Heirlooms

[Mashika]

Today, is a day i remember forever, this day, 11 years ago, i was given one of the most precious things i have, as a heirloom, and i keep it with me wherever i go, and i shall pass this to whoever follows after me, with much pride and honor :) :heart:

https://projectavalon.net/forum4/attachment.php?attachmentid=46404&d=1616227570

https://projectavalon.net/forum4/attachment.php?attachmentid=46405&d=1616227570

https://projectavalon.net/forum4/attachment.php?attachmentid=46406&d=1616227581

This is a Japanese Tanto, it's mean for self defense, specially for woman, it was given to me when i turned 13, i learned to use it and sadly have not taken care of it the way it's supposed to be taken care of, so it's starting to rot away

This is not an expensive Tanto, it probably not worth more than 200/300 dollars top, but it's the value of it as an emotional gift, the meaning of it. It was a 'training' Tanto, meant for me to learn it and take care of it, nothing more. And that's what matters really. it was given to me so that it would help me find a path in life, to become strong and be aware and self sufficient, and fearless :heart::flower:

Sometimes, the things we get from our parents/older generations speak so much about who we are..


What is your heirloom? Please share if you would like, i would love to hear all about it :heart::bearhug:

[wegge]

I remember when I arrived in New York at the house of my teacher, kind of like 4Am because my flight was super delayed, he led me into my room and sat next to me, having an impressive Japanese sword on his knees, meditating on/with it.

[Mashika]

I remember when I arrived in New York at the house of my teacher, kind of like 4Am because my flight was super delayed, he led me into my room and sat next to me, having an impressive Japanese sword on his knees, meditating on/with it.

One thing about Japanese katanas is, even if it's one like mine, meant for training, you know that it could kill so so easily... You can feel the edge and is so sharp, and when tested, it cuts like crazy.. IF you know how to move it so that it cuts the way it's supposed to

Having that tremendous dangerous thing in your hand, and knowing what i can do, gives a giant amount of power but also, fear of what you may do, and most important, it teaches you to be cautious of yourself, and careful above everything else. That's not a toy, or for display or showing off

In one sentence "you only take it out for practice, or to kill", and nothing more, ever

So yeah, just looking at it.. "meditating on/with it", that says it all

[Wind]

Those are beautiful. I could only dream of owning real Japanese katanas.

[wegge]

I remember when I arrived in New York at the house of my teacher, kind of like 4Am because my flight was super delayed, he led me into my room and sat next to me, having an impressive Japanese sword on his knees, meditating on/with it.

One thing about Japanese katanas is, even if it's one like mine, meant for training, you know that it could kill so so easily... You can feel the edge and is so sharp, and when tested, it cuts like crazy.. IF you know how to move it so that it cuts the way it's supposed to

Having that tremendous dangerous thing in your hand, and knowing what i can do, gives a giant amount of power but also, fear of what you may do, and most important, it teaches you to be cautious of yourself, and careful above everything else. That's not a toy, or for display or showing off

In one sentence "you only take it out for practice, or to kill", and nothing more, ever

So yeah, just looking at it.. "meditating on/with it", that says it all

Yeah, I was actually a bit afraid back then because I did not know him so well at that time and the thing looked mighty sharp..

[palehorse]

Camellia Oil and Clove oil like the old ninjas did or buy online Choji oil (which is Camellia Oil with essence of Clove oil), you can apply very slowly with paper (I used those that comes with bread inside), that's how you keep those blades shining forever!

I have a tanto and a katana, both made of not very good steel, but my tanto's steel is far inferior than the sword, last time I touched mine was months ago, I did the maintenance with the blade and wrapped back in some fabric (because I lost that wood cover protection) and packed.
Both I bought in the pawn shop in Bangkok years ago, the sword's blade was in bad shape, I had to re sharpen it all again, no cover for protection, then I keep it wrapped in a fabric and inside a wood box with a locker outside, because I have a kid in the house, I can't play with it as I wished.
Mine there is no story, I just found it in the pawn shop and the price was more than attractive, I paid $150 for both, it was a bargain, they both worth at least $500, specially after I sharpened again, they are cutting souls in half :P

Next time I open that box I will take a few pictures to post here, I may still have the pictures from the time I bought it, the blade was literally destroyed, it was a full recovery of a katana and I learned it all on youtube.. lol

[Strat]

Is the tanto dull? When I practiced martial arts our butterfly knives (not to be confused with the pocket knives) were purposefully dull so you didn't slice your forearms in practice.

I have a few things: My grandfathers blanket from WW2 (he was in a lot of combat), an old muzzle load double barrel shotgun, blacksmith's tongs, and an accordion that's over 100 years old, not sure how old exactly. I'll take some pics later.

[Mashika]

Is the tanto dull? When I practiced martial arts our butterfly knives (not to be confused with the pocket knives) were purposefully dull so you didn't slice your forearms in practice.

I have a few things: My grandfathers blanket from WW2 (he was in a lot of combat), an old muzzle load double barrel shotgun, blacksmith's tongs, and an accordion that's over 100 years old, not sure how old exactly. I'll take some pics later.

It is fully sharp, i skipped using the blunt one and went directly into the real thing :)

I also had a katana, a shinken, fully sharp. That one still exists but did not come with me when I moved.

I did not practice a lot of Iaito, so instead of a dull blade I had a wood boken. But I did at least the basic Iaito training, can't train without any fingers, so it's a must to know how to draw that sword. But standing there drawing it 200 times per day? Nah

Would love to see your pics :)

[Mashika]

Camellia Oil and Clove oil like the old ninjas did or buy online Choji oil (which is Camellia Oil with essence of Clove oil), you can apply very slowly with paper (I used those that comes with bread inside), that's how you keep those blades shining forever!

I have a tanto and a katana, both made of not very good steel, but my tanto's steel is far inferior than the sword, last time I touched mine was months ago, I did the maintenance with the blade and wrapped back in some fabric (because I lost that wood cover protection) and packed.
Both I bought in the pawn shop in Bangkok years ago, the sword's blade was in bad shape, I had to re sharpen it all again, no cover for protection, then I keep it wrapped in a fabric and inside a wood box with a locker outside, because I have a kid in the house, I can't play with it as I wished.
Mine there is no story, I just found it in the pawn shop and the price was more than attractive, I paid $150 for both, it was a bargain, they both worth at least $500, specially after I sharpened again, they are cutting souls in half :P

Next time I open that box I will take a few pictures to post here, I may still have the pictures from the time I bought it, the blade was literally destroyed, it was a full recovery of a katana and I learned it all on youtube.. lol

I used to have a cleaning kit around and at least clean it every month or so, then every 2 months, and suddenly last time I cleaned it was like 3 years ago :/

Will get it cleaned soon :)

[Strat]

Would love to see your pics :)

So, my phone is being lame. Usually it takes high resolution photos no problem, but that's not the case today. I suspect the lighting is the issue. My leg is busted and I can't be bothered to fix this. Which leads me to the next issue, no pics of the accordion because that would require me to move things and until the leg heals that's not gonna happen. Anyway...

I suspect this item is Spanish or French. Who knows? I want to contact a local university and find out more but I hesitate due to a particular law regarding items found which are over 50(?) years old.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51056287918_aa947b1fba_z.jpg
My grandpas US Army blanket. He was in a lot of combat, the pinnacle being in Bastogne.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51057017091_cbf8ec3074_z.jpg
I'm not sure if this is my great grandpa's, or great great, but here it is. It's for small critters, it's a 16ga.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51056290053_7e8c3c09e5_z.jpg

[Mashika]

Would love to see your pics :)

So, my phone is being lame. Usually it takes high resolution photos no problem, but that's not the case today. I suspect the lighting is the issue. My leg is busted and I can't be bothered to fix this. Which leads me to the next issue, no pics of the accordion because that would require me to move things and until the leg heals that's not gonna happen. Anyway...

I suspect this item is Spanish or French. Who knows? I want to contact a local university and find out more but I hesitate due to a particular law regarding items found which are over 50(?) years old.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51056287918_aa947b1fba_z.jpg
My grandpas US Army blanket. He was in a lot of combat, the pinnacle being in Bastogne.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51057017091_cbf8ec3074_z.jpg
I'm not sure if this is my great grandpa's, or great great, but here it is. It's for small critters, it's a 16ga.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51056290053_7e8c3c09e5_z.jpg

Awesome :) The first one i think i've seen something similar on Mexico at some point, but not completely sure

Is the gun still functional? Would look so cool if you restored it so it looks brand new. We used to have some old guns as well, i'm not sure what happened to them. We even had a 30-30 winchester, i remember that one, because i would sneak when no one was around to hold it and play with it, no bullets but still.. That one was restored to almost look like brand new, it was beautiful

On my house, there were plenty of guns, several Ak-47 and other stuff, and we knew not to touch them, and probably there were like 500 rounds for the AKs

Funny we never tried to load one or use it even when we were alone. But we did shoot when allowed, otherwise, no touchy the killing machine :P

[Strat]

Is the gun still functional? Would look so cool if you restored it so it looks brand new. We used to have some old guns as well, i'm not sure what happened to them. We even had a 30-30 winchester, i remember that one, because i would sneak when no one was around to hold it and play with it, no bullets but still.. That one was restored to almost look like brand new, it was beautiful

On my house, there were plenty of guns, several Ak-47 and other stuff, and we knew not to touch them, and probably there were like 500 rounds for the AKs

Funny we never tried to load one or use it even when we were alone. But we did shoot when allowed, otherwise, no touchy the killing machine :P

Not sure if it works. I also have a 30-30 'hand me down'. Definitely makes me feel like a cowboy. I have some firepower here as well, but I'd rather not post those pics on Avalon.

Regarding the underlined: Sounds like you were raised right! When I was a kid I wasn't even curious about the guns in the house. They just were what they were, I never messed with them. If I wanted to check them out I'd tell my dad and he'd bring them out and look them over with me. I don't want to start a firestorm of a debate or derail your thread but I think guns are like stick shift or fire extinguishers, you should know how to operate them even though you may never need to. Also handy to know how to service them.

[Mare]

Don’t make the rifle look brand new. Clean it sympathetically by all means, but that patina has taken over a century to look that way, and any inherent value would be lost. It speaks history, please leave it that way Strat.

[Patient]

I don't have anything, but I am looking at items to pass down to my children.

Not having something passed to me has shown me the value and power of having something to pass on.

[Mashika]

I don't have anything, but I am looking at items to pass down to my children.

Not having something passed to me has shown me the value and power of having something to pass on.

Yes it's a very powerful thing, i'm glad i have a few things like that, i do feel it causes a lot of changes and special things in people, it's a very important thing on the long term <3

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Don’t make the rifle look brand new. Clean it sympathetically by all means, but that patina has taken over a century to look that way, and any inherent value would be lost. It speaks history, please leave it that way Strat.

Very true Mare, i was thinking more around the idea of seeing it as new so it would look great, but ignored completely, that showing its actual age could be more important really, because it would become imposible to replace, and it shows that there's a lot of history behind it :)

Thanks for pointing that out

[Mashika]

This is what happens to a Katana if you leave it unattended for 9 years :/

Incredible enough, it still has sharpness on it, but it's already eaten up by rust so much i don't think it can be fixed :(

It's going to be total lose. This was my first Katana, a training one also, but sharp as a razor, so many good memories :)

https://projectavalon.net/forum4/attachment.php?attachmentid=46842&d=1623967282

https://projectavalon.net/forum4/attachment.php?attachmentid=46841&d=1623967282