I bought a sword, got more than I bargined for

[BlackStalyon]

Wow, I can't understand a single word in this thread becuase of my lack of sword knowledge. But I think you should find someone you know that has good feedback and sell the sword for as much as you can, you'll shurley gain some profit to buy the original sword you wanted and have some leftover cash.

[j416to]

Well, I've already given you an opinion, and I probably shouldn't spend any more time offering you advice that you're not really interested in hearing anyways. But what the heck, here it is:

.....If I decide to keep the sword, I'm not dumb enough to use it for iai. We will be starting tameshigiri soon and I would keep it for that purpose....

Between these two options, you're better off using your homemade rig for iaido, and not for tameshigiri. Test cutting puts a tremendous amount of stress on your blade, the blade will actually warp and bend significantly, and if your homemade tsuka is made incorrectly, it's quite likely to break in your hands. I've seen that happen several times.

..... I am aware of the dangers of building my own koshirae, but I think I am up to the challenge. Power tools take a lot of the trickiness out of building these thing that traditional methods had to do by hand....

You may very well be up to the challenge of constructing something, but unless you know the technical purposes for each of these items, you're likely to make things visually appealing, but not functional. The trickiness is in making sure each piece functions properly, not in their actual construction.

......A tsuba can be roughly shaped in an out with the aid of a table saw with tiltable blade and a belt sander....

This is true, but the purpose of the tsuba is to hold your blade tight between the seppa and the habaki, so that your tsuka doesn't break during test cutting, and to balance your blade correctly. Thus you have to fit everything very carfully, you have to balance your koshirae. It's more than just shaping out a hand guard and calling it a tsuba. Were you going to make your own habaki as well?

..... the slot for the nakago can be etched out in another hour with the aid of a dremel or similar rotary tool. ...

The slot of the nakago will take several hours, if done correctly. The fit needs to be a perfect press fit, to prevent your blade from twisting and breaking your tsuka, when you impact an object. What kind of wood were you thinking of using for your tsuka? Were you going to cut your tsuka in two, and then glue it back together?

..... . A drill press makes short work of the hole for the mekugi.....

This is much harder than you realize. The Paul Chen swords are only unevenly tempered to produce a visual hamon. The blades themselves are uniformly hard. Even with a diamond drill bit it will take you at least a half hr to drill through your nakago. How many pins were you planning on using?

..... If you are content with a non-traditional wrapping of nylon string, you can be done at this point. ...

That is really very dangerous. The wrap is meant to be made out of a sweat absorbing fabric, cotton or silk, nylon string will not give you the grip that you need, to test cut.

..... A traditional wrapping takes loads of time to make sure that it is wrapped tightly and evenly, but isn't inherently difficult.....

This is not true. Yes, it wouldn't be too difficult to wrap something so that it looks visually similar, but to make sure you have the wrap done correctly, functionally, with the paper spacings, the meuki, and the kashira, all secure, takes on the order of 8-10 hrs, and is very complicated. And is very necessary, especially for test cutting. Were you going to wrap your tsuka in same? Same is really difficult to shape and form and stretch around your handle. If you're not careful, you can crack your tsuka as the same dries. I could do it for you, but I usually charge people $200 to do it.

..... A few practice runs on some cheep wood just to get the hang of it and I think I could turn out a decent enough one. ...

Most people try to build one, then give up and either buy a new sword, or spend about $1000 to have Fed Lohman build them one.

http://www.japanese-swords.com/pages/restore.htm

Good luck

[Sang]

Put it up on ebay with a friends account which is high in positive feedback with min selling price of 450 or so with a time limit of 4 days. If it doesnt sell send it back for your other blade. I believe they're under the same obligation to refund you wether its been a few days or a week.
Win-Win situation.

[Plasma]

I'm posting this here in hopes that someone out there can appreciate the uniqueness of my situation.

I've recently taken up a class in kenjutsu on the weekends, and iaijutsu is one of the things covered. I had some cash and I wanted to get a decent iaito, and my instructor linked me to a Paul Chen stress treated stainless-steel iaito on e-bay for about $300 including shipping and handling. I bought it and today it finally arrived. I take it out of the box (it's just in a bag now) and the first thing I notice is that there's no tsuba. As I take it out of the bag it turns out that it's an entirely different model sword, the tsuka and saya are both make of unfinished matching hardwood (I think it's poplar) and the blade is sharp folded steel. Annoyed but understanding, I send a message back to the seller explaining that they sent me the wrong model and I would be happy to send it back in exchange for the sword that I ordered as long as they cover the shipping back.

Then I got the bright idea to look up the model that I DID receive and found the same seller on ebay selling them for about $720 including shipping and handling. The sword that I got retails for $400 or so more than what I paid for.

Now I really don't have use for a sharp sword, the tsuka is too short (9 and 1/2 inches), and it doesn't have a tsuba at all, but there's still a miser inside of me saying "Dummkopf! That's a $400 bargain there!" I am a bit skilled in woodworking, metalworking and craftsmanship in general and I could probably make a functional tsuba and tsuka. But I'd still be out the iaito that I want.

So what say you bullies: should I try and see if the seller will just let me keep the sword that he sent me, or should I return it for the sword that I ordered in the first place?

Live forged swords like the Paul Chen are equal to basically a 3 foot razor. Unless you have a lot of training do not use it. All it take a very slight error and you will be sewing you back up (at best).

Either sell it, or put it in the closet till you have more training. Then buy a Iaito.

[Goju - Joe]

Did you ever see Pulp Fiction? keep it handy in case you or someone you know is being sexually assaulted by a couple hillbilly's

[Planktime]

9mikes have limited power, trust me. Get a .357 with "PIRATE KILLER" monogrammed on the side.

I wonder if i can get that laser engraved on my Model 66?

As for the blade.... keep it. I have several functional blades i do FMA with they are sharp and designed to be fighting knives. Yes occasionally someone goes to the hospital with a defensive wound, but what is a little blood between friends.