Item JS-1 is one of my own "cutter swords" that I used for  some cutting tests. This is a nice sword and I have re-polished the blade to erase  scuffs  and to touch up the edge so it's all nice and pretty again. The blade is 1070 steel without a bo-hi in Shinogi Zukuri and is 27 1/2" in length. VERY SHARP!! Handles quite well and is very responsive and gives a lot of "feed back" during the cut. This sword "wants" to cut!

 The Hamon very  "lively" ands shows a lot of "frost" and activity.  This is a nice blade. Personal note: I am moving away from the differential hardened blades for cutting as I am going to a through hardened, progressive tempered blade as these work better for my cutting "style" as they say.... My late sensei told me quite a few times that I cut like a "barbarian swinging a sledge hammer."  I know he meant that as an insult but I took it as a compliment!

Still this is a vey attractive sword.

 The tsuba and fittings are blued/blackened steel. Nothing fancy on this cutter and  they are what I call "combat mounts"  Still they are quite nice and go well with the overall "feel" of this particular sword.

The tsuka is black rayskin underneath black tsuka-ito and is secured with two (2) mekugi. NOTE: The ito has been lacquered. Why I did this is due to the major advantages that lacquering gives, 1:  It "stiffens" the ito and makes it "harder" thereby facilitating a more aggressive grip that almost "grabs your hand". The feel is amazing...very "non-slip". . 2: It makes the grip a bit more "moisture" resistant in case you hand sweats or gets "wet" some other way.  However lacquering a grip can darken the colours on the ito , but with this being black that is not a problem.

The wood siya is finished in a matte black that doesn't easily show fingerprints as much as a "glossy black" finish can ..  and as this is a "working sword" and not as "dressed up" as many if my earlier pieces were, the matte finish "fits":.. All in all it is a very NICE sword. as I mentioned before this one is  VERY SHARP!!  Overall length of 39 3/4" this one is ready to go...

 Priced at $2300.00 

 Med sale price: $1550.00  (This is a screamer of a deal).