Custom sword from Huawei
Aug 14, 2011 12:50:08 GMT
Post by Orochimaru6 on Aug 14, 2011 12:50:08 GMT
Welcome sword lovers, I wanted to post this yesterday but I decided that I will take my time.
I want to show you a custom sword that was made for me by Huawei.
I already have Hanwei Practical PRO and Dynasty Forge Shobu. Both are big massive swords, so this time I wanted to go with something shorter. I was thinking about something wakizashi length, but there again I like a longer tsukas I can grab with both hands. Ko-katana? Well yeah why not, but maybe something shorter? Tanto or O-tanto? Too small… Damn, I’m so picky So after some more thinking I have decided – it will be a Ko-wakizashi with a almost standard katana tsuka length!
Let us wait no longer and go straight to details.
When I contacted them, this is what I ordered:
Blade: T10 steel, 36 cm long, 8mm thick, Somewhere between 3,1 and 3,3 mm wide, shinogi zukuri, differential hardened, geometric yokote.
Tsuka: 26 cm long, their standard brass fittings, light blue ito, white same
I also wanted them to do a delicate notare hamon and to make the saya 10 cm longer than the blade.
About a month later here is what I got:
Now you may notice that what I got is different just a little what I ordered. The hamon I can forgive because I like Huawei hamons in general. Saya, ok those 10 extra cm are also not SO important, but I’m surprised that they somehow missed the order of blue ito…
But for now lets move to some details:
THE BLADE
Holy cow, now this is a work of art! Their bare blade is worth the price and wait. T10 steel gives a really beautiful hamon, however it was difficult for me to capture it on my pictures. I’m a horrible photographer so I’m posting a mixture of my photos as well as those that Huawei provided me with. I ordered a 36 cm long blade but it’s 38 cm. Who cares
Some kissaki pictures with geometric yokote
THE TSUKA
The tsuka is almost a standard katana length – more or less 26 cm, that’s around 10 inches.
Very nice real samegawa (panels), tight alternating wrap with brass fittings. I must say that I am a real fan of their brass fittings – they look absolutely fantastic and detailed. 2 bamboo pegs keep the tang in the tsuka, so it is well secured.
Fittings close-up
Love this little tanto-size tsuba
Fuchi
Kashira
Menuki
Am I happy with it? HELL F-ING YEAH!!! It was a little disappointing that Huawei messed my order a little bit but they did a great work anyhow. I’m 100% sure that I will order another custom in the future, but this time I will keep an eye on the project so they do everything right. I think the best way to make sure they stick to the plan is to prepare a drawing of the sword with all details on it so the can print it out and have everything in one place.
I hope you enjoyed this little review
Some more random pictures
EDIT
Forgot to write pros and cons....
Pros
-beautiful blade
-despite it is not 100% how I wanted my custom, job well done
-very fast shipping
Cons
-lose ito... just yesterday kashira fell off
-tang fits tsuka very very tight. Too tight even, putting it apart took me a loooong time
I want to show you a custom sword that was made for me by Huawei.
I already have Hanwei Practical PRO and Dynasty Forge Shobu. Both are big massive swords, so this time I wanted to go with something shorter. I was thinking about something wakizashi length, but there again I like a longer tsukas I can grab with both hands. Ko-katana? Well yeah why not, but maybe something shorter? Tanto or O-tanto? Too small… Damn, I’m so picky So after some more thinking I have decided – it will be a Ko-wakizashi with a almost standard katana tsuka length!
Let us wait no longer and go straight to details.
When I contacted them, this is what I ordered:
Blade: T10 steel, 36 cm long, 8mm thick, Somewhere between 3,1 and 3,3 mm wide, shinogi zukuri, differential hardened, geometric yokote.
Tsuka: 26 cm long, their standard brass fittings, light blue ito, white same
I also wanted them to do a delicate notare hamon and to make the saya 10 cm longer than the blade.
About a month later here is what I got:
Now you may notice that what I got is different just a little what I ordered. The hamon I can forgive because I like Huawei hamons in general. Saya, ok those 10 extra cm are also not SO important, but I’m surprised that they somehow missed the order of blue ito…
But for now lets move to some details:
THE BLADE
Holy cow, now this is a work of art! Their bare blade is worth the price and wait. T10 steel gives a really beautiful hamon, however it was difficult for me to capture it on my pictures. I’m a horrible photographer so I’m posting a mixture of my photos as well as those that Huawei provided me with. I ordered a 36 cm long blade but it’s 38 cm. Who cares
Some kissaki pictures with geometric yokote
THE TSUKA
The tsuka is almost a standard katana length – more or less 26 cm, that’s around 10 inches.
Very nice real samegawa (panels), tight alternating wrap with brass fittings. I must say that I am a real fan of their brass fittings – they look absolutely fantastic and detailed. 2 bamboo pegs keep the tang in the tsuka, so it is well secured.
Fittings close-up
Love this little tanto-size tsuba
Fuchi
Kashira
Menuki
Am I happy with it? HELL F-ING YEAH!!! It was a little disappointing that Huawei messed my order a little bit but they did a great work anyhow. I’m 100% sure that I will order another custom in the future, but this time I will keep an eye on the project so they do everything right. I think the best way to make sure they stick to the plan is to prepare a drawing of the sword with all details on it so the can print it out and have everything in one place.
I hope you enjoyed this little review
Some more random pictures
EDIT
Forgot to write pros and cons....
Pros
-beautiful blade
-despite it is not 100% how I wanted my custom, job well done
-very fast shipping
Cons
-lose ito... just yesterday kashira fell off
-tang fits tsuka very very tight. Too tight even, putting it apart took me a loooong time