How sharp ??

[diprivanman]

So I just received my first nihonto. It is an edo era wakizashi, with NTHK kanteisho papers.

It is in what looks like very nice polish, the hamon and everything is really nice. However it doesn't appear to be very sharp. I always assumed these swords would be razor sharp. But this sword is not even as sharp as one of my sharp kitchen knives. Would this be considered normal. I mean I certainly think that if I tried to cut something with it, that it would do some pretty good damage.. But I guess it just wasn't what I expected.

 

Mike

[John A Stuart]

Mike, I have seen varying degrees of sharpness even within a single edge with a good but old polish. I have had swords newly poished that were razor sharp and others less so. I think, maybe, depending on the polisher emphasis may be on removing enough metal to do a good job to highlight the aspects of the blade with sharpness secondary to preserve metal. I don't cut with old blades and the shinsakuto I do cut with is a razor. John

[diprivanman]

Ok, I think I understand a little better now.

My wakizashi has a lot of niku (meat) on it (which is a good thing!).

But I guess this also means because of the blade geometry it can not be polished as sharp "to the touch" as a hira-niku blade (which is more like a kitchen knife).

It sounds like the cutting ability has many variables, not just sharpness. The blade geometry and the nature of what you are cutting (soft vs harder objects). Blades with niku are more stable and can cleave through denser objects, whereas those without are very effective at slicing soft objects (but may not be as resilient).

Thanks

Mike

[Ken-Hawaii]

Mike, I agree with John that many swordsmiths didn't target sharpness as much as they did overall durability, especially with wakizashi & tanto blades.

 

I have one wakizashi that is incredibly sharp, but also have three others that I wouldn't use to cut anything at all. I found that to be very interesting because two of the smiths on my dull wakizashi were awarded Wazamono, according to my manuals. But after thinking about what the blades were likely used for, I began to understand why those smiths might also have created a "utilitarian" blade.

[Darcy]

Hi Mike,

 

I have touched the blade of two different swords (by accident) and regretted it immensely (both for blade, and myself).

 

Individual blades will be in varying states of polish, and so some will be sharper than others.

 

Someone else posted a picture of what happened to his hand with accidental contact recently... look at the "don't get casual" thread :-).

[diprivanman]

What happened to the blade? I can imagine what happened to your finger!

:D