Cold Steel Gim
Aug 20, 2009 7:00:40 GMT
Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2009 7:00:40 GMT
Okay, now that I've had this a few days I thought I'd put up a review. Since the gim is my first sword, I can't compare it to anything else. I'll try my best to give a good review. Pictures first.
If as picture tells a thousand words, that's 6000 words, so this review is over.
I mean... as you can see, the gim is aesthetically pleasing. The wood grain is plainly beautiful with a great red-brown color. And the fittings are nicely cast. They look much more antique than the stale, flat gold I'd seen in pictures. I like it much more this way.
The sword is incredibly sturdy-feeling with no play anywhere in the assembly, and the sheath fits very well to the blade. It can be held upside down and shook without the blade falling out.
The pommel is weighty and does well to balance the fairly hefty blade. But of course when I say hefty, it's just because I'm used to light wallhangers. The first day I used the sword I tired out quickly, but now I can handle it without problem. With practice I'm sure I'll be able to maneuver it with great speed.
The blade is quite sharp, probably sharper out of the box than any knife I've owned. I would compare its edge to wallhangers, but doing such would be an insult I'm not prepared to make.
The sword arrived from True Swords exceptionally fast. I ordered it around 8pm on the 10th and got it around noon on the 13th. It was covered in bubble wrap, put in a box, the box was wrapped in more bubble wrap, and then put inside the shipping box.
Now for the negatives. There were a few spots of rust on both sides of the blade that should not have been there. They are small and only cosmetic and I should be able to get rid of them eventually, but either True Swords' people didn't inspect the item before shipping (bad) or they saw the rust and thought they'd send it to me anyway (bad). I might have been able to send it back for a different one, but I didn't want to spend the extra money and lose the sword for the time of shipping.
The inside of the guard is, well, ugly. It looks shabbily finished with some of it blackened, most of it brass-colored. Very coarse and messy. Since one pretty much never sees it, it doesn't matter that much. But it's still unsightly. Here's a picture.
All in all, I'd say I couldn't have picked a better first sword. It has satisfied in all ways I'd expected it to. And the tiny points of rust and ugly inner hand-guard are nothing when put next to the fine points of this sword, which are basically everything.
I started loving swords when I played a Zelda game at eight years old. And even though it took me eleven years to have a real one, it feels just how it should. The solid, beautiful, well put-together form of it was everything I imagined of a sword.
I have named it Mei Ling.
If as picture tells a thousand words, that's 6000 words, so this review is over.
I mean... as you can see, the gim is aesthetically pleasing. The wood grain is plainly beautiful with a great red-brown color. And the fittings are nicely cast. They look much more antique than the stale, flat gold I'd seen in pictures. I like it much more this way.
The sword is incredibly sturdy-feeling with no play anywhere in the assembly, and the sheath fits very well to the blade. It can be held upside down and shook without the blade falling out.
The pommel is weighty and does well to balance the fairly hefty blade. But of course when I say hefty, it's just because I'm used to light wallhangers. The first day I used the sword I tired out quickly, but now I can handle it without problem. With practice I'm sure I'll be able to maneuver it with great speed.
The blade is quite sharp, probably sharper out of the box than any knife I've owned. I would compare its edge to wallhangers, but doing such would be an insult I'm not prepared to make.
The sword arrived from True Swords exceptionally fast. I ordered it around 8pm on the 10th and got it around noon on the 13th. It was covered in bubble wrap, put in a box, the box was wrapped in more bubble wrap, and then put inside the shipping box.
Now for the negatives. There were a few spots of rust on both sides of the blade that should not have been there. They are small and only cosmetic and I should be able to get rid of them eventually, but either True Swords' people didn't inspect the item before shipping (bad) or they saw the rust and thought they'd send it to me anyway (bad). I might have been able to send it back for a different one, but I didn't want to spend the extra money and lose the sword for the time of shipping.
The inside of the guard is, well, ugly. It looks shabbily finished with some of it blackened, most of it brass-colored. Very coarse and messy. Since one pretty much never sees it, it doesn't matter that much. But it's still unsightly. Here's a picture.
All in all, I'd say I couldn't have picked a better first sword. It has satisfied in all ways I'd expected it to. And the tiny points of rust and ugly inner hand-guard are nothing when put next to the fine points of this sword, which are basically everything.
I started loving swords when I played a Zelda game at eight years old. And even though it took me eleven years to have a real one, it feels just how it should. The solid, beautiful, well put-together form of it was everything I imagined of a sword.
I have named it Mei Ling.