Homemade Katana and Flamethrower pistol

I forged the katana out of a 36" x 1 1/4" by 3/16" piece of steel from Lowes. It doesn't have enough carbon so I couldn't harden or temper it very well. I tried to case harden it by repeatedly heating it to glowing hot and letting it cool in charcoal powder but I don't think it helped much becauseI re-did the edge with a bench grinder and that method only affects the surface.

The flamethrower is just a windproof lighter with a setup for holding and spraying aerosol cans.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• homemade
• katana
• samurai sword
• samurai
• sword
• forged
• steel
• hardened
• case hardened
• tempered
• chop
• slice
• cut
• chopping
• cutting
• fire
• flamethrower
• pistol
• flamethrower pistol
• spray oil
• WD 40
• weapon
• warfare
• home video

[ChishioAme]

Hmm, a kiriha-zukuri with a deep saki-zori, not bad; but why, oh why did you give it a round grip? You'd get infinitely better results if you gave it an oval or even rectangular grip.

[JaycubL]

@ChishioAme Wow it sounds like you know a lot about eastern swords. I'm not sure what a "deep saki-zori" is. I will deffinately take your advice on handle shape. The reason for the round handle is that that is the handle shape of almost every "sword" I have used because my friend and I did a lot of stick fighting as kids. Round feels good in my hand but oval is probably better because you said it is.

[Mr420rush]

DUDE!!! Where do you live, its so beautiful

[JaycubL]

@Mr420rush Ya I like it too. Washington state, west of the cascades in snohomish county.

[snakeguy500]

The sword you made is awesome and not to be an ass whole or anything but it was a bit to curved

[JaycubL]

@snakeguy500 Yeah I agree.

[ChishioAme]

@JaycubL An ovular or rectangular or hexagonal or even octagonal allows you to keep the edge alignment easier and more consistently. A round shape will generally turn in your hand, but if you've got a firm grip or a grippy hilt wrap (like grip tape or wire or something similar), it should be fine. And funnily enough, my preference is in Western longswords, but when you spend all day on a sword forum, you can't help but soak some things up.

[ChishioAme]

@JaycubL Saki-zori is just a term to describe the type of curvature it has; in this case, it means the curvature is in the middle, like a "regular" katana, as opposed to near the hilt, which is more indicative of tachi (it also makes it rather awkward to use it on foot). Kiriha-zukuri is a blade shape like normal katana, except the shinogi-ji, the ridge that begins the edge bevel, is closer to the edge than it is the spine; it also predates the tachi in terms of age. As for the handle..

[Mr420rush]

@JaycubL nicee

[Nervjiggy]

@braseldazzle It takes the curve in the quench. Not in forging.