Where can I get a sword refitted with shin gunto parts?

[Lordd_Humungous]

I have a sword that was made to look like a "kai gunto" that has some major inaccuracies which have only started to bother me recently. I contacted the Fred Lohman company because I know they make repro shin gunto fittings (so I could have it converted to an NLF style gunto) but when I reached out, I received an email back saying that the company has shut down for the foreseeable future. If anyone knows of another avenue to have the saya fittings and/or kabutogane switched out for shin gunto fittings, or if there's a saya maker who can at least make a new saya in the NLF style, let me know. I suppose a saya with a black leather cover could also simulate something you'd see from the Japanese Navy. If this thread is off-topic because it deals in repros, I apologize and ask where else could I post these questions? 

 

Thank you

[Geraint]

Dear Jackson.

 

The whole koshirae is a reproduction.  First question, is the blade anything better?  If it is a genuine blade that for some reason has been kitted out in this way then why not shirasaya?  For me there is not a lot of point in replacing one reproduction koshirae with another............

 

Your call, of course.

 

All the best.

[GeorgeLuucas]

Hi Jackson, and fellow neighbor/Oregonian! 

Unfortunately I don't think these kinds of questions belong on this forum - Unless that sword and repro-fittings are Japanese made or hand-crafted. 

It's also unfortunate that Fred Lohman's company is no longer around. He was active before my time in sword collecting, but man, it would have been awesome to have someone like him so close by. I've heard rumors that his son is still active - but my attempts to contact him have failed.  Oh well,

Anyway, I think your question might be best answered on Reddit in r/katanas. There's a really active community there who collect and outfit repros and modern blades. Not my thing, but they seem to help each other out quite a bit and are fairly friendly. Just beware, you can get a mixed bag of advice on reddit - so do your due diligence and research.  

Best of luck,
Feel free to message me anytime about Oregon and swords - There's a militaria sale this weekend in Portland. 
Cheers!
-Sam

 

[Bruce Pennington]

19 minutes ago, GeorgeLuucas said:

I've heard rumors that his son is still active - but my attempts to contact him have failed. 

I recently heard (on one of these threads) that his son Chris has also passed away.

 

Jackson, I also agree that it would be important to have a look at the blade, especially the nakago (tang).  If the blade is a fake, too, I would hate to see it go into legit kaigunto mounts.  You can often find kaigunto fittings for sale on ebay, Invaluable.com, and Proxibid.com, but after all the expense and trouble, you'd be better off just buying a good kaigunto.

[Ontario_Archaeology]

Finding fittings to match a blade they were not made for us difficult. It is less time consuming and around the same cost to just buy a full package. Even if you find a saya and parts that are the same length and curve as your blade, it might not curve in the right places for your blade and still fit funny. 

 

 

[Matsunoki]

Confused. Are you saying you’ve bought a fake Kai Gunto but want to turn it into a fake Shingunto? Why not just buy a fake Shingunto? 

[GeorgeLuucas]

55 minutes ago, Bruce Pennington said:

I recently heard (on one of these threads) that his son Chris has also passed away.

Upon hearing this news, I tried emailing their website again.

I got an automatic reply informing me that Chris has indeed passed away. It also had contact info for anyone who may have open orders with them.

Very sad to hear,
-Sam

[Lordd_Humungous]

8 hours ago, Matsunoki said:

Confused. Are you saying you’ve bought a fake Kai Gunto but want to turn it into a fake Shingunto? Why not just buy a fake Shingunto? 

I tried to have a replica of a Kai gunto made, but they used different parts. Now I'm trying to see if I can have some of those incorrect parts switched out for the shin gunto parts that are found on "Naval Landing Forces" guntos so the sword is at least accurate to some kind of real historical sword. 

[PNSSHOGUN]

Unfortunately this isn't the forum for such matters:

 

https://www.sword-buyers-guide.com/sword-forum.html

[IJASWORDS]

Jackson, I sent you a message. I have such things in my box of spares. 

[IJASWORDS]

Jackson, take your pick. All original WW2, I can work out a price. 

[vajo]

Fake sword pimping with real parts to look like not fake? For what ??

 

Put that scrap metal in a litre box and buy a real one. 

 

 

[Mister Gunto]

It sounds like you'd be better off saving the money and instead start looking for a nice condition original WW2-era blade in it's original mounts. There's plenty of examples of what to look for here on the forums. They do turn up here on the For Sale subsection, and also over on eBay. Just be sure to do your research first and know what to look for.