SBG custom katana
May 1, 2011 2:56:32 GMT
Post by whitefeathers on May 1, 2011 2:56:32 GMT
SBG custom!
I ordered the $330 custom katana on Oct. 16. Due to many shipping delays she finally came home to me on Apr 28.
What I ordered was 27 inch blade with the bo hi, green ito/sageo, black textured saya, B44 tsuba and C10 fuchi/kashira. A little while later they offered a couple more customization options. One of them that caught my fancy was the engraving option. I jumped in and got that one.
Communication with Paul was wonderful. He kept in contact and updated us through the whole ordeal.
FIRST IMPRESSION
I was surprised that it came early, the shipping date was not until next week but it came a couple days ago. There was no paperwork anywhere inside. Only identifying info was the shipping info and my order # on the outside of the box. The tape that was surrounding it was barely hanging on as whoever inspected it at the customs didn't bother to retape it or retie the sword bag. I pulled out the sword and the first thing I saw was how bright the green ito was. I liked that shade of green. The sword also felt really light in the hand.
STATISTICS
BLADE/NAGASA LENGTH= 27.5 in
HANDLE/TSUKA LENGTH= 10.5 in
OAL= about 38 inches
TSUBA WIDTH= just a hair under 3 inches
P.O.B= 6.5 in. from the tsuba
SORI= a little bit more than a 3/4 inch
WEIGHT= about 2.5 lbs.
HISTORY= I'm not even going to try.
BLADE/NAGASA.
I decided to keep it simple with the shinogi zukuri blade style and have the bohi.
Its made from the T10 steel and the hamon is just awesome. It stands out well. If its held in the right angle/light you can see spots in the middle of one side of the blade where the polisher stopped the stroke. Other than that spot it is a nice mirror polish. The kissaki has some straight dark spots from where they filed/sanded /polished? its hard to put in words so let the pictures speak for me. The blade is darn sharp. It bit me already. Thankfully no blood was drawn. The blade is also very tip heavy. The engraving I had put on was done nice and clear. It means Crisis = Opportunity. When I sent my request to Paul, Google Translate messed up one of the characters. When he checked with the forge they suggested a different character that would work and also look better for the engraving and still mean the same. The blade also feels pretty thick throughout.
FITTINGS/KOSHIRAE
Everything is tight, no rattles. The habaki doesn't fit the blade well. The mune and the ha both stick up over the habaki. There is a good sized gap on one side of the blade too. I like the tsuba. The people at the forge felt like making it fit with the color of the other fittings so they painted parts of it. They painted it with gold and silver colored paint of some sort. The fuchi and kashira are gold dragons similar to my Shinto's fittings. Kashira is on pretty tight. It takes a lot of effort to move it around. I'm not sure what the menuki are. Silver colored dragon scaly like thingymabobs.
HANDLE/TSUKA
The tsuka profile provides a comfortable feeling grip. If you were to hold the sword in a regular stance, the bottom of the tsuka is straight. The top is where the shaping is. Looks like it follows the curvature of the blade. The ito is a synthetic something or other and is kinda rough to the touch. The same is panels and one side it doesn't quite make it under the fuchi. One side has a better quality that the other. The better quality side has two emperor nodes by the second mekugi. I didn't even see these right away so when I discovered them it surprised me. They were peeking out from behind the ito. The ito could have been wrapped a little tighter but its fine. The end piece that usually gets tucked in popped out and is flapping around.
SCABBARD/SAYA
I got the textured black one and it looks nice. The koiguchi fit to the habaki was barely there. Too loose to be safe. It will need a shim. Remember when I said the sword felt very light as a whole? Part of it is because the saya is very light. Like it was made out of styrofoam light. There aren't any buffalo horn fittings on it. The kissaki rattles around in the saya alot. When I first drew the sword there was a lot of dust covering the blade. Probably results from the long journey. At least the blade was well oiled. One good thing is its small and it fits my hand nicely. The sageo was of the same material they used for the ito.
HANDLING
I haven't tried to cut anything with it yet, but it feels like it would handle harder targets with ease. Sometime in the next few weeks I'll get around to cutting with it. I feel its not a fast handling sword. Ive taken a few swings with it and it feels heavy despite not being very heavy. Almost like there is a weight on the end. It isn't hard to control , it just feels different than what I'm used to. The bo hi does give a great sound when the edge alignment is right.
PROS
great blade and beautiful hamon
the customization features
good communication with Paul
The little touches the forge made to make the whole presentation fit better
CONS
The long wait due to Chinese shipping issues
big time saya rattle and could have used a better quality sageo
habaki fit to the blade. at least the koiguchi fit can be easily fixed.
balance too far out ( my preference, could be a positive for someone else)
dark lines on the kissaki (not a huge deal but they are there)
Overall I'm happy with the sword. The nitpicks I have about it are not worth the trouble of fussing that much over. It will still function just fine. Would I recommend it to someone? Sure.
I ordered the $330 custom katana on Oct. 16. Due to many shipping delays she finally came home to me on Apr 28.
What I ordered was 27 inch blade with the bo hi, green ito/sageo, black textured saya, B44 tsuba and C10 fuchi/kashira. A little while later they offered a couple more customization options. One of them that caught my fancy was the engraving option. I jumped in and got that one.
Communication with Paul was wonderful. He kept in contact and updated us through the whole ordeal.
FIRST IMPRESSION
I was surprised that it came early, the shipping date was not until next week but it came a couple days ago. There was no paperwork anywhere inside. Only identifying info was the shipping info and my order # on the outside of the box. The tape that was surrounding it was barely hanging on as whoever inspected it at the customs didn't bother to retape it or retie the sword bag. I pulled out the sword and the first thing I saw was how bright the green ito was. I liked that shade of green. The sword also felt really light in the hand.
STATISTICS
BLADE/NAGASA LENGTH= 27.5 in
HANDLE/TSUKA LENGTH= 10.5 in
OAL= about 38 inches
TSUBA WIDTH= just a hair under 3 inches
P.O.B= 6.5 in. from the tsuba
SORI= a little bit more than a 3/4 inch
WEIGHT= about 2.5 lbs.
HISTORY= I'm not even going to try.
BLADE/NAGASA.
I decided to keep it simple with the shinogi zukuri blade style and have the bohi.
Its made from the T10 steel and the hamon is just awesome. It stands out well. If its held in the right angle/light you can see spots in the middle of one side of the blade where the polisher stopped the stroke. Other than that spot it is a nice mirror polish. The kissaki has some straight dark spots from where they filed/sanded /polished? its hard to put in words so let the pictures speak for me. The blade is darn sharp. It bit me already. Thankfully no blood was drawn. The blade is also very tip heavy. The engraving I had put on was done nice and clear. It means Crisis = Opportunity. When I sent my request to Paul, Google Translate messed up one of the characters. When he checked with the forge they suggested a different character that would work and also look better for the engraving and still mean the same. The blade also feels pretty thick throughout.
FITTINGS/KOSHIRAE
Everything is tight, no rattles. The habaki doesn't fit the blade well. The mune and the ha both stick up over the habaki. There is a good sized gap on one side of the blade too. I like the tsuba. The people at the forge felt like making it fit with the color of the other fittings so they painted parts of it. They painted it with gold and silver colored paint of some sort. The fuchi and kashira are gold dragons similar to my Shinto's fittings. Kashira is on pretty tight. It takes a lot of effort to move it around. I'm not sure what the menuki are. Silver colored dragon scaly like thingymabobs.
HANDLE/TSUKA
The tsuka profile provides a comfortable feeling grip. If you were to hold the sword in a regular stance, the bottom of the tsuka is straight. The top is where the shaping is. Looks like it follows the curvature of the blade. The ito is a synthetic something or other and is kinda rough to the touch. The same is panels and one side it doesn't quite make it under the fuchi. One side has a better quality that the other. The better quality side has two emperor nodes by the second mekugi. I didn't even see these right away so when I discovered them it surprised me. They were peeking out from behind the ito. The ito could have been wrapped a little tighter but its fine. The end piece that usually gets tucked in popped out and is flapping around.
SCABBARD/SAYA
I got the textured black one and it looks nice. The koiguchi fit to the habaki was barely there. Too loose to be safe. It will need a shim. Remember when I said the sword felt very light as a whole? Part of it is because the saya is very light. Like it was made out of styrofoam light. There aren't any buffalo horn fittings on it. The kissaki rattles around in the saya alot. When I first drew the sword there was a lot of dust covering the blade. Probably results from the long journey. At least the blade was well oiled. One good thing is its small and it fits my hand nicely. The sageo was of the same material they used for the ito.
HANDLING
I haven't tried to cut anything with it yet, but it feels like it would handle harder targets with ease. Sometime in the next few weeks I'll get around to cutting with it. I feel its not a fast handling sword. Ive taken a few swings with it and it feels heavy despite not being very heavy. Almost like there is a weight on the end. It isn't hard to control , it just feels different than what I'm used to. The bo hi does give a great sound when the edge alignment is right.
PROS
great blade and beautiful hamon
the customization features
good communication with Paul
The little touches the forge made to make the whole presentation fit better
CONS
The long wait due to Chinese shipping issues
big time saya rattle and could have used a better quality sageo
habaki fit to the blade. at least the koiguchi fit can be easily fixed.
balance too far out ( my preference, could be a positive for someone else)
dark lines on the kissaki (not a huge deal but they are there)
Overall I'm happy with the sword. The nitpicks I have about it are not worth the trouble of fussing that much over. It will still function just fine. Would I recommend it to someone? Sure.