Island made sword

scratch · 20th September 2007, 08:08 AM

G'day all,
Gentlemen, Thank you for giving me some direction regarding this piece

A japanese blade

I'm am pleasantly astonished!
Fortunately I left the tang alone, just in case. I can discern no writing. There is a divit on end of tang. Hopefully these photos of the spine will show why I allowed very little hope of a japanese ID, I have kukris that have a much finer spine. The fittings, scabbard will bring little viewing pleasure I think. The blade collar has gone missing at the moment, It is soldered brass. The blade does not align with the carved space of scabbard, the blade is wider and shorter.
Again my apologies for my lack of patience. It was inappropiate of me.
Thanks for the starting point. Hopefully I can share something of a more appropiate nature next time.

Kind regards

Daniel

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.

20th September 2007, 08:08 AM	#1
scratch Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 96	G'day all, Gentlemen, Thank you for giving me some direction regarding this piece A japanese blade I'm am pleasantly astonished! Fortunately I left the tang alone, just in case. I can discern no writing. There is a divit on end of tang. Hopefully these photos of the spine will show why I allowed very little hope of a japanese ID, I have kukris that have a much finer spine. The fittings, scabbard will bring little viewing pleasure I think. The blade collar has gone missing at the moment, It is soldered brass. The blade does not align with the carved space of scabbard, the blade is wider and shorter. Again my apologies for my lack of patience. It was inappropiate of me. Thanks for the starting point. Hopefully I can share something of a more appropiate nature next time. Kind regards Daniel Attached Images

21st September 2007, 05:03 AM	#4
scratch Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 96	Missing blade collar. Attached Images

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20th September 2007, 06:57 PM	#2
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	#3
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