JWHOTSTEELFORGE "semi-custom" san-mai katana
May 13, 2008 17:09:59 GMT
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2008 17:09:59 GMT
What i've been waiting for months ( literally ;D ) finally arrived today.
First some info on what i've ordered
From what i've noticed it's no longer in offer, but it was their san-mai katana ( not folded version ). Length of the blade and tsuka is their base length, meaning, at least in theory 11" tsuka and 28" blade. My order included real yokote, blade with more niku than average, their "super polish" and o-kissaki ( which was dropped later on, butstill turned out longer than "chu", other than that, i asked them to make a sword bag for the 20$ from o-kissaki ). Important note, i asked them to give up on the counter polishing and i strongly advise anyone interested in their swords to do so when ordering. It looks so much better. Overall cost = 457,99$ ( 118$ shipping => 339,99$ sword + sword bag )
Some basic stats
blade length - 27.2" ( 28.3" with habaki )
tsuka length - 11"
kissaki length - 2.1" ( heck this is quite close to the 3" o-kissaki )
POB - 4.9"
I'll add weigth and sori later on.
First impression
Now, this is the smallest and hardest to unpack sword package i've ever seen. Man, it took me at least 10-15mins to unpack this thing and if i didn't have the Cold Steel OSS i bought recently, it'd be much harder. Thing that got my attention was the sword bag as it was bright red and gold ( must say, i like it, it could be done a little better , but is certainly nice ).
You can see the package here ( and my little helper called OSS ;D )
Here's the sword bag.
The blade was covered in some kind of anti-rust substance ( kinda watery if you ask me ) and quite a bit of wooden bits which worried me about how well made the saya was. Saya turned out to be of "low end average" in quality ( no more wooden bits, but it's not perfectly sanded ), but it fits quite well, the sword won't slide out. I don't have experience with this blade geometry, but it kinda bugs me to see that the saya opening is like a normal shinogi zukuri blade one, while this one was made like the previous model of KC katanas. Meaning the blade is the widest at shinogi line, you know, the shinogi-ji gets thinnier towards the mune.
Fittings
Well, forgive me, but i'll start with the negative stuff. The fittings in general are low quality, something you'd see on a sub 100$ probably. The saya is completely plain, with plain wood koiguchi and lacquer problems all over ( nothing big luckily ). The handle is worse tho. Tsuka isn't following the blade's curvature at all ( which is more than noticeable as the curvature is quite nice here ). The ito and sageo are both of the "shoelace" quality ( heck, don't know why, but holding the sword will get your hands turning slightly black from the ito, or so it seems ). Tsuba, fuchi and kashira are ok, but they could use some work ( the finish is rough ). Menuki are nothing special, your average plain, overly golden something. Seppa are just like the Cheness stuff. One good point, so far, there's no rattle in the tsuka and the ito stays in place ( even tho it's possible to move it quite a bit, but nothing problematic, at least, not yet ). They say their habaki is custom fitted, but seriously, i fail to believe that.
As you can see ( or so i hope, i know it's a crappy pic ) there's quite a bit of space between the blade and the habaki.
Tsuka pic. One last thing i forgot to mention. Same panels aren't on best quality either, it's real, but few nodes fell off and they seem to end just under the ito diamonds.
This pic shows how straigth the tsuka is compared to the blade.
The blade
Here's where JW shines. This is certainly something to look forward to. This sword looks and feels like a wicked cutter. This thing is damn sharp too ( i got first layers of skin cut on my thumb while wipping the blade with paper towel, the paper was touching the edge on the side, pretty much resting against the side of it and that was enough to cut throught it and into my thumb within one stroke down the blade, good it's not serious enough to even bleed, but i'm damn scared of touching it bare handed ). The much chu-kissaki certainly enchances this impression. No idea on where the POB is, but i'd say, somewhere between 4 and 5", maybe a little more than 5". The sori is bigger than on my Shinryu, quite a bit bigger ( no idea at all so far, so if anyone has an idea about the sori value, go ahead, i'll try to measure it tomorrow ). One thing i'm having trouble is telling which is what between the hamon and lamination line. Anyway, both are hard to capture with my crappy camera ( well, i'll try to get some better shots later on ). The yokote is indeed there, rather easy to feel it when you wipe the blade. If you ask me, i'd say that the 30$ super polish is worth it. There are few scratches and other imperfection every now and then, but i'd say these are shipping oriented. Well, mirror polish on the blade isn't the best thing probably, but where it shines is the kissaki.
The best shot i managed today, i'm proud of it^^ You can see the scratches, real yokote, hamon / lamination and the quality of polish.
Seriously, this is the best polish job on the kissaki i've seen so far. I don't think you can find anything better done in the sub 600$ price range.
One bad thing about their blades is that the hamon isn't really visible.
Some random blade pics:
Was it worth it?
Fit and Finish - 3.5/5 ( i'm worried about how tight the ito will be after some use )
Handling - 5/5 ( well i need to measure the weigth, but it feels good )
Structural Integrity - 5/5
Value for Money - 4/5
Overall - 4/5 ( if you hate long waiting time and want a sword that's overall nice, 3/5 )
If you want, just like me, something unique and interesting, yes ( note it's not HELL YES!, just "yes" ). If you don't, well, it's hard to tell. The waiting time is long and problems may occur. The fittings are low end average and pretty much, in need of replacement sooner or later ( they're usable, but that's it, it just looks wrong with such a blade ). The price, including shipping, isn't that low ( well if you're ordering from USA you'll pay less than me ).
Order if you want an awesome blade and are willing to get the fittings done yourself or by someone. I'd say it's a must to get some customization done as this is where this seller is awesome. If you can afford it, you can get almost any kind of customization.
Rest of the photos here:
s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn91/ByTheWay_photos/JWHOTSTEELFORGE/
First some info on what i've ordered
From what i've noticed it's no longer in offer, but it was their san-mai katana ( not folded version ). Length of the blade and tsuka is their base length, meaning, at least in theory 11" tsuka and 28" blade. My order included real yokote, blade with more niku than average, their "super polish" and o-kissaki ( which was dropped later on, butstill turned out longer than "chu", other than that, i asked them to make a sword bag for the 20$ from o-kissaki ). Important note, i asked them to give up on the counter polishing and i strongly advise anyone interested in their swords to do so when ordering. It looks so much better. Overall cost = 457,99$ ( 118$ shipping => 339,99$ sword + sword bag )
Some basic stats
blade length - 27.2" ( 28.3" with habaki )
tsuka length - 11"
kissaki length - 2.1" ( heck this is quite close to the 3" o-kissaki )
POB - 4.9"
I'll add weigth and sori later on.
First impression
Now, this is the smallest and hardest to unpack sword package i've ever seen. Man, it took me at least 10-15mins to unpack this thing and if i didn't have the Cold Steel OSS i bought recently, it'd be much harder. Thing that got my attention was the sword bag as it was bright red and gold ( must say, i like it, it could be done a little better , but is certainly nice ).
You can see the package here ( and my little helper called OSS ;D )
Here's the sword bag.
The blade was covered in some kind of anti-rust substance ( kinda watery if you ask me ) and quite a bit of wooden bits which worried me about how well made the saya was. Saya turned out to be of "low end average" in quality ( no more wooden bits, but it's not perfectly sanded ), but it fits quite well, the sword won't slide out. I don't have experience with this blade geometry, but it kinda bugs me to see that the saya opening is like a normal shinogi zukuri blade one, while this one was made like the previous model of KC katanas. Meaning the blade is the widest at shinogi line, you know, the shinogi-ji gets thinnier towards the mune.
Fittings
Well, forgive me, but i'll start with the negative stuff. The fittings in general are low quality, something you'd see on a sub 100$ probably. The saya is completely plain, with plain wood koiguchi and lacquer problems all over ( nothing big luckily ). The handle is worse tho. Tsuka isn't following the blade's curvature at all ( which is more than noticeable as the curvature is quite nice here ). The ito and sageo are both of the "shoelace" quality ( heck, don't know why, but holding the sword will get your hands turning slightly black from the ito, or so it seems ). Tsuba, fuchi and kashira are ok, but they could use some work ( the finish is rough ). Menuki are nothing special, your average plain, overly golden something. Seppa are just like the Cheness stuff. One good point, so far, there's no rattle in the tsuka and the ito stays in place ( even tho it's possible to move it quite a bit, but nothing problematic, at least, not yet ). They say their habaki is custom fitted, but seriously, i fail to believe that.
As you can see ( or so i hope, i know it's a crappy pic ) there's quite a bit of space between the blade and the habaki.
Tsuka pic. One last thing i forgot to mention. Same panels aren't on best quality either, it's real, but few nodes fell off and they seem to end just under the ito diamonds.
This pic shows how straigth the tsuka is compared to the blade.
The blade
Here's where JW shines. This is certainly something to look forward to. This sword looks and feels like a wicked cutter. This thing is damn sharp too ( i got first layers of skin cut on my thumb while wipping the blade with paper towel, the paper was touching the edge on the side, pretty much resting against the side of it and that was enough to cut throught it and into my thumb within one stroke down the blade, good it's not serious enough to even bleed, but i'm damn scared of touching it bare handed ). The much chu-kissaki certainly enchances this impression. No idea on where the POB is, but i'd say, somewhere between 4 and 5", maybe a little more than 5". The sori is bigger than on my Shinryu, quite a bit bigger ( no idea at all so far, so if anyone has an idea about the sori value, go ahead, i'll try to measure it tomorrow ). One thing i'm having trouble is telling which is what between the hamon and lamination line. Anyway, both are hard to capture with my crappy camera ( well, i'll try to get some better shots later on ). The yokote is indeed there, rather easy to feel it when you wipe the blade. If you ask me, i'd say that the 30$ super polish is worth it. There are few scratches and other imperfection every now and then, but i'd say these are shipping oriented. Well, mirror polish on the blade isn't the best thing probably, but where it shines is the kissaki.
The best shot i managed today, i'm proud of it^^ You can see the scratches, real yokote, hamon / lamination and the quality of polish.
Seriously, this is the best polish job on the kissaki i've seen so far. I don't think you can find anything better done in the sub 600$ price range.
One bad thing about their blades is that the hamon isn't really visible.
Some random blade pics:
Was it worth it?
Fit and Finish - 3.5/5 ( i'm worried about how tight the ito will be after some use )
Handling - 5/5 ( well i need to measure the weigth, but it feels good )
Structural Integrity - 5/5
Value for Money - 4/5
Overall - 4/5 ( if you hate long waiting time and want a sword that's overall nice, 3/5 )
If you want, just like me, something unique and interesting, yes ( note it's not HELL YES!, just "yes" ). If you don't, well, it's hard to tell. The waiting time is long and problems may occur. The fittings are low end average and pretty much, in need of replacement sooner or later ( they're usable, but that's it, it just looks wrong with such a blade ). The price, including shipping, isn't that low ( well if you're ordering from USA you'll pay less than me ).
Order if you want an awesome blade and are willing to get the fittings done yourself or by someone. I'd say it's a must to get some customization done as this is where this seller is awesome. If you can afford it, you can get almost any kind of customization.
Rest of the photos here:
s302.photobucket.com/albums/nn91/ByTheWay_photos/JWHOTSTEELFORGE/