Hanbon Forge's Blog

The most brutal cold weapons in ancient China

zhang 05/11/2018 1

MaceThe mace is very heavy, and people who is not strong can't use it freely. Its lethality is very considerable, even if you can kill people through the armor. Steel whipThis is not a soft whip like a rope. The whip we are talking about is a weapon similar to iron bars, which is used for splitting, sweeping and poking. CrossbowCrossbow usually...

The most lethal close-in cold weapon - Huan Shou Dao

zhang 01/11/2018 0

Huan Shou Dao is named after the round ring at the end of handle. Huan Shou Dao was born in the Western Han Dynasty. It was the most advanced and most lethal close-in cold weapon in the world. After the demise of the Qin Dynasty, the Western Han Dynasty gradually evolved into a more stable and powerful centralized feudal state. During this historic...

Saya (Scabbard) for Katana Sword

zhang 29/10/2018 0

Saya (鞘) is a scabbard of a blade. Sayas are made the way not to scratch the blade and preserve his coating layers. The saya also has a horn knob (栗形 kurigata) on one side for attaching a braided cord (sageo), and may have a shitodome to accent the kurigata as well as an end cap (小尻 kojiri) made from metal. There is a wide selection of high quality...

Traditional cutting targets for Japanese swords

zhang 26/10/2018 0

Test cutting became widespread from the Edo period in Japan for testing the quality of swords. There were a variety of cuts that could be done, bamboo and tatami mats are the two main cutting targets, the below are several traditonal cutting targets for Japanese swords. 1) Tatami mats or gozaTameshigiri has origins dating back to Japan's Edo period...

Misunderstandings and something you don't know about bronze swords

zhang 24/10/2018 0

Common misunderstanding 1: The bronze sword has no sheath. Our common bronze sword is like this: In fact, the bronze sword has matching sheath. Because sheathes are mostly made of wood, silk, leather, it is difficult to preserve. While some metal scabbards (such as gold and copper) are completely preserved, as shown in the figure. Common misun...

How to cut paper properly with a Katana

zhang 22/10/2018 0

Cutting suspended sheets of paper requires perfect edge alignment, speed and an especially sharp sword. Firstly, holding the Katana the right way and correctly goes a long way to ensuring correct edge alignment. And slow cuts almost always fail. You should pay attention to and try to improve at every opportunity. If you apply pressure directly down...

Several Styles of Ray Skin ( Samegawa) Wrapping on Handle

zhang 19/10/2018 0

(The blue part is ray skin. It is a view from the fuchi and the reverse side of handle wood. The fuchi and kashira are removed in the pictures.) 1. Tanzaku (Channelled) This style is used only for cheap swords. It is small meaning to use ray skin. 2. Maru-gise (Round wrapped) It is common on good quality swords. Usually the joint is at the centr...

How is the ancient sword fixed ?

zhang 17/10/2018 0

Why doesn't the sword fall out after the sword is sheathed? How is the sword fixed in the sheath in the ancient? Habaki - The blade the sword is fixed in the sheath by this small fitting. However, there are also swords that do not have a habaki (such as the Han Jian sword below). The sword relies on the tight contact between the sheath and the h...