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The edged weapon swords you receive from Sakura Budokan are all well made tools. Like all fine tools, they require responsible use, care, and maintenance.
Maintenance:
All metal parts of your sword should always be covered with a light coating of oil to prevent rust, including the wire wrapped handles. Wooden handles may be treated with a light coating of lemon oil or tung oil to help prevent cracking. Your sword comes with either a light plastic spray or a heavy coating of grease to protect the blades in transport across the ocean. You can remove these coatings with the use of a good solvent such as lacquer thinner or mineral spirits. Once you have finished this, apply your light coat of oil or a silicone spray. You can also wipe it with a silicone coated gun/reel cloth. In many respects, the gun/reel cloth is preferred as there is less tendency for dust to accumulate and trap oxygen to cause pitted areas in the blade.
Leather scabbards and sheaths as well as leather covered handles should be treated with a good paste wax. The scabbard can also be treated with neatsfoot or mink oil for waterproofing, although this is not recommended for gripping surfaces. Do not store your sword in its scabbard for long periods of time since the leather traps moisture which can produce rust spots on the blade.
Use:
Do not swing any edged weapon carelessly. Remember, this is a real weapon and must be treated with the same respect you would give a loaded firearm. When you wish to experience how it feels for warriors to wield these weapons in battle, make sure you are well out of reach of anyone. These weapons are very heavy and could slip out of your hands. Be careful not to endanger yourself or others when you manipulate these swords.
Do not bang your sword against another sword in a theatrical-style duel. No matter how tough or strong the steel is in any sword, it will nick when struck against something equally hard. In stage plays or in movies, theatrical swords with wide, thick edges are used. The edges are flat and often as much as 1/16" wide. Such theatrical swords are designed to take the flashy looking punishment of banging edges together. Our swords are not theatrical swords. Our swords are real weapons, designed so that they could fight in the manner that originals were actually used. Since the cutting edges could be easily be sharpened and were often slashing, parries were made with a the flat of the blade (not the edges) or were simply avoided altogether. Real swords were never used for the theatrical style of sword banging that the movies or stage plays rely on to liven up the action sequences.
Do not attempt to chop down a tree with your sword, such an activity is guaranteed to damage your sword. Axes and machetes are well designed for this with the weight of the steel concentrated over the point of percussion. When you strike a firmly fixed object like a tree or a thick branch with a sword, a great deal of the blade projects past the object being cut, causing the blade to bend or torque. It should be pointed out that the Japanese, who believe in a great deal of practise with the sword, used thick bamboo. The bamboo was resistant to a cut, but didn't have the rigidity of a tree, and so it would not have damaged a valuable blade. For a Japanese warrior to cut into a tree would have been unthinkable.
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