Huawei T10 Katana
May 28, 2011 23:41:29 GMT
Post by Deleted on May 28, 2011 23:41:29 GMT
Introduction
I heard about these eBay swords made from “T10” and with a real hamon, and started researching.
I read a lot of people that had a good experience buying from Huawei, and they also offer custom orders.
Once I got my refund for another sword and had the money sitting on my PayPal account I decided to bite, ordering from China always worries me but the seller had 0 bad reviews.
I ordered it with a custom handle profile, full wrap, and a notare midare hamon.
It took almost one month to the day to get the sword, but once they shipped it, it took one week to get to me!
Initial Impressions
Sword was packaged very well, they took a block of foam and cut it out to fit the sword.
When I made the order I messed up a little bit…
I assumed the white ray skin was standard unless you ask for another color, I was wrong.
I ordered the Saya with the dark colored ray skin and they made the tuska wrap to match.
Not a big deal but I wanted white.
I also ordered the Ito as alternating, with black mercerized cotton as a substitute of silk.
The Ito is tight, and decently uniform
The fittings are not bad, but I think a better Tsuba would go a long ways.
I had also ordered the Tuska with an hour glass shape much like my Ronin Dojo Pro (Rikko style)
They did a good job IMO
The Hamon is gorgeous, and pretty close to what I had asked for, not a perfect notare midare but good enough.
I also ordered the tip as “Shinogi-Zukuri with a defined geometric yokote”, I’m happy with what they gave me. (does not show up to well at the angle of the picture)
I did not tell them what sword bag I wanted but I am happy with the one they gave me (fish!)
More pictures..
The Scabbard/Saya
Nice glossy finish, the same wrap is a nice option.
The fit the blade was disappointing, it holds the blade in solid enough but I get a bit of a rattle.
Handling Characteristics
Sword handles pretty well, I decided I wanted a bo-hi to help make it a bit lighter, and to give me a bit of an audible sound when swinging straight…
I took a test cut with a foam play house that my nephew was done with, and it sliced through so easy it caught me off guard, I had diced up its twin with my Ronin and I had a bit more resistance…
I ended up going too far (I did the same dumb mistake with my Ronin on its first swing) and giving it to much power and hit the floor/cement with a good tap…
That dulled the end of the blade a bit, but it did better than the ronin did when I made the same dumb mistake, some work with my stone and I had the edge back…
The tuska has a nice solid feel, it’s a bit larger than my Ronin but I’m very happy with the profile and ito.
Fittings are tight, but the tuska was very hard to get off of the blade for an inspection, sorry did not take pictures, but I ended up doing a little clean up of the peg holes with a file.
No markings under the tuska, I really like it when the maker puts his mark there, but nothing on this blade
Conclusions
For a $300 sword, I love it!
IMO the blade alone is worth the $300 price tag.
Pros
I love the tuska profile
Tight ito wrap,
hamon is gorgeous
Blade is about perfect, looking down the blade I do not see any waves like I usually do in this price range.
Blade seems to hold an edge very well, even after hitting a hard object such as a floor…
Cons
Saya is nice and holds the blade in well enough, but I can get the blade to rattle a little…
I took the Tuska off and saw that it had split just a little at the glued seam, it looks like it was just a little too tight and the glue did not hold well enough, but it only seems to of split at the back…
The Bottom Line
I would recommend this sword to, the value for money on this sword is very high
I plan on buying another sword from them, and they are offering a folded T10 blade with a real hamon for not much more $.
I heard about these eBay swords made from “T10” and with a real hamon, and started researching.
I read a lot of people that had a good experience buying from Huawei, and they also offer custom orders.
Once I got my refund for another sword and had the money sitting on my PayPal account I decided to bite, ordering from China always worries me but the seller had 0 bad reviews.
I ordered it with a custom handle profile, full wrap, and a notare midare hamon.
It took almost one month to the day to get the sword, but once they shipped it, it took one week to get to me!
Initial Impressions
Sword was packaged very well, they took a block of foam and cut it out to fit the sword.
When I made the order I messed up a little bit…
I assumed the white ray skin was standard unless you ask for another color, I was wrong.
I ordered the Saya with the dark colored ray skin and they made the tuska wrap to match.
Not a big deal but I wanted white.
I also ordered the Ito as alternating, with black mercerized cotton as a substitute of silk.
The Ito is tight, and decently uniform
The fittings are not bad, but I think a better Tsuba would go a long ways.
I had also ordered the Tuska with an hour glass shape much like my Ronin Dojo Pro (Rikko style)
They did a good job IMO
The Hamon is gorgeous, and pretty close to what I had asked for, not a perfect notare midare but good enough.
I also ordered the tip as “Shinogi-Zukuri with a defined geometric yokote”, I’m happy with what they gave me. (does not show up to well at the angle of the picture)
I did not tell them what sword bag I wanted but I am happy with the one they gave me (fish!)
More pictures..
The Scabbard/Saya
Nice glossy finish, the same wrap is a nice option.
The fit the blade was disappointing, it holds the blade in solid enough but I get a bit of a rattle.
Handling Characteristics
Sword handles pretty well, I decided I wanted a bo-hi to help make it a bit lighter, and to give me a bit of an audible sound when swinging straight…
I took a test cut with a foam play house that my nephew was done with, and it sliced through so easy it caught me off guard, I had diced up its twin with my Ronin and I had a bit more resistance…
I ended up going too far (I did the same dumb mistake with my Ronin on its first swing) and giving it to much power and hit the floor/cement with a good tap…
That dulled the end of the blade a bit, but it did better than the ronin did when I made the same dumb mistake, some work with my stone and I had the edge back…
The tuska has a nice solid feel, it’s a bit larger than my Ronin but I’m very happy with the profile and ito.
Fittings are tight, but the tuska was very hard to get off of the blade for an inspection, sorry did not take pictures, but I ended up doing a little clean up of the peg holes with a file.
No markings under the tuska, I really like it when the maker puts his mark there, but nothing on this blade
Conclusions
For a $300 sword, I love it!
IMO the blade alone is worth the $300 price tag.
Pros
I love the tuska profile
Tight ito wrap,
hamon is gorgeous
Blade is about perfect, looking down the blade I do not see any waves like I usually do in this price range.
Blade seems to hold an edge very well, even after hitting a hard object such as a floor…
Cons
Saya is nice and holds the blade in well enough, but I can get the blade to rattle a little…
I took the Tuska off and saw that it had split just a little at the glued seam, it looks like it was just a little too tight and the glue did not hold well enough, but it only seems to of split at the back…
The Bottom Line
I would recommend this sword to, the value for money on this sword is very high
I plan on buying another sword from them, and they are offering a folded T10 blade with a real hamon for not much more $.