Bushcrafting with a katana

[Adze]

As a customer, it's my liberty and me that risks the court case/criminal record/fine...

I'm not convinced that's right Martin - having read section 141 it states (my emphasis):

Offensive weapons .
(1) Any person who manufactures, sells or hires or offers for sale or hire, exposes or has in his possession for the purpose of sale or hire, or lends or gives to any other person, a weapon to which this section applies shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or both. .
(2) The Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument direct that this section shall apply to any description of weapon specified in the order except— .
(a) any weapon subject to the [1968 c. 27.] Firearms Act 1968; and .
(b) crossbows.

(3) A statutory instrument containing an order under this section shall not be made unless a draft of the instrument has been laid before Parliament and has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament.

(4) The importation of a weapon to which this section applies is hereby prohibited.

There's no mention of possession, ownership or use only the intent to supply to another person a weapon proscribed by the act. If you buy the weapon in good faith in the UK (important that as importation will be down to the purchaser not the vendor in the case of personal importation) is it not so that you have a defence if charged under section 141? As you rightly say, it will take a court case to clarify it further, but as I read it, the purchaser is not considered by section 141 unless purchasing on behalf of someone else.

Cheers,

 

[Martyn]

Yes, you're right Adze.

 

[JonathanD]

These look the business.....

[video=youtube;9o-DCk2qhDM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o-DCk2qhDM&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

[Retired Member southey]

HAA HAA, serves them right for selling tat to the masses.

 

[Fizzy]

Still, it comes with a lifetime warranty

 

[brancho]

See and he only hit a table with that

 

[Paul_B]

Correct me if I'm wrong but you have to think of Samurais as knights of old. They have a kind of chivalry and honour. The Katana is their weapon but they also carry a "family sword" which was often passed from father to son. Not sure of its name though but it was a short sword. They would never use a katana for peasant work as they would call stuff remotely like bushcraft. That is why the nunchuks were not a samurai weapon having originated from rice flails. Or at least that is what my ju-jitsu instrictors always taught us (bushido kempo BTW).

IMHO a katana is not a bushcraft tool and should never be used as one. Kind of disrespectful in some way that I can't pace my finger on. As said above the kukri and the like are derived from more domestic and utilitarian origins. The fact that they have a martial aspect to them came after their utilitarion use I'm sure.

Martyn and Southey - I kind of said what you did, not as clearly though. Katana is a blade of respect and a martial tool. It is a real work of art, not that bushy knives are not, but the work involved in making a real one of these that is suitable for its intended purpose (to kill someone when in the right hands) would suggest to me that they would not be used. That could be never used. A samurai would carry a range of bladed tools not just his katana. Some of these would be better suited but only in an emergency. Remember these people were most likely in a higher level of the social structure there, that probably meant money and either servants or they would find somewhere to stay. When would they have need to carry out bushcraft techniques? If you have no need to do that you have no need tto use your katana. Simples.

 

[Paul_B]

Sorry late post. Didn't spot the second page of posts done last night.

 

[Tengu]

Well, I know what a Japanese sword looks like.

(but does this include those stainless jobs made in the war?????)

 

[Laurentius]

You could probably pull off the same tricks with a big kitchen knife, it's not the blade at all, it is the technique (or perhaps the fancy dress)

Does anyone use kitchen knifes for "bushcraft" and why not? The original knives used for survival down the centuries were just domestic knives, nothing fancy.

That's not that I do not appreciate a fine blade, same as a fine wine, but it's not what I'd use everyday unless I were made of money.

 

[wattsy]

Most will see the title and laugh. If a sharp katana with a hamon can go through thick bamboo in one stike, why are we all using machetes? I mean, the lightweight katana is perfectly balanced, so it could be used for intricate work.

Tbh, I don't have space in my pack for a katana, but I should imagine the ancient samurai used to 'bushcraft' with it.

Any further info would be appreciated,
Ph34r

the hamon is mainly a cosmetic thing thats why they have all different patterns

 

[hog]

In england you have to register Katanas as leathal weaopns with the local police station as of 2004.

More control over the citizens by the state.

 

[Graham_S]

the hamon is mainly a cosmetic thing thats why they have all different patterns

Not true.
While the hamon is far more than decorative.
A true hamon as brought out by a proper polish is actually the grain structure of the steel.

 

[Matt.S]

You could probably pull off the same tricks with a big kitchen knife, it's not the blade at all, it is the technique (or perhaps the fancy dress)

Does anyone use kitchen knifes for "bushcraft" and why not? The original knives used for survival down the centuries were just domestic knives, nothing fancy.

That's not that I do not appreciate a fine blade, same as a fine wine, but it's not what I'd use everyday unless I were made of money.

Old Hickory and Green River knives are apparently fine, inexpensive domestic/kitchen/utility blades.

 

[Minotaur]

But hey, dont take my word for it, why dont you pony up £500 for a decent sword and go make some feather sticks?

Sorry, I would not consider it a fair test unless it at least a tested three body blade, so anything over a mil to start with.

Think the question is flawed in a way, there is no way a samarai is going to use one for anything other than the taking of life. I do wonder if they have ever been used for emergency hunting? That said try looking at Ninja stories, if anyone in Japan was a Bushcrafter it was them. They did a lot of living off the land.

I do weirdly wonder how good an axe they would make, the real ones are heavy.

Also you could see if Waylander or anyone else has heard of vikings using their swords to cut wood? If they had bad results the katana would be worse.

 

[robin wood]

I had never handled a katana until getting to hold the real thing (an unpolished one) in Japan a couple of weeks ago. Nicola filmed the swordsmith too, see vid on the Kesurokai blog here http://nicolawood.typepad.co.uk/kesurokai/2010/08/yoshida-yasutaka-japanese-swordsmith.html

Yoshida-san also did some cutting demonstrations for us cutting green bamboo (not as brittle as dry but still a very hard material, a small forest axe would not have gone far into it. And also cutting cleanly through a 1 1/2" dry chestnut branch. I was impressed by the cutting ability and also the lack of any visible damage on the edge, I was surprised though to find that they are not lightweight slicing tools (or at least these ones were not) from memory I would guess it was over 4 and maybe 5mm thick so a heavy weapon that would cut bone as well as flesh. Here are a few pics, this is a proper katana, forged using traditional methods starting from a raw bloom though he does use a power hammer. It has crude temporary bindings whilst Yoshida-san uses it for testing.

Of course the original post is a bit bizarre. A bit like asking if you needed to whether you could do the milk round in a Bugatti veyron and whether anyone had heard of it being done. The answer is most folk that can afford Bugattis don't find themselves in the position of having to deliver milk.