How sharp is sharp?

Rusty

Rusty

Moderator
Moderator
Joined
Mar 8, 1999
Messages
8,911
Took my new Everest katana over to show Jerry (Gunmaker) on Thursday. On leaving his place, I stuck it and a Burra WW2 in the trunk, and forgot them.

This evening another friend and I were bullskinning ( this is a knife forum, no bullshooting allowed, right? ). He got in his truck and took off, and seconds later a car comes down the residential street after him, I'd guess 60-80 mph, weaving side to side, and 2 blocks down pulls around him, sliding to a J stop facing him. With assorted sound effects. Then the car pulls driver side door to driver side door, he puts the truck in gear, and the car makes a few wild swings and takes off after him. Last time I saw someone driving like that the situation ended with a gun being pulled.

By now I've hobbled from driver's side door to trunk, grabbed the kat, the WW2, and a Fairbairn-Sykes for good measure, pulled the kat halfway out of it's scabbard and slid it into the passenger side footwell with handle in my lap.

Now I take off after my friend whom I think may be in trouble. His house is 5 blocks away. Pull up, and it turns out it was his 19 and 21 year old sons, the 19 year old I thought was out of town, and the twenty-one year old last heard of living in Atlantic City. In a car I'd never seen before. He ( friend ) comes over, sees the half drawn katana in my lap and I explain I though he might be in trouble. Of course he wants to see it. I slip it out the window, friend and kids examine it, and hand it back over the steering wheel ( I'm still sitting in the drivers seat ) and I return it to the scabbard. Rather cramped quarters for a sword.

I pull down the street, and at about ten miles an hour, the lower half of one of the 3 feathers on the dreamcatcher on my inside rearview mirror falls off, cleanly cut.:eek:

Is that a sharp enough sword? :D

------------------------------------
For sure it is an awful spite, and aching to the heart,

For an Irishman to watch a fight, and not be taking part.
 
I'm no judge of "sharp", but you ain't never gonna baby-sit my parakeet:eek:
 
:
Rusty I think your sword may be what I call "Full Body Shiver" Sharp!!!!:D
Is that the edge that came on it or have you worked on it with the strops?
 
I ran a fine ceramic "V" pocket sharpener lightly up and down the edge once up, once down, and my fingers felt smooth, even, consistent resistance all the way. That told me ( even though it may not have touched the actual edge ) that somebody spent time getting it righter than I could.

I never saw it touch the feather.
 
I took a rather fine ceramic V pocket sharpener to the edge once up, and once down the blade. My fingers told me the drag was absolutely consistent the whole way. Now the edge itself may not have been touched if it's a convex edge, but the consistency told me someone much better than I had put the edge on. I ain't touchin' a thing.

Incidentally, I never saw the feather move.
 
Reminds me of that movie where Kevis Costner tosses the silk scarf in the air -- remember tht one?
 
Oh yeah, that was <u>The Bodyguard</u> yeah, he cut it while it was falling with a katana. I knew nothing about swords, or knives back then, how much you guys want to bet they used a stainless steel piece o' crap which is currently lingering in the bowels of ebay for that scene and some kind of special effects. :D

Bob
 
The scary thing in that movie is that they (The Japanese) actually make'em that sharp .:eek:
I have seen stuff like that in a few in demonstrations...Rusty has a awsome weapon... I wouldent tease him or anything.:p :p :p
 
Don't worry Dave, one of my semi/auto battle rifles goes back into the trunk shortly.
 
I don't doubt the word of anybody in this forum but I'm pushing 70 and I have yet to see any blade that will cut a free falling silk scarf in two pieces and seeing is believing.
 
Well, I hear it can be done, the secret is the silk has to be wet, it adds extra weight, and therefore gives a far better chance of cutting, it is kinda cheating though. Never seen it myself, only heard the stories.

Bob
 
I have to agree with Bill...and I'm just 66.
About 50 years ago, my high school art class was producing some murals of The Idylls of the King (King Arthur Legend).
All the guys with good legs were asked to pose for a 'group Round Table' photo, from which the student artists could draw the knights. (Ahem) I was one of the models.
We rounded up an assortment of lodge swords, cavalry sabers, machetes and such to use as props. I was handed a trophy katana...what I know now was probably a very precious heirloom sword, that had been 'liberated' from a Japanese officer by a pal's Marine brother.
I posed with the naked blade beside my bare leg (gym shorts, fellas, this was high school, not a French art class!) and when the blade sort of rocked by my calf, it peeled a paper-thin slice of hide and hair off my leg as cleanly as a barber's cut-throat razor. I felt the sting, looked down, and saw a half-dollar sized patch of sub-derma oozing. Never felt the cut until the air got to it.
NOW. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. Sirupati '#204' is getting a light edging with my old Carborundum stone. This leaves a line of black oil/steel goo along the edge. I wipe my hand down the blade parallel to the edge to remove the gunk, forgetting that the hand will 'roll' over the blade a bit. OOps. Another paperthin slice off my hide. Now I'm not saying that '#204 is as good as a priceless Japanese katana, but how sharp is sharp enough???
 
:
Gunhou thanks for the reminder!!!!
I haven't done that since the last time.:D
Well, actally it's been awhile since I did exactly that thankfully,but I was the dumb ndn who was Always forgetting just how dayumed sharp a 304 grade stainless steel shaving
was.:(
Way too many times I would reach in with my bare hand to pull an errant shaving off of a tool and invaribly Every Time I would get the
reminder!!!!
A sometimes really nasty cut that just barely escaped a trip to the clinic and getting sewn up!!!!
I did finally learn though when I was about 54 and I quit working when I was 55 I believe it was.
What was really Amazing about those 304 S.S.shavings is that you could actually shave with some of them when they were cut by newly sharpened
tools.

And as far as sharp goes I still see the pic of the Ghorka smiling and holding the Japanese Katana.:D
 
Good reminders of what sharp can do and thanks. If I'm going to cut a silk scarf I'll use scissors.
 
Glad things turned out O.K. for you Rusty. Sounds like your sword is sharp enough. Did it come that way?

With regard to cutting silk...cheat. Use the edge immediately after forging (over 1100 F). It will burns its wall through the silk or at least burst into flames near the blade.

Will
 
I think that may be the only way, Will. I doubt if even your blades would do that silk scarf trick.
 
You guys are always getting me in trouble ... now it's 1:00 in the morning here, all the stores that sell silk scarves are closed and shuttered, all the streets are dark and bare (am I the only one whistling Scarlet Ribbons?), and if I even try to cut the only genuine silk scarf in the house a certain lady will separate me from a portion of my anatomy to which I am quite attached -- with a rusty spoon!

I think a draw cut with my puukko might do it. That edge is very acute. Um ... will you settle for a nylon scarf? Rayon? There are a couple of all-night stores in the area that might have a rayon scarf....

Maybe I can find the patience to wait until Cliff sees this thread, and let him cut the scarf and risk the rusty spoon. He'll do anything for science....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top