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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2010 12:53:01 GMT
My raptor moroha arrived about 1 month ago, and I have been waiting for sometime to get a katana with double edge. This is my third katana , and frankly I am buying this more for the fun of owing a double edge and with a thought of utilizing as my additional katana for cutting practises on bamboo and matt. By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-20 By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-20 By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-20 When It arrived , its weight and balance really impress me, I know this is not a top notch Hanwei, but I am very happy to be able to hold the end of the tsuka in my single left hand without any much effort. I had the opportunity of handling a Moroha Zukuri from Cold Steel Warrior Series before, it was light but tip heavy unlike the raptor moroha which is better balance. However, yes , I have to admit cold steel fittings are above the raptor. By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-20 Another thing that struck me is the Sori , I am not much a fan of seep sori but this is an exception for me ;D I noticed from other moroha zukuri from other manufacturers, its sori is not as deep as this Raptor moroha. My dislike about the Raptor is the size of the tsuba and its rattling saya. I have a raptor unokubi for my second katana, its saya is really a problem till now, it rattles too much Although the tsuba is too wide for my taste, that one is easy to replace and I am gonna replace the tsuba soon. By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-20 When my cutting practise session arrived last week, I used the raptor moroha to practise cutting some matts and bamboo. First of all , I have to clarify that I am still novice in cutting, and still learning. So all the abuse or misdirected cuts made on the bamboo were not intentionally made by me to be like that but due to my poor cutting skills. I had just started practising my bamboo cutting about 6 months ago , and still in the learning curve. Despite the my initial apprehension on its double edge form , the raptor moroha did indeed capable at least taking abuses in bamboo cutting of diameter 4-5cm IMG]http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/1108/cimg1620s.jpg[/IMG] By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-20 By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-20 By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-20 By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-20 By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-20 The photos above are the so called " the best cuts" that I did on the bamboo. The raptor moroha was best for cutting soft targets like matt , but it can take bamboo as well without problem. Although bamboo with wider diameter above 5 cm remain to be tested with Raptor Moroha, I am quite satisfied knowing that it is not an issue at all with bamboo. But I do wonder its cutting retention after prolonged use on bamboo, perhaps not as good as ordinary shinogi zukuri blade?? That remains to be seen later. Anyway thank you for reading this short review.
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Post by William Swiger on Jul 21, 2010 8:05:12 GMT
Glad you like it. Have a couple of the other Raptor and have no complaints.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2010 9:42:43 GMT
Oh, I'm liking it. Though I'd feel a bit apprehensive about using. Noto is absolutely HARD WIRED into my brain, I'd cut myself deep if I were to not break the habit. *Ugh*
Sword itself though looks good, Perform any basic Tsuki with it yet? I'm interested in seeing how the tip of that sword performs.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2010 23:04:30 GMT
;D Yay welcome to the Kissaki-moroha-zukuri owners club! I have been loving mine doing lots of cutting of my bushes in my overgrown yard. Also a lot of water bottles mats and pool noddles. I am working on gathering parts right now to customize mine. Eventually the only original piece will be the blade, but moving slowly collecting the parts so I can keep using it until I do the customizing in one full step. Wow yours has a really deep sori. I never realized the Raptor kissaki-moroha-zukuri had such a deep sori on it. I looks good though. Deep sori is not my cup of tea, but many love them and swear by them. I think it has to do with your personal style and preference. So have you found a way around the noto yet? I still have not found anything other than to not fully sharpen my upper edge and wear a leather glove. Though for the most part I just don't noto. I do the clumsy look and carefully sheath the blade. Not as cool as a well done noto, but it gets the job done, and the unique blade more than makes up in cool points in my book.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2010 16:29:23 GMT
Yeap!! ;D First of all, the moroha raptor although it has a double edge, the upper part was left purposely unsharpened by Hanwei. It was conceived that way so that practitioner can still noto in the conventional way like single edge katana. yeah, I know its kind of a "cheat" , thats one of the reasons I decided to get the Raptor , since I still want to noto the regular way, without sacrificing my fingers For tsuki thrust, I have doubts this raptor moroha can do tsuki effectively since the upper edge is not sharpened. But I am going to try it with soft target such as tatami to the tsuki trust. I have to say this raptor moroha is a lively katana and fun to handle too. I am going to replace the tsuba soon, and I will update you guys with the photos later
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2010 15:38:00 GMT
Just an update, I had replace the original raptor tsuba with a steel tsuba has a smaller diameter than the original one. By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-28 By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-28 By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-28 By hwarangjakarta at 2010-07-28 The smaller tsuba has accentuate the typical Hanwei big grip handle. Judging from the photo, it looks the Moroha is suffering from "battle axe syndrome". I also took the opportunity to replace the original brass seppa with copper seppa , I like to have its reddish tinge of the copper seppa. Anyway, I am still satisfied and glad replacement could be made without much trouble other than enlarging the hole of the tsuba and adding additional copper seppa to the usual 2 pieces seppa configuration. ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2010 16:33:10 GMT
Congrats!Nice blade.I have three Raptors,been thinking of adding this one to the collection.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2010 16:35:52 GMT
Yeap it is a good sword, I am hoping Hanwei will come up with another Moroha with an better fittings other than the raptor !
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2010 18:19:41 GMT
I definitely like it better with the new tsuba, looks great! Do you plan on redoing the tsuka eventually, or are you happy with the size? It is too bad Hanwei doesn't offer a moroha in different fittings, but maybe they will. It does seem interest in these blades is increasing, and more people are offering them. Maybe it is just forges trying out different things? I personally love mine and now that they don't offer them at ST-Swords anymore I am really glad I got it when I did.
So have you noticed a difference when cutting with such a deep sori? I would imagine it would have some effect in the cuts.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2010 15:21:22 GMT
I definitely like it better with the new tsuba, looks great! Do you plan on redoing the tsuka eventually, or are you happy with the size? It is too bad Hanwei doesn't offer a moroha in different fittings, but maybe they will. It does seem interest in these blades is increasing, and more people are offering them. Maybe it is just forges trying out different things? I personally love mine and now that they don't offer them at ST-Swords anymore I am really glad I got it when I did. So have you noticed a difference when cutting with such a deep sori? I would imagine it would have some effect in the cuts. He he he ;)I am kinda embarrassed to answer whether cutting with deep sori or low sori affects the cutting he he he. To be honest, I dont know because I am still novice, when I cut both with unokubi and Moroha, I could not differentiate how it differentiate with its sori. But yeah, if I were to choose, I prefer Moroha , it is lighter and easier to handle than the Unokubi, despite being considered "light" sword , for me it is a medium weight and takes longer time to get used to. I plan to use the moroha to practise my sword forms as well, its weight enable my hands to adjust very quickly, it is a good sword. I am thinking of doing stabbing test on tatami these days, once I done it , I will post it. I am curious as Moroha has an unedge upper edge, maybe just maybe it can pierce easily as if the upper edge is sharp! I think I mentioned before, I handled a Coldsteel moroha, and it can not be compared to the Raptor moroha in terms of balance. Although Coldsteel Moroha on its own is a wonderful sword too, better fittings , nice hamon albeit an artificial one, good strong tempered 1050 steel. ( if the owner will sell at a good price, I will grab it for sure ;D) I have no intention to replace the tsuka now, maybe next time, once the ito worn out or the blade needs sharpening, I will replace the tsuka. It will definitely look much nicer with a slimmer tsuka and especially those rikko shape, and the ito is replace with katatemaki style, Slurp !darn ....drooling just thinking about it! Yeah, if Hanwei is ever going to reissue the moroha with better fitting , maybe with clay-tempering blade, I definitely want to go for it. Btw , are you planning to collect Moroha katana somehow ?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 8, 2010 9:51:13 GMT
For now I can't really afford to collect them, though I am considering picking up the $60 one from Sword N Armory to use as a general practice blade after dulling it down. I would love to collect a bunch of these blades and really get a good comparison, but the finances just aren't there for that.
Not to mention I have another style blade I really want also. A Chinese style that I want to get from Jin Shi a Tang Dynasty Jian. I stumbled on my sword while looking for a really good jian to replace mine that had been left in a VW car trunk in the Pacific North wet by my brother. The blade and fittings were quite rusted, to the point that it made more sense to get a new sword.
While I absolutely love my Kissaki-moroha-zukuri, I still want to get a new jian. Considering I practice tai chi it just fits well with my martial training. Though I have learned other sword forms which I tend to practice in a less formal melding of styles along with the tai chi sword forms which the kissaki-moroha-zukuri does really work well with. The kissaki-moroha-zukuri style seems to be a great melding of blade styles which works well with my melding of sword forms.
So to fully answer your question of do I plan to collect this style, sadly no. Would I like to, hell yes! If given the cash I would definitely collect them.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2010 22:13:32 GMT
Congrats!Nice blade.I have three Raptors,been thinking of adding this one to the collection. hey nice review are all the raptors the same/similiar in terms of tthat sori!!! omg these just keep going up the ranks for next katana vote...and as i said somwhere else earlier and like 6 differnet blade styles?!?!?!?!?!?!??! thats awesome go hanwei!
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