A polisher will always try to keep the meat or bevel of a blade I would take a dull Gorō Nyūdō Masamune over a sharp Komonjo special every time. 

[Brian]

This is not something that can be debated really. There is no real definition of what sharp is.
My current pocket knife I can press my thumb against and won't get cut. But if I draw my thumb across it, I'll bleed. Is that sharp?
Some may expect Nihonto to cut a tissue dropped on it. Others regard sharp as able to shave. To me, if it will cut when drawn across something...it is fairly sharp.
It's subjective and I don't think we need to debate it. As long as a stone hasn't been drawn across the cutting edge and the edge has a flat...it will cut.

[vajo]

I see it like Brian. Sharpness is not a DIN Norm.

 

Wheres the problem for the buyer to make it sharp as he want. I guess he don't have any idea about swords. I told him to re-sell it and buy a chinese sword razor sharp for $90 on ebay.

 

On my next sword sell i give this tool for free with it.

 

[Ken-Hawaii]

[Dave R]

No need to get complicated, just include a whetstone....

[Dave R]

Mind you, Mr Komiya has a few words on the subject. 

 

http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/sharpening-dulling-blades-were-taken-granted-675938/

[Blazeaglory]

My older O-suriage waki is sharper than a razor. It's so sharp that you can't feel the cut. I only noticed my leg was cut, through my pants, when I felt wet. And that was just from examining the mune (albeit a little carelessly)

 

My Kanbun wakizashi is also razor sharp but another early Edo waki I had was super dull but looked awesome with a nice koshirae also.

 

My Muromachi tanto is super dull tho but it doesn't matter to me . Using Brian's points above it's all debatable

[SAS]

No need to get complicated, just include a whetstone....

 

But is he a trained polisher?!

[BenVK]

Buying and selling over the internet can be a frustrating business especially since auction sites seem to side almost entirely with the buyer in the event of a dispute. Therefore, I believe that taking good quality photos is important not only to attract bidders but also to protect yourself as a seller. Descriptions can be misinterpreted but you can't really argue with a photo.

In the case of this particular sword, the auction clearly shows that the cutting edge (part of it at least) is not sharp so the buyer had very little cause for complaint.

If sharpness was an important factor for him, this photo should have prompted him to ask if the edge was the same all the way along.

But what can you say, some buyers believe they have the right to return anything they want, even after several months and sometimes years down the line...

[Bruce Pennington]

No need to get complicated, just include a whetstone....

  

Mind you, Mr Komiya has a few words on the subject. 

 

http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/Japanese-militaria/sharpening-dulling-blades-were-taken-granted-675938/

I have been thinking along the same lines this whole conversation Dave!

 

Bottom line is something we face constantly - From the Bubba to the guy whose entire nihonto knowledge came from the movie "Bodyguard", there is an endless line of people who don't make any effort to get a little educated before they go after someone like Chris.