Island made sword

Henk · 20th September 2007, 06:57 PM

Daniel,

Looking at the fittings of this sword I think they are the remains of the original fittings and this sword probably is a japanese WWII sword, a shin gunto.

scratch · 21st September 2007, 04:48 AM

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

scratch · 21st September 2007, 05:03 AM

Missing blade collar.

21st September 2007, 05:03 AM	#3
scratch Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 96	Missing blade collar. Attached Images

20th September 2007, 06:57 PM	#1
Henk Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 1,209	Daniel, Looking at the fittings of this sword I think they are the remains of the original fittings and this sword probably is a japanese WWII sword, a shin gunto.

21st September 2007, 04:48 AM	#2
scratch Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 96	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