Cheness Cutlery Nagasa Katana
Jul 30, 2008 4:41:34 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2008 4:41:34 GMT
Cheness Cutlery Nagasa Katana
Review by Chad Werner, Ellettsville, IN (USA)
I’ll be honest; it wasn’t but a month or two when I first saw Paul’s durability tests on the Cheness 9260 Spring Steel sword. Before that, I was content with my Katana collection and didn’t plan to get another for a while. Again, that was BEFORE I saw the video. After watching that, I knew I had to have one in my collection. After doing some research and comparing the blades, I opted to go with the Nagasa model. I read it was a trial run and was designed for a practitioner at or above 6 feet in height. This applied to me, and since all of my other katana had black handles, I chose to add a little color and beauty to my inventory.
Delivery took right at two weeks. The cardboard box was in good shape and didn’t appear to have any real damage that occurred during transit.
I opened the cardboard and found the display box tightly fitted inside the shipping box.
The display box was beautiful with golden dragons and red floral designs over a shimmering black cloth. The latches and hinges of the box were very nice and seemed to be made of antiqued brass.
I opened the display box and found the sword nicely wrapped in its black travel bag with a Cheness Cutlery business card.
The box lining was very beautiful.
When I removed the sword from the travel bag, I was in awe. The blue ito was perfectly wrapped and felt amazingly comfortable in the hand. Drawing the sword from the saya, it felt very light and very maneuverable. The katana was very responsive and incredibly fast. The weight had me the most surprised. I thought the blade would be heavier than it was.
Sword Overview:
Blade Length: 30 ¾” (includes habaki)
Blade Width: 1 ¼”
Blade Material: 9260 Silicon Alloy Carbon Spring Steel
Hilt Length: 12 1/8”
Overall Length: 42 7/8”
Point of Balance: 6 1/8” from guard (advertised at 6 ½”)
Center of Percussion: The sword absorbed shocks so well it was hard to tell, but roughly 19” from the guard (give or take)
Guard Width: 3”
Pommel: the kashiri is only about ½” deep
Weight: 2lbs 7oz (3lbs 2oz with Saya)
Design, Fit & Finish
The Blade
The blade is exceptionally beautiful on this katana. At just over 30” in length, this blade is slightly larger than the traditional katana.
The blade is extremely smooth with the only hammer marks being present in the bo-hi.
The hamon is much more subtle than the pictures lead you to believe. Though the sword is NOT differentially tempered, the hamon does look nice; even if it is simulated. The edge, however, left a little to be desired. I had heard that the Cheness Katana were like razors and possessed an extremely sharp edge. I was disappointed when I ran my thumb along the edge. The edge couldn’t hold a candle to the sharpness of my Cold Steel Warrior Katana. There was even a section approximately 3” long that was completely unsharpened and held in the right light, you could even see it was blunt (almost flat looking). I was unable to capture it in a photo. The bright side is that this unsharpened section was very close to the guard where no cutting would be done anyways. Don’t get me wrong, the blade (well, most of it) was very sharp and sliced paper like it was nothing; I guess I’m just a bit spoiled from the Cold Steel Katana.
The tang was full length and very strong and sturdy.
The Grip
The tsuka is my favorite part of this katana. It has a blue, cotton Ito over (real) same' and beautiful menuki.
The Ito was very comfortable in my hands and was tightly wrapped with no shifting at all. Holding the tsuka to the tang are two mekugi. Cheness describes the katana as having both mekugi as being wood.
I was pleased to see that mine had one wooden and one made of brass.
The grip is just under 12” in length with the whole hilt coming in at 12 1/8”. The grip is very accommodating to nearly any size hands and grip preferences.
The Pommel
The kashiri is very plain with no design. It was very secure and showed no signs of play when touched. Nothing else to really say about the pommel.
The Guard
I found the tsuba to be attractive. The crane design accented the sword’s aesthetic beauty well and is constructed of blackened steel, not zinc or another cheap alloy.
The tsuba is cut very cleanly with no jagged edges to be found around the design. The tsuba is 1/8” thick and seemed to have a good, sturdy weight.
There is no doubt in my mind that the user’s hands will be well protected with this guard.
The Scabbard
The high gloss of the saya really makes the katana stand out. The sageo is well braided and looks superb! The saya is constructed of a medium hardwood with a black, glossy lacquered finish and is just shy of 32” in length.
My only complaint with the saya is how easily the scabbard is fingerprinted up (with everyone wanting to hold it) and how easily the finish on the saya scratches. Great care must be taken of the saya or else you risk ruining the finish.
Testing
Cutting
With the new katana, I was able to get my hands on some thick, cardboard tubing from a dumpster near my workplace. The tubing was constructed with nearly 3/8” thick walls and was extremely hard and durable. I was able to find some with 3 ½” diameter and some with 4 ½” diameter. I figured these would be a good test of a sword’s cutting edge.
I also got ahold of some milk jugs, a soda bottle, a carton of OJ and a (hard) plastic container used to store dog treats. All of these were filled with water and were ready to be cut down!
I was able to first cut the carton of OJ. I noticed a previous review that a sword had difficulty with the carton, so I wanted to see how sharp this sword really was and if it could cleanly handle the carton.
Yup, it could and did handle it with NO difficulty. Ok, maybe I was alittle hard on the sword at first.
A few days later, I had time to finish the rest of the cutting. First up were the cardboard tubes. I used some wood logs as a base for the targets and the tubes were just resting on the logs, completely unsecured. The first set of cuts were caught on video, but never captured the cut quite good enough. The cuts were pretty clean and the sword plowed through the 3.5” tubing without problems. Next I set up the 4.5” tubing and figured it would be a little tougher of a target.
I was pleased to see the good cuts that were produced. I’m sure the cuts would have been even cleaner if the tubes were more secured to the cutting stand.
I then set up for the water jugs. I started with a half gallon jug. The cuts were great but the video wasn’t the best, so that part was left out. The 1 gallon jug came next, followed by the plastic dog treat container and finished with the 1 liter soda bottle.
All cuts were very clean and the sword easily handled the targets. I was very satisfied with the sword’s performance and knew that the katana was one tough piece of steel!
Flex Test
Having seen Paul Southren’s review of this same steel, I knew the sword was very capable of flexing. So, I set up my camera to capture some of the flexes I did.
I was never able to get a really good flex on camera, but I got a couple decent ones. The sword was stiff, but flexed very well and always sprung back to true.
Conclusion
After seeing how this sword cut and handled, I am very satisfied with this blade. For the money, I don’t think you can find anything that will outperform this blade, even at twice the price!
Historical Accuracy: 1/5 (of course this steel was never used back then)
Fit and Finish: 3.5/5 (only due to the edge)
Handling: 5/5
Structural Integrity: 5/5
Value for Money: 5/5
OVERALL: 5/5 (This thing is just too sweet!)
Where to get:
Look no further than the SBG Store! It goes for $249.99, shipped to your door. You won’t beat this price anywhere.
And I will leave you with a funny video of my wife trying the sword out on a 3.5" tube!
Thanks for reading!
Review by Chad Werner, Ellettsville, IN (USA)
I’ll be honest; it wasn’t but a month or two when I first saw Paul’s durability tests on the Cheness 9260 Spring Steel sword. Before that, I was content with my Katana collection and didn’t plan to get another for a while. Again, that was BEFORE I saw the video. After watching that, I knew I had to have one in my collection. After doing some research and comparing the blades, I opted to go with the Nagasa model. I read it was a trial run and was designed for a practitioner at or above 6 feet in height. This applied to me, and since all of my other katana had black handles, I chose to add a little color and beauty to my inventory.
Delivery took right at two weeks. The cardboard box was in good shape and didn’t appear to have any real damage that occurred during transit.
I opened the cardboard and found the display box tightly fitted inside the shipping box.
The display box was beautiful with golden dragons and red floral designs over a shimmering black cloth. The latches and hinges of the box were very nice and seemed to be made of antiqued brass.
I opened the display box and found the sword nicely wrapped in its black travel bag with a Cheness Cutlery business card.
The box lining was very beautiful.
When I removed the sword from the travel bag, I was in awe. The blue ito was perfectly wrapped and felt amazingly comfortable in the hand. Drawing the sword from the saya, it felt very light and very maneuverable. The katana was very responsive and incredibly fast. The weight had me the most surprised. I thought the blade would be heavier than it was.
Sword Overview:
Blade Length: 30 ¾” (includes habaki)
Blade Width: 1 ¼”
Blade Material: 9260 Silicon Alloy Carbon Spring Steel
Hilt Length: 12 1/8”
Overall Length: 42 7/8”
Point of Balance: 6 1/8” from guard (advertised at 6 ½”)
Center of Percussion: The sword absorbed shocks so well it was hard to tell, but roughly 19” from the guard (give or take)
Guard Width: 3”
Pommel: the kashiri is only about ½” deep
Weight: 2lbs 7oz (3lbs 2oz with Saya)
Design, Fit & Finish
The Blade
The blade is exceptionally beautiful on this katana. At just over 30” in length, this blade is slightly larger than the traditional katana.
The blade is extremely smooth with the only hammer marks being present in the bo-hi.
The hamon is much more subtle than the pictures lead you to believe. Though the sword is NOT differentially tempered, the hamon does look nice; even if it is simulated. The edge, however, left a little to be desired. I had heard that the Cheness Katana were like razors and possessed an extremely sharp edge. I was disappointed when I ran my thumb along the edge. The edge couldn’t hold a candle to the sharpness of my Cold Steel Warrior Katana. There was even a section approximately 3” long that was completely unsharpened and held in the right light, you could even see it was blunt (almost flat looking). I was unable to capture it in a photo. The bright side is that this unsharpened section was very close to the guard where no cutting would be done anyways. Don’t get me wrong, the blade (well, most of it) was very sharp and sliced paper like it was nothing; I guess I’m just a bit spoiled from the Cold Steel Katana.
The tang was full length and very strong and sturdy.
The Grip
The tsuka is my favorite part of this katana. It has a blue, cotton Ito over (real) same' and beautiful menuki.
The Ito was very comfortable in my hands and was tightly wrapped with no shifting at all. Holding the tsuka to the tang are two mekugi. Cheness describes the katana as having both mekugi as being wood.
I was pleased to see that mine had one wooden and one made of brass.
The grip is just under 12” in length with the whole hilt coming in at 12 1/8”. The grip is very accommodating to nearly any size hands and grip preferences.
The Pommel
The kashiri is very plain with no design. It was very secure and showed no signs of play when touched. Nothing else to really say about the pommel.
The Guard
I found the tsuba to be attractive. The crane design accented the sword’s aesthetic beauty well and is constructed of blackened steel, not zinc or another cheap alloy.
The tsuba is cut very cleanly with no jagged edges to be found around the design. The tsuba is 1/8” thick and seemed to have a good, sturdy weight.
There is no doubt in my mind that the user’s hands will be well protected with this guard.
The Scabbard
The high gloss of the saya really makes the katana stand out. The sageo is well braided and looks superb! The saya is constructed of a medium hardwood with a black, glossy lacquered finish and is just shy of 32” in length.
My only complaint with the saya is how easily the scabbard is fingerprinted up (with everyone wanting to hold it) and how easily the finish on the saya scratches. Great care must be taken of the saya or else you risk ruining the finish.
Testing
Cutting
With the new katana, I was able to get my hands on some thick, cardboard tubing from a dumpster near my workplace. The tubing was constructed with nearly 3/8” thick walls and was extremely hard and durable. I was able to find some with 3 ½” diameter and some with 4 ½” diameter. I figured these would be a good test of a sword’s cutting edge.
I also got ahold of some milk jugs, a soda bottle, a carton of OJ and a (hard) plastic container used to store dog treats. All of these were filled with water and were ready to be cut down!
I was able to first cut the carton of OJ. I noticed a previous review that a sword had difficulty with the carton, so I wanted to see how sharp this sword really was and if it could cleanly handle the carton.
Yup, it could and did handle it with NO difficulty. Ok, maybe I was alittle hard on the sword at first.
A few days later, I had time to finish the rest of the cutting. First up were the cardboard tubes. I used some wood logs as a base for the targets and the tubes were just resting on the logs, completely unsecured. The first set of cuts were caught on video, but never captured the cut quite good enough. The cuts were pretty clean and the sword plowed through the 3.5” tubing without problems. Next I set up the 4.5” tubing and figured it would be a little tougher of a target.
I was pleased to see the good cuts that were produced. I’m sure the cuts would have been even cleaner if the tubes were more secured to the cutting stand.
I then set up for the water jugs. I started with a half gallon jug. The cuts were great but the video wasn’t the best, so that part was left out. The 1 gallon jug came next, followed by the plastic dog treat container and finished with the 1 liter soda bottle.
All cuts were very clean and the sword easily handled the targets. I was very satisfied with the sword’s performance and knew that the katana was one tough piece of steel!
Flex Test
Having seen Paul Southren’s review of this same steel, I knew the sword was very capable of flexing. So, I set up my camera to capture some of the flexes I did.
I was never able to get a really good flex on camera, but I got a couple decent ones. The sword was stiff, but flexed very well and always sprung back to true.
Conclusion
After seeing how this sword cut and handled, I am very satisfied with this blade. For the money, I don’t think you can find anything that will outperform this blade, even at twice the price!
Historical Accuracy: 1/5 (of course this steel was never used back then)
Fit and Finish: 3.5/5 (only due to the edge)
Handling: 5/5
Structural Integrity: 5/5
Value for Money: 5/5
OVERALL: 5/5 (This thing is just too sweet!)
Where to get:
Look no further than the SBG Store! It goes for $249.99, shipped to your door. You won’t beat this price anywhere.
And I will leave you with a funny video of my wife trying the sword out on a 3.5" tube!
Thanks for reading!