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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2010 1:03:03 GMT
The United Black Yoru Doragon Forged Wakizashi Sword This started off as taking one for the team. There was a couple of the guys on the forum who were concerned about the reputation of United Cutlery in days gone by. The swords they have sold in the past have been stainless steel that have welded rat tailed tangs, being no more than wall-hangers for the use of display. This would be fine for the person who wants to decorate their home in a sword styled motif. However, if you are a sincere sword enthusiast, who likes to practice your swordsmanship styles, or do target cutting, that would not suffice. Being a sword enthusiast, and martial artist, myself, I fall into the later category. Also being a person who has previously purchased a United Cutlery’s United Black line product before, I felt as I was not taking a big chance in getting this sword. I also prefer shorter blades, making a wakizashi a good choice for what I need in a Japanese styled sword. My first impression of this sword was that the saya was nice, though not done in traditional paint. The saya throat has a chape of some sort, but I don’t believe that it is buffalo horn or such. The shitadome is rather low on the saya, and the saya doesn’t have the traditional sageo on it, but has a rather long cord. The fit of the sword in the saya is good and snug, as seen here. The blade is wonderful for a through hardened blade. There is no fake/ wire-brush nor etched hamon. I feel if a hamon is not there naturally, there shouldn’t be one. There is a stamp on the blade assumed to be Japanese for “United, strong steel”. On the other side of the blade is a United Cutlery marking stating it to be 1060 carbon steel. The blade geometry is well done and not a secondary bevel seen in some of the other budget swords. The blade is 22 inches with a double bohi. There is probably not a historical styling here, but I still say well done. The seppa fits well on the blade without any play/ slack. The tsuka is about 9 inches long, done in leather ito. The ito is snug and doesn’t have any play. The kashira and fuchi fit snugly on the tsuka. The tsuba is round in acutout style similar to the musashi tsuba, but round. The sword handles well, with a POB of about 3 and a half inches. I found myself spinning it around like a kid watching a ninja movie, and yes I realize that is not how to use a sword, but no one said it isn’t fun. I have posted a vid here for you to see the handling and cutting abilities. Over all, I found this to be excellent for the price that I paid. The pros of this sword is how well it is put together, the fact that it doesn’t have a fake hamon, since it is TH, the blade geometry, the hardening of 57 HRC, and the price. The cons, of course, if you are a traditionalist, that it is not Differentially Hardened, so no hamon at all, leather ito, and no historical overview. Ultimately, I am going to buy a couple more before they are all gone. I suggest that, should you be interested in a budget wakizashi, you should buy one as well.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2010 1:48:10 GMT
nice i'd send this in to Slavia, with some less bling bling menuki.
but as it stands thats a nice wakixashi in a market where a good one is hard to find. will karma you when it coolsdown already gave ya one lol. thanks!.
edit: is the tsuba very thick?. thanks again.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2010 2:02:42 GMT
tsuba is nice and thick... over 1/4"....oh and i got the vid on now.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2010 3:09:14 GMT
Nice wak for the money! +1 for going out on a limb with this one. The leather ito actually looks somewhat decent; I've seen much worse... and it looks like there is a bit of waisting in the tsuka as well. United has certainly improved in recent years, if you know what to buy.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2010 5:44:08 GMT
most of what uc has i am not interested in. the united black line seems to break their mold tho. this is the second piece i have of that line. i also have the ikazuchi. there is also a review on another united black sword on the forum.
i am glad that there are sites like SBG and such that manufacturers can see what we think about their products and improve the standard.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2010 14:01:44 GMT
I have to agree, the United Black line definitely surprised me. I ordered a blade that was a replica of a Rob Criswell katana from the line since the real ones are so scarce these days and I didn't expect it at all to be as sharp as it was.
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Post by kidcasanova on Apr 8, 2010 15:29:43 GMT
most of what uc has i am not interested in. the united black line seems to break their mold tho. this is the second piece i have of that line. i also have the ikazuchi. there is also a review on another united black sword on the forum. i am glad that there are sites like SBG and such that manufacturers can see what we think about their products and improve the standard. Would love to see a review of the Ikazuchi, it's the one that's caught my eye. Do you have the monosteel or folded? Seems every site has a different blade length for it, is it 29 or 30 inches? Reviewww itttttt.
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ecovolo
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Post by ecovolo on Apr 8, 2010 15:43:08 GMT
there is also a review on another united black sword on the forum. Yep. I wrote it. It's for the United Cutlery Black Shikyo, and it's found here: /index.cgi?board=swordreviews&action=display&thread=10541&page=1#169782 This is two positive reviews for the United Cutlery Black line. Hopefully, if this trend keeps up, United Cutlery will become more of a product to consider among martial artists with a budget. +1 karma to Sirtre for taking the plunge on this product. --Edward
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Post by Deleted on Apr 8, 2010 16:22:42 GMT
i reviewed the ikazuchi on another site... reviews.swords.com/united-black-ikazuchi/i also did a partial review of it in the, believe it or not, chinese section of sbg. i really need to move it to the reviews thread. it is a good choice if you want a budget two edged sword that looks like a hybrid of a han jian crossed with a katana. i have the 1045 mono steel model. i am not extremely fond of the commonly misused word "damascus steel" nowadays. i do like the looks of folded steel with the design in the steel and all, but one slight error in the forging process could be a fatal flaw in the blade. so i tend to avoid that type of blade all together.
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Post by kidcasanova on Apr 8, 2010 20:24:17 GMT
i reviewed the ikazuchi on another site... reviews.swords.com/united-black-ikazuchi/i also did a partial review of it in the, believe it or not, chinese section of sbg. i really need to move it to the reviews thread. it is a good choice if you want a budget two edged sword that looks like a hybrid of a han jian crossed with a katana. i have the 1045 mono steel model. i am not extremely fond of the commonly misused word "damascus steel" nowadays. i do like the looks of folded steel with the design in the steel and all, but one slight error in the forging process could be a fatal flaw in the blade. so i tend to avoid that type of blade all together. Exactly the reason I'm leaning towards the monosteel one.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2010 15:01:49 GMT
the tsuka has NO cracks. obvious decent tang length. tsuba side view...for moondog. after sanding the tsuba, it revealed to be brass. mune view... hard to see, but stamp says China.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2010 8:42:04 GMT
that's just the right size thickness. need to really look for one. +1 good stuff!.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2010 23:33:25 GMT
alright... the tough stuff is in... i cut a 750 mL whiskey bottle yesterday with this waki. i dont think my alighnment was bad, maybe, but i do think the palstic is rather tough, and even then i went the width of the bottle instead of the thickness. it scared th crap out of me. it cut thru alright, but there was a thud, and a lot of torque in the wrist. i was sure the wife was gonna get all up in my attitude if i gave her sword a set. so i carefully held it up and looked down both spine and edge... still straight... wipes brow, and crosses in prayer... whew!!!
i tried tis once with a cheap sword, cant remember the name, and torqued a bad set, but the UC waki came out shining. needless to say i wont do that again, with any of my swords. i didnt feel that cutting the old 4x4 post with any sword.
edit; i forgot to mention that it sailed right thru a hanging 1,000 mL saline bag. the bag barely moved. sharp enough for me if it can do that.
just thought everyone might be interested in this update.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2010 23:59:04 GMT
im really impressed with united lately i hope they can keep up the momentum
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2010 0:58:16 GMT
Hey Sir! I've been enjoying your posts, its great to see you here on SBG forum! I'm going by "Greybeard" here, but we've had a good aquaintence on the Sword Network where I'm "JohnD3".
I recently aquired a United Black Ikazuchi based largely on the strength of your review over there (and the fact that that I really love that hybrid cut-and-thrust katana look... ) Havn't cut with it yet but I'm anticipating great things - this baby is sharp. Everything is tight and seems solid.
So thanks for the info! Nice work, as always. Give my regards to Lady E!
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Dom T.
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Post by Dom T. on May 1, 2010 1:22:52 GMT
I know this has nothing to do with the review at all, but what in the world is a 'doragon'? It's, like, spelling out the Japanese pronunciation of an English world.... Isn't that kinda... redundant?
Anyways, nice review. At least this one doesn't have that ridiculous amount of tribal patterning, yes? Yeeeaaaah, I probably fall under the more 'traditional' group of katana enthusiasts around here.... Here's a +1, because I said so.
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Post by Tom K. (ianflaer) on May 1, 2010 2:09:46 GMT
United Black seems to be a real step up from the old UC stuff no doubts there. I like the style of seppa they are using. much better than those gear things and that tuba is very nice.
I would prefer it to be DH but hey, that's just my personal preference. I know that there are many great TH swords out there they just aren't my cup o tea you see.
what I really dislike about this though is the 9 inch tsuka. bleh! just too long for a wakizashi if you ask me (I know you didn't but hey, there it is). I wish more companies would do 6" waki tsuka, that's what I like.
all in all for a budget sword this looks at least passable. I'm not sure what they cost as you didn't mention it but I could see it being a good buy at $100-ish. doing a quick web search it looks like they can easily be found for half that. so yeah, I think we have a budget sword winner right here.
good review.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2010 6:15:54 GMT
United Black seems to be a real step up from the old UC stuff no doubts there. I like the style of seppa they are using. much better than those gear things and that tuba is very nice. I would prefer it to be DH but hey, that's just my personal preference. I know that there are many great TH swords out there they just aren't my cup o tea you see. what I really dislike about this though is the 9 inch tsuka. bleh! just too long for a wakizashi if you ask me (I know you didn't but hey, there it is). I wish more companies would do 6" waki tsuka, that's what I like. all in all for a budget sword this looks at least passable. I'm not sure what they cost as you didn't mention it but I could see it being a good buy at $100-ish. doing a quick web search it looks like they can easily be found for half that. so yeah, I think we have a budget sword winner right here. good review. i am with ypu bro, long tsuka... but hey, i prefer jian, so a one handed sword is fine to me. of course in a japanese sword a hamon would be nice, but at least no fake one...peace.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2010 6:20:18 GMT
Hey Sir! I've been enjoying your posts, its great to see you here on SBG forum! I'm going by "Greybeard" here, but we've had a good aquaintence on the Sword Network where I'm "JohnD3". I recently aquired a United Black Ikazuchi based largely on the strength of your review over there (and the fact that that I really love that hybrid cut-and-thrust katana look... ) Havn't cut with it yet but I'm anticipating great things - this baby is sharp. Everything is tight and seems solid. So thanks for the info! Nice work, as always. Give my regards to Lady E! yeah, i consider it like a hybrid version of a han. btw, howdy john, you doin fine i hope. i am about to make finals in this semester.. i write you later.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2010 22:34:52 GMT
Nice waki review, +1 from me.
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