A Tale of 3 Swords
Oct 22, 2007 6:11:31 GMT
Post by Deleted on Oct 22, 2007 6:11:31 GMT
Part the first:
Well here’s the beginning of the review I promised comparing 3 katana. May name is Tate and I live in Savage, MN, USA. The swords being reviewed are from top to bottom Cheness Kaze, Furubushidoo Crane, Ronin-Katanas.
I bought these swords for different reasons, first the Kaze as a good quality cutter to learn the art on with a decent blade. The Furu and Ronin were an experiment to see how much I could get for ~ $50.
Sexy pics and whatnot;
First off, the punch used to remove the copper mekugi from the Kaze.
The triplets in saya.
Close up of sageo.
Close up of tsuka (notice anything with the menuki?)
Close up of hind end.
Close up of Kaze (real) vs Furu (false etched) hamon.
Close up of Furu (false etched) vs. Ronin (false brushed) Hamon.
Unpacking impressions.
Kaze;
Purchased from SBG, great communication, quick shipping, great price. My wife unpacked it, so only saw shipping box in the garage. Sorry no pics of Kaze in its box. Nice display box, good solid stand included. Decent amount of protection on the blade, easy to clean it up.
My impressions, plain but solid fittings, nice tight wrap, good quality sageo, very solid, supremely functional katana. Inspires confidence, radiates quality, great fit in saya. Nuff said.
Furu;
Purchased from Handmadesword on eBay, great communication, fast shipping, great price (Katana and Wakizashi, cleaning kit, Stand, display box, and display box for $99), reasonable shipping ($33).
In shipping carton.
Presentation box (same as the Kaze’s, just larger for everything else).
Cleaning Kit contents.
My impressions, plain and ugly cheap fittings, nice tight wrap, sageo looked like shoe laces, solid blade. Good fit in saya, long tsuka, tsuba thin but not sharp. Great presentation, cleaning kit a nice plus, excessive amount of grease on blade for shipping. Really fake looking hamon. Looked plain, but put together well.
Ronin;
Purchased from Ronin-katanas on eBay, great communication, fast shipping, good price ($49.99), expensive shipping relative to others ($25).
Presentation box.
Packed with Styrofoam and plastic wrapped.
My impressions, attractive cheap fittings, fairly loose wrap, sageo looked like cheap shoe laces, solid blade. Loose fit in saya, shorter blade, tsuba looks nice, shiny plastic fitting looked really cheap. Crappy presentation, reasonable amount of grease on blade for shipping. Menuki reversed (very comfortable). Really fake but good looking hamon. Looked nice from a distance, a little rough up close.
Here is the initial breakdown;
Blade:
Kaze: The best at the ball, excellent hamon, no flaws.
Furu: Ugly duckling of the group, fake etched hamon, undulations in the bohi, a few tool marks
Ronin: Middle sister all the way, fake brushed hamon looked nice, better bohi, 2 tool marks
Grip:
Kaze: Tight as a size 00 micro thong on a size 2 booty, nice!
Furu: Tight as a size 4 thong on a size 5 booty, good but not compared to Kaze.
Ronin: Little bit loose and into alternative placement, not necessarily a bad thing, but…
Pommel:
Kaze: Simple yet functional, solid butt on her.
Furu: You can put something there? Like looking at a blank wall, or an unnaturally flat butt.
Ronin: Nice design, shiny parts look gaudy, stripper in shiny hot pants.
Guard:
Kaze: Stacked up top, see grip comment, she’s a brick house.
Furu: Not so much up top, but nothing out of place either
Ronin: Surprisingly pleasing up top, classic but nice.
Saya:
Kaze: Fits tightest of all.
Furu: Fits tight.
Ronin: Fits loosest of all.
Final stuff upcoming but let me add, when cleaning the blades with my cleaning kit from shadow of leaves I noticed a rattle on the Ronin while I was striking the blade with the powder ball. It turns out the Habiki is loose. Major point loss.
So initial numbers for all katana are as follows;
Kaze:
Historical Accuracy: 4/5 best of the lot but not perfect
Fit and Finish: 5/5 best of the lot
Handling: 5/5 lively
Structural Integrity: 5/5 a beast for the $’s
Value for Money: 5/5 you get what you pay for.
Furu:
Historical Accuracy: 2/5 fake hamon, modern production and materials
Fit and Finish: 4 /5 not fancy but competent good execution
Handling: 3/5 nice but ok
Structural Integrity: 4/5 cheap but well done
Value for Money: 5/5 get a lot of extras and a extra sword too.
Ronin:
Historical Accuracy: 2/5 fake hamon, plastic on a katana
Fit and Finish: 2/5 shoddy compared to the 2 others
Handling: 4/5 shorter blade made it quick
Structural Integrity: 2/5 rattling habaki, c’mon
Value for Money: 3/5 sometimes cheap is cheap.
Measurements and cutting test on the way, just waiting for my mats to show up.
Well here’s the beginning of the review I promised comparing 3 katana. May name is Tate and I live in Savage, MN, USA. The swords being reviewed are from top to bottom Cheness Kaze, Furubushidoo Crane, Ronin-Katanas.
I bought these swords for different reasons, first the Kaze as a good quality cutter to learn the art on with a decent blade. The Furu and Ronin were an experiment to see how much I could get for ~ $50.
Sexy pics and whatnot;
First off, the punch used to remove the copper mekugi from the Kaze.
The triplets in saya.
Close up of sageo.
Close up of tsuka (notice anything with the menuki?)
Close up of hind end.
Close up of Kaze (real) vs Furu (false etched) hamon.
Close up of Furu (false etched) vs. Ronin (false brushed) Hamon.
Unpacking impressions.
Kaze;
Purchased from SBG, great communication, quick shipping, great price. My wife unpacked it, so only saw shipping box in the garage. Sorry no pics of Kaze in its box. Nice display box, good solid stand included. Decent amount of protection on the blade, easy to clean it up.
My impressions, plain but solid fittings, nice tight wrap, good quality sageo, very solid, supremely functional katana. Inspires confidence, radiates quality, great fit in saya. Nuff said.
Furu;
Purchased from Handmadesword on eBay, great communication, fast shipping, great price (Katana and Wakizashi, cleaning kit, Stand, display box, and display box for $99), reasonable shipping ($33).
In shipping carton.
Presentation box (same as the Kaze’s, just larger for everything else).
Cleaning Kit contents.
My impressions, plain and ugly cheap fittings, nice tight wrap, sageo looked like shoe laces, solid blade. Good fit in saya, long tsuka, tsuba thin but not sharp. Great presentation, cleaning kit a nice plus, excessive amount of grease on blade for shipping. Really fake looking hamon. Looked plain, but put together well.
Ronin;
Purchased from Ronin-katanas on eBay, great communication, fast shipping, good price ($49.99), expensive shipping relative to others ($25).
Presentation box.
Packed with Styrofoam and plastic wrapped.
My impressions, attractive cheap fittings, fairly loose wrap, sageo looked like cheap shoe laces, solid blade. Loose fit in saya, shorter blade, tsuba looks nice, shiny plastic fitting looked really cheap. Crappy presentation, reasonable amount of grease on blade for shipping. Menuki reversed (very comfortable). Really fake but good looking hamon. Looked nice from a distance, a little rough up close.
Here is the initial breakdown;
Blade:
Kaze: The best at the ball, excellent hamon, no flaws.
Furu: Ugly duckling of the group, fake etched hamon, undulations in the bohi, a few tool marks
Ronin: Middle sister all the way, fake brushed hamon looked nice, better bohi, 2 tool marks
Grip:
Kaze: Tight as a size 00 micro thong on a size 2 booty, nice!
Furu: Tight as a size 4 thong on a size 5 booty, good but not compared to Kaze.
Ronin: Little bit loose and into alternative placement, not necessarily a bad thing, but…
Pommel:
Kaze: Simple yet functional, solid butt on her.
Furu: You can put something there? Like looking at a blank wall, or an unnaturally flat butt.
Ronin: Nice design, shiny parts look gaudy, stripper in shiny hot pants.
Guard:
Kaze: Stacked up top, see grip comment, she’s a brick house.
Furu: Not so much up top, but nothing out of place either
Ronin: Surprisingly pleasing up top, classic but nice.
Saya:
Kaze: Fits tightest of all.
Furu: Fits tight.
Ronin: Fits loosest of all.
Final stuff upcoming but let me add, when cleaning the blades with my cleaning kit from shadow of leaves I noticed a rattle on the Ronin while I was striking the blade with the powder ball. It turns out the Habiki is loose. Major point loss.
So initial numbers for all katana are as follows;
Kaze:
Historical Accuracy: 4/5 best of the lot but not perfect
Fit and Finish: 5/5 best of the lot
Handling: 5/5 lively
Structural Integrity: 5/5 a beast for the $’s
Value for Money: 5/5 you get what you pay for.
Furu:
Historical Accuracy: 2/5 fake hamon, modern production and materials
Fit and Finish: 4 /5 not fancy but competent good execution
Handling: 3/5 nice but ok
Structural Integrity: 4/5 cheap but well done
Value for Money: 5/5 get a lot of extras and a extra sword too.
Ronin:
Historical Accuracy: 2/5 fake hamon, plastic on a katana
Fit and Finish: 2/5 shoddy compared to the 2 others
Handling: 4/5 shorter blade made it quick
Structural Integrity: 2/5 rattling habaki, c’mon
Value for Money: 3/5 sometimes cheap is cheap.
Measurements and cutting test on the way, just waiting for my mats to show up.