kris cutlery yagyu
Feb 28, 2009 22:20:38 GMT
Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2009 22:20:38 GMT
Kris Cutlery Yagyu Review (scratch n dent)
By Camron Abghari
WA, USA
First, here is some background info that was provided through this forum about the swords name:
The shape of the tsuba is the Yagyu family cresent. The three holes stand for the Three Secrets, the family school. The Three Secrets are described in Yagyu Munenori's "Book on the family traditions of the art of war". These secrets are:
The Sword which kills
The Sword which brings life
No Sword
In these three chapters, the philosophy of the Yagyu school is set out. Yagyu Munenori was born in 1571 and contemporary with Miyamoto Musashi. Some stories potray Munenori as the antagonist to Musashi but this is myth, the two never met. Munenori was the Shogunke heiho shihan of the Tokugawa shogunate. Which means he was the lead teacher in the art of war of the Shogun and his family.
I will cite one text from the chapter "The killing sword":
"There exsists the possibility that a great number of people suffer at the hands of the evil of one person. In that case, a great many people are saved by killing one person. Would that not be a good example of 'the sword which kills is the sword which brings life'?"
So with that said I'll start my review.
What really got me looking at this sword was the fact that the blade is folded with two different types of steel (1060 and low carbon) and it is differently hardened, which is something hard to find in the sub $300.00 market. When I saw this being offered by Kris Cutlery, I pulled the trigger and bought it. I paid $219.00 including shipping(normally its $227.00 before shipping). I ordered one that had "snags in the ito".
The sword i got had perfectly fine ito so I was a bit confused.
Here is the stats as provided by KC.
Blade: 27" long, 7mm (1/4" +) thick near the habaki, 4.5mm (3/16") thick an inch from the point, tempered edge
Handle: 11 1/2",ray skin, thick dark blue ito, black dragon menuki
Tsuba: 3 1/8" black iron, 4.25mm (3/16") thick
Fuchi-Kashira: low sheen black iron, kashira with black metal shitodome
Kurikata: with black metal shitodome and with thick dark blue sageo
Weight: 2.2 lbs. (w/o scabbard)
(I'm sure the stats very from blade to blade)
DESIGN, FIT & FINISH
From what I can tell this is a very solid design, clean and simple.
The blade fits in its saya very well, to the point that when you pull it out you feel a suction of air. Everything is solid as can be (or expected )
THE BLADE
Folds look really nice. It came pre- etched from KC. Looking down the blade, I noticed a small blemish on the blade. I emailed KC and they offered to replace it with a brand new one! At first I was ready to mail it off, but in reality this blemish was really only skin deep and was fixed rather easy. Plus, I only paid $219.00. *I'm more than happy with a little polishing project .
TEST Cutting
CONCLUSION and SBG Ratings
Historical Accuracy: 3.5/5 its closer then others
Fit and Finish: 4/5 "scratch n dent" and its better then others i have.
Handling: 4/5 for a blade with no-hi its fairly easy on the arms.
Structural Integrity: ?3.5/5 being folded and differently hardened,hard and super heavy targets might not be a good idea(unless your that good )
Value for Money: 5/5 IMHO its the best in its price range($227.00 before shipping).folded/DH,real same,solid wrap,clean fittings(best seppa fit I've seen in person,very nice seppa
OVERALL:4 /5 if you are looking for a folded sword in the sub $300.00 you have to look at this.
*also I'd like to ad that as a "diamond in the not so rough" it has been a great project to polish and etch.
here's some pics......this is after hybrid polish and etch
here is a niku shot
thats about it,this is my first review its been fun.
By Camron Abghari
WA, USA
First, here is some background info that was provided through this forum about the swords name:
The shape of the tsuba is the Yagyu family cresent. The three holes stand for the Three Secrets, the family school. The Three Secrets are described in Yagyu Munenori's "Book on the family traditions of the art of war". These secrets are:
The Sword which kills
The Sword which brings life
No Sword
In these three chapters, the philosophy of the Yagyu school is set out. Yagyu Munenori was born in 1571 and contemporary with Miyamoto Musashi. Some stories potray Munenori as the antagonist to Musashi but this is myth, the two never met. Munenori was the Shogunke heiho shihan of the Tokugawa shogunate. Which means he was the lead teacher in the art of war of the Shogun and his family.
I will cite one text from the chapter "The killing sword":
"There exsists the possibility that a great number of people suffer at the hands of the evil of one person. In that case, a great many people are saved by killing one person. Would that not be a good example of 'the sword which kills is the sword which brings life'?"
So with that said I'll start my review.
What really got me looking at this sword was the fact that the blade is folded with two different types of steel (1060 and low carbon) and it is differently hardened, which is something hard to find in the sub $300.00 market. When I saw this being offered by Kris Cutlery, I pulled the trigger and bought it. I paid $219.00 including shipping(normally its $227.00 before shipping). I ordered one that had "snags in the ito".
The sword i got had perfectly fine ito so I was a bit confused.
Here is the stats as provided by KC.
Blade: 27" long, 7mm (1/4" +) thick near the habaki, 4.5mm (3/16") thick an inch from the point, tempered edge
Handle: 11 1/2",ray skin, thick dark blue ito, black dragon menuki
Tsuba: 3 1/8" black iron, 4.25mm (3/16") thick
Fuchi-Kashira: low sheen black iron, kashira with black metal shitodome
Kurikata: with black metal shitodome and with thick dark blue sageo
Weight: 2.2 lbs. (w/o scabbard)
(I'm sure the stats very from blade to blade)
DESIGN, FIT & FINISH
From what I can tell this is a very solid design, clean and simple.
The blade fits in its saya very well, to the point that when you pull it out you feel a suction of air. Everything is solid as can be (or expected )
THE BLADE
Folds look really nice. It came pre- etched from KC. Looking down the blade, I noticed a small blemish on the blade. I emailed KC and they offered to replace it with a brand new one! At first I was ready to mail it off, but in reality this blemish was really only skin deep and was fixed rather easy. Plus, I only paid $219.00. *I'm more than happy with a little polishing project .
TEST Cutting
CONCLUSION and SBG Ratings
Historical Accuracy: 3.5/5 its closer then others
Fit and Finish: 4/5 "scratch n dent" and its better then others i have.
Handling: 4/5 for a blade with no-hi its fairly easy on the arms.
Structural Integrity: ?3.5/5 being folded and differently hardened,hard and super heavy targets might not be a good idea(unless your that good )
Value for Money: 5/5 IMHO its the best in its price range($227.00 before shipping).folded/DH,real same,solid wrap,clean fittings(best seppa fit I've seen in person,very nice seppa
OVERALL:4 /5 if you are looking for a folded sword in the sub $300.00 you have to look at this.
*also I'd like to ad that as a "diamond in the not so rough" it has been a great project to polish and etch.
here's some pics......this is after hybrid polish and etch
here is a niku shot
thats about it,this is my first review its been fun.