Testing an unfinished Uchigatana (samurai sword)

Cutting a soda bottle full of water with an unfinished uchigatana. Cutting technique was a little out of place because the person holding the camera gets nervous around swords and effort was made to keep from freaking her out.

I used a shallow clamshell bevel in this one. I avoided the solid/straight bevel often found on newer swords because I wanted a stronger edge that is less likely to get stuck in the target but I decided not to go with the full clamshell used by the Samurai because, while ideal for ancient armor, it's less ideal for more modern materials like Kevlar. Basically, it's made to do tree trimming, but be able to take on a violent criminal or hold up in a war if the need arises. While more then sharp enough, it's not fit for cutting competitions against allot of the newer stuff floating around, but in turn, it IS fit for real situations.

The sword was roughly two and a half hundred hours in and an estimate of about 100 hours from complete at the time of this video. The many hours are partially because the sword is being shaped and polished by hand.

Though considerably larger then the wakizashi the Uchigatana is basically a slightly smaller, faster and more maneuverable version of the Katana and was considered ideal for open warfare because of the conveniences it offered. It's also popular as a 1 handed sword and is sometimes used in sets of two.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• katana
• kitana
• uchigatana
• gatana
• custom
• japanese
• sword
• s7
• s-7

[Davethemusicmaid]

can a sword cut through kevlar?

[YWKMNITLWILMVAT]

@Davethemusicmaid Yes, if made right and used by the right hands.

[YWKMNITLWILMVAT]

BTW. Check myspace Jaynagurl1. There are photos of the sword there.

[20dubXXtwenty]

The description is longer than the video

[YWKMNITLWILMVAT]

@supersentaigenius No. Uchigatana is a slightly smaller, faster, more maneuverable version. But the two are so close in size and appearance that most people don't know them apart.

[YWKMNITLWILMVAT]

Doing it yourself and seeing what all goes in to it (both knowledge and work) will definitely give you a whole new respect for the price tag these things come with. You'll go from, "Why do they charge so much" to, "How do they make ends meet."

[Jaynagurl1]

Cool project....yeah I guess making a sword like that on your own would take a long time :)

[YWKMNITLWILMVAT]

Read the video description to the upper right. Two and a half hundred hours so far. I started the summer before last! That really old video I made of a funky, unfinished sword is the same sword.

[Jaynagurl1]

Dude, how long did that take to make so far?