Cold Steel Jade Lion Gim
Mar 9, 2011 9:12:06 GMT
Post by SwordFan on Mar 9, 2011 9:12:06 GMT
Introduction
Well iv already reviewed the Jade Lion’s smaller brother in the dagger so I thought it time to review its bigger brother the Jade Lion Gim from Cold Steel .There is not too much info out on the net on this sword ,but I was drawn to the way it looked especially with the full Rayskin Wrap (which looks stunning) and from past experience with the Cold Steel Gim I thought if the blade was even half as tough that it would make a fine cutter and boy it sure does not disappoint in either the looks department or performance wise .
Historical overview
The concept of the guardian lion emerged in China over 1800 years ago during the Han Dynasty. The lion, fierce, courageous, loyal and swift, was the perfect symbol to guard home and hearth. Both decorative and symbolic, it was common to see elegant sculptures of these lions guarding the homes of the wealthy and aristocratic or even the gates of the Imperial Palace and the tombs of the Chinese emperors.
Initial Impressions
There is just something to be said about a full Rayskin wrap on a scabbard , its just so visually appealing and gives the sword the WOW factor straight away without even getting to the blade . After removing the blade I was equally impressed , the folded pattern is very subtle (which I like) and the blade is scary sharp !
Statistics
Taken from Kultofathena :
The Cold Steel Jade Lion Gim features a hand forged Damascus steel blade with a subtle swirling pattern. The highly detailed guard and pommel are cast in nickel-silver. The wood grip is wrapped in genuine rayskin and a green cord wrap. The matching scabbard is made of rosewood and covered in highly polished samé (ray skin) dyed to match the handle. The highly detailed scabbard hardware is also cast in nickel-silver.
Blade Length: 28 1/4” Long
Handle Length: 4 3/8” Long
Overall Length: 36 3/4” Long
Weight: 2lb 3oz
Thickness: 6mm – 4.6mm
Width: 29.8mm
Pommel : Nut
Components
The Blade:
The blade is very well polished and has a very subtle swirling pattern to it which looks great . I much prefer the subtleness of this compared to the cheaper “folded” blades which have a poor polish and have been heavily etched to really enhance all the patterns . In fact the Jade Lion Gim is so well polished that one has to look closely to see the swirling patterns formed by the “Damascus” blade .
I took out my cleaning kit and then proceeded to clean off all the oil and give it a coat of Ren Wax .It was razor sharp ,in fact so sharp I had to be very careful when removing all the shipping oil or risk removing a finger or two . Is it paper cutting sharp ? Most definitely !What really impressed me was what happened next ,while cleaning a couple of swords I left the Gim on the table and accidentally knocked it .The blade tip ended up hitting hard tile point first ! I was sure that there would be some damage and was just about to start cursing my luck when after picking it up and wiping it down I inspected the tip and to my joyful surprise not a single scratch on the blade tip ! There was however a mark left on the tile .So it seems as though this offering is just as tough as the Cold Steel Gim which is renown for a tough no nonsense cutting blade .
The Handle
The handle features a wooden core wrapped in rayskin (looks like a full wrap to me) and a green cord wrap .The cord wrap has been done extremely tightly and is very comfortable in hand .
The Guard:
The Guard features a very well cast nickel-silver guardian lion which is highly detailed . I have considered taking some metal glo to it to get it to shine even more ,but have since decided not to as I think as it is currently makes it look a little older (for lack of a better word) and I think if it were made to look to shiny that it would just cheapen the look . This is just my opinion though .
The Pommel:
The Pommel also features a well cast nickel-silver guardian lion which matches the Guard .
The Scabbard:
The matching scabbard is made of rosewood and covered in highly polished ray skin dyed to match the handle. The detailed scabbard hardware is also cast in nickel-silver and matches the whole flowing guardian lion theme .The scabbard together with the blade on this piece are one of the highlights for me .I love the full wrap of rayskin on a scabbard .Overall the scabbard is very well done with the rayskin placed perfectly and polished to a high gloss . Best of all the colours on my Jade Lion Gim and Dagger matched very well ,making it look even more impressive on display as a set.
Handling Characteristics
Whilst not as light and nimble in feel as my Hanwei Qi Jian its still a very well balanced piece and moves rather well in hand . The real fun started when I did some cutting though ....
Cutting
Unfortunately no video (Ill try and get around to taking some),but I can confirm this is one tough cutting machine . I started off at first with some light targets which it sailed through (mats and water bottles) ,in fact it went through these with so much ease it was as if it was just begging for something more challenging ,which at first I was hesitant to do as I did not want to scratch the blade up to badly ,but eventually my curiosity got the better of me and I had to find out if it was as tough as the Cold Steel Gim . So I had an old black plastic rubbish bin lying around and decided to take to it . The plastic on this is pretty thick and I had my doubts at first ,but they were wasted as the Jade Lion Gim sailed right through ! Next I decided to try some bamboo and here it excelled with no problems either !I'm pretty sure it could handle further more challenging targets ,but I decided to stop here for now . So I got out the old cleaning kit to give it a good clean before putting it away and I was expecting some scratches on the blade surface ,but after a couple of minutes of cleaning and a tiny bit of metal glo the blade was as good as new . So yes this is one tough little sword .
Conclusions
Overall I'm very pleased with the Jade Lion Gim as I am with its smaller brother (The Jade lion Dagger) . At $400 it may be considered a little expensive by some ,but considering the blade and the full rayskin wrap on the scabbard I think that it fairly priced . When you consider that for $660 you can get a matching set in the Gim and dagger ,well I think its a fair price ,I mean most of my folded katana cost more than that and that's just one sword with a plain black saya .
Pros
Very Sharp blade with a great polish and very nice subtle swirling pattern
Full Rayskin wrap on scabbard which has been very well polished to a high gloss finish.
Quality silver-nickel fittings with a matching theme throughout
Very tight cord wrap
Cons
I could find no faults on this with everything being tight and even after some cutting there was no sign of any play or anything working loose .
The Bottom Line
I would definitely recommend the Jade Lion Gim as not only a great display piece but a highly functional and fun sword .
Well iv already reviewed the Jade Lion’s smaller brother in the dagger so I thought it time to review its bigger brother the Jade Lion Gim from Cold Steel .There is not too much info out on the net on this sword ,but I was drawn to the way it looked especially with the full Rayskin Wrap (which looks stunning) and from past experience with the Cold Steel Gim I thought if the blade was even half as tough that it would make a fine cutter and boy it sure does not disappoint in either the looks department or performance wise .
Historical overview
The concept of the guardian lion emerged in China over 1800 years ago during the Han Dynasty. The lion, fierce, courageous, loyal and swift, was the perfect symbol to guard home and hearth. Both decorative and symbolic, it was common to see elegant sculptures of these lions guarding the homes of the wealthy and aristocratic or even the gates of the Imperial Palace and the tombs of the Chinese emperors.
Initial Impressions
There is just something to be said about a full Rayskin wrap on a scabbard , its just so visually appealing and gives the sword the WOW factor straight away without even getting to the blade . After removing the blade I was equally impressed , the folded pattern is very subtle (which I like) and the blade is scary sharp !
Statistics
Taken from Kultofathena :
The Cold Steel Jade Lion Gim features a hand forged Damascus steel blade with a subtle swirling pattern. The highly detailed guard and pommel are cast in nickel-silver. The wood grip is wrapped in genuine rayskin and a green cord wrap. The matching scabbard is made of rosewood and covered in highly polished samé (ray skin) dyed to match the handle. The highly detailed scabbard hardware is also cast in nickel-silver.
Blade Length: 28 1/4” Long
Handle Length: 4 3/8” Long
Overall Length: 36 3/4” Long
Weight: 2lb 3oz
Thickness: 6mm – 4.6mm
Width: 29.8mm
Pommel : Nut
Components
The Blade:
The blade is very well polished and has a very subtle swirling pattern to it which looks great . I much prefer the subtleness of this compared to the cheaper “folded” blades which have a poor polish and have been heavily etched to really enhance all the patterns . In fact the Jade Lion Gim is so well polished that one has to look closely to see the swirling patterns formed by the “Damascus” blade .
I took out my cleaning kit and then proceeded to clean off all the oil and give it a coat of Ren Wax .It was razor sharp ,in fact so sharp I had to be very careful when removing all the shipping oil or risk removing a finger or two . Is it paper cutting sharp ? Most definitely !What really impressed me was what happened next ,while cleaning a couple of swords I left the Gim on the table and accidentally knocked it .The blade tip ended up hitting hard tile point first ! I was sure that there would be some damage and was just about to start cursing my luck when after picking it up and wiping it down I inspected the tip and to my joyful surprise not a single scratch on the blade tip ! There was however a mark left on the tile .So it seems as though this offering is just as tough as the Cold Steel Gim which is renown for a tough no nonsense cutting blade .
The Handle
The handle features a wooden core wrapped in rayskin (looks like a full wrap to me) and a green cord wrap .The cord wrap has been done extremely tightly and is very comfortable in hand .
The Guard:
The Guard features a very well cast nickel-silver guardian lion which is highly detailed . I have considered taking some metal glo to it to get it to shine even more ,but have since decided not to as I think as it is currently makes it look a little older (for lack of a better word) and I think if it were made to look to shiny that it would just cheapen the look . This is just my opinion though .
The Pommel:
The Pommel also features a well cast nickel-silver guardian lion which matches the Guard .
The Scabbard:
The matching scabbard is made of rosewood and covered in highly polished ray skin dyed to match the handle. The detailed scabbard hardware is also cast in nickel-silver and matches the whole flowing guardian lion theme .The scabbard together with the blade on this piece are one of the highlights for me .I love the full wrap of rayskin on a scabbard .Overall the scabbard is very well done with the rayskin placed perfectly and polished to a high gloss . Best of all the colours on my Jade Lion Gim and Dagger matched very well ,making it look even more impressive on display as a set.
Handling Characteristics
Whilst not as light and nimble in feel as my Hanwei Qi Jian its still a very well balanced piece and moves rather well in hand . The real fun started when I did some cutting though ....
Cutting
Unfortunately no video (Ill try and get around to taking some),but I can confirm this is one tough cutting machine . I started off at first with some light targets which it sailed through (mats and water bottles) ,in fact it went through these with so much ease it was as if it was just begging for something more challenging ,which at first I was hesitant to do as I did not want to scratch the blade up to badly ,but eventually my curiosity got the better of me and I had to find out if it was as tough as the Cold Steel Gim . So I had an old black plastic rubbish bin lying around and decided to take to it . The plastic on this is pretty thick and I had my doubts at first ,but they were wasted as the Jade Lion Gim sailed right through ! Next I decided to try some bamboo and here it excelled with no problems either !I'm pretty sure it could handle further more challenging targets ,but I decided to stop here for now . So I got out the old cleaning kit to give it a good clean before putting it away and I was expecting some scratches on the blade surface ,but after a couple of minutes of cleaning and a tiny bit of metal glo the blade was as good as new . So yes this is one tough little sword .
Conclusions
Overall I'm very pleased with the Jade Lion Gim as I am with its smaller brother (The Jade lion Dagger) . At $400 it may be considered a little expensive by some ,but considering the blade and the full rayskin wrap on the scabbard I think that it fairly priced . When you consider that for $660 you can get a matching set in the Gim and dagger ,well I think its a fair price ,I mean most of my folded katana cost more than that and that's just one sword with a plain black saya .
Pros
Very Sharp blade with a great polish and very nice subtle swirling pattern
Full Rayskin wrap on scabbard which has been very well polished to a high gloss finish.
Quality silver-nickel fittings with a matching theme throughout
Very tight cord wrap
Cons
I could find no faults on this with everything being tight and even after some cutting there was no sign of any play or anything working loose .
The Bottom Line
I would definitely recommend the Jade Lion Gim as not only a great display piece but a highly functional and fun sword .