Not that I don't have enough to do I decided to take up the katana sword. Strictly speaking its a sabre as a Japanese katana has one cutting edge.<br /><br />I am in a professional dojo, training twice per week. Going for grading in Feburary / March.<br /><br />If anyone is interested I am happy to post some pictures.<br /><br />I have quite a collection of swords. I have 4 'live blade' katana's.<br /><br />Paul Chen Practical Katana. I use this sword a lot for Tameshigiri (target cutting). Its not a bad sword and very cheap so its a good blade to start with.<br /><br />Paul Chen Practical Katana Plus. Same blade, but with traditional fittings. More robust for heavy work.<br /><br />Paul Chen Tsunami. Its the highest of the monofolded type of blades. Picked it up very cheap on ebay.<br /><br />Bugei Samurai. Treasure of my collection. Fully folded blade (4096 layers) and about the heaviest duty blade, designed for ultimate Tameshigiri. Can easily cut green bamboo. Custimsed to suit my style with 29.5 inch blade and 11 inch tsuka (handle).<br /><br />I have my regular practise sword Iaido which is an alluminium blade. Its been customised by me with a high chrome finish and a chrome tsuba (guard).<br /><br />You also have what is called a bokken, which is a wooden sword for partner exercises.<br /><br />Incase anyone is wondering, you never 'practise' with a live blade. These swords are rockwell 80 on the cutting edge (like a drill bit) and differentually tempered so the back edge is about a rockwell 60. This gives the blade some flexability but a tough cutting edge.<br /><br />If I hold up a piece of paper, I just lean the blade onto the paper and shave off strips of the paper, they are like scalpel. Even my Paul Chen Practical could cut paper out of the box, but with a little polish its razor sharp now.<br /><br />Anyway anyone interested in pictures of the swords or uniform just yell!

Stick them up on the forum for all to see, The only sword I play with is the one between my legs. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/default/grin.gif" />

Good on you Davo, take some pictures and stick them on the forum, Don't forget to blot out your face otherwise the anti UBI brigade will plast your pics everywhere. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/default/grin.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="images/icons/default/grin.gif" />

No Problems. I will take some pictures in the next day or so and put them on!

Practical ??<br /><br />Practical for cutting off heads i guess <br /><br /><br />look out for KILL BILL vol 3 Starring Dave <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/default/smile.gif" /> <br /><br /><br />they look good Dave How do you sharpen them on a stone our what ?<br /><br /><br />end of line

Cool....

Haaaaaaaaa LOL,LOL. I just spotted them now!!! Good shots Davo.

Jason, Dave and Phil,<br /><br />You sharpen them using a very fine oil stone. That sword shown is the cheapest of the 'practical' series. Practical means its designed for cutting. Not like the junk on ebay you see (like Kill Bill swords). These are stainless steel and if you try to cut the blade will break and become very dangerous (imagine a piece of blade flying around like a helicopter).<br /><br />Also some cheap blades have a thin 1/4 inch bolt in the handle welded to the blade, not the true tang of the sword - again another projectile or missile!<br /><br />In dojo's a stainless steel blade is banned and not allowed.<br /><br />I will have to take pictures of my Bugei Samurai. Now THAT is a sword. Its really heavy and designed for very heavy cutting.<br /><br />You are right they are not toys and certainly no one should even play with one without proper training.<br /><br />I have lots of video's of accidents where people noto (re-sheath) the blade, miss the saya (scabbard) and it goes through there leg easily (and yes out the other side).<br /><br />Also on drawing, where if you incorrectly draw the blade (trying to raise or turn the blade before it its fully out of the saya), and off comes your fingers!<br /><br />If I hold up a sheet of A4 paper, I can slice strips of paper off by just pushing the blade onto the paper (not slicing just by only by pushing it against the paper).<br /><br />Last weekend I rolled up newspaper and did some cutting. I will set up again this weekend (weather permitting) and take some pictures.<br /><br />Cheers,

I bet the quality swords cost a packet or two.