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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2011 11:42:15 GMT
Hi all, i am looking to purchase a fully custimised katana, samurai sword and whilest doing my own research with google, i thought i'd ask here if anyone can recomend a better than decent store, forge, smith etc.. I am looking to spend around the $500 price range, cheaper is ok and a little extra is ok too. I live in AUS. I thank you all who reply in advance for your kindness  |
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Post by Vincent Dolan on Jun 30, 2011 12:16:58 GMT
By custom, do you mean custom forged or just a production katana that's been customized to your tastes? The first is quite possibly out of your price range, but the second has a number of possibilities; you could get a Kris Cutlery bare blade and have everything built to your specifications or get an inexpensive Hanwei/Dynasty Forge/mounted Kris Cutlery and go from there.
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Post by LastGodslayer on Jun 30, 2011 14:41:59 GMT
By fully customized you mean your own themed fittings, or just the blade? You should check www.samurai-sword-shop.com Its run by a great guy called Dave Lorrez. He sometimes posts here, and the forge he works with makes good quality swords, indulges in custom requests, and Dave has great customer service . The price should be a bit over 500$, but still under 1000$ (depending on the request of course) |
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ecovolo
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Post by ecovolo on Jun 30, 2011 16:20:48 GMT
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Post by Lonely Wolf Forge on Jun 30, 2011 17:09:55 GMT
Huawei swords lets you customize every aspect of the blade, size, shape, thickness, steel, length, hamon,ito color, itomaki wrap style, ext for about 300$
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Post by etiennehamel on Jun 30, 2011 21:30:09 GMT
sino swords seem to be doing the same thing now for the same price as huawei so i think both of them are in a tie  you can even ask for your style of nakago at least for sinoswords! (i asked if they could reproduce an old nihonto and they said they could!!  ) i asked to reproduce this kind of nakago www.nipponto-ken.fr/Images/Image ... nakago.png (they said yes!!!!) |
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Post by william m on Jun 30, 2011 21:48:01 GMT
If you are going to look at the SBG custom swords, check out the reviews first.
From what I have read they seem to be pretty poor quality but the biggest problem is that the blades are in general far too heavy with almost no distal tapering.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2011 1:41:23 GMT
I found www.buyiaito.com/29-clay-tempered-series ,by Zhisword. Looks promiseing, different catagories and price ranges to suit most needs, and their customisation choices for the clay tempered series are good. I checked out sinosword and the prices they quote are indeed very good. I've been waiting patiently for the SBG custom to be offered again, both sites mentioned in this post seem to be ok in comparision. Astheticly, i would have to go with Zhisword, but possibly for customer service, Sinosword is better. Only way to find out is to buy a sword of equal or close to specs and then compare them. Living in AUS, postage is unfortunately a factor, and shiping from China, generally beats USA. I almost bite the hook and bought www.swordsoftheeast.com/dragonfl ... sword.aspx, 49% off, what a bargin, though this sword is obviously not for everyone, nor to everyone's taste. |
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Post by etiennehamel on Jul 1, 2011 1:57:19 GMT
by the way trulkor did you see the offerings of brass sets on sinoswords website? if not they have very nice sets and you can mix them up if you didn't see it yet take a look : www.sinosword.com/ProductShow/?p ... uba-Menuki there are also copper fittings set including the most famous geisha set (i remember someone searching for this set on SBG :lol: ) here it is: www.sinosword.com/ProductShow/?p ... ira-menuki |
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Post by william m on Jul 1, 2011 7:11:28 GMT
Noooo don't buy a cold steel katana, they are not nearly as nice as the photos plus they have no hamon. Stay away from sharp crow bars.
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Post by Maynar on Jul 1, 2011 16:31:29 GMT
I'll put my 2 cent's worth in for Huawei, since I have two of theirs: Shipping from China (as you mentioned, close to Aus) they even price in Australian dollars. stores.ebay.com.au/huaweiswordsOn the downside, their handle wrapping leaves room for improvement, at least in the past. I hear they're getting better these days. But once I got my unokubi re-wrapped, I'm very happy with it. The kanmuri otoshi wrap I'm going to leave, the only complaint I have is the end knot is not as sleek as it should be but it doesn't interfere with handling. Fully customizable but I'm not certain about nagako. However I'm sure Jacky would be happy to email you details about that. Excellent prices, great value. |
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Post by Brett Whinnen on Jul 8, 2011 6:20:51 GMT
Chiming in late. You need to remember that a Katana doesn't always have a great deal of distal taper, specially compared to a Euro. My SBG katana has 7mm (0.275") at the habaki and just over 5mm (0.211") at the yokote, measured with my dial callipers from the mune. This is around 23% distal taper which seems to conform with what people say is 'rule of thumb' for a katana (20 - 30% distal taper).
It is definitely heavier than a Euro, but I'd not say excessively heavy given its overall length. The katana I have is 2lb 13.5oz (~1.29kg) - 41 5/8" overall length, 29 1/4" blade length. Compared to the VA Crusader (type XII) which is 2lb 1oz (~0.94kg) - 37 2/4" overall length, 31" blade length.
Oh yes, while the blade is beautiful on the katana, the tsuka and wrapping left a bit to be desired, BUT this was rectified by Paul at the time though, and the results were wonderful and professional to say the least.
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Post by ineffableone on Jul 8, 2011 7:02:24 GMT
Huawei has a very good reputation and if your looking for maximum customization for a decent price they are the way to go. Huawei have been rewriting the opinion of ebay sword sales. stores.ebay.com/huaweiswords It is worth contacting them and finding out what price they will offer you for what you want. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2011 0:51:20 GMT
I have two swords, ordered at differant times, from www.sinosword.com a Katana and a Wakizashi. I'm extreemly pleased with both. I recently attended a Tai Kai where all the swords had to be inspected and approved and I recieved several positive comments from those I believe know way more than me. Although they were ordered seperately they were planned as a set and aside from length you couldn't tell the differance. I've been cutting with both since Christmas and they're holding up very well. Everything is still tight, no saya rattle, the blade and edge remain like new. |
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