Ronin Dojo Pro #7
Jun 2, 2012 14:17:34 GMT
Post by wolf_shade on Jun 2, 2012 14:17:34 GMT
This is my first review. Critiques welcome. I pretty much tried to follow the template in the sticky.
Introduction
I ordered one of the SBG Custom Katanas during batch 18 as an anniversary gift for my wife. She also ordered one for me. I decided that I did not want to learn to cut (this would be my first real, sharpened, functional katana) with a sword that had a rather high level of sentimental value, so I set out to find a good “beater” sword that could take some flubbed cuts and keep on going. I did some research and found a few different suggestions from the SBG forumites. I tried to convince my wife to let me spend $150 on a Ronin Dojo, but there were two issues,
1) I didn’t like any of them aesthetically, either the tsuba wasn’t a design I liked or the color wasn’t appealing or…
2) the expense was difficult to justify as we hadn’t officially told each other that we were getting swords for our anniversary.
So when the Ronin Dojo Pro # 7 came up at the price of a Ronin Dojo during the Scratch n Dent sale I had to jump on it.
The instructions for review template suggests describing your wait for the sword. The trouble is, there really wasn’t one. I’m not saying it showed up the same day, but I ordered, got distracted by life, and two days later I had a sword box on my doorstep. I was very surprised by the speed of shipping.
Historical overview
I am new to swords from a serious interest standpoint and have little knowledge of their origins and histories. That being said, below is the blurb from the SBG Sword Store regarding the Ronin Dotanuki blades.
Full Disclosure
As I said in the history section, I am new to swords. I am trying to get used to the terminology surrounding parts and pieces of both Japanese and European weapons, but am not proficient yet. In fact when asked about this sword in PM a little while ago I referred to the tsuka as the “tsuba”. I’d love to write that off as a typo, but I did it about three times in the message. I’m learning.
I also have very little formal training. Read that as I’ve just begun what can amount to private lessons with a retired martial arts instructor. I’m still working on the first form, and realizing that my edge alignment is visibly off in a downward cut. (That, my friends, is actually rather sad to discover.) So my experience with actual sword use is less than a lot people who’ve never had any formal training but have done a lot of backyard cutting. Keep that in mind when we get to the handling portion of the review.
As to bias towards the sword, I have a bias toward any company willing to back up their products. I had seen the videos of the destructive tests from Mark Kaden Ridgeway of the Ronin blades and seen the numerous “This is a QC reject?!” statements made by a number of people. I made a similar comment myself shortly after receiving my sword. So there is that automatic bias towards liking the company because of how thorough they are in verifying the integrity of their product before shipping it to their customer. There is also the fact that I did not pay full price for this sword as it was available in the Scratch n Dent section. I have not, however, received the sword at a reduced cost for the sake of this review, and have no direct affiliation with Ronin or any of their affiliates. I’m a new sword buyer/collector that scored a good deal.
Initial Impressions
The sword arrived in a non-descript brown shipping box. Inside that box was another non-descript black box with some artwork but no branding by the manufacturer. The sword itself was held with three pieces of foam, one at each end and one in the middle. I was moderately surprised to see this as it’s what I’m used to seeing for packaging in the various Asian gift shops common to malls. However, it did seem that it would protect the sword well enough from normal bumps and josles encountered in standard shipping.
The sword itself was wrapped in a black sword bag. I know some people consider sword bags a silly extra, but I’m fond of them and use them as replacements for felt on sword stands. I think a draped sword bag adds a nice accent to the display of a katana.
Removing the sword bag I was struck by the translucency of the kurigata, koiguchi, and kojiri. I had read other reviews where this feature was mentioned, but I had not really grasped what was being said. I usually prefer uniformity of color, but the accents that these pieces added were excellent.
My next act was to search for the scratch n dents to see how much of a lemon I’d received (a couple people received quite the project pieces). I’ll give more details on that when I get to the components section of the review.
Finally I drew the blade. The first thing I noticed was the shipping substance on it (I was later informed it is wax). I’ve seen a few people with a negative view of this. I do not share that view. The wax means the sword was shipped such that it was protected from the elements. It is easy to clean off and does not impact the performance of the blade (for the most part, an unlikely piece of wax could really ruin a cut if it sat on the edge). Beyond that the blade had a nice satin finish.
Statistics
From the SBG Sword Store
Blade/Nagasa Length: 27” from habaki
Handle/Tsuka Length: 11”
Overall Length: 38+”
POB (Point of Balance): 4.5” from tsuba
Weight: 2.6 lbs
Components
The Blade/Nagasa
The blade is through hardened. There is no hamon of any sort. It is a consistent satin polish throughout the length. There is no yokote (line between the kissaki and the rest of the blade) visible.
It’s just a smooth continual edge from tip to habaki. The blade came sharp. I’d classify it as paper cutting sharp, but not shaving sharp.
The Handle/Tsuka
The tsuka is white same with black ito. The ito is tight and does alternate. The shape of the tsuka is nicely waisted and provides a comfortable grip.
No cracks were found in the tsuka core.
The Guard/Tsuba
The tsuba is a nice basic pattern. Nothing fancy but also not plain or boring.
The fact that it is mostly space reduces the weight down near the handle somewhat, but not in any way that negatively impacts the handling of the sword.
The habaki has some scuffing that occurred. It’s not a bright rubbing but a sort of darkening of spots. It’s not hideous, just there.
The Pommel/Fuchi-Kashira
The fuchi is a little loose after disassembling the blade. Not sure how it came about but there is a slight gap between the sepa and the fuchi which allows for a minimal wiggle. The fuchi and kashira are both plain caps with no decoration. I actually like the look this creates.
The Scabbard/Saya
The saya is a basic glossy black lacquer over wood. The kurigata, koiguchi, and kojiri are all of a semi-translucent buffalo horn that provides a sort of amber highlight. It’s quite attractive in my opinion. There were a couple of minor scuffs on the saya. One looks like the saya was set in a sword stand with no felt, and the other is minor enough that I could not even get a picture of it.
No cracks around the saya mouth either.
Handling Characteristics
Here’s where my inexperience has the greatest impact. Generally when discussing handling people will reference concepts such as “good” or “bad” or “better” or “worse” or blade heavy etc. While I am confident I would be able to identify “blade heavy” that’s about as far as my confidence in my ability to properly analyse a sword’s handling goes. All I can give is my analysis based on how the sword felt, not how proper or improper the handling came across.
That being said, I like the handling of the blade. I only have two other katana and one iato. The iato is a Cheness Deluxe Iato which (based on the SBG Sword Store stats) is similar in weight to the Ronin. Since I’m practicing with a heavier blade, this might be why I am more comfortable with the Ronin. One of the other katana is a Raptor Unokubi Zukuri. According to Kult of Athena’s site it is actually heavier than the Ronin, but feels lighter. (Maybe I can’t identify “blade heavy” after all).
I do not have any trouble stopping a cut, so the blade does not carry too much momentum. Any clumsiness of the blade is purely the result of my inexperience, not a failing of the sword. I have heard other people describe “blade presence” and “desire to cut” in a sword. I don’t sense either of these things, but I never have, so again, this is likely my lack of experience.
I like the handle length of the Ronin and find that it’s just about perfect for the size of my hands. I can have my right hand not quite touching the tsuba with my left hand above the kashira and still have about two fingers of space between them.
Test Cutting (if applicable)
I did some test cutting with the blade, and I could tell the difference between good and bad edge alignment. The blade is no-hi, so the feedback wasn’t audible in terms of tache-kaze, but it was apparent in the smoothness of the cut and the sound of the impact on the plastic bottles. Unfortunately the number of smooth cuts was seriously lacking and the number of pops, thumps, and plastic crunches was much more evident. Even so, the Ronin never failed to cut a bottle with water in it. I tried a variety of cuts, the majority angled, but a few horizontal as well. It was one especially low angled cut that justified the purchase of the Ronin given my requirements as I took a nice smooth wedge (about an inch across and maybe ¼” long out of my sword stand. No set or chips in the blade (phew).
Videos of the cutting can be found in this topic in the backyard cutting sub-forum.
Conclusions
Overall I’m happy with the sword. The more meaty blade is what I need as I attempt to learn proper form in a cut.
Pros
-Solid construction
-Durable blade
-Comfortable grip
Cons
- Loose Fuchi
-Minor cosmetic issues
-None at all not accounted for in the “Scratch n Dent” category.
The Bottom Line
I would recommend the Ronin Dojo and Dojo Pro lines to anyone interested in a durable blade. I do not believe these count in the “performance” cutter category, but if you want a solid sword with excellent construction it is definitely the way to go.
Introduction
I ordered one of the SBG Custom Katanas during batch 18 as an anniversary gift for my wife. She also ordered one for me. I decided that I did not want to learn to cut (this would be my first real, sharpened, functional katana) with a sword that had a rather high level of sentimental value, so I set out to find a good “beater” sword that could take some flubbed cuts and keep on going. I did some research and found a few different suggestions from the SBG forumites. I tried to convince my wife to let me spend $150 on a Ronin Dojo, but there were two issues,
1) I didn’t like any of them aesthetically, either the tsuba wasn’t a design I liked or the color wasn’t appealing or…
2) the expense was difficult to justify as we hadn’t officially told each other that we were getting swords for our anniversary.
So when the Ronin Dojo Pro # 7 came up at the price of a Ronin Dojo during the Scratch n Dent sale I had to jump on it.
The instructions for review template suggests describing your wait for the sword. The trouble is, there really wasn’t one. I’m not saying it showed up the same day, but I ordered, got distracted by life, and two days later I had a sword box on my doorstep. I was very surprised by the speed of shipping.
Historical overview
I am new to swords from a serious interest standpoint and have little knowledge of their origins and histories. That being said, below is the blurb from the SBG Sword Store regarding the Ronin Dotanuki blades.
Dôtanuki is a Japanese swordsmithing school developed in the Higo province of Kyûshû during the Kamakura period. The Japanese kanji for dôtanuki translates to, sword that cuts through torsos. While samurai routinely tested their blades on the bodies of convicted criminals to judge their cutting ability, dôtanuki blades were renowned for cutting through the bodies of armored opponents.
The thick wide body blades were forged in both bohi (with groove) and no hi (without groove) styles, although the solid no hi blades were by far the most common. The dôtanuki's thickness and durability helped them obtain their vicious reputation during the Japanese conquest of Korea where they were heavily used by daimyô Katô Kiyomasa's personal samurai. Their popularity peaked during the Azuchi-Momoyama (1568-1600) period, and began to fade rapidly thereafter as Japan entered a period of relative peace and stability.
The dôtanuki style was all but forgotten until Japanese manga writer Kazuo Koike reintroduced it the famous 70's magna series Lone Wolf and Cub. The ronin Ogami Ittô uses a dôtanuki blade in his quest for revenge on the Yagyû clan.
The thick wide body blades were forged in both bohi (with groove) and no hi (without groove) styles, although the solid no hi blades were by far the most common. The dôtanuki's thickness and durability helped them obtain their vicious reputation during the Japanese conquest of Korea where they were heavily used by daimyô Katô Kiyomasa's personal samurai. Their popularity peaked during the Azuchi-Momoyama (1568-1600) period, and began to fade rapidly thereafter as Japan entered a period of relative peace and stability.
The dôtanuki style was all but forgotten until Japanese manga writer Kazuo Koike reintroduced it the famous 70's magna series Lone Wolf and Cub. The ronin Ogami Ittô uses a dôtanuki blade in his quest for revenge on the Yagyû clan.
Full Disclosure
As I said in the history section, I am new to swords. I am trying to get used to the terminology surrounding parts and pieces of both Japanese and European weapons, but am not proficient yet. In fact when asked about this sword in PM a little while ago I referred to the tsuka as the “tsuba”. I’d love to write that off as a typo, but I did it about three times in the message. I’m learning.
I also have very little formal training. Read that as I’ve just begun what can amount to private lessons with a retired martial arts instructor. I’m still working on the first form, and realizing that my edge alignment is visibly off in a downward cut. (That, my friends, is actually rather sad to discover.) So my experience with actual sword use is less than a lot people who’ve never had any formal training but have done a lot of backyard cutting. Keep that in mind when we get to the handling portion of the review.
As to bias towards the sword, I have a bias toward any company willing to back up their products. I had seen the videos of the destructive tests from Mark Kaden Ridgeway of the Ronin blades and seen the numerous “This is a QC reject?!” statements made by a number of people. I made a similar comment myself shortly after receiving my sword. So there is that automatic bias towards liking the company because of how thorough they are in verifying the integrity of their product before shipping it to their customer. There is also the fact that I did not pay full price for this sword as it was available in the Scratch n Dent section. I have not, however, received the sword at a reduced cost for the sake of this review, and have no direct affiliation with Ronin or any of their affiliates. I’m a new sword buyer/collector that scored a good deal.
Initial Impressions
The sword arrived in a non-descript brown shipping box. Inside that box was another non-descript black box with some artwork but no branding by the manufacturer. The sword itself was held with three pieces of foam, one at each end and one in the middle. I was moderately surprised to see this as it’s what I’m used to seeing for packaging in the various Asian gift shops common to malls. However, it did seem that it would protect the sword well enough from normal bumps and josles encountered in standard shipping.
The sword itself was wrapped in a black sword bag. I know some people consider sword bags a silly extra, but I’m fond of them and use them as replacements for felt on sword stands. I think a draped sword bag adds a nice accent to the display of a katana.
Removing the sword bag I was struck by the translucency of the kurigata, koiguchi, and kojiri. I had read other reviews where this feature was mentioned, but I had not really grasped what was being said. I usually prefer uniformity of color, but the accents that these pieces added were excellent.
My next act was to search for the scratch n dents to see how much of a lemon I’d received (a couple people received quite the project pieces). I’ll give more details on that when I get to the components section of the review.
Finally I drew the blade. The first thing I noticed was the shipping substance on it (I was later informed it is wax). I’ve seen a few people with a negative view of this. I do not share that view. The wax means the sword was shipped such that it was protected from the elements. It is easy to clean off and does not impact the performance of the blade (for the most part, an unlikely piece of wax could really ruin a cut if it sat on the edge). Beyond that the blade had a nice satin finish.
Statistics
From the SBG Sword Store
Blade/Nagasa Length: 27” from habaki
Handle/Tsuka Length: 11”
Overall Length: 38+”
POB (Point of Balance): 4.5” from tsuba
Weight: 2.6 lbs
Components
The Blade/Nagasa
The blade is through hardened. There is no hamon of any sort. It is a consistent satin polish throughout the length. There is no yokote (line between the kissaki and the rest of the blade) visible.
It’s just a smooth continual edge from tip to habaki. The blade came sharp. I’d classify it as paper cutting sharp, but not shaving sharp.
The Handle/Tsuka
The tsuka is white same with black ito. The ito is tight and does alternate. The shape of the tsuka is nicely waisted and provides a comfortable grip.
No cracks were found in the tsuka core.
The Guard/Tsuba
The tsuba is a nice basic pattern. Nothing fancy but also not plain or boring.
The fact that it is mostly space reduces the weight down near the handle somewhat, but not in any way that negatively impacts the handling of the sword.
The habaki has some scuffing that occurred. It’s not a bright rubbing but a sort of darkening of spots. It’s not hideous, just there.
The Pommel/Fuchi-Kashira
The fuchi is a little loose after disassembling the blade. Not sure how it came about but there is a slight gap between the sepa and the fuchi which allows for a minimal wiggle. The fuchi and kashira are both plain caps with no decoration. I actually like the look this creates.
The Scabbard/Saya
The saya is a basic glossy black lacquer over wood. The kurigata, koiguchi, and kojiri are all of a semi-translucent buffalo horn that provides a sort of amber highlight. It’s quite attractive in my opinion. There were a couple of minor scuffs on the saya. One looks like the saya was set in a sword stand with no felt, and the other is minor enough that I could not even get a picture of it.
No cracks around the saya mouth either.
Handling Characteristics
Here’s where my inexperience has the greatest impact. Generally when discussing handling people will reference concepts such as “good” or “bad” or “better” or “worse” or blade heavy etc. While I am confident I would be able to identify “blade heavy” that’s about as far as my confidence in my ability to properly analyse a sword’s handling goes. All I can give is my analysis based on how the sword felt, not how proper or improper the handling came across.
That being said, I like the handling of the blade. I only have two other katana and one iato. The iato is a Cheness Deluxe Iato which (based on the SBG Sword Store stats) is similar in weight to the Ronin. Since I’m practicing with a heavier blade, this might be why I am more comfortable with the Ronin. One of the other katana is a Raptor Unokubi Zukuri. According to Kult of Athena’s site it is actually heavier than the Ronin, but feels lighter. (Maybe I can’t identify “blade heavy” after all).
I do not have any trouble stopping a cut, so the blade does not carry too much momentum. Any clumsiness of the blade is purely the result of my inexperience, not a failing of the sword. I have heard other people describe “blade presence” and “desire to cut” in a sword. I don’t sense either of these things, but I never have, so again, this is likely my lack of experience.
I like the handle length of the Ronin and find that it’s just about perfect for the size of my hands. I can have my right hand not quite touching the tsuba with my left hand above the kashira and still have about two fingers of space between them.
Test Cutting (if applicable)
I did some test cutting with the blade, and I could tell the difference between good and bad edge alignment. The blade is no-hi, so the feedback wasn’t audible in terms of tache-kaze, but it was apparent in the smoothness of the cut and the sound of the impact on the plastic bottles. Unfortunately the number of smooth cuts was seriously lacking and the number of pops, thumps, and plastic crunches was much more evident. Even so, the Ronin never failed to cut a bottle with water in it. I tried a variety of cuts, the majority angled, but a few horizontal as well. It was one especially low angled cut that justified the purchase of the Ronin given my requirements as I took a nice smooth wedge (about an inch across and maybe ¼” long out of my sword stand. No set or chips in the blade (phew).
Videos of the cutting can be found in this topic in the backyard cutting sub-forum.
Conclusions
Overall I’m happy with the sword. The more meaty blade is what I need as I attempt to learn proper form in a cut.
Pros
-Solid construction
-Durable blade
-Comfortable grip
Cons
- Loose Fuchi
-Minor cosmetic issues
-None at all not accounted for in the “Scratch n Dent” category.
The Bottom Line
I would recommend the Ronin Dojo and Dojo Pro lines to anyone interested in a durable blade. I do not believe these count in the “performance” cutter category, but if you want a solid sword with excellent construction it is definitely the way to go.