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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2008 13:06:50 GMT
My Globalgear katana just arrived so I will try to review it as good as I can despite it's my first katana. So for starters I bought this piece at ebay from the company Globalgear, after I won the auction they were quick with relies and answered my questions quickly. And the shipping would have been fast(tree days) but it got delayed at London airport. And now it's in my hands and here is the review: The box is the normal kind that you see everywhere now days, brown and boring, but I like it. And here lies the beauty inside a(at least to me fine) sword bag. And here it is, my first impression was that it was quality piece the saya had a nice gloss the wrapping on the tsuka looked tight. And the blade was just as I had wanted it to be, really beautiful. The tsuba is nice, it shares the "cultural" look with the kashira and the fuchi. All kind of different people are displayed on the tsuka, one fisherman, a samurai, a lute player and a monk. And on the kashira a dragon is attacking a man/statue in what appears to be a shrine. And on the fuchi two beasts are facing each other. The tsuka is really tight and the diamonds are perfect. And here is a picture of the blade which shows the beautiful hamon, no etching or wire brushing here. Another picture on the blade. And the last one on the blade + kissai. And me wielding the blade . After taking the pictures I vent outside to slaughter two pet bottles, as this was my first cutting whatsoever with a sword i chose not to record it. But the cutting vent well, It vent trough the bottles like butter and I did to cuts on each bottle. And the katana didn't wobble or rattle one millimeter when I preformed the cuts. As this is my first katana I can only compare it to pictures of other katanas. The tsuka is tight, the diamonds are really good, the hamon is really beautiful. Overall the fittings are nice. So the 258AUD I paid for the piece was well invested, I got just the blade I wanted. So my rating is 5/5. The only thing that is sad is the damage on the blade which probably comes from a mistake in the grinding/polishing. But it's so small that it does not concern me.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2008 13:45:16 GMT
congratz on the new child
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2008 13:58:12 GMT
Heh looks really nice. Seems like well worth the money. I have 2 questions, is it just the picture or hamon really ends halfway the kissaki ( if yes, guess you should avoid cutting with the tip:p )? I can't tell from the picture, but is the yokote real or counter polished ( seems like counter, but not 100% sure )?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2008 14:06:52 GMT
xanatos: thx! bytheway: Yes it stops halvway on the kissaki and the yokote is counter polished :/, but the thing is I don't understand why it is because the kissaki is nicely done.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 22, 2008 14:15:30 GMT
nice sword congrats
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2008 13:13:18 GMT
I have to whine some on my sword, I was out today cutting some pets and suddenly a 2 inch part of the wrapping on the tsuka was showing and I have no idea were it came from. And to my disappointment I saw that it was nylon as well. But I managed to fix it with a lighter since it was nylon, but still :/.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2008 15:12:35 GMT
Well, indeed for this price, they shouldn't have used nylon. What you don't understand? Why the kissaki is counter polished or that hamon ends halfway? About kissaki, well in sub 300$ swords it's hard to find ones with real yokote and they always tend to do a cosmetic one. Myself i don't like counter polishing, but guess it works for many others. I don't really get why the hamon ends halfway the kissaki, i'd say if they're doing a hamon ( and it's really noticeable ) they should go all the way. Sure, this way it's cheaper, but kinda lame if you ask me. Other than that it really looks cool.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 25, 2008 16:29:05 GMT
Yah the katana looks cool but it's everything else but cool. Score for this katana has been changed to 1/5, and here is the reason:
/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1203956766
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2008 2:47:54 GMT
Sorry about your sword and the hard earned money you put into getting it. I have learned to stick with the reviews on this site as they are consistent and reliable in helping to make my purchase decisions.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2008 10:26:42 GMT
Thx, yeah I'm gonna go with a "safe bet" next time I spend over 100usd on a sword.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2008 22:06:49 GMT
I suspect the reason for the short boshi (kissaki temper line) is because it started out as a longer sword that had the kissaki re-formed, possibly after damage at the smith.
I read an article on this awhile back, but they were referring to this flaw on nihonto as a way of hiding/fixing a badly chipped or damaged original kissaki. But I can see how they might try to salvage a ruined sword at the forge by cutting it down and reforming the tip. well, the only upside is that it's better than sending out a re-welded nakago to keep up their quota.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2008 22:17:37 GMT
I doubt that it was something like this, i'd say it was quenching that's at fault. After all these are production swords.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2008 11:44:00 GMT
hmmm... the more I look at the kissaki shot the more I'm convinced it was cut down and re-formed.
all the more reason to save it instead of trashing it for a bad tip.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2008 14:07:58 GMT
Yeah, but you said earlier it looks like it was cut down from a longer blade. What's the point of making longer blade and then cutting it down for every single piece if they're production swords?
Unless it was originally blade for some other sword, but that's a rather "scary" option. Would mean they're willing to cheat their customers on everything regarding their swords.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2008 17:07:51 GMT
Ah. Sorry about that. What I meant by longer was really just the length of a kissaki. If a smith or sharpener screwed up the kissaki badly and had to cut it off at the yokote to start the tip over again it would be enough to look the way it does.
I was thinking it could have started life as a 29" blade but due to a botched tip became a 28" blade.
As far as it originally being a blade for another sword, I wouldn't put it past a production katana manufacturer. The one talked about way back (Cheness I think?) that had the welded on tang was proof enough that some of these Chinese forges will do just about anything to make quota unless they're caught.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2008 17:15:45 GMT
My father had a look on the blade today and he thought that the lacking of hamon on half the kissaki may have been caused by overheating while grinding it.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2008 18:07:40 GMT
the hamon looks completely etched to me. dont see any signs of a natural hamon there so cant get why the hamon doesnt run all the way. i just think the etcher cocked up big time and it slipped through quality control.
whatever the cause it seems abit silly to have practised the cutting with just the kissaki technique you mentioned in the other thread when the hamon doesnt cover it!!! worst case scenario is that the full kissaki isnt properly tempered meaning the technique you are talking about was asking for trouble.
i would have sent it back and exchanged it for one of there newer blades with the new wild & wonderfull natural hamons (see the thread i started in the japansese swords thread titled ' amazing new global gear katana's for an example)
ive heard from a few that globals quality control was shoddy. shame as the newer models with those crazy hamons look soooooo good.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2008 18:47:45 GMT
The hamon is real, I don't see any signs of etching on the blade. I can cut a juice package with my filét knife without it nicking. As I have cut a pretty thick tree with it and without it taking any damage I am certain that the heat treatment is done right. And I still think that the tip got overheated when grinding the kissaki in shape. Why? Because the kissaki is grinded to shape which requires a lot of grinding and thus making it likely that they wasn't careful when doing it and thus destroying the heat treatment of half the kissaki.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2008 19:06:26 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2008 19:13:32 GMT
Here is a picture of the transparent "same", yes I removed the ito as the kashira was loose.
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