… Okay, technically it wasn’t “free”, it was a trade, but essentially it was free, cus it was for a set of Japanese swords I had collected over time. I didn’t actually spend any money. Do I miss them? Yes.
But I’ve been collecting battle-worthy Katanas for most of my life; so they won’t be the last, and I still have a few remaining, that I’ll never sell.
Totally worth it; bike runs, and looks great! 👍
If anyone’s curious “what’s battle-worthy?”; it means it’s not a cheap ornamental sword you find in most stores and online. Those, while sharp, are unbalanced, lack a full tang, and are typically made of 440 stainless-steel, which is really brittle; so if you were to clash them, or try to bend one by hand, they’ll snap in half and probably cut you pretty badly, just from the splintering.
A battle-worthy blade however, is both flexible to absorb impacts, and balanced. They’re traditionally made from what’s called “Tamahagane”; which is an iron brick thats hammered-out by hand in a forge, like you’ve seen in the movies or that TV show “Forged in Fire”. They’re also clay-tempered so as to create a double layer of hardness; where the sword is softer (flexible) along the spine, but harder along the edge (blade). This produces that aesthetic wave-pattern called a “hamon”; whereas on cheap swords, they’re just etched with a machine to look cool, but aren’t really tempered at all.
An alternative to tamahagane is high carbon-steel also, where the brick is hammered-out in the same fashion, but the fire has a greater carbon-content, like what they call “Damascus” … Blades like these will last, and can withstand the blow of another sword, or the impact of whatever it’s cutting through.
Anyway, while they said the bike has been sitting in the garage without being ridden, for about a year now, I just gave it some juice on a battery tender, and it started right up! Only 12,000mi on the odometer. I took it for a short spin (10min ride), but still wanna give everything a once over before committing to daily’ing it to work, etc. Y’know; check fluids, fuses, etc. just incase any gremlins appear.
(And yes, he got the display-rack too). 😎
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But I’ve been collecting battle-worthy Katanas for most of my life; so they won’t be the last, and I still have a few remaining, that I’ll never sell.
Totally worth it; bike runs, and looks great! 👍
If anyone’s curious “what’s battle-worthy?”; it means it’s not a cheap ornamental sword you find in most stores and online. Those, while sharp, are unbalanced, lack a full tang, and are typically made of 440 stainless-steel, which is really brittle; so if you were to clash them, or try to bend one by hand, they’ll snap in half and probably cut you pretty badly, just from the splintering.
A battle-worthy blade however, is both flexible to absorb impacts, and balanced. They’re traditionally made from what’s called “Tamahagane”; which is an iron brick thats hammered-out by hand in a forge, like you’ve seen in the movies or that TV show “Forged in Fire”. They’re also clay-tempered so as to create a double layer of hardness; where the sword is softer (flexible) along the spine, but harder along the edge (blade). This produces that aesthetic wave-pattern called a “hamon”; whereas on cheap swords, they’re just etched with a machine to look cool, but aren’t really tempered at all.
An alternative to tamahagane is high carbon-steel also, where the brick is hammered-out in the same fashion, but the fire has a greater carbon-content, like what they call “Damascus” … Blades like these will last, and can withstand the blow of another sword, or the impact of whatever it’s cutting through.
Anyway, while they said the bike has been sitting in the garage without being ridden, for about a year now, I just gave it some juice on a battery tender, and it started right up! Only 12,000mi on the odometer. I took it for a short spin (10min ride), but still wanna give everything a once over before committing to daily’ing it to work, etc. Y’know; check fluids, fuses, etc. just incase any gremlins appear.
(And yes, he got the display-rack too). 😎
