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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2010 11:11:37 GMT
Dan Sinclair reviewed two of those. (Though, for some reason it's not in the review directory.)
/index.cgi?action=display&board=swordreviews&thread=14729&page=1
He also reviewed the prototype:
/index.cgi?board=swordreviews&action=display&thread=10863&page=1#174733
Hope that helps.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2010 17:22:20 GMT
I got one of the first batch, the blade came sharp and straight, I've put it through plenty of abuse and it's still in excellent condition; however my sword was marketed as having real samegawa and real silk ito, both of these things were fake. The ito was also quite loose when I got the sword. It was my first katana, it's ok, nothing special, plus false advertising. The decision is yours.
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Dom T.
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Post by Dom T. on Apr 28, 2010 17:29:28 GMT
It wasn't false advertising, per se. They were supposed to have real samegawa, but the forge botched up the order, apparently. You should have either contacted Eyal or looked at their (DSA's) thread. Anyways, for those of you who don't feel like dredging it up, here:
"During the final step of the production, Hattori’s team apparently ran out of Ray Skin. The order being late, his staff member though it best to proceed with the production as he was on his last model. Obviously this was not the best decision! Not only did he use simulated ray skin on this model, but also used a synthetic fiber for the Ito instead of Silk. Frustrating as it is, these issues do arise when importing. We encountered many unpleasant surprises when we imported LOR swords for various trade shows. That being said, Hattori confirmed that such an error will not happen again. In the meantime, we have reduced the price of model 2202 from 289$ to $200. It is frustrating, but we still consider this a very good katana. The blade is the same as all the other Hattori blades and the kits and silk sword bags are excellent. We have spot checked the other katanas and everything seems fine. I will continue verifying them this week-end as well to make sure no other error slipped. The major issues seem to be largely limited to this model."
"With some help, we finally managed to inspect all the Hattori katanas. We found some discrepancies which will have to amend on our website. After yet another discussion with Hattori, I finally understood the situation. Hattori’s English is barely functional so email communication is difficult, at best. I did manage to get the gist of the info however. With the help of a Martial Arts teacher in Montreal, we were able to pinpoint the problems with some of the katanas. Below are the issues we found. These will be updated on our site.
-models 2202 and 2205 were wrapped with simulated Ray Skin handles. The other katanas are wrapped with real Ray Skin.
-In regards to the itos and saegos, it seems like we misunderstood Hattori during the initial contact. The standard model katanas are made with chemical fiber itos and saegos, not silk. Only the higher end Hattori katanas are made with Silk itos and Saegos. All sword bags are made of silk however.
-Same goes with the Tsubas: The Tsuba on model 2204 is made of iron. But the other Tsubas are made of a powder coated alloy.
-The specs on each katana are correct as they were noted by our staff. There are no issues with the POB, weights, and dimensions.
-There are no issues with the blades. They are made of 1095 High Carbon Steel.
That being said, I would like to apologize for these errors. This is one of the main inconveniences of importing. I still believe in the Hattori line. I still think that his staff makes really nice functional blades. I will however update the site tomorrow to reflect these issues. Although the cost price of each katana is quite high, we will be reducing the retail price to mend this situation. Those who have already purchased the Hattori katana since this last production don’t need to worry. I think you all know that I stand by my customers. I will honor the new prices and will process the refund payment by PayPal or credit card (depending on your payment method).
Until then, I would like to thank all of you for your understanding in the midst of this frustrating situation.
Eyal, DSA inc. "
Source: /index.cgi?board=europeansword&action=display&thread=9639&page=15
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Post by Deleted on Apr 28, 2010 23:55:47 GMT
hey everybody . thanks for answering my questions. i agree with everybody that said those swords look great. i fear i may be hooked on collecting them. and i hope they dont go the way of my coin collection . which is now collecting dust in ahh im not sure anymore . one of my closets i think. anyway thanks all i appreciated it. later. pete.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2010 12:03:07 GMT
Pete: before you sink a lot of money into collecting take a look around the market at what else is available. You can buy a lot better swords for the same price or a little more. Look at hanwei and dynasty forge. Also swordnarmory.com have their own line that offer great value at their price.
Dom T. It goes a little deeper than, "oh its all the forges fault and we didn't realise until the community managed to point it out to us."
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Dom T.
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Post by Dom T. on Apr 29, 2010 13:47:17 GMT
Yeah, I just wanted to point out that it wasn't quite false advertising. I do agree that you can do much better in the sub $300 market. Hanwei def. is still at the top. I personally would go for a custom bare-blade or something like that. A shirasaya, maybe. And then fit it myself, but I understand that isn't for most people.
What's more important is what pete wants in a katana. What exactly are you looking for? Pretty sure plenty of us wouldn't mind throwing our opinions around as to what you should get. Also, like mr.fatbucket said, look around. Read up a little. We've got plenty of reviews around here... somewhere. Try to get as much info as you can before throwing your hard-earned green around, right?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2010 17:15:37 GMT
i'm supposed to get one of DSA elite line so i'll see how it looks and do a little review on the matter (not quite a sub 300$ blade but im still interested ) i had new from Eyal that the Elite line was DH as standard but i don't know how the swords looks i hope it will be made with a historical geometric yokote and kissaki... but for the sub 200 price i would get the practical classic from hanwei and remount it with leather ito (found some on ebay 10$ for 16 feet)
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2010 18:22:35 GMT
I never got an email from Eyal about the rayskin and silk ito situation. Also you say it was only model 2202 and 2205 that had fake samegawa, I got one of the 1700-something ones (I don't remember the number and it's not on their site anymore.) and it had fake samegawa.
I don't know if it really was a mix up or if it was a rip-off; it wouldn't be hard to sell something as more than it is then tell everyone that you yourself were misinformed thus rescinding all blame to someone else.
Regardless of that the ito was wrapped very loosely, when I re-wrapped it myself there was a fair bit of ito left over. The sword bag I received was NOT silk (here's where I'll get told some excuse about how the first batch didn't come with silk bags).
I will say however that the blade and habaki fit the saya very well and that the blade is tough, I put a 7 inch gash into 1/4 inch thick hard plastic with only some minor dulling as a result, no marks, dents or dings on the blade.
Personally I will not be sending any more money to DSA, if I had to start over I'd get a Dynasty Forge Musha.
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Dom T.
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Post by Dom T. on Apr 29, 2010 19:43:44 GMT
Well, no-one's gonna send you an email if you don't say anything to them. If you have a problem with anything from any manufacturer, I don't see why you should complain about it on a forum without trying to get it fixed first, or even just return it. I dunno, that's just me, I guess. And really, I don't mind if you don't send any more money to DSA. I don't know anything about their katana, only their euros. A musha would be a good have been choice. Good luck with the collection, pete.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2010 20:24:29 GMT
I never complained about the sword, this guy wanted to know about DSA and I told my experience of them; did I started a thread bashing DSA or complaining about the sword?
If I had the experience to know it wasn't real rayskin or silk ito when I first got it I would have returned it, like I said it was my first sword; I didn't realize those things until I had put the sword through a fair bit of abuse (and re sharpened twice) and knew I couldn't get a refund for it.
I feel swindled, and nothing you say will change that. I also believe it's better to inform other people about the experiences I've had so they don't have to make the same mistakes that I did.
In your own words you know nothing about their katana, only their euros; I know nothing about their euros, only their katana. Maybe their European swords are great, but I wasn't impressed by the katana or the marketing surrounding it.
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Dom T.
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Post by Dom T. on Apr 29, 2010 20:39:15 GMT
In your own words you know nothing about their katana, only their euros; I know nothing about their euros, only their katana. Touche, good sir. Sorry you had a bad experience with your first katana. I started with some of those crappy sub $100 Musashi, so it wasn't quite a loss. Plus I got to learn first-hand what a crappy katana looks like. ;D They also make good disposable practice for removing tsuka.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 29, 2010 22:39:40 GMT
hey thanks everybody. didnt mean ta start a war. lol. good thing were all armed with swords tho. only reason i was interested in DSA was cause they are located in canada. i got a local knife and sword store that will help me out. they are pretty decent folks. so again thanks all . and ill take your advce. thanks again.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2010 3:29:16 GMT
Hello Pete
Don't feel bad, you didn't start any war. There was, recently, a debate about DSA katanas which went a bit rough IMO, so the subject may be a bit sensitive. It had nothing to do with you. Feel free to ask other questions, about anything, anytime.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2010 11:22:39 GMT
Pete. Have you heard of this place... wiwingtiswordsupply.com/ ?? He is based in Canada and is generally considered one of the best places to go to get swords. He massively undercuts the mrrp on products and will help you with anything. You will be able to by a much better sword from him and without all the marketing fluff from 1995 that DSA insist on using. What basically happened was that the claims being made by DSA about the validity of their product and what they claimed it to be were proven to be untrue.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2010 0:02:08 GMT
I ordered a sword from Wiwingti and it was excellent, I got a great deal on a sword and his customer service couldn't have been much better.
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Dom T.
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Post by Dom T. on May 1, 2010 0:07:44 GMT
Agreed. You'll be hard pressed to find a better vendor than Wiwingti. The only problem with him is that he doesn't have EVERYTHING. Because, well, if he did, then there'd be no reason to buy from anyone else.
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Post by Deleted on May 4, 2010 18:36:21 GMT
it may be a little of topic here but is there someone who tried the Elite line or the mid range line of DSA kats? is there some pictures somewhere of them?
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