Big Tony & his new Toy!

[JimmyCrow]

I am sure all of you are familiar with Tony Alverez of Bugei.com and his expertise in Tameshigiri but have you seen his new Howard Clark katana?
It may be the most awesome thing I have ever seen. If you are a member at Bugei forum then you may have already seen it. Here is the link to the pictures inside the sword forum at www.bugei.com.

http://www.swordforumbugei.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000855.html

I have no idea what he paid for it but I'm sure it was worth every penny.

I will attach one of the pictures below.

[Jussi Häkkinen]

Someone in that bugei-forum estimated it to be $5000.

Phuck. I want one. Or, actually, I want one with same style hamon, with a little narrower, 33 inch long blade.

Seems like that I finally saw something that is equal (or better) than many japanese high-quality smiths work.


Yes, truly a nice one. =)

[Toyamadude]

I recently had the opportunity to handle and view up close Tony's new sword. It is an awesome piece of hardware. Blade is extremely strong ( right Tony ???) and beautiful. I wish we had had a few extra wara laying around as i would have loved to try to cut with it..

Thanks for letting me drool Tony!! you still need to send me your email so i can send a few pics fromthe tai kai

Tom Smyth:nin:

[Tetsuo]

Tony brought that blade into the dojo one night to train with it for the upcoming tournaments. He was in the main room training and we had just finished class in the mat room. He beckons us over and says, "Swing this." I take a hesitant swing, it's *Big Tony* after all. Then he says, "No, really take a swing with it." I did and then all of a sudden I hear....*whooosh*. I was able to make tachikaze with a shinken with no bo-hi. Then of course, Big Tony has this big grin and says "Cool, ain't it?". I gave it back to him, totally in awe of the sword, and mad that he teased me by letting me swing it. The shape allowed it to make a sound as full as a nosyu iaito, but the high shinogi didn't have the same concerns of weakness to lateral stresses that a bo-hi would on a sword.

There's a reason why they say ignorance is bliss!!

Jesse Pelayo

[Jussi Häkkinen]

Humm, would you care to share the measurements? I mean, I've been considering about such sword for a while now and I've always heard that long swords are a problem.
Now, while I probably am a bit smaller than Big Tony, I still am 189cm tall (about 6'2") and would like to have a 33" blade.

Just wondering about Big Tony's sword length and such. How about the weight?