Musashi Best Miyamoto - Second Look
Jul 12, 2009 18:59:52 GMT
Post by Deleted on Jul 12, 2009 18:59:52 GMT
Introduction
I was eating sushi at a restaurant a few months ago and saw they had a katana on display above a samurai set of armor. That's about all it took to get the gears going in my head and sent me on a search to find a great entry-level katana that wouldn't break the bank. That search led me to SBG and consequently Musashi katanas. What I gathered is that at ~$80-100 price point, Musashi is relatively unrivaled in quality of blade and overall value.
On Trueswords at the time, they were selling the Bamboo tsuba as well as two others in the same line for $79.99 US. For whatever reason, the Best Miyamoto was $84.99, but I decided to go with it anyway because I like the simplicity and, being new to katanas (without developed tastes), didn't want to choose something with flashier fittings that later on I would look back on and have the same feeling that some people get when they look back on pictures of themselves in the 80's and 70's and wondered why they thought bell-bottoms and Members Only jackets were cool.
I don't think it is under any contention that Musashi uses multiple forges for their swords, and I had heard that some swords that were supposed to be differentially hardened were in fact TH and had wire-brushed hamon (reference to the excellent Musashi Best Miyamoto review done earlier this month: /index.cgi?board=swordreviews&action=display&thread=9674). I wrote Trueswords an email inquiring about it, and within 5 minutes I had a reply email from Evan Johnson from Trueswords who reassured me that the Musashi blades they had in that line in stock now were all DH, clay tempered. I ordered the sword, and two days later the price dropped $5 on the site, which Evan promptly reimbursed me for. Excellent customer service.
Historical overview
A few weeks ago I had to recertify for an advanced cardiac life support course, which is taught by EMS/Fire Rescue staff (stick with me here, there's a point). At one point, the EMS guy was supposed to give a lecture on the mechanism/pathophysiology of heart attacks. The particular audience for this certification was 95% doctors. Looking to the audience, he told us that he felt like a kindergartner trying to give a lecture to a physicist about how gravity works.
I have learned a great deal in the past month or so, but me trying to explain a historical overview to you guys of katanas would be like that EMS guy giving a lecture on heart attack to a panel of cardiologists. I am going to defer.
Initial Impressions
The package arrived in 3-4 days in a long cardboard box, and inside that box was nestled another simple red box that says Musashi. After wrestling with the tape on every level of boxing, I finally got it open. Inside lay a sword bag packed with foam for protection and the Musashi certificate. Inside the sword bag was my new katana. I quickly unsheathed it, and it was coated in a good layer of oil. Everything looked ok, nothing glaringly broken or loose about the whole production.
Statistics
According to the certificate:
Traditional hand forge Muku-kitae method
1060 steel with water temper process
Hamon and hardness (55 HRC) created in the temper process
Real ray skin wrapped grip and black cotton cord wrap
Iron tsuba with brass fuchi and kashira
Black wooden scabbard
41" overall, 29.5" blade, 10.5" handle
Weight 2.5-3.0 lbs
Components
Overview
Overall the sword feels and looks solid, with no loose fittings or obvious defects.
The Handle/Tsuka
The tsuka is tapered, and has real same wrap under cotton ito. The ito is wrapped very tightly in a non-alternating pattern. The quality of the cotton is mediocre, but for the price more than acceptable seeing as it doesn't look like it will shift at all after heavy usage. In my tiny Asian hands, the handle feels of appropriate size. If you have the sort of big American meat hands that preferred the original xbox controller, you may have a different experience.
The Guard/Tsuba
The tsuba is a version of Musashi Miyamoto's tsuba in iron. I like it - simple and elegant. No movement at all.
The Pommel/Fuchi-Kashira
The fuchi-kashira are done in the dragon theme fitting of the other million katanas at this price. Nothing to write home about, but being dark and relatively un-eye catching I appreciate it keeps the whole sword look simple. Some other inexpensive swords have cheap fittings, but then they are highlighted in gold etc., which I kinda think is like those guys who wear huge fake bling watches and chains. Why draw attention to something so obviously cheap? I digress.
The menuki is actually gold colored. I am not sure why my camera decided to make it look silver. I found somewhere that it supposedly "dragon and sword", but to me looks like "blob on long blob." Jury's out.
The seppa is stamped with "Musashi" in big ugly block letters. I could've lived without that.
The Scabbard/Saya
Nothing to see here. Of note is that the saya holds the sword tightly, with no danger of it falling out of the saya held vertically. No rattle in the saya either. Can't ask for much more.
The Blade:
Here is where the money is. The 1060 steel, with bo-hi, shows a clear authentic hamon. BOOYAH! The polish is pretty utilitarian, but good. The yokote is counterpolished. The blade edge feels sharp, though not sharp to the point of replacing my Mach 3. No secondary bevel.
Handling Characteristics
This is my first katana, so the best I can say is that handling it feels pretty comfortable and responsive. If you play a musical instrument, you can probably remember the first couple of times you picked up a guitar/violin/tuba? and tried to play. It was most likely pretty awkward. I am in that awkard stage. Let's call it "katana puberty." As time goes on I hopefully will be able to give a more educated description.
Test Cutting
The katana cut through paper relatively easy, though it ripped a few times. With the blade not being razor edge sharp, I was more than curious to see how it would cut something more substantial. I live in a condo of a high-rise in Miami, so it's a bit tough to set up an area to swing around in. Nevertheless, I was determined to cut something, so I waited til no one else was home and set up a water-filled milk gallon jug on the kitchen table and made sure the dog was out of the way.
Whoosh! It took me by surprise how easily the sword cut through the bottle. I really wasn't expecting that - in fact I lost my balance a little. I was all set to take pictures of the cut jug to share, but I really wasn't prepared for the amount of water I flooded the kitchen in. It took me a good while to clean it all up, but in my haste to remove the evidence I forgot to take pictures. I really didn't want to try and explain to anyone why our kitchen was flooded and half a gallon jug was on the other side of the room. Long story short, in my short experience with cutting with the sword, I learned two things:
1) The sword seems to cut very well on light targets
2) Don't cut liquid filled things in the kitchen over area rugs
Live and learn.
Conclusions
Overall, I really like the Musashi Best Miyamoto, and I feel fortunate that I received a blade that was exactly what I was aiming for. It's got a nice place in my room above the head of my bed, and looks great there. I feel relatively sure that I won't hit in the middle of the night, knock it out of the saya, and guillotine myself but if you read about it in the news, that was me.
I realize I'm displaying it in the katana kake in a manner that suggests I am at war. Howevever, (A) it balances out the room aesthetically better in my opinion in this configuration (B) the apartment next door plays loud techno house music late at night when I have to get up and get to work at 5 AM, so I have declared war on them. They don't know about it yet.
Also I learned that katana kake is not, in fact, a delicious dessert, or even a dessert at all.
Pros
- 1060 DH steel with clay-tempered hamon
- $80
- Fittings all tight, solid, and not garish
Cons
- The fittings are what you'd expect, which is not all that sexy or intricate
- Ito quality tight, but of mediocre-poor material
The Bottom Line
I would highly recommend this sword to anyone looking to get an entry-level katana, with the caveats that you should check with your vendor to check if the blade is truly clay-tempered DH on the specific blade you are buying and that you buy from a vendor which has a track-record for great customer service, as there are multiple things that could go wrong with a katana at this price point (or higher, even).
I hope you've enjoyed this, my first review, and learned something about the Musashi Best Miyamoto, if not at least been mildly entertained otherwise. I'll kindly take constructive comments, the interesting karma thing that goes on here, or any of your nice swords you'd like to send me.
I thought I would feel satiated after this purchase. I am at once both satisfied and craving more; in effect like taking a bite out of a sirloin steak - tastes GREAT, but man wouldn't it be nice to have a filet mignon.
I was eating sushi at a restaurant a few months ago and saw they had a katana on display above a samurai set of armor. That's about all it took to get the gears going in my head and sent me on a search to find a great entry-level katana that wouldn't break the bank. That search led me to SBG and consequently Musashi katanas. What I gathered is that at ~$80-100 price point, Musashi is relatively unrivaled in quality of blade and overall value.
On Trueswords at the time, they were selling the Bamboo tsuba as well as two others in the same line for $79.99 US. For whatever reason, the Best Miyamoto was $84.99, but I decided to go with it anyway because I like the simplicity and, being new to katanas (without developed tastes), didn't want to choose something with flashier fittings that later on I would look back on and have the same feeling that some people get when they look back on pictures of themselves in the 80's and 70's and wondered why they thought bell-bottoms and Members Only jackets were cool.
I don't think it is under any contention that Musashi uses multiple forges for their swords, and I had heard that some swords that were supposed to be differentially hardened were in fact TH and had wire-brushed hamon (reference to the excellent Musashi Best Miyamoto review done earlier this month: /index.cgi?board=swordreviews&action=display&thread=9674). I wrote Trueswords an email inquiring about it, and within 5 minutes I had a reply email from Evan Johnson from Trueswords who reassured me that the Musashi blades they had in that line in stock now were all DH, clay tempered. I ordered the sword, and two days later the price dropped $5 on the site, which Evan promptly reimbursed me for. Excellent customer service.
Historical overview
A few weeks ago I had to recertify for an advanced cardiac life support course, which is taught by EMS/Fire Rescue staff (stick with me here, there's a point). At one point, the EMS guy was supposed to give a lecture on the mechanism/pathophysiology of heart attacks. The particular audience for this certification was 95% doctors. Looking to the audience, he told us that he felt like a kindergartner trying to give a lecture to a physicist about how gravity works.
I have learned a great deal in the past month or so, but me trying to explain a historical overview to you guys of katanas would be like that EMS guy giving a lecture on heart attack to a panel of cardiologists. I am going to defer.
Initial Impressions
The package arrived in 3-4 days in a long cardboard box, and inside that box was nestled another simple red box that says Musashi. After wrestling with the tape on every level of boxing, I finally got it open. Inside lay a sword bag packed with foam for protection and the Musashi certificate. Inside the sword bag was my new katana. I quickly unsheathed it, and it was coated in a good layer of oil. Everything looked ok, nothing glaringly broken or loose about the whole production.
Statistics
According to the certificate:
Traditional hand forge Muku-kitae method
1060 steel with water temper process
Hamon and hardness (55 HRC) created in the temper process
Real ray skin wrapped grip and black cotton cord wrap
Iron tsuba with brass fuchi and kashira
Black wooden scabbard
41" overall, 29.5" blade, 10.5" handle
Weight 2.5-3.0 lbs
Components
Overview
Overall the sword feels and looks solid, with no loose fittings or obvious defects.
The Handle/Tsuka
The tsuka is tapered, and has real same wrap under cotton ito. The ito is wrapped very tightly in a non-alternating pattern. The quality of the cotton is mediocre, but for the price more than acceptable seeing as it doesn't look like it will shift at all after heavy usage. In my tiny Asian hands, the handle feels of appropriate size. If you have the sort of big American meat hands that preferred the original xbox controller, you may have a different experience.
The Guard/Tsuba
The tsuba is a version of Musashi Miyamoto's tsuba in iron. I like it - simple and elegant. No movement at all.
The Pommel/Fuchi-Kashira
The fuchi-kashira are done in the dragon theme fitting of the other million katanas at this price. Nothing to write home about, but being dark and relatively un-eye catching I appreciate it keeps the whole sword look simple. Some other inexpensive swords have cheap fittings, but then they are highlighted in gold etc., which I kinda think is like those guys who wear huge fake bling watches and chains. Why draw attention to something so obviously cheap? I digress.
The menuki is actually gold colored. I am not sure why my camera decided to make it look silver. I found somewhere that it supposedly "dragon and sword", but to me looks like "blob on long blob." Jury's out.
The seppa is stamped with "Musashi" in big ugly block letters. I could've lived without that.
The Scabbard/Saya
Nothing to see here. Of note is that the saya holds the sword tightly, with no danger of it falling out of the saya held vertically. No rattle in the saya either. Can't ask for much more.
The Blade:
Here is where the money is. The 1060 steel, with bo-hi, shows a clear authentic hamon. BOOYAH! The polish is pretty utilitarian, but good. The yokote is counterpolished. The blade edge feels sharp, though not sharp to the point of replacing my Mach 3. No secondary bevel.
Handling Characteristics
This is my first katana, so the best I can say is that handling it feels pretty comfortable and responsive. If you play a musical instrument, you can probably remember the first couple of times you picked up a guitar/violin/tuba? and tried to play. It was most likely pretty awkward. I am in that awkard stage. Let's call it "katana puberty." As time goes on I hopefully will be able to give a more educated description.
Test Cutting
The katana cut through paper relatively easy, though it ripped a few times. With the blade not being razor edge sharp, I was more than curious to see how it would cut something more substantial. I live in a condo of a high-rise in Miami, so it's a bit tough to set up an area to swing around in. Nevertheless, I was determined to cut something, so I waited til no one else was home and set up a water-filled milk gallon jug on the kitchen table and made sure the dog was out of the way.
Whoosh! It took me by surprise how easily the sword cut through the bottle. I really wasn't expecting that - in fact I lost my balance a little. I was all set to take pictures of the cut jug to share, but I really wasn't prepared for the amount of water I flooded the kitchen in. It took me a good while to clean it all up, but in my haste to remove the evidence I forgot to take pictures. I really didn't want to try and explain to anyone why our kitchen was flooded and half a gallon jug was on the other side of the room. Long story short, in my short experience with cutting with the sword, I learned two things:
1) The sword seems to cut very well on light targets
2) Don't cut liquid filled things in the kitchen over area rugs
Live and learn.
Conclusions
Overall, I really like the Musashi Best Miyamoto, and I feel fortunate that I received a blade that was exactly what I was aiming for. It's got a nice place in my room above the head of my bed, and looks great there. I feel relatively sure that I won't hit in the middle of the night, knock it out of the saya, and guillotine myself but if you read about it in the news, that was me.
I realize I'm displaying it in the katana kake in a manner that suggests I am at war. Howevever, (A) it balances out the room aesthetically better in my opinion in this configuration (B) the apartment next door plays loud techno house music late at night when I have to get up and get to work at 5 AM, so I have declared war on them. They don't know about it yet.
Also I learned that katana kake is not, in fact, a delicious dessert, or even a dessert at all.
Pros
- 1060 DH steel with clay-tempered hamon
- $80
- Fittings all tight, solid, and not garish
Cons
- The fittings are what you'd expect, which is not all that sexy or intricate
- Ito quality tight, but of mediocre-poor material
The Bottom Line
I would highly recommend this sword to anyone looking to get an entry-level katana, with the caveats that you should check with your vendor to check if the blade is truly clay-tempered DH on the specific blade you are buying and that you buy from a vendor which has a track-record for great customer service, as there are multiple things that could go wrong with a katana at this price point (or higher, even).
I hope you've enjoyed this, my first review, and learned something about the Musashi Best Miyamoto, if not at least been mildly entertained otherwise. I'll kindly take constructive comments, the interesting karma thing that goes on here, or any of your nice swords you'd like to send me.
I thought I would feel satiated after this purchase. I am at once both satisfied and craving more; in effect like taking a bite out of a sirloin steak - tastes GREAT, but man wouldn't it be nice to have a filet mignon.