Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2012 21:01:14 GMT
Hey all.
Haven't seen much in the way of reviews on bugei swords. They're pretty expensive and from what I can tell they don't differ a great deal from say, Dynasty Forge's Bushi line. They're folded etc but it's not like they're made with tamahagane or anything; as far as I'm aware anyway. Take their 'peace sword' for example. Sells for $1600 odd. For this price you can get just about any Hanwei folded sword and easily two Bushi katanas from DF.
Anybody got a bugei sword or know why they're so expensive?
Cheers
|
|
Kuya
Registered
Posts: 1,396
|
Post by Kuya on Sept 15, 2012 21:14:51 GMT
Since Bugei sources their blade stuff from Hanwei, you can probably get a $500-600 Hanwei, and have $1K left over, and use that toward getting a bunch of custom work done by Cottontail Customs, and have a better sword with way more attention to detail... and still have several hundred dollars left over. Cottontail Customs has become the killer of the $1K+ production katana.
|
|
|
Post by stickem on Sept 15, 2012 21:50:04 GMT
Parks ~ I ordered a Peace Sword from Bugei months ago but haven't received it yet to give you in-hand experience on it. They sell out rather quickly and my guess is the Hanwei fire probably slowed down production on the current run. My impression is the design and QC are done by Keith Larman: summerchild.com/summer.htmlwho I have talked to about this sword, specifically potentially having him customize it a bit. Really nice guy. He knows his stuff as far as polishing and customizing, as you can see from the link above. So in my opinion, for folks like me who can't drop $5k on a Howard Clark customized by Keith, Bugei offer a nice alternative at a much lower price. So yes, with a Peace Sword you'd be getting something more in line with traditional nihonto than Hanwei's regular offerings. Worth the extra funds? I'll leave it up to you to decide that one, since everyone's tastes and funds are a little different. Here's a review of one so you can get a better idea from someone first hand: forum.sword-buyers-guide.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10299To me, this Peace Sword looks like what I would design if I knew what I was doing :lol:
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Jordan on Sept 15, 2012 22:53:12 GMT
Well, Bugei sources from the same forge as Hanwei, but they are not really Hanwei blades. They are made in smaller, more controlled batches and then sent to professionals for QC. Overall quality is better than Hanwei, both with blade and fittings. The suggestion to buy a Hanwei blade and get it customized is very valid though. It would allow you to get exactly what you want.
|
|
kaiyo
Member
Posts: 1,201
|
Post by kaiyo on Sept 15, 2012 22:56:40 GMT
they are good but overpriced, and same opion here - get a bamboo mat for example and customise it to your liking, you still save money
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2012 4:45:13 GMT
Thanks for the replies lads.
Wow that summer child stuff is nice but if I was going to spend $10k + on a sword I would want a proper one made in Japan in a 100 percent traditional way by a guy who's done it for a lifetime! Unsure what that would set you back however, haha.
I had a look at the cottontail customs page. Looks interesting but basic website. Do you just order a sword from an external vendor and send it to them for work? What sort of things do people usually customize? Same color or tsuka Ito color would be the obvious ones. Can you have a custom tsuba made? Is re-painting of Saya expensive? Anyone dealt with them before?
Cheers again!
|
|
kaiyo
Member
Posts: 1,201
|
Post by kaiyo on Sept 16, 2012 5:41:36 GMT
frankthebunny is the "owner" of cottontail customs, he's one of the best, most known and reliable customisers onSBG, just pm him about what you want to do
|
|
Kuya
Registered
Posts: 1,396
|
Post by Kuya on Sept 16, 2012 8:11:21 GMT
Cottontail Customs can do all sorts of stuff. You ask him, and if you can pay what he quotes, it gets done. Here's a detailed review of some of his work.
|
|
|
Post by stickem on Sept 16, 2012 13:43:58 GMT
Parks~ This is what I meant about personal tastes and budgets. Obviously if you are loaded, you could go nihonto or get a new blade by Howard Clark or a modern Japanese smith, Then have someone like Ford Hallam or Patrick Hastings make the fittings for you or use antique ones. Then get someone like Keith Larman to do the polish and mounting and saya painting and such. On the other hand, us mere mortals have to compromise to some extent The main thing you can't do much to change is the blade. It is what it is, and everything else (the furniture) can be moved around it. So yes, you can get a Hanwei Bamboo Mat and customize it. Thing is, you can't turn a Bamboo Mat into a Peace Sword through customizing. Even if you found similar furniture, the blades are very different! The Bamboo Mat has a striking sort of wild choji hamon and is made of Hanwei's proprietary Swedish powdered steel stuff and no bo-hi: www.casiberia.com/product/bamboo-mat-katana/sh2438while the Peace Sword has a more sedate suguha hamon, very fine hada, and soe-bi: bugei.com/peace-sword-1511-prd1.htmSo my advice is to find something which fits your personal taste and wallet as closely as possible as a base because customizing any thing will take time and $ to find the fittings and do the work. But then that's the fun of it Nihonzashi offers tsuba customization options: www.nihonzashi.com/tsuba_custom.aspxand I think Yamato Budo can make them as well: www.yamatobudogu.com/Hand_Crafted_Tsuba_s/161.htmFrank the Bunny is doing a project for me now and by all accounts does an excellent job. Hope this helps!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2012 4:55:46 GMT
Thanks again for all the info guys. Very interested in this cottontail customs notion! Work looks good. Would probably get a few things done to a dnasty forge blade. Definitely not a fan of the hanwei bamboo mat (that new steel and strange looking hamon doesn't do it for me) and a folded hanwei blade is usually pretty pricey. Big fan of the DF bushi forge folded line.
Is it very expensive to just have basics customized like new ito, same and sageo? Even the simple things can really change the look of a sword! What about the more advanced stuff like saya lacquering or entirely new tsuka? More expensive, no doubt!
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Jordan on Sept 17, 2012 5:02:54 GMT
It can be expensive if you are doing it from the ground up. Here is the page that lists his services and there prices. cottontailcustoms.com/AboutYou are correct that some of Hanwei's folded steels are expensive, so much so that the act of getting one and customizing it will negate the price difference between the Hanwei and the Bugei. Good luck either way, and please share what you decide here. I love to see what individuals pick for themselves.
|
|
|
Post by Jussi Ekholm on Sept 17, 2012 13:57:10 GMT
Well it's kinda hard to say...
I own one very old Bugei model that I bought used (the only way I can afford high end production) and it was in bad shape. The tachi blade predated their current powder steel blades and it is a mono blade, and while the quality of the sword might have been good for the retail price in the early part of 2000, currently companies are offering a lot more for the same price as does Bugei too.
The new Bugei line is made from powder steel, and I pressume it's the same K120C that Hanwei uses on some of their better blades (like Stickem said too). I've owned couple old Hanwei powder steel blades, and I can say they are quite impressive. I've been looking for a cheap used Bugei occasionally, but they are a lot harder to find than used PC swords. I kinda wish I'd gotten one Bugei before the price increase... But now priced similarily to PC Tiger Elite, I'd rather take Bugei Samurai if I could spend that kinda money in production swords.
The price and being worth of the price is always up to the buyer. New Bugei swords cost more than I can afford with my priorities, some have them, and you most likely won't find many negative reviews on them. I guess I've seen couple negative ones over the years. But they are good swords and if you get one, you'll most likely be happy with it.
|
|
|
Post by Jakeonthekob on Sept 17, 2012 18:00:25 GMT
In my opinion, get a sword that's about $500 and have a new tsuka mounted with custom mounting, tsukamaki, etc. You can always get it resharpened/polished. Total should run around $1500 for new tsuka mounting and a decent polish.
|
|