fixed the problem. Once I smoothed and polished everything it never jammed on me again.
I didn’t get it all perfect the first time. I’d started working on it pretty shortly after getting back to Louisville and there was a good bit of trial and error. But by the time I was ready to go sign up with MHI it was good to go. Reliable, and a serious monster killer.
That Uzi wasn’t the only weapon I picked up. I really had to remind myself that one big PUFF bounty shouldn’t all be spent in one place. But…It was GUNS! I’d wanted to own guns since I was a little kid. I really felt like a kid in a candy store with more money in my pocket than I’d ever dreamed I’d have and the free right as an adult American to buy any damned weapon I pleased.
I picked up a Garand that needed some work and fixed it right up. An M-14 seemed like a no brainer. I picked up an Armalite to have something in 5.56. Then an FN-FAL as a back-up to the M-14. An MP5 just ’cause I wanted one. I wished, badly, that H&K would make a decent weapon in .45 but no joy. I know a lot of people in the industry don’t like H&K ’cause their customer service sucks and you can’t get parts. That’s just a German thing. The reason you can’t get parts is they hardly ever break. Also a German thing. Which is why I like H&K. I picked up two custom 1911 .45s and a couple of .357s, a Colt Python six inch and a Smith and Wesson snubby.
The other major purchase I made was of some really good blades. I’d talked with the MHI guys after dinner and one point that was made was that often the best way to kill a monster was cutting off its head. They had various implements they recommended. I kept my mouth shut because I already had opinions on the matter and wasn’t going to just voice them with such an experienced bunch. But the truth, in my opinion, and I hold it to this day, is if you want to cut something’s head off, you can’t go far wrong with a really good katana.
The difference is steel. The steel of most mono-metal blades is designed so it can be sharpened down to micrometric thickness. A katana’s blade will sharpen down to very low micrometers or even high nanometers and still retain strength. The secret is in the folding and, assuming equal skill on the smith, the more folds is generally the better.
Another reason I didn’t voice the opinion was I’d already had the same argument with my Brazilian ju-jitsu teacher. Not specifically on the subject of the supernatural and cutting off the heads of vampires but generally on how Japanese blades were not as good as most people made them out to be and that you really needed to use a heavy blade like the cane cutting blades that were a feature of ju-jitsu and…Blah-blah.
Fortunately, I had an in-house expert in the field and cash burning a hole in my pocket. Through Mr. Brentwood’s connections I was able to secure what is described as a “three soul” blade. The term means that it should have the ability to cut through three necks in one well practiced stroke.
I didn’t tell him I was planning on using it to actually cut off heads. But other than blades with defined historical significance, the cost of a katana generally depends upon its quality and sharpness.
The three soul blade, Mo No Ken or Sword of Mourning, cost more than a pretty nice new car. I carried it for years. It was well worth the money. It took the spine of a Greater Vampire to finally damage it enough I had to retire it. And it still went through that hardened spine like most blades go through a human’s.
This is the story of the blade called Sword of Mourning.
The maker Makoto Kimura was a sword smith in the Emperor’s court. His apprentice and son was the apple of his eye. All of Kimura’s other family had died. His wife had died in child birth of their second child. So Ashio was all he had left. Then Ashio took a fever and even the doctors of the Court and the finest Shinto priests could do nothing. His beloved son
I didn’t get it all perfect the first time. I’d started working on it pretty shortly after getting back to Louisville and there was a good bit of trial and error. But by the time I was ready to go sign up with MHI it was good to go. Reliable, and a serious monster killer.
That Uzi wasn’t the only weapon I picked up. I really had to remind myself that one big PUFF bounty shouldn’t all be spent in one place. But…It was GUNS! I’d wanted to own guns since I was a little kid. I really felt like a kid in a candy store with more money in my pocket than I’d ever dreamed I’d have and the free right as an adult American to buy any damned weapon I pleased.
I picked up a Garand that needed some work and fixed it right up. An M-14 seemed like a no brainer. I picked up an Armalite to have something in 5.56. Then an FN-FAL as a back-up to the M-14. An MP5 just ’cause I wanted one. I wished, badly, that H&K would make a decent weapon in .45 but no joy. I know a lot of people in the industry don’t like H&K ’cause their customer service sucks and you can’t get parts. That’s just a German thing. The reason you can’t get parts is they hardly ever break. Also a German thing. Which is why I like H&K. I picked up two custom 1911 .45s and a couple of .357s, a Colt Python six inch and a Smith and Wesson snubby.
The other major purchase I made was of some really good blades. I’d talked with the MHI guys after dinner and one point that was made was that often the best way to kill a monster was cutting off its head. They had various implements they recommended. I kept my mouth shut because I already had opinions on the matter and wasn’t going to just voice them with such an experienced bunch. But the truth, in my opinion, and I hold it to this day, is if you want to cut something’s head off, you can’t go far wrong with a really good katana.
The difference is steel. The steel of most mono-metal blades is designed so it can be sharpened down to micrometric thickness. A katana’s blade will sharpen down to very low micrometers or even high nanometers and still retain strength. The secret is in the folding and, assuming equal skill on the smith, the more folds is generally the better.
Another reason I didn’t voice the opinion was I’d already had the same argument with my Brazilian ju-jitsu teacher. Not specifically on the subject of the supernatural and cutting off the heads of vampires but generally on how Japanese blades were not as good as most people made them out to be and that you really needed to use a heavy blade like the cane cutting blades that were a feature of ju-jitsu and…Blah-blah.
Fortunately, I had an in-house expert in the field and cash burning a hole in my pocket. Through Mr. Brentwood’s connections I was able to secure what is described as a “three soul” blade. The term means that it should have the ability to cut through three necks in one well practiced stroke.
I didn’t tell him I was planning on using it to actually cut off heads. But other than blades with defined historical significance, the cost of a katana generally depends upon its quality and sharpness.
The three soul blade, Mo No Ken or Sword of Mourning, cost more than a pretty nice new car. I carried it for years. It was well worth the money. It took the spine of a Greater Vampire to finally damage it enough I had to retire it. And it still went through that hardened spine like most blades go through a human’s.
This is the story of the blade called Sword of Mourning.
The maker Makoto Kimura was a sword smith in the Emperor’s court. His apprentice and son was the apple of his eye. All of Kimura’s other family had died. His wife had died in child birth of their second child. So Ashio was all he had left. Then Ashio took a fever and even the doctors of the Court and the finest Shinto priests could do nothing. His beloved son
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