Hanwei Practical PRO Katana
May 15, 2010 21:50:27 GMT
Post by Deleted on May 15, 2010 21:50:27 GMT
Ok, so I have found some time to finally sit down and make a review.
Why did I bought this sword? Because it was the very first sword I have ever set my eyes upon when I started my journey to the world of swords many years ago.
But let us get down to the business, shall we?
(just a warning that most of my pictures will be quite big)
Here is the beast
Such a beauty it is
The fittings:
Standard brass seppas and blackened iron fuchi and kashira. I must say I did not like the tsuba when I saw it on most of the pictures. But when I touched it with my own fingers, and saw it with my own eyes I've found it to be really atractive. Very simple yet very pleasant.
Oh, forgot to mention the Habaki. One word - AWESOME. It fits so good that is almost unheard of when it comes to production blades. Take a look
There is just a smaaaall gap from te tsuka side
It also fits in the saya very well
The Blade:
Now this is really interesting. The blade is just a little more that 77 cm (around 30 inches), with a really nice, typical for Hanwei Hamon. I'll stop right here to make one thing clear. On many other forums I've found mr 'know it all' who claimed that all Hanwei hamons are only etched. That is not true, they have real hamon which is additionally etched to be more distinguishable. If you polish the blade in proper way you will reveal the true Hamon (just writing this in case anyone else would have doubts about the hamon).
The blade has a rough polish on the cutting side and mirror on the back. The width right above the habaki is precisely 30,5 mm...
...and 20 mm just where the yokote is.
The Tang and the Tsuka
Damn I just loooove long tsuka's and this baby is almost 39 cm (about 15 inches).
The tang is almost 32 cm long (about 12 inches).
And now side by side
And the Hanwei mark on the nakago
Sweet isn't it?
The menukis look good but they feel like plastic, the ito is fake leather - looks good on most pictures, looks like crap in reality, but feels good in hand. Seriously good - not too soft, not too hard. The fake same is forgiveable but come on... Practical Plus is cheaper and still got a real same... that's not fair. Pro as more expensive sword should have real same AND a nice real leather. Or at least cotton ito.
But it's time to move on to the real downside of this sword. I hesitated to take it apart, because I had bad feelings. I did it anyway and I stopped by breath for this one second whe I was removing the fuchi. Yep, my tsuka is sempriniing cracked. Sorry for that, but I was (and still am) pissed and a bit sad at the same time. I carefully kooked how bad the crack is. From I have managed to see, it looked like only the part under the fuchi had a crack. But I tood a ordinary needle and found that the crack was about 4 cm deep. Here are some pictures.
That seriously interrupted my mood. There might be a way to repair it without making a whole new tsuka, Maybe when I'll be customizing PRO I'll take off ito and same and check how bad this crack really is. Maybe I'll be able to repair it with additional wood and glue
Apart from that the tsuka is OK, feels good in hand, and gives extreme good control over the sword. It is so well balanced that feels lighter than my DF Shobu despite the fact it's actually heavier.
As for the saya It's a standard one, nothing to write home about but does it's job and looks nice. The sageo is also nicely wrapped
OK, time to finish this:
Pros:
-Beautiful long and thick blade (almost 9mm at the habaki)
-Very sharp (not as sharp as DF Shobu but thats due to different geometry and some niku)
-feels good in hands, very agile and feels light, long hande enables extreme control
-Very nice blade for such price (but only if you buy from Marc
Cons:
-Damn cracked tsuka
-Some saya rattle
-Like I said earlier, fittings should be beter (ito,same,menuki)
And that's the end of my review, hope you liked it
Why did I bought this sword? Because it was the very first sword I have ever set my eyes upon when I started my journey to the world of swords many years ago.
But let us get down to the business, shall we?
(just a warning that most of my pictures will be quite big)
Here is the beast
Such a beauty it is
The fittings:
Standard brass seppas and blackened iron fuchi and kashira. I must say I did not like the tsuba when I saw it on most of the pictures. But when I touched it with my own fingers, and saw it with my own eyes I've found it to be really atractive. Very simple yet very pleasant.
Oh, forgot to mention the Habaki. One word - AWESOME. It fits so good that is almost unheard of when it comes to production blades. Take a look
There is just a smaaaall gap from te tsuka side
It also fits in the saya very well
The Blade:
Now this is really interesting. The blade is just a little more that 77 cm (around 30 inches), with a really nice, typical for Hanwei Hamon. I'll stop right here to make one thing clear. On many other forums I've found mr 'know it all' who claimed that all Hanwei hamons are only etched. That is not true, they have real hamon which is additionally etched to be more distinguishable. If you polish the blade in proper way you will reveal the true Hamon (just writing this in case anyone else would have doubts about the hamon).
The blade has a rough polish on the cutting side and mirror on the back. The width right above the habaki is precisely 30,5 mm...
...and 20 mm just where the yokote is.
The Tang and the Tsuka
Damn I just loooove long tsuka's and this baby is almost 39 cm (about 15 inches).
The tang is almost 32 cm long (about 12 inches).
And now side by side
And the Hanwei mark on the nakago
Sweet isn't it?
The menukis look good but they feel like plastic, the ito is fake leather - looks good on most pictures, looks like crap in reality, but feels good in hand. Seriously good - not too soft, not too hard. The fake same is forgiveable but come on... Practical Plus is cheaper and still got a real same... that's not fair. Pro as more expensive sword should have real same AND a nice real leather. Or at least cotton ito.
But it's time to move on to the real downside of this sword. I hesitated to take it apart, because I had bad feelings. I did it anyway and I stopped by breath for this one second whe I was removing the fuchi. Yep, my tsuka is sempriniing cracked. Sorry for that, but I was (and still am) pissed and a bit sad at the same time. I carefully kooked how bad the crack is. From I have managed to see, it looked like only the part under the fuchi had a crack. But I tood a ordinary needle and found that the crack was about 4 cm deep. Here are some pictures.
That seriously interrupted my mood. There might be a way to repair it without making a whole new tsuka, Maybe when I'll be customizing PRO I'll take off ito and same and check how bad this crack really is. Maybe I'll be able to repair it with additional wood and glue
Apart from that the tsuka is OK, feels good in hand, and gives extreme good control over the sword. It is so well balanced that feels lighter than my DF Shobu despite the fact it's actually heavier.
As for the saya It's a standard one, nothing to write home about but does it's job and looks nice. The sageo is also nicely wrapped
OK, time to finish this:
Pros:
-Beautiful long and thick blade (almost 9mm at the habaki)
-Very sharp (not as sharp as DF Shobu but thats due to different geometry and some niku)
-feels good in hands, very agile and feels light, long hande enables extreme control
-Very nice blade for such price (but only if you buy from Marc
Cons:
-Damn cracked tsuka
-Some saya rattle
-Like I said earlier, fittings should be beter (ito,same,menuki)
And that's the end of my review, hope you liked it
