Hello,
I was wondering if any one out there knows of the proper way to sharpen a sword?Any information would be appreciated.
You Brother in the Arts

Hi Brewer,

First of all, if you're trying to sharpen an older Japanese sword, please don't attempt it until you've truly researched the historical/monetary value of the blade.

That aside, one of the best sharpening systems I've tried to date is made by Lansky, http://www.lansky.com/sys_frame.html ,
which was originally designed for knives. The advantage this system offers is that it gives the user the ability to choose the angle he/she wishes to achieve, while maintaining that angle during the entire sharpening process. Write down the details of the settings you choose the first time, and you can at any time go back and resharpen at the exact same angle.

However, regarding potentially valuable blades, Japanese or otherwise, "hands-off" is the only recommendation I would ever make.

I hope that helps!

Hello,
I appreciate the information and time you took to help me out here.I took a quick look at the site and will go back to it soon.I would never try to sharpen an older sword until I found out the true value and probably not even then.I am not in a position to purchase real expensive swords at this time. But the one that I did sharpen came out preety good,it was a stainless steal blade and I managed to keep a fine edge on it,it took a long time and alot of patience.Because of this I wanted to learn of any other techniques for sharpening the blade.That one might be able to utilize while sharpening a blade by hand.Thank you very much,Your Brother in the Arts.

Japanese swords should not be "sharpened". They should be polished. A Japanese sword has a very different edge geometry. A Japanese sword does not have a beveled edge like a kitchen knife. Unless you really know what you are doing, you should never attempt to sharpen a Japanese sword. It's very easy to destroy one if you don't know what you are doing.

Go to Google, and look for Richard Stein's Japanese Sword Index. More info that you can shake a stick at.

In the seven and a half years since the question was posted, Brewer may have learned how to forge and polish a shinken from scratch.

Oh that's weird.

I know I wasn't searching the archives. This post was at the top of the stack when I saw it yesterday.

Sorry for the thread necromancy. I have no explanation for what happened.

It is still darn good advice and bears repeating occasionally.

That was pretty weird! Very funny, but weird none the less!