"Gift"? Sword

[wyntrout]

At the last gun show, my buddy got a junk sword in one lot of stuff that he bought. He didn't want it and offered it to me. Woohoo! Not so fast... it was gaudy and cheap and the wrapping on the handle was all unraveled... but it was a sword... and long... 36.25 inches. I took it figuring that I would just re-wrap the handle and maybe display it.

When I did get around to looking it over, I found that the handle was very loose as well. I took the loose wrap off the handle and then unscrewed the tasseled nut holding the handle on. I took some pictures of the fine (lack thereof) craftsmanship!

It was a tourist sword and very dangerous for any use whatsoever. The photos will show that. Not much care was taken in fitting of the wooded hilt to the sword shaft... such as it was. The blade is marked stainless, Pakistan... and not banged up much.

Pictures follow.

Wynn:)

[wyntrout]

More detailed pictures here. You can see that there wasn't any kind of real fitting of the handle to the improvised rod portion and the flat bit at the front... pretty loose and just held in place by the nut with tassel at the end of the handle. I don't think the blade would have lasted one good whack on anything.

It would be best to really inspect "swords" and the like for serious construction before whacking anything... or even whipping one about. The blade could fly out/off!:eek:

Wow! Instantaneous lightning and thunder... hope we get some rain so I don't have to drag hoses!

Wynn:)

[tv_racin_fan]

On one of those knife shows where they sell mostly crap.. well one of the guys broke out a Katana and was showing how awesome strong it was. Ok they had sharpened it so it was indeed sharp but no telling how long that would last.. anyhooo the guy was showing the strength by smacking it on the counter they normall display knives on.. well it broke and flipped back and stuck him pretty good. Even a junk sword can flock you up so be careful.

[wyntrout]

Yeah, I saw that when I was just flipping through the channels years ago. I always think about that... the shock on the guy's face.

Those things aren't made for real "USE"... certainly not for fighting use. I'm not trying to find the correct terms... still drinking wine from a late-ish dinner, but the WHOLE sword should be one very strong piece of steel... not the cobbled together thing I found. It certainly shouldn't be brittle and shatter as that one did!

Wynn:)

[b4uqzme]

Hey Wynn, Here's a tutorial on wrapping the handle...just in case you need it. There are plenty more on the youtube. You had me curious and it doesn't seem all that difficult.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSYPALS433M

[wyntrout]

Thanks. I hadn't really gotten that far... technique and all! I wound up watching a few scenes besides that. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0m09S48JSK4#t=0

Or the first minute and 20 seconds or so of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmt88yLU40Q&feature=player_detailpage#t=2

Wynn:)