First post: Ei Dai En is a no-go
Apr 7, 2012 23:32:01 GMT
Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2012 23:32:01 GMT
First off, I am not a practitioner of any kind Japanese Sword Art. Also, my knowledge of Japanese sword terminology is somewhat incomplete so bear with me.
I'm a first-time poster, but a long-time reader of these forums. I've always loved western swords, but I've never handled Japanese swords before. Western swrods were always just a preference of mine. A year ago, i purchased my first sword, a Cold Steel 1917 cutlass, after reading a review here. It's great and extremely tough, but partly because I'm partial to two-handed swords and partly due to my blade-addiction, I decided two weeks ago to buy a new sword.
Now, I'd normally order from Kult of Athena except that I'm Canadian and the customs plus the shipping plus the taxes pretty much makes the savings non-existant unless I order with a group. So I went to my standard Friendly Kinda-neighbourhood Sword Store, Reliks. Whilst perusing their stock, I came across a fairly cheap Katana made by an extremely obscure company called Ei Dai En.
I'd never ever heard of them, and I couldn't really find anything about them anywhere, but it was $125.00+tax and they said that it was battle ready (Though monosteel.) so I figured that it was worth a shot and if it didn't work out well, it wouldn't be the end of the world. So I bought it, and I was impressed with how fast it got here. I opened the box and removed my new sword.
It came with a cool cleaning kit which I really like. Choji oil smells really good. (I know that it's just mineral oil and clove oil, but I like the smell. Especially compared to the smell of Sword oil.) The saya was pretty standard, black and kinda glossy. The blade seemed a perfect fit, no rattle or anything. There were some cosmetic issues, as to be expected. The Sageo and ito seemed a little cheap-feeling and the Same wasn't real, but I really liked the Tsuka. It was just kinda basic, but I find that most appealing. Worst of all, the freaking blade said "China" on it. But for what I paid for it, I had no serious complaints.
It handled really well, I liked the balance on it. The only two-handed sword I'd handled up to that point was a Cold Steel Grosse Messer which, while an excellent cutter, didn't exactly feel lively in my hands. This, though, did. I'm pretty sold on Katanas now, I think, and I want another. The Katana cut waterbottles and boxes well, and even a couple of Tatami mats fell to my blade.
Yes, for a few glorious days, my sword and I cut a watery swath through my backyard. But today, in the midst of my feeling like a Samurai, I messed up a cut on a Pepsi bottle that I'm pretty sure was mocking me and hit it with the flat of the blade. I almost missed it but upon closer inspection, the blade seemed to have taken an almost imperceptable set. A sinking feeling developed in the pit of my stomach and I HAD to know for sure. So I hit the flat of the blade against a picnic table neither too lightly nor heavily, and watched in horror as the tip of my blade bent over 30 degrees to the left and stayed there.
Needless to say, I was not impressed. I haven't returned it or called Reliks yet, but I'll be going there this week anyways so I'll just bring it along with me. But just for future reference, Ei Dai En is NOT a safe bet. It goes on my list with Kris Cutlery.(A lot of people seem to like it, but I once saw a Kris Cutlery Celtic Sword bend quite literally 90 degrees toward the handle in front of my very eyes. Yeah, no F***ing way will I ever buy from them. Shiver*) I now have my eye on the Hanwei Practical Katana, I guess we'll see how that goes.
I'm a first-time poster, but a long-time reader of these forums. I've always loved western swords, but I've never handled Japanese swords before. Western swrods were always just a preference of mine. A year ago, i purchased my first sword, a Cold Steel 1917 cutlass, after reading a review here. It's great and extremely tough, but partly because I'm partial to two-handed swords and partly due to my blade-addiction, I decided two weeks ago to buy a new sword.
Now, I'd normally order from Kult of Athena except that I'm Canadian and the customs plus the shipping plus the taxes pretty much makes the savings non-existant unless I order with a group. So I went to my standard Friendly Kinda-neighbourhood Sword Store, Reliks. Whilst perusing their stock, I came across a fairly cheap Katana made by an extremely obscure company called Ei Dai En.
I'd never ever heard of them, and I couldn't really find anything about them anywhere, but it was $125.00+tax and they said that it was battle ready (Though monosteel.) so I figured that it was worth a shot and if it didn't work out well, it wouldn't be the end of the world. So I bought it, and I was impressed with how fast it got here. I opened the box and removed my new sword.
It came with a cool cleaning kit which I really like. Choji oil smells really good. (I know that it's just mineral oil and clove oil, but I like the smell. Especially compared to the smell of Sword oil.) The saya was pretty standard, black and kinda glossy. The blade seemed a perfect fit, no rattle or anything. There were some cosmetic issues, as to be expected. The Sageo and ito seemed a little cheap-feeling and the Same wasn't real, but I really liked the Tsuka. It was just kinda basic, but I find that most appealing. Worst of all, the freaking blade said "China" on it. But for what I paid for it, I had no serious complaints.
It handled really well, I liked the balance on it. The only two-handed sword I'd handled up to that point was a Cold Steel Grosse Messer which, while an excellent cutter, didn't exactly feel lively in my hands. This, though, did. I'm pretty sold on Katanas now, I think, and I want another. The Katana cut waterbottles and boxes well, and even a couple of Tatami mats fell to my blade.
Yes, for a few glorious days, my sword and I cut a watery swath through my backyard. But today, in the midst of my feeling like a Samurai, I messed up a cut on a Pepsi bottle that I'm pretty sure was mocking me and hit it with the flat of the blade. I almost missed it but upon closer inspection, the blade seemed to have taken an almost imperceptable set. A sinking feeling developed in the pit of my stomach and I HAD to know for sure. So I hit the flat of the blade against a picnic table neither too lightly nor heavily, and watched in horror as the tip of my blade bent over 30 degrees to the left and stayed there.
Needless to say, I was not impressed. I haven't returned it or called Reliks yet, but I'll be going there this week anyways so I'll just bring it along with me. But just for future reference, Ei Dai En is NOT a safe bet. It goes on my list with Kris Cutlery.(A lot of people seem to like it, but I once saw a Kris Cutlery Celtic Sword bend quite literally 90 degrees toward the handle in front of my very eyes. Yeah, no F***ing way will I ever buy from them. Shiver*) I now have my eye on the Hanwei Practical Katana, I guess we'll see how that goes.