I have been wondering for a while if it is possible to blunt a shinken, so it can be made safe for iaido practice, without compromising the quality of the blade. And even if it is possible, is it at all advisable to do this? Are there any significant drawbacks? Any advice would be much appreciated.
The answer to your question is yes and no. If you own a relatively inexpensive shinken then dulling the edge is quite feasable and easy enough to do however, if you own a reasonable nihonto then dulling the blade will be stupid thing to do. Martin Elmore
DO NOT destroy a shinken. Simply slow down your study of iai. It is not ment to be executed fast initially and the sword should NEVER be returned to the scabbard swiftly. regards koyo
I have to add my opinion to this one... I would never destroy a shinken like that. Once you remove the edge from it, it is extremely unlikely that you will ever manage to restore it. Given that shinken tend to be at least several times the cost of an iaito it seems a little odd to deliberately cheat yourself out of quite a bit of money should you ever come to resell the item. Getting a cheap iaito shouldn't be too hard these days... Out of interest, why are you wanting/needing to do this?
Good advice all there. I can only add that I concur. Don't destroy a live blade to hasten your 'progress' into the JSA. It is possible to practice with a bokken-and-saya for months without irrevocably blunting (no pun intended) your studies. When your sensei thinks you're ready, you'll move on to metal swords, possibly even stepping to a shinken if that's the tuition path he prefers. Failing that, a quality iaito is almost indistinguishable from a live blade in use. Note the emphasis on quality tho' - a cheap one will be fine for a while but you will eventually begin to realise that the balance, rigidity and other tiny factors are not quite right. It'll be a few years before you get to that point tho' so don't worry about it.
Some people believe Chen PK/PK+ are shinken. A shinken is a Japanese-made forged/folded blade. A Chen is a cheap, heavy, unbalanced copy. Blunt one of them for iai practice and you still own a dodgy weapon that is not so good for iai - and now you've blunted it, no good for tameshigiri either - well done there... A cheap iaito = £150. A decent iaito = £275 Start saving up. Don't blunt something that wasn't suitable in the first place.
While this is true in the collector community, and in Japan where any others are prohibited, it is no longer true in the greater sword user community. With the advent of Japanese style swords from places such as China, Thailand, and the U.S., shinken has come to mean a sharp sword as opposed to a mogito. Japanese-made forge-folded swords are commonly referred to as Nihonto. Doesn't change a thing about the rest of your answer, but it was a point that needed to be made.
Thanks for all your advice, I should elaborate a little more on my situation. The sword in question is at the 'relatively-affordable' end, about as affordable as you could possibly get for a hand-forged weapon (much better than those cookie-cut Chen jobs). Now I would never ever consider blunting a weapon like this, or wouldn't except that I liked it so much that I bought two of them (somewhat by accident, but a long story which I am now struggling to pay for). Now I have been iaito-shopping (or at least iaito-browsing) for about six months now and it has been difficult to find something that is really suited to me. That was until I found this sword, which suites me in every respect; perfect length, curvature, weight, balance, even all of the finishings. The big catch is however, is that the guy who makes them typically only makes shinken, and dojo safety regulations and common sense preclude me from training with a live blade. So, seeing as I have two, it occurred to me to keep one for tameshigiri and dull the other so it would be safe for training.
If they are not mass-produced, they usually are expensive. Why blunt an expensive sword? There are tons of iaito out there and I really would be amazed if you can't find one that suits you...
If you blunt (destroy) a shinken. You will regret it someday. Why not exchange it for a iaito.? regards koyo
Waaaaahhh! Devoken, It seems to me like this is something you should be discussing with your sensei, not a bunch of strangers on the internet. Besides that, it sounds like you've already made up your mind what you want to do, and you are simply looking for confirmation rather than information. I could be wrong, but that's the way I see it.
Hah, you are probably right there; I think that perhaps I was either looking for confirmation or complete dissuasion, and as anticipated have found neither. Of course this is something I will be discussing with my sensei, though at the moment he is in Nagoya visiting the honbu, and in any case it never hurts to contrast the advice of my sensei against the opinions of some of the more knowledgeable people on this forum. Thanks to all those who have replied, your expertises are as welcome as ever.
Am I the only one that knows about sword polishers? Yes, if you blunt your shinken, it's nearly certain you won't be able to get the edge back by yourself. That's why you pay a sword polisher to restore the edge. But destroy the sword? I hardly think so. Swords have been through worse and survived. If it isn't an art sword, if you don't need to cut with it, if you don't want to spend money for an iaito, I don't see why you shouldn't go ahead and just do it. The sword isn't some magical sacred object that will suddenly disintegrate and be unusable if you blunt the edge. But do consider that if you ever want an edge on that sword again, it won't be cheap. I'd inquire as to what's available to you and the prices per inch before doing this. Of course, if you won't need to sharpen it again, since you already have a perfectly serviceable shinken, then there's no problem. There might even be advantages to having the exact same sword as shinken and iaito, you would have some consistency even if you change from one to the other once in a while. Then again a shinken is probably heavier than a standard iaito, so if you do long practices you might prefer having an actual iaito (a blunt shinken will still weigh as much as a normal one).
Because that would be a really really really silly thing to do, that's why. You can sell it for three times the price of a nice iato, buy a custom iaito to your liking (or two), and pocket the difference. Once dulled, you will never be able to restore the cutting edge to its original pristine condition. If it is a nice shinken, you will be destroying a work of art and cutting its re-sale value to less than 1/4 of what it is now worth.
I had actually considered this. All good advice there Splice, much appreciated. His name is Jack Geng, he doesn't have a name internationally (at least to my knowledge) but his swords are quite esteemed in New Zealand by both Iaido clubs and Bujinkan. Again to my knowledge, he is the only one in NZ who hand-forges his swords. Prices for a Geng II or III series sword vary from $700-$1500 NZD (for a full length katana, wakazashi and tanto are a little cheaper). EDIT-I should also add that prices for an entry-level iaito from Martial Arts Supplies NZ (who supply most iaito in the Auckland region) start at about $600 NZD, a high-quality blade can be bought for about $1100 NZD, and a top-quality one for $1500 NZD (all the iaito are Japanese-made zinc alloy ones).
He only makes shinken, and he only made half a dozen of this particular model (I suspect they have all been sold considering that I own two of them). He has offered to blunt one of them for me, but at an additional cost of $160.
