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Post by chrisperoni on Apr 19, 2011 14:33:01 GMT
100% true on both counts.
Re. quality:
No one should be buying one expecting miracles- they are a great VALUE for what you spend.
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Sébastien
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Post by Sébastien on Apr 19, 2011 16:07:05 GMT
I agree with those points. I have a sub 100 $ Musashi. Its fittings don't look as great as those on my Hanwei Practical, but they are solidly made and the sword is a nice, fun backyard cutter. The other sub 100 $ katana that I have, one bought from www.handmadesword.com, is sloppily made and its blade looses its edge quickly. Ugh. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2011 19:57:51 GMT
Well Since they are pretty much the same thing, I'm thinking I'd end up getting the Clay non-color specific one. I like the bronze touch on the tsuba for that one. And the discount on the website is definitely a plus for me. Ok well, wish me the best guys.....and a wish of some money would be nice too. I'll probably be back in a few weeks once I get the spare money to order it. So yeah...If anyone has had experience with that blade....or even experience with purchasing with the musashi website, that would be nice too. Any problems? stuff life that. Thanks guys.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2011 16:27:39 GMT
how about shinwa on budk? they have folded steel swords (most are straight bladed not really katana but there's a few that actually have curved blades, blah blah whatever) for bargain prices, i'm thinking about the tan "odachi" (nagamaki) for my next sword. just thought i'd throw that option in here and maybe someone with experience with shinwa could elaborate, from what i've read shinwa sounds like a mildly more amusing alternative to musashi and masahiro for inexpensive swords. i haven't been on the forum long, is masahiro/ryumon a swear word around here?  |
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Sébastien
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Post by Sébastien on Apr 20, 2011 18:04:29 GMT
I've heard about Masahiro, Ryumon and Shinwa on the old forum. They sometimes offer very good products, but sometimes mediocre ones. Overall, the bang-for-buck ratio and quality control can be very hit & miss. Masahiro and Ryumon both sold very nice Kat' but sometimes sold models with the same name but made at another forge, with quality taking a downturn.
Overall, in the sub-100 $ market, I'd suggest sticking with Musashi and Munetoshi (SwordNArmory line). These makers are rumored to have consistent quality control and very good products.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2011 12:14:43 GMT
I would recommend selling off the stuff you don't want anymore on ebay (or elsewhere) and using the money for your sword. That's what I did, I basically traded books for swords. I managed to trim my library and pick up a nice blade at the same time. I did another run last week and now have a nice wakizashi on the way.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2011 17:42:47 GMT
We'll....I'm excited for my purchase. Everywhere I've looked i'm finding good reviews.
The reason I don't sell my Stainless steel set is because I plan on purposely dulling each one seperately....definately not by swinging them.....(that would just be dumb :lol: ) and then hand sharpening them....I'm planing on this being my first true sword and then from there going up to my custom pieced together katana. It would be awhile before that jump, but I don't forsee any purchases inbetween the two katanas and thusly I want to be able to have a bit of practice on resharpening the blades before I accidently murder my blade....
I've already read the articles here on SBG and the PDF E-book for sword care....but as a side note....It said it was for a medievil sword and that a katana mantinence guide would be released later.....well....just wondering if I need to look for it somewhere...or if it doesn't exsist yet. Anyway, just wanted to let you know, I plan on keeping them for that reason.
As far as other things I could possibly sell.......Well.....I really don't have any.....If I own it....I'm keeping it for a reason....I seriously have nothing that I could imagine getting rid of.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Apr 21, 2011 17:51:02 GMT
TomK has a few very in depth videos on sharpening/polishing katanas.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2011 18:34:48 GMT
I didn't quite find this TomK person....but I found some videos concerning sharpening.....as well as some destructive tests....glad that's not my money. But hey, looks like fun....if you had the money.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Apr 21, 2011 18:46:30 GMT
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Post by bleachsword on Apr 21, 2011 19:00:46 GMT
I WAS LITERLY JUST ABOUGHT TO DO THAT a.jordan (not yelling too lazy to re type darn caps lock)
A few pages back in this sub forum posted
by chrisperoni » Mon Feb 07, 2011 6:18 pm
It would help to know what you unlcear about. Tom has 3 or 4 videos on sharpening and together they really do give a detailed explanation. I've linked to a more complete list of his vids:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=84
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Apr 21, 2011 19:28:44 GMT
HA HA HA! Fashionably late, bleachie? Sorry, friendo, your a day late and a dollar short. And I know full well that you're not yelling, your screaming. Well, you can just pipe down, Mister.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Apr 21, 2011 19:32:52 GMT
Also, Hyoujinsama has a few videos on youtube about general sword upkeep. He also has videos on tsuka making, wrapping both ito and samegawa, sword disassembly, tying the sageo presentation knot, ect.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 22, 2011 18:03:39 GMT
OHHHHH I thought you meant TomK as in on Youtube user name.........wow....I was off by quite a bit...Anyway...I'll retry that search and take those links and see what I can find. As far as the Sageo tying I saw a video of some Japanese girl doing it....she succeeded....but it didn't exactly come out well.....So i'll check that one too. Thanks guys and you've been a big help.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Apr 22, 2011 20:24:30 GMT
Come to think of it, Hiroshi has some videos on a few different sageo knot as well. His Youtube name is Icyberia. Both his and Hyoujinsamas videos are easier to follow than the Tozando lady.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2011 16:24:54 GMT
We'll looked through Tom's videos, and they are quite handy......though not exactly sure I'd trust my sword to my belt-sanding skills. It takes a lot less time to mess something up on a belt sanding then it does by hand-sanding. So yeah, I think I'm prepared for cleaning up and taking care of my blade. And just for the cultural portion of the Katana's sake I also decided to check up on some of the techniques of using a Katana (youtube dojo-type thing) so yeah. And after that I found out two things........One.....I had the saya upside down when I carried it......And two, Its really interesting about the methods in which you use the blade. Of course I'll have to try my own style out, but I didn't know the magnitude at which you had to arch you swings.....
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2011 16:27:18 GMT
Also....another thing.....would it be a bad idea (or a semi-good one) to use aluminum cans for practice? I noticed everyone uses plastic, yet my friend who collects knifes....(un-officially) said that plastic kills the blades sharpness....I'm assuming since a sword is so much bigger then a knife the rule is different?...so yeah....Just wondering. Aluminum cans, good for practice?
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Sébastien
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Post by Sébastien on Apr 23, 2011 17:30:42 GMT
It's true that plastic will slowly dull a blade's edge (but edges can be resharpened), but it is far worse with aluminium cans. I've cut a few and they quickly and easily create multiple small scratches and dents in a blade. I wouldn't recommend cuttingg these cans unless you don't mind the damage they can cause to your blade. Plastic bottles are much easier on blades.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2011 2:15:18 GMT
I see.....well thanks for setting that straight for me. So pretty much its the lesser of the two evils (by a lot) to the blade. Plastic over pape-....I mean aluminum. Got it. Just thought of it because of the fact that my family is a rather big soda drinker.....not so much the water bottle drinker....so yeah...thought maybe I could use aluminum cans instead.
Anyway, going to start up my collection of bottles, hopefully I can get quite a few in a month's time. Wish me luck.
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Sam H
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Post by Sam H on Apr 24, 2011 4:09:29 GMT
If you work you can tell people at work that you're collecting plastic bottles for recycling. Usually they'll give you the stuff freely and your supply will grow quickly.
Aluminum cans are readily available targets too but they tend to scratch the finish of your blade. Nothing fatal really but not exactly desirable either.
You can also use newspaper (also readily available). Just roll it up tightly, tie it off with cord (or some people use tape however tape will leave a sticky residue on your blade), and soak it in cold water for anywhere form a half hour to a couple of hours (the longer you soak it the easier it is to cut through).
Good luck and have fun.
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