double review: Shinogi-zukuri and Shobu Tanto
Dec 20, 2011 0:33:27 GMT
Post by Artelmis on Dec 20, 2011 0:33:27 GMT
Pictures coming tomorrow when it's light outside.
test cutting coming tomorrow if it's not snowing.
I want to clarify something before you read any further.
I bought this sword for the blade. I wanted to get a performance cutter and I'd heard nothing but praise about the blades. The fittings were cheap, but having them cheap meant that I could get such a great blade at a price that didn't violate my wallet.
A while ago, Tattoomagic picked up an unukubi zukuri blade (spelling is probably off) from Ricky Chen at . Over skype, while playing league of legends, I got to listen to his endless praise of the blade. I got to talking to Ricky and figured that one of his blades was in store for me. The tanto was a spur of the moment purchse. I've always wanted a tanto, and at this price, for this quality, I couldn't turn it down. sure, the Hanwei tanto is nice, but it doesn't have the durability that the shobu tanto does. I wanted a hunting/fishing knife and the wood pieces of the hanwei tanto would've been problematic.
So, I finally got the cash together and ordered the blades at quite a nice discount and against recent form, UPS was actually prompt with delivery.
Full Disclosure
I'm not associated with or Ricky Chen in any way that would influence my opinion of this blade. I really appreciate the guy for what he did prior to me actually paying him (and putting up with my nonsense and endless PMs).
Initial Impressions
Well. the box made me laugh (picture incoming). the packaging inside was adequate foam packing. nothing exactly form fitting, but it did the job. no scratches or dents on the contents. no complaints.
my eyes immediatley jumped to the tanto in it's sheath. "HOLY CRAP THAT'S BIG" was the first thing that came to mind. I didn't even look at the katana next to it until i'd chopped an old notepad in half with one hack...
the Katana was very tightly wrapped in a sword bag. nothing fancy but nothing wrong about it. It did it's job just fine. Upon opening it, I was surprised to see the sword didn't quite match the image. I just had to double check online. I'm actually very happy that it didn't match. The new tsuba on it is actually very nice. the Fuchi and kashira are adequate.
Statistics: from website
Katana:
Total Length 99.5cm
Blade Length 68.5cm
Handle Length 31cm
Thickness 0.6cm
Width of Blade 3.5cm
Sori: 2.1 cm
Balance Wt: 12.8 cm
Total Wt: 2 lbs.
Tanto:
Total Length 38.5cm
Blade Length 24cm
Handle Length 14.5cm
Thickness 0.5cm
Width of Blade 3cm
Wt: 0.5 lbs
Balance 1.3 cm
Sori: .5c
Components
here's the original images posted on the website. use these as reference to see what was different
... 6_orig.jpg
... 5_orig.jpg
The Blade/Nagasa
Tanto: well, being a tactical type blade, this is really all there is. it's a blade with some wrap and a cute little lizard menuki. The blade is folded and has a very pretty pattern on it. it's rather discrete so you have to look close, but it's very pretty. thick blade too. it's thicker than my solid-blade tenchi... and that's saying something. the edge is a slight variation of the standard reputation. it doesn't feel sharp because of the style of niku, but holy monkeynuts is this thing dangerous. I'll be making some cuts with it tomorrow afternoon. I fully expect to see this thing DESTROY bamboo and bottles (my only cutting objects at the moment).
Katana:
Well. This is what I got the sword for. this sword looks like a freaking meat cleaver. the blade has some of the highest blade profile i've ever seen! I'm not too keen on the hamon, which looks suspiciously like it's acid etched. I'll have to confirm this. The edge is really scary. I'm pretty sure that if Ricky hadn't warned me how sharp it was, I probably would've ended up cutting myself. very pretty blade.
The Handle/Tsuka/fittings (excluding tsuba)
tanto: being a tactical style blade, there really isn't much to talk about. it has black same panels which are ever so slightly uneven, the wrap is just basic cotton but is held on tight enough with lacquer. It's a little bit loose, but because of the tactical design and the lacquer, i'm not worried about it in the slightest. It also has a cute little lizard menuki on there. it's really nice.
Katana: This part makes me want to cry. after the glorious review of the blade, i'm left with this. I suppose it's not the end of the world as I planned to customize this blade before I even bought it. well, here goes.
The ito wrap is a weird brown color. It's a nice quality cloth. seems to be synthetic. the lacquer which was put on it to guarantee it being tight seeped through a little bit and stained the cloth. the same is nice, painted black, i'm not quite sure if it's real or not... looks real, but it's a tad squishy to the nail. that might just be the lacquer tho. The menuki are these weird little dragon-fish things... if I could see them clearly, i'd be able to tell better. alas, one of them is covered partially by the battle wrap and the other shifted at some point it seems to where it's covering the second mekugi pin. The same is torn slightly near the first peg, resulting in a bit of a hole. there's also the occasional lump in the wrap. it's all forgivable when you look at the blade.
it's not all bad though. the fuchi and kashira, while still being a cheap alloy, look a HELL of a lot better than the shiny bamboo themed ones in the website photo. they're cheap, but functional. the kashira is put on with a very nice and tight knot and honestly, that pleases me.
The Guard/Tsuba
Tanto: tactical style. no guard
Katana: This part actually shocked me. I was expecting this ugly bamboo themed one, but it seems that Ricky has tricks up his sleeve. I got a very nice one. Looks like a Lion-Dog theme. initial impressions leave me to think that it's bronze or copper. most certainly higher quality than the original design. I really like it. This actually irritates me a bit though. I was planning on replacing the tsuba with a snake themed one I got from frankthebunny... now I think I'll need to save that tsuba for something else. CURSES!
The Scabbard/Saya
Tanto: wow. this is some supple leather. it looks good and feels good.. my only complaint is that there's this little spot where it looks like the engraving on the sheath was attacked by someone with a scraper. it's forgivable, but it's still an issue. The little band that's supposed to hold the blade in doesn't do much cause of the lack of a tsuba or any real blade geometry to stop the blade from sliding out, but I'm also not worried because it's so heavy, that i'd have to be upside down for this thing to fall out. it does mean though, that I can't re-rig the sheath to have horizontal carry capability.
Katana: Well. It's not that bad. It looks kind of like a crushed bazooka.. it had to be extra high profile to accomodate the blade and it makes it looks a bit on the "fat" side. that's just opinion though.
the lacquer is done very nicely and it passed the "Arty test" wherein I accidentally dropped it on my floor and remained unscarred. The sayego is really small... looks kinda like leftover ito wrap. forgivable. I don't like the brown sayego/ito anyway and it's going to be replaced sooner or later. The blade is also very tight in the sheath. I actually like this in this case. With the edge that Ricky put on it... i never want this blade to accidentally slide out of the sheath in any way. only problem is it's a bit of a pain getting it back IN the sheath.. gonna have to see what I can do about it... worst case though, it's a bearable inconvenience.
Handling Characteristics
Tanto:
well. I officially took this blade out and cut with it today... and learned something about myself.
1: i'm out of practice
2: I'm really bad when my hands are numb and being out of practice makes it worse
3: a tanto needs a lot more arm strength to cut with than a katana
I think it'll cut great once I figure out how to align the edge correctly. It's also a pretty tough blade because it's got a HUGE niku.
Katana:
This thing is a giant razor blade. It cuts like a dream. Sadly my early cuts do not show this because i haven't cut in over a month due to the crappy weather. once I got a bit of the hang of it again, you can see that pretty much zero effort went into the cuts.
VIDEO COMING AS SOON AS I FINISH EDITING IT
Conclusions
I REGRET NOTHING!
no seriously. I knew what I was getting into when I bought these blades and I have no regrets. I got them for the edges that Ricky puts on them and the quality of the metalwork. I am very pleased. The hardware on the blades could use some work, but at the price I got them, and the quality of the steel... it's forgivable. the different tsuba made me smile a lot (Thanks Ricky).
Pros
Overall:
-Ricky Chen Sharpening... If I wasn't working on my goatee, I'd be able to use this blade to shave with... and it'd probably do a better job than my razor.
-Great metalworking on the blades.
Tanto pros: beautiful blade folding.
good sheath, very pretty overall design.
lizard menuki was too good to not mention
Fittings are adequate for the intention as a utility knife
Tanto cons:
weird chunk missing from the outer layer of the sheath right near the collar.
blade isn't 100% secure in sheath
fittings aren't exactly gold-medal worthy
Katana pros:
nice wide blade gives something to look at
tsuba was a change for the better
everything tight and safe
weird looking hamon
katana cons:
ito/same/sayego not really that beautiful.
slight cosmetic defects with same
hamon looks weird (yes, this is a pro and a con)
menuki are kinda hidden by the ito
blade is so sharp that it's a bit fragile
blade is so sharp that it sliced through my cloth as I was trying to oil the blade. :x
The Bottom Line
I'm buying from Ricky and again. The communication I had with him was enough to merit a repeat customer. the quality of the steelwork guaranteed it. The discount helped, but was and is not a determining factor in my purchase (or future purchases). I'm content.
I haven't even cut with these swords yet and I'm already in love. They most certainly need some work done and I have a sinking feeling that I'm going to be giving more of my money to frankthebunny...
test cutting coming tomorrow if it's not snowing.
I want to clarify something before you read any further.
I bought this sword for the blade. I wanted to get a performance cutter and I'd heard nothing but praise about the blades. The fittings were cheap, but having them cheap meant that I could get such a great blade at a price that didn't violate my wallet.
A while ago, Tattoomagic picked up an unukubi zukuri blade (spelling is probably off) from Ricky Chen at . Over skype, while playing league of legends, I got to listen to his endless praise of the blade. I got to talking to Ricky and figured that one of his blades was in store for me. The tanto was a spur of the moment purchse. I've always wanted a tanto, and at this price, for this quality, I couldn't turn it down. sure, the Hanwei tanto is nice, but it doesn't have the durability that the shobu tanto does. I wanted a hunting/fishing knife and the wood pieces of the hanwei tanto would've been problematic.
So, I finally got the cash together and ordered the blades at quite a nice discount and against recent form, UPS was actually prompt with delivery.
Full Disclosure
I'm not associated with or Ricky Chen in any way that would influence my opinion of this blade. I really appreciate the guy for what he did prior to me actually paying him (and putting up with my nonsense and endless PMs).
Initial Impressions
Well. the box made me laugh (picture incoming). the packaging inside was adequate foam packing. nothing exactly form fitting, but it did the job. no scratches or dents on the contents. no complaints.
my eyes immediatley jumped to the tanto in it's sheath. "HOLY CRAP THAT'S BIG" was the first thing that came to mind. I didn't even look at the katana next to it until i'd chopped an old notepad in half with one hack...
the Katana was very tightly wrapped in a sword bag. nothing fancy but nothing wrong about it. It did it's job just fine. Upon opening it, I was surprised to see the sword didn't quite match the image. I just had to double check online. I'm actually very happy that it didn't match. The new tsuba on it is actually very nice. the Fuchi and kashira are adequate.
Statistics: from website
Katana:
Total Length 99.5cm
Blade Length 68.5cm
Handle Length 31cm
Thickness 0.6cm
Width of Blade 3.5cm
Sori: 2.1 cm
Balance Wt: 12.8 cm
Total Wt: 2 lbs.
Tanto:
Total Length 38.5cm
Blade Length 24cm
Handle Length 14.5cm
Thickness 0.5cm
Width of Blade 3cm
Wt: 0.5 lbs
Balance 1.3 cm
Sori: .5c
Components
here's the original images posted on the website. use these as reference to see what was different
... 6_orig.jpg
... 5_orig.jpg
The Blade/Nagasa
Tanto: well, being a tactical type blade, this is really all there is. it's a blade with some wrap and a cute little lizard menuki. The blade is folded and has a very pretty pattern on it. it's rather discrete so you have to look close, but it's very pretty. thick blade too. it's thicker than my solid-blade tenchi... and that's saying something. the edge is a slight variation of the standard reputation. it doesn't feel sharp because of the style of niku, but holy monkeynuts is this thing dangerous. I'll be making some cuts with it tomorrow afternoon. I fully expect to see this thing DESTROY bamboo and bottles (my only cutting objects at the moment).
Katana:
Well. This is what I got the sword for. this sword looks like a freaking meat cleaver. the blade has some of the highest blade profile i've ever seen! I'm not too keen on the hamon, which looks suspiciously like it's acid etched. I'll have to confirm this. The edge is really scary. I'm pretty sure that if Ricky hadn't warned me how sharp it was, I probably would've ended up cutting myself. very pretty blade.
The Handle/Tsuka/fittings (excluding tsuba)
tanto: being a tactical style blade, there really isn't much to talk about. it has black same panels which are ever so slightly uneven, the wrap is just basic cotton but is held on tight enough with lacquer. It's a little bit loose, but because of the tactical design and the lacquer, i'm not worried about it in the slightest. It also has a cute little lizard menuki on there. it's really nice.
Katana: This part makes me want to cry. after the glorious review of the blade, i'm left with this. I suppose it's not the end of the world as I planned to customize this blade before I even bought it. well, here goes.
The ito wrap is a weird brown color. It's a nice quality cloth. seems to be synthetic. the lacquer which was put on it to guarantee it being tight seeped through a little bit and stained the cloth. the same is nice, painted black, i'm not quite sure if it's real or not... looks real, but it's a tad squishy to the nail. that might just be the lacquer tho. The menuki are these weird little dragon-fish things... if I could see them clearly, i'd be able to tell better. alas, one of them is covered partially by the battle wrap and the other shifted at some point it seems to where it's covering the second mekugi pin. The same is torn slightly near the first peg, resulting in a bit of a hole. there's also the occasional lump in the wrap. it's all forgivable when you look at the blade.
it's not all bad though. the fuchi and kashira, while still being a cheap alloy, look a HELL of a lot better than the shiny bamboo themed ones in the website photo. they're cheap, but functional. the kashira is put on with a very nice and tight knot and honestly, that pleases me.
The Guard/Tsuba
Tanto: tactical style. no guard
Katana: This part actually shocked me. I was expecting this ugly bamboo themed one, but it seems that Ricky has tricks up his sleeve. I got a very nice one. Looks like a Lion-Dog theme. initial impressions leave me to think that it's bronze or copper. most certainly higher quality than the original design. I really like it. This actually irritates me a bit though. I was planning on replacing the tsuba with a snake themed one I got from frankthebunny... now I think I'll need to save that tsuba for something else. CURSES!
The Scabbard/Saya
Tanto: wow. this is some supple leather. it looks good and feels good.. my only complaint is that there's this little spot where it looks like the engraving on the sheath was attacked by someone with a scraper. it's forgivable, but it's still an issue. The little band that's supposed to hold the blade in doesn't do much cause of the lack of a tsuba or any real blade geometry to stop the blade from sliding out, but I'm also not worried because it's so heavy, that i'd have to be upside down for this thing to fall out. it does mean though, that I can't re-rig the sheath to have horizontal carry capability.
Katana: Well. It's not that bad. It looks kind of like a crushed bazooka.. it had to be extra high profile to accomodate the blade and it makes it looks a bit on the "fat" side. that's just opinion though.
the lacquer is done very nicely and it passed the "Arty test" wherein I accidentally dropped it on my floor and remained unscarred. The sayego is really small... looks kinda like leftover ito wrap. forgivable. I don't like the brown sayego/ito anyway and it's going to be replaced sooner or later. The blade is also very tight in the sheath. I actually like this in this case. With the edge that Ricky put on it... i never want this blade to accidentally slide out of the sheath in any way. only problem is it's a bit of a pain getting it back IN the sheath.. gonna have to see what I can do about it... worst case though, it's a bearable inconvenience.
Handling Characteristics
Tanto:
well. I officially took this blade out and cut with it today... and learned something about myself.
1: i'm out of practice
2: I'm really bad when my hands are numb and being out of practice makes it worse
3: a tanto needs a lot more arm strength to cut with than a katana
I think it'll cut great once I figure out how to align the edge correctly. It's also a pretty tough blade because it's got a HUGE niku.
Katana:
This thing is a giant razor blade. It cuts like a dream. Sadly my early cuts do not show this because i haven't cut in over a month due to the crappy weather. once I got a bit of the hang of it again, you can see that pretty much zero effort went into the cuts.
VIDEO COMING AS SOON AS I FINISH EDITING IT
Conclusions
I REGRET NOTHING!
no seriously. I knew what I was getting into when I bought these blades and I have no regrets. I got them for the edges that Ricky puts on them and the quality of the metalwork. I am very pleased. The hardware on the blades could use some work, but at the price I got them, and the quality of the steel... it's forgivable. the different tsuba made me smile a lot (Thanks Ricky).
Pros
Overall:
-Ricky Chen Sharpening... If I wasn't working on my goatee, I'd be able to use this blade to shave with... and it'd probably do a better job than my razor.
-Great metalworking on the blades.
Tanto pros: beautiful blade folding.
good sheath, very pretty overall design.
lizard menuki was too good to not mention
Fittings are adequate for the intention as a utility knife
Tanto cons:
weird chunk missing from the outer layer of the sheath right near the collar.
blade isn't 100% secure in sheath
fittings aren't exactly gold-medal worthy
Katana pros:
nice wide blade gives something to look at
tsuba was a change for the better
everything tight and safe
weird looking hamon
katana cons:
ito/same/sayego not really that beautiful.
slight cosmetic defects with same
hamon looks weird (yes, this is a pro and a con)
menuki are kinda hidden by the ito
blade is so sharp that it's a bit fragile
blade is so sharp that it sliced through my cloth as I was trying to oil the blade. :x
The Bottom Line
I'm buying from Ricky and again. The communication I had with him was enough to merit a repeat customer. the quality of the steelwork guaranteed it. The discount helped, but was and is not a determining factor in my purchase (or future purchases). I'm content.
I haven't even cut with these swords yet and I'm already in love. They most certainly need some work done and I have a sinking feeling that I'm going to be giving more of my money to frankthebunny...