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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2011 0:03:00 GMT
Hello, I'm pretty new in forums here, but not in sword practicing. Only thing is my old so-called katana (calling it shinken would be a sin) is not enough for me and I want to buy something new. But don't have experience with particular swords/producers since they don't import in my country (Slovakia) so I want to buy shinken online. My budget is around US$1000-1300 tops, but if you advice me cheaper shinken, I'll be glad too I'm not collector, I don't want to have amount of katanas, I want one serious peace of art, which I will have good relationship with. And now here are my favourites so far: #1. jswords.com/EN/11-05_d.php (problem with this shinken is that it exceeds my budget for about US$2300 since its price is US$3600) - but my thoughts are, should I rather keep my budget money and wait till I increase it to get one of these swords? or #2. roninkatana.com/ronin-elite-2011 ... atana.html - both these swords have no hi, but that is thing I can sacrifice. Just don't know what is quality of Ronin Katana and if it is trustworthy. I found only reviews of their lower end lines, but not this elite line. So if anyone have any experience with them and especially their elite line, I would appreciate sharing Also I'm not sure about their delivery to EU/Slovakia. #3. www.katana-land.de/product_info. ... enshi.html - this I would rather avoid, since everything on it looks cheap compared to other 2 and price at least same as #2. Or if any of you have some suggestion what other shinken to choose or at least check, I will be extremly glad Thank you all for advices.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2011 0:41:36 GMT
The sword from jswords.com looks outstanding. From my experience, if you really like a sword but it is out of your budget, consider saving up your money till you could afford one. Personally it is worth the patience and wait. Have you considered Bugei swords? www.bugei.com/bugei-exclusive-swords-156-ctg.htmTheir swords are some of the best if your budget is between $1K and $2K. I am not sure if they would ship to Slovakia, but wouldn't hurt asking them.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Sept 29, 2011 1:39:07 GMT
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Post by Jakeonthekob on Sept 29, 2011 5:02:39 GMT
Oh boy! Pavel Bolf is IMO among one of the best AFFORDABLE, custom, entry-level smiths in the world. In the sword world, it's pretty much true that you pay for quality. Therefore, here is the question... Do you want to spend around $2500 for a custom-made katana (from the ground up) and wait about 1 year, or do you want to go with really good production blades in the $1000-$2000 range and wait for about a month?
I myself have a high-end MAS L6 katana, and am waiting for a personal katana from Pavel. I believe that SBG forumite Vue has some bareblades by Pavel Bolf and from what he has told me, the quality is outstanding.
Just so you know, the Bugei line is outstanding as well (many members here could vouch for that) and the high-end CAS Hanwei swords are equally good.
There are also other blade smiths such as James Raw, Walter Sorrels (did I spell that right?), and many more smiths that could work in your price range. Walter Sorrels also has some Nihonto for sale on his site in the $2000 price range if you are interested.
Hope this helps and good luck!
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Post by nihontoman on Sept 29, 2011 12:19:46 GMT
I would vote for pavel bolf. his swords look very much like nihonto, they have this grace that o other non-nihonto swords have...
also, bugei peace sword seems to be what you are looking for...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 29, 2011 21:20:00 GMT
Thanks all for opinions and advices, maybe I'll stay bit longer with my old sword and will wait for budget increase to get one of Pavel Bolf's beauties ... also as dadaochen correctly noticed, I forgot to mention about balance, which I'm looking for center weighted since for main purpose iaido its best solution. No one posted about Ronin Katanas though, I was pretty curious about it since that price is very reasonable, if the quality is as they present it I could use it as temp before getting one from Pavel. Also Pavel's forge is about 2.5 hours of drive from my home, so it will be easy to arrange with him meeting and stop by there to arrange all details of making shinken exactly for me. Also possibility is to order one from him right now, since he has 3 payments in various stages of shinken production and I will be forced to save some money and not waste it to bullsemprinis I'm not much in hurry in it as it is really investment for life and I don't want to rush it so considering all possibilities for now. And I'm glad to meet nice people here this is one of amazing places for swordsmen, thanks all
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ecovolo
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Post by ecovolo on Sept 29, 2011 22:01:13 GMT
Well, I have one of Ronin's Dojo Pro-line katana. It's very worth it for the money: Well made, good blade profile, and reasonably priced.
I'll also put in a vote for Bugei.com. I have their Samurai, and it's *amazing*. Worth the money paid for it.
--Edward
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Post by frankthebunny on Sept 29, 2011 23:23:05 GMT
I love Pavel's work, truly unique and just my style. Walter Sorrells also makes some really beautiful blades but I don't believe he's taking any commissions at the moment. as far as readily available production blades, I do really like the Bugei "Peace Sword". the aesthetics on this model are very pleasing and well thought out. I don't really know enough about the Ronin Elite line to say if they were in the same class as the above mentioned. to take a guess I would say they are not. just an uninformed personal opinion.
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Post by Jakeonthekob on Sept 30, 2011 0:17:24 GMT
You are very lucky to be so close to Pavel. I have a hard time contacting him through e-mail, so it's a little difficult to get informed of what stage my katana is in, etc. Anyways, maybe you can just get a temporary katana and save up your money for a better one or just stick with what you have now and comission one from Pavel. Then a year later you get a brand new sword. Let us know your decision!
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