Henk
Thanks for the specification.
That does make sense, as to me this has the feel of something made with durability being the guiding factor. Before purchasing this I located a site "Military swords of imperial japan(gunto)" from a metallurgical perspective it was interesting reading, I thought. On a whim I thought I would test the edge of this blade against a PPK XL(a modern reproduction katana) that i am not particularly fond of, by dragging the edge of older blade over newer blade. The older blade began to cut into the newer blade like a hot knife through butter, literally. I reversed the process, the new blade skated across older blade becoming blunt in the process. This probably says something about both blades.
I would like to commit myself to the belief that this is definitely a japanese blade, whilst I believe it is a good blade, the spine is so crude and rough and I find it hard to reconcile with other features of the blade, perhaps it was a prototype/experimental piece. This is idle conjecture on my part.
Gentlemen, Thanks again for the direction, it is appreciated.
Kind regards
Daniel S
