T10 Akitsushima re-post.
Nov 9, 2010 10:18:22 GMT
Post by spud on Nov 9, 2010 10:18:22 GMT
T10 Munetoshi Handmade Akitsushima katana Review
Introduction
I’ve held out on buying any new swords for almost 2 years waiting for my K.I. to show up. In that time watched with great interest the changes happening in the market place. I’ve never seen prices become so reasonable whilst in general the quality & availability rising to such a high level in the lower or everyday end of the market. So I decided to take the plunge as nothing lasts for ever, right.
Now I didn’t intend to buy more than one, honestly but ended up with 3 at once, but I’ll only cover the Akitsushima in this review & the others soon after. I looked around, read all the reviews, spoke to fellow sword lovers etc as we all do. Having previously done Gumdo I contacted A&S after seeing there video with the Kumdo people to follow that up as Jingum for some reason seen to cost a lot more than a Katana & are harder to get. They said they were working on something at the moment, asked what I was looking for & offered a few swords to look at in the mean time that fitted my Katana criteria.
I chose this sword for the weight, length, steel type, finish & of course price $249.98 usd. Now for a few photos of how things progressed for those already bored.
Delivery & Initial Impressions
The swords were dispatched from Sword & Armoury on the January 26th via USPS & arrived on my door step on the February 3rd, needless to say I was pretty impressed. They arrived undamaged due to being packaged so well, even though there was a small gauge out of the box which I believe was done locally (good old Australia Post).
Opening the main box I found three separate boxes, the Akitsushima came in one of those nifty lined boxes as seen above & was unaffected by its travels.
The box contained a manufacturers Numbered certificate, a cleaning kit, spare seppa & Mekugi & the sword itself is in a very nice sword bag, excitement building but it was late at night & I had worked overtime so needed to leave it till morning, besides I wanted to view the blade in day light.
Statistics: straight off Sword & Armoury’s web site. I know some of you folks like this info as well
• Overall Length: 39.5 "
• Blade: Sharp
• Nagasa Length: 27.5 "
• Blade Material: T10
• Tsuka Length: 10.5 "
• Niku: Light Niku
• Blade Thickness @ Habaki: 0.288 "
• Sori: 0.564 "
• Blade Thickness @ Kissaski: 0.222 "
• Kissaki Length: 1.708 "
• Blade Width @ Habaki: 1.249 "
• Lamination: Maru
• Blade Width @ Kissaki: 0.914 "
• Hamon: Notare w/ Yahazu
• Weight W/O Saya: 2.20 LBS, 35.2 Ounces
• Balance Point: 5.25 " from Tsuba
• Tsuba Material: Iron
• Hardness of Yakiba: 58 HRC
• Ito & Sageo Material: Chemical Fiber
• Fuchi Kashira Material: Iron & Brass
• Sword Name: Akitsushima
• Mekugi: Double Pin
• Collection: Take
• Condition: Brand New
• Manufacturer: Munetoshi
Features
Blade: The blade of the Katana has been constructed from T10 in a Maru Lamination. The hamon of the blade has been authentically created and features a strong Notare pattern with traces of Yahzau. The Nie of the hamon is very well defined with strong activity within the Hamon. The blade comes with full tang and razor sharp.
The Kissaki is a Chu (medium style) style with a ko-maru turn back in the Boshi.
Saya: Gold dust has been added to the gray finish of the Saya and then sealed with a clear lacquer finish.
Tsuka: The Tsuba is blackened Iron with a Sukashi style dragonfly and cat tails. The Tsuka features a double pinned Mekugi and a brass dragonfly Menuki. The Same (ray skin) is crisp white, with a dark blue chemical fiber Ito Tsukamaki. The Ito features correct crossovers in a Hinerimaki style and hishigami.
Photo time;
I really like the Saya look & finish, the gold dust on the grey looks very nice yet is subtle until it’s placed in the sun or a direct light source. Having only ever owned swords with the high gloss black Saya this makes a refreshing change let me tell you.
The Dark blue ito (chemical fibre) is as tight as a drum & was done by Kevin at sword & Armoury as they felt the standard wasn’t up to scratch such are their high standards & customer service which I have to say was fantastic every step of the way.
The Fuchi & Kashira aren’t alloy which is a big plus in my book & the iron Tsuba is not one of those oh so common types that we see on every second sword these days. I can’t stand owning something that’s so over used or common it actually annoys me to look at it anymore.
Now for the blade, it was everything aesthetically I was promised & told it would be. Jenn hand picked this blade from the batch for me knowing what I was looking for & expecting in a blade, can you ask for more. I have a very old digital camera & the weather here was sunny one moment & overcast the next repeatedly broken by the odd shower, so lighting was difficult to work with & I’m lousy at taking photos at the best of times. These photo’s don’t come anywhere near showing the beauty of this blades hamon in real life, sorry it’s the best I can do for now.
Handling Characteristics
I haven’t done any target cutting with this sword yet as the weathers insane here at the moment but the weight feels good when dry cutting, not too heavy or light (I’m a heavy set guy of 5ft 10” if that makes a difference). It feels a lot lighter / faster than my Shura & the balance seems better also as I don’t get any “kick back” from it like I do with my carbon steel Iaito.
Conclusions
Personally for a sword in this price range I was surprised by the overall care & quality of this sword, from the packaging /delivery time, presentation, fittings & of course the beauty of the blade itself. The service from Sword & Armoury was top notch all the way through including Kevin’s Itomaki job, Jenn’s choice of blade after taking the time to listen to what it was I really wanted.
The only fault I found is the Habaki has about a 1mm gap between it & the mouth of the saya on either side (top & bottom still make a tight friction fit). This is an easy fix & not really of concern to me as it’s something I can fix myself which in the end will only give it a more personal connection to me having done some work on it.
I didn’t love the Tsuba at first nor did I think “god that’s ugly or I hate it” but it is growing on me the more I see it. I do very much like the saya & have since my eyes first saw it, the Fuchi & Kashira are well done, made from iron & brass (I always feel cheated when I get those cheap alloy ones) are fully functional but I’ve seen this design on many blades so doesn’t excite me. Yes I’m fussy, get over it.
Pros
T10 blade with great harmon.
Saya finish
Good weight & balance
Tight itomaki wrap
Iron Tsuba
Iron & brass Fuchi Kashira
Cleaning kit & spare parts
Numbered certificate
Nice sword bag
Solid Tsuka
Price
Cons
Synthetic Ito
1mm gap either side between Habaki & saya mouth
All to commonly used Fuchi Kashira design
The Bottom Line
I would & will recommend this sword & this company to anyone looking for a sword in our price range without hesitation. If nothing else the Pro’s & Con’s list should sum it up as 2 out of the 3 con’s is just me being overly fussy.
Introduction
I’ve held out on buying any new swords for almost 2 years waiting for my K.I. to show up. In that time watched with great interest the changes happening in the market place. I’ve never seen prices become so reasonable whilst in general the quality & availability rising to such a high level in the lower or everyday end of the market. So I decided to take the plunge as nothing lasts for ever, right.
Now I didn’t intend to buy more than one, honestly but ended up with 3 at once, but I’ll only cover the Akitsushima in this review & the others soon after. I looked around, read all the reviews, spoke to fellow sword lovers etc as we all do. Having previously done Gumdo I contacted A&S after seeing there video with the Kumdo people to follow that up as Jingum for some reason seen to cost a lot more than a Katana & are harder to get. They said they were working on something at the moment, asked what I was looking for & offered a few swords to look at in the mean time that fitted my Katana criteria.
I chose this sword for the weight, length, steel type, finish & of course price $249.98 usd. Now for a few photos of how things progressed for those already bored.
Delivery & Initial Impressions
The swords were dispatched from Sword & Armoury on the January 26th via USPS & arrived on my door step on the February 3rd, needless to say I was pretty impressed. They arrived undamaged due to being packaged so well, even though there was a small gauge out of the box which I believe was done locally (good old Australia Post).
Opening the main box I found three separate boxes, the Akitsushima came in one of those nifty lined boxes as seen above & was unaffected by its travels.
The box contained a manufacturers Numbered certificate, a cleaning kit, spare seppa & Mekugi & the sword itself is in a very nice sword bag, excitement building but it was late at night & I had worked overtime so needed to leave it till morning, besides I wanted to view the blade in day light.
Statistics: straight off Sword & Armoury’s web site. I know some of you folks like this info as well
• Overall Length: 39.5 "
• Blade: Sharp
• Nagasa Length: 27.5 "
• Blade Material: T10
• Tsuka Length: 10.5 "
• Niku: Light Niku
• Blade Thickness @ Habaki: 0.288 "
• Sori: 0.564 "
• Blade Thickness @ Kissaski: 0.222 "
• Kissaki Length: 1.708 "
• Blade Width @ Habaki: 1.249 "
• Lamination: Maru
• Blade Width @ Kissaki: 0.914 "
• Hamon: Notare w/ Yahazu
• Weight W/O Saya: 2.20 LBS, 35.2 Ounces
• Balance Point: 5.25 " from Tsuba
• Tsuba Material: Iron
• Hardness of Yakiba: 58 HRC
• Ito & Sageo Material: Chemical Fiber
• Fuchi Kashira Material: Iron & Brass
• Sword Name: Akitsushima
• Mekugi: Double Pin
• Collection: Take
• Condition: Brand New
• Manufacturer: Munetoshi
Features
Blade: The blade of the Katana has been constructed from T10 in a Maru Lamination. The hamon of the blade has been authentically created and features a strong Notare pattern with traces of Yahzau. The Nie of the hamon is very well defined with strong activity within the Hamon. The blade comes with full tang and razor sharp.
The Kissaki is a Chu (medium style) style with a ko-maru turn back in the Boshi.
Saya: Gold dust has been added to the gray finish of the Saya and then sealed with a clear lacquer finish.
Tsuka: The Tsuba is blackened Iron with a Sukashi style dragonfly and cat tails. The Tsuka features a double pinned Mekugi and a brass dragonfly Menuki. The Same (ray skin) is crisp white, with a dark blue chemical fiber Ito Tsukamaki. The Ito features correct crossovers in a Hinerimaki style and hishigami.
Photo time;
I really like the Saya look & finish, the gold dust on the grey looks very nice yet is subtle until it’s placed in the sun or a direct light source. Having only ever owned swords with the high gloss black Saya this makes a refreshing change let me tell you.
The Dark blue ito (chemical fibre) is as tight as a drum & was done by Kevin at sword & Armoury as they felt the standard wasn’t up to scratch such are their high standards & customer service which I have to say was fantastic every step of the way.
The Fuchi & Kashira aren’t alloy which is a big plus in my book & the iron Tsuba is not one of those oh so common types that we see on every second sword these days. I can’t stand owning something that’s so over used or common it actually annoys me to look at it anymore.
Now for the blade, it was everything aesthetically I was promised & told it would be. Jenn hand picked this blade from the batch for me knowing what I was looking for & expecting in a blade, can you ask for more. I have a very old digital camera & the weather here was sunny one moment & overcast the next repeatedly broken by the odd shower, so lighting was difficult to work with & I’m lousy at taking photos at the best of times. These photo’s don’t come anywhere near showing the beauty of this blades hamon in real life, sorry it’s the best I can do for now.
Handling Characteristics
I haven’t done any target cutting with this sword yet as the weathers insane here at the moment but the weight feels good when dry cutting, not too heavy or light (I’m a heavy set guy of 5ft 10” if that makes a difference). It feels a lot lighter / faster than my Shura & the balance seems better also as I don’t get any “kick back” from it like I do with my carbon steel Iaito.
Conclusions
Personally for a sword in this price range I was surprised by the overall care & quality of this sword, from the packaging /delivery time, presentation, fittings & of course the beauty of the blade itself. The service from Sword & Armoury was top notch all the way through including Kevin’s Itomaki job, Jenn’s choice of blade after taking the time to listen to what it was I really wanted.
The only fault I found is the Habaki has about a 1mm gap between it & the mouth of the saya on either side (top & bottom still make a tight friction fit). This is an easy fix & not really of concern to me as it’s something I can fix myself which in the end will only give it a more personal connection to me having done some work on it.
I didn’t love the Tsuba at first nor did I think “god that’s ugly or I hate it” but it is growing on me the more I see it. I do very much like the saya & have since my eyes first saw it, the Fuchi & Kashira are well done, made from iron & brass (I always feel cheated when I get those cheap alloy ones) are fully functional but I’ve seen this design on many blades so doesn’t excite me. Yes I’m fussy, get over it.
Pros
T10 blade with great harmon.
Saya finish
Good weight & balance
Tight itomaki wrap
Iron Tsuba
Iron & brass Fuchi Kashira
Cleaning kit & spare parts
Numbered certificate
Nice sword bag
Solid Tsuka
Price
Cons
Synthetic Ito
1mm gap either side between Habaki & saya mouth
All to commonly used Fuchi Kashira design
The Bottom Line
I would & will recommend this sword & this company to anyone looking for a sword in our price range without hesitation. If nothing else the Pro’s & Con’s list should sum it up as 2 out of the 3 con’s is just me being overly fussy.