masahiro tiger katana
Jun 30, 2008 1:00:45 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2008 1:00:45 GMT
reviewed by Geremy Gulino Auburn New York USA
hello every one ;D this is actually my friends first sword but he doesnot go on forums, weird-o lol. any way he allowed me to do a review of his Masahiro tiger katana sometimes sold as the tora katanahttp://www.swordsofmight.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=16
SwordsOfMight has it priced at 85$ , plus shipping, not to bad at all.
lets start off with the spects, shall we.
blade length 27" tip to habaki
tsuka(handle) 10 ,1/2"
over all length 39"
weight , around 2 pounds on my scales
POB about 3-4 inches from guard.
it came packaged nice and safe in shipping box and in the triangle box that turns into a stand, not that fancy and takes up a lot of room, but not bad.
now befor i thought to do the review he had asked me to "battle wrap" the tsuka, (i dabble, by no means a pro,, ,,) first up is the tsuka (handle) this is what had really impressed me its the same thickness as others such as cheness or musashis but there is no cut out area to inset the ray skin(this has fake ray skin) so it feels a little safer to me.
and here is my wrap job
i can say the the wrap that came on it is help tight with glue and was very pain in the to get off.
the fittings on the tsuka are plain no design and a dark but shiny silver color i believe a two tone zinc alloy
the tsuba (guard) is made out of same two tone zinc alloy, with tsuka side displaying a tiger waiting to pounce and on blade side a dear eating peacefully , the tiger and dear are done in gold over the dark silver tsuba.
they say full tang , i like to check for myself ,
yup this baby is full tang for sure with 2 bamboo pins holding it in place, and you see the strip of white running up the bottom. we all know these swords are not hand matched up with a hand made tsuka and that its mass production so on this model is seems they have remedied the problem of it rattling at all, it a piece or thick plastic like tape and holds blade nice and tight but not crammed into the tsuka,tho hand fitted is best this is better than some lower end companies do.
now for the blade , some places it is being sold at says that its 1045 carbon steal.its not whipy at all and does have some flex to it.
it is nicely done , you can see the wire brush hamon line, not my favorite look for a false hamon but for under 100$ i could live with it.
here you can see the secondary bevel on the cutting edge i was unsure of this but we shall see.
the bo-hi (sp) "blood groove"is evenly done and goes most way to tip of blade, and the tip is one of the shorter type i see on katana
the sya, (scabbard )is a little better than the average sub 100$ katana , as it has a collar on the throat of the saya in the same zinc alloy dark silver.(now if we could get end caps on saya too ;D )
dry handling of this katana i found it was very fast and easy to recover from and to go from one swing to another.it almost seemed to really come alive in your hand.
here is were the secondary bevel worried me but it did preform very well, i was in deed surprised , though it was not as smooth as my cheness or even other masahiro that i own that have a normal edge on them. it sliced through aplles and water bottles and jugs like they were zombies, on Zday
and here is my friend Jo taking his first swing as a hanging bottle, he is laughing because he only slice a corner of the bottle and watching the water dribble out ,, its only a flesh wound,,lol
ratings
historical accuracy 2/5
fit and finish 4/5
structural integrity 5/5
value for money 5/5
overall, 4/5
would a recommend this to someone looking for a good entry level katana,, HECK YA ,, it is very tight with no rattles and light enough to do kata with and still a good cutter on top of that, for under 100$ Jo could have done worse. ;D
hello every one ;D this is actually my friends first sword but he doesnot go on forums, weird-o lol. any way he allowed me to do a review of his Masahiro tiger katana sometimes sold as the tora katanahttp://www.swordsofmight.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=16
SwordsOfMight has it priced at 85$ , plus shipping, not to bad at all.
lets start off with the spects, shall we.
blade length 27" tip to habaki
tsuka(handle) 10 ,1/2"
over all length 39"
weight , around 2 pounds on my scales
POB about 3-4 inches from guard.
it came packaged nice and safe in shipping box and in the triangle box that turns into a stand, not that fancy and takes up a lot of room, but not bad.
now befor i thought to do the review he had asked me to "battle wrap" the tsuka, (i dabble, by no means a pro,, ,,) first up is the tsuka (handle) this is what had really impressed me its the same thickness as others such as cheness or musashis but there is no cut out area to inset the ray skin(this has fake ray skin) so it feels a little safer to me.
and here is my wrap job
i can say the the wrap that came on it is help tight with glue and was very pain in the to get off.
the fittings on the tsuka are plain no design and a dark but shiny silver color i believe a two tone zinc alloy
the tsuba (guard) is made out of same two tone zinc alloy, with tsuka side displaying a tiger waiting to pounce and on blade side a dear eating peacefully , the tiger and dear are done in gold over the dark silver tsuba.
they say full tang , i like to check for myself ,
yup this baby is full tang for sure with 2 bamboo pins holding it in place, and you see the strip of white running up the bottom. we all know these swords are not hand matched up with a hand made tsuka and that its mass production so on this model is seems they have remedied the problem of it rattling at all, it a piece or thick plastic like tape and holds blade nice and tight but not crammed into the tsuka,tho hand fitted is best this is better than some lower end companies do.
now for the blade , some places it is being sold at says that its 1045 carbon steal.its not whipy at all and does have some flex to it.
it is nicely done , you can see the wire brush hamon line, not my favorite look for a false hamon but for under 100$ i could live with it.
here you can see the secondary bevel on the cutting edge i was unsure of this but we shall see.
the bo-hi (sp) "blood groove"is evenly done and goes most way to tip of blade, and the tip is one of the shorter type i see on katana
the sya, (scabbard )is a little better than the average sub 100$ katana , as it has a collar on the throat of the saya in the same zinc alloy dark silver.(now if we could get end caps on saya too ;D )
dry handling of this katana i found it was very fast and easy to recover from and to go from one swing to another.it almost seemed to really come alive in your hand.
here is were the secondary bevel worried me but it did preform very well, i was in deed surprised , though it was not as smooth as my cheness or even other masahiro that i own that have a normal edge on them. it sliced through aplles and water bottles and jugs like they were zombies, on Zday
and here is my friend Jo taking his first swing as a hanging bottle, he is laughing because he only slice a corner of the bottle and watching the water dribble out ,, its only a flesh wound,,lol
ratings
historical accuracy 2/5
fit and finish 4/5
structural integrity 5/5
value for money 5/5
overall, 4/5
would a recommend this to someone looking for a good entry level katana,, HECK YA ,, it is very tight with no rattles and light enough to do kata with and still a good cutter on top of that, for under 100$ Jo could have done worse. ;D