Hanwi Raptor Shobu Zukuri Review (SH2417)
Mar 22, 2010 12:23:13 GMT
Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2010 12:23:13 GMT
Hi Guys,
though I'd share a few thoughts / opinions on my latest purchase, a Shobu Zukuri Raptor. There was some good, and as can be expected on production katana ( IMHO), some bad.
Ordered through Wiwingti, taking advantage of their weekly special. Marc was great, and we arranged shipping (I actually got it shipped to a UPS store in the US, which is only about a half-hour drive for me).
Box was in perfect shape, and the inner box as well. Everything looked good as far as the shipping bit. Then I started to pull the sword apart, and started to notice the good/bad points.
1. The Itomaki is not bad - not great, not bad. Very secure, but not a beautiful job by any means.
2. The menuki are pretty nice. Nice, clean casts. Gold-plated brass, I think. They are held in place with a pin, and a clip that passes under some of the ito. Very secure (and quite hard to remove).
3. The saya is excellent. Horn kurigata/kojiri/koigouchi. Nice, clean work on the koigouchi. I ended up scratching the saya myself with the extremely sharp blade, but that was my fault.
4. Blade is extremely sharp - sharpest I've ever had. Uniformly sharp. Polish is nicely done. Feels quite light for the length, actually. Haven't weighted it yet, though. There is a full 12" nakago on the blade, nicely finished and clean.
5. Habaki is not a standard hanwei - it's a little shorter, and a little beefier i think. Very well fitted. I think you can see from my pics that there is NO space above or below the nakago when the habaki is in place.
6. My habaki did NOT have the little 'rain-pattern' markings on it. Very plain looking.
7. Fuchi / Kashira are huge, blackened iron. Not lacuered or painted, but blackened (just like the other hanwei models). They are big. Fuchi is 43mm outside height, 23mm outside width. Kashira is 39mm outside height, 21mm outside width. They look nice and clean, without any grind marks or casting residue.
8. The tsuba is huge also. 3.5" height, 3.0" width. Looks like a black lacquer was used for its finishing, unlike every other Hanwei tsuba I've seen.
9. Seppa are nice and clean. Quite thick, and two different sizes (one for the koigouchi, one for the fuchi).
Now, we come to the bad part. If I wasn't planning on putting a new tsuka on it myself, I'd have to send this sword back to Marc. IMHO, the tsuka is just plain unsafe. It is EXTREMELY cracked. You can see in my pics that it's got at least 3 cracks going on. I suspected something was wrong because of a bump I felt through the wrap. When I unwrapped it, I wasn't very happy. I was going to try to reuse the existing tsuka, and just do a re-shape/re-wrap, but i'll have to go whole hog on this one. I don't mind so much, IMHO the blade / habaki fit / saya are worth it.
If you check the tsuka pics, you can notice two indentations where the final itomaki knots would go - nicely done. Bit strange that they had that attention to detail on such a cracked tsuka, but I guess that's the one size fits all thing (tsuka fully made before being put on a sword).
Pics are up at
picasaweb.google.ca/jblakey/ShobuZukuriPics#
In conclusion, I would have to say I'm actually happy with this sword - the blade is excellent, the polish is great, the habaki is very nicely done. The saya fit/finish is as nice as I've seen (they even cut around where the habaki would seat in the saya). The only downsides were the tsuka and the wrap ( and the wrap wasn't that bad). I think I've got a great cutter blade here, and I'll be happy to put a new tsuka and wrap on it. Actually, I'm going to put all new fittings on it, and cut down the nakago a bit, I think.
Thanks,
jason
though I'd share a few thoughts / opinions on my latest purchase, a Shobu Zukuri Raptor. There was some good, and as can be expected on production katana ( IMHO), some bad.
Ordered through Wiwingti, taking advantage of their weekly special. Marc was great, and we arranged shipping (I actually got it shipped to a UPS store in the US, which is only about a half-hour drive for me).
Box was in perfect shape, and the inner box as well. Everything looked good as far as the shipping bit. Then I started to pull the sword apart, and started to notice the good/bad points.
1. The Itomaki is not bad - not great, not bad. Very secure, but not a beautiful job by any means.
2. The menuki are pretty nice. Nice, clean casts. Gold-plated brass, I think. They are held in place with a pin, and a clip that passes under some of the ito. Very secure (and quite hard to remove).
3. The saya is excellent. Horn kurigata/kojiri/koigouchi. Nice, clean work on the koigouchi. I ended up scratching the saya myself with the extremely sharp blade, but that was my fault.
4. Blade is extremely sharp - sharpest I've ever had. Uniformly sharp. Polish is nicely done. Feels quite light for the length, actually. Haven't weighted it yet, though. There is a full 12" nakago on the blade, nicely finished and clean.
5. Habaki is not a standard hanwei - it's a little shorter, and a little beefier i think. Very well fitted. I think you can see from my pics that there is NO space above or below the nakago when the habaki is in place.
6. My habaki did NOT have the little 'rain-pattern' markings on it. Very plain looking.
7. Fuchi / Kashira are huge, blackened iron. Not lacuered or painted, but blackened (just like the other hanwei models). They are big. Fuchi is 43mm outside height, 23mm outside width. Kashira is 39mm outside height, 21mm outside width. They look nice and clean, without any grind marks or casting residue.
8. The tsuba is huge also. 3.5" height, 3.0" width. Looks like a black lacquer was used for its finishing, unlike every other Hanwei tsuba I've seen.
9. Seppa are nice and clean. Quite thick, and two different sizes (one for the koigouchi, one for the fuchi).
Now, we come to the bad part. If I wasn't planning on putting a new tsuka on it myself, I'd have to send this sword back to Marc. IMHO, the tsuka is just plain unsafe. It is EXTREMELY cracked. You can see in my pics that it's got at least 3 cracks going on. I suspected something was wrong because of a bump I felt through the wrap. When I unwrapped it, I wasn't very happy. I was going to try to reuse the existing tsuka, and just do a re-shape/re-wrap, but i'll have to go whole hog on this one. I don't mind so much, IMHO the blade / habaki fit / saya are worth it.
If you check the tsuka pics, you can notice two indentations where the final itomaki knots would go - nicely done. Bit strange that they had that attention to detail on such a cracked tsuka, but I guess that's the one size fits all thing (tsuka fully made before being put on a sword).
Pics are up at
picasaweb.google.ca/jblakey/ShobuZukuriPics#
In conclusion, I would have to say I'm actually happy with this sword - the blade is excellent, the polish is great, the habaki is very nicely done. The saya fit/finish is as nice as I've seen (they even cut around where the habaki would seat in the saya). The only downsides were the tsuka and the wrap ( and the wrap wasn't that bad). I think I've got a great cutter blade here, and I'll be happy to put a new tsuka and wrap on it. Actually, I'm going to put all new fittings on it, and cut down the nakago a bit, I think.
Thanks,
jason