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Post by MakChingYuen on Nov 3, 2012 15:24:11 GMT
Hey all, I am new to posting on this forum but actually I have been busy reading for awhile already... I was searching for the Cold Steel sword stuff and came to this forum for the review and pics.. so I finally got my Jade Lion Gim sword and here is the photos I took! I am sure all CS gim lovers will love me so much for this www.taoistmasterblog.com/cold-st ... os-videos/ There are also youtube vids I did as well, just check out the blog post and you will see it. I just tried to disassemble the sword today and yeah! luckily it was easy to do with a nice tool! The handle is pretty F'd up though, the wood work isn't great and I am kind of pissed for this kind of quality by CS... It was cracked too, dang! But anyway, I secured the guard abit with some glue work and it is now working good. HOPE it stay good! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2012 22:44:48 GMT
Thanks for the excellent pictures, you've really captured all the details that make this sword quite special. Looks like a very beautiful sword.  |
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Lunaman
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Post by Lunaman on Nov 3, 2012 23:33:48 GMT
Dammit, now I want a Jade Lion Gim.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2012 23:35:05 GMT
Me too! :?
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Post by Turok on Nov 4, 2012 3:00:45 GMT
It was CRACKED? Did you purchase this sword from KOA or from the ColdSteel website? From what I understand is that there is a warranty on CS products. KOA also has a very good return policy on damaged items from what I hear. BTW that is a nice sword, I like how your camera can capture the blade so well. Swords tend to not be camera friendly because of the reflection lol!
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Post by MakChingYuen on Nov 4, 2012 3:39:48 GMT
Thanks for all of your replies and I am glad it did got you all hyped about it too!
Turok, thanks and you did saw it, yeah, it was cracked. I purchased through SMK (smokey mountain knife works) and yeah I could have returned it and get a new one but then problem is that I need the sword in urgent back then and so return is not what I will do.. instead, they gave me a $100 credit to use in future product, so I might buy another gim in the future with that big discount. That little crack don't bother me anyway.
The way to capture the pattern is not the camera problem, it's how you take the photos. First, you need a flashlight with a diffuser filter and then lay the light on the blade shining horizontally from the side and then take the camera and use the DSLR kind of camera of course.. with a flash attachment that have a diffuser too of course.. then shoot it.. you should get all the patterns you like, haha..
Actually the sword was kinda scratched after my soup can test and so I used sandpaper to polish it all up even more and now it's so damn good.. hahah... this is fun..! I wonder how the battle gim's pattern is compare to this..
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Post by MakChingYuen on Nov 4, 2012 3:46:19 GMT
My review
can test!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2012 4:44:09 GMT
Nice collection of Chinese martial arts weapons in the background! Do you pactice any particular style?
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Post by MakChingYuen on Nov 4, 2012 7:04:23 GMT
Hahaha.. yeah those are just a few of my stuff, I have over 300 weapons laying around the house and in my temple. If you see my signature you can see that I run a Taoist temple in Toronto. I am a Taoist master and a kungfu teacher myself. The primary style I teach is kungfu of my own Taoist sect - Tin Yat Lineage. But I also had learned other styles in the past with tai chi (Chan and Yang) and Gwongzhau Wingchun as my primary. I did those other sects or styles for over 15 years already and now finally dropping them and move on to the Tin Yat Lineage style only. I also had practiced 7 star mantis, hung gar, wudang, choi lee fut and so on as well. For the Tin Yat Lineage kungfu, you can see this page for the forms I have in my lineage, about 100 forms so far with fist and weapons, enjoy! www.chiinnature.com/kungfuonlinelessons.htmlThe list on the bottom of the page is links to youtube videos of me demonstrating the forms. Enjoy watching if you like! I actually do showcase a lot of weapons there too. Just a nice form here I like which I will do a review on the weapon itself soon.. the Cold Moon Sword.. enjoy! |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2012 10:41:34 GMT
Couldn't help but notice the guan dao/yan yue dao behind you in the video, one of my favourite Chinese weapons.
Is it a real one with a sharp edge or just a display/training version? I've been looking for a real one for a very long time...
By the way, like your videos, thanks.
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Post by MakChingYuen on Nov 4, 2012 11:20:18 GMT
Thanks! haha.. I do have a high carbon steel version that is 14lb with a factory sharpened edge. The staff is made of steel too, very cool. I find it abit too long for my height but it is "okay".. here is a video of it:
In action.. By the way, the form is also a TY Lineage form too, very battle-vibe instead of the flowery "flower swinging" vibe stuff. More like battle-like stuff.
The one in the background is a display one which is not sharpened but then it's heavy! 25LB in weight, very heavy. I use it as my trainer kwan dao. See it in action... I love the design and weight so much that I use it for training...
Enjoy!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2012 12:54:01 GMT
Where did you buy the 14lb guan dao with the high carbon steel blade?
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Post by MakChingYuen on Nov 4, 2012 13:03:42 GMT
I bought it at kungfu direct before but they don't sell it anymore (my version) and now they have something different and I am not sure if that is sharpened or not but you can check it out: www.kungfudirect.com/proddetail.php?prod=TDL007It's not claim to be sharp but I am sure you can sharpen it for use since it is a carbon steel blade and not the crappy chrome plated crap stuff. If you got a deep pocket, you might want to see if you like something more fancy like THIS! www.kungfudirect.com/proddetail.php?prod=TDL008Yeah I know, it's expensive, but then it's "claimed to be" Damascus steel blade so you can't say anything... but I am sure it is kinda sharp or else they can't even make that thing out of Damascus anyway.. why make it out of good steel and not sharpen it for use? right? If you want to get things from KFD, you can contact me and I can refer you to a student of mine in NY, he is a reseller of KFD and have discount price for these things. I am sure he can help too. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2012 22:15:52 GMT
Thanks for the links, much appreciated!
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Post by Nox on Nov 4, 2012 23:55:08 GMT
Those are some great pics of the jade lion, I couldn't catch it's beauty with my camera.
It's a good sword really light and fast great for forms, however mine chipped against a plastic bottle, maybe I just got a bad one? oh well it's still a very nice sword to have in the collection and like I said great for forms and easy on the wrist.
are you planning on doing some more reviews for other chinese swords/weapons?
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Post by MakChingYuen on Nov 5, 2012 1:28:33 GMT
No it's not you, I got a chip by chopping the soup can too! Damn! I think it's really the problem with the blade's angle or something. The butterfly sword I have do not chip even hit into the soup can a few times, just scratched the blade and easily fixed by using sandpaper and polish... so I think the jade lion is really as it said -- a scholar's sword. Great for chopping some SOFT targets, or doing forms. Not great for hardcore usage and chopping bamboos or stuff like that. I doubt their battle gim will be better too because that sword's damascus steel pattern is more like an "etched" version as compare to this, meaning that they might have used cheaper stuff too. Sigh... I might get a standard CS gim for the hard chopping since I saw paul chopped a tree branch and it is still good shape, looks sturdy and hardcore-ready. CS's damascus is great for keep and look, maybe not too durable for use.
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Post by MakChingYuen on Nov 5, 2012 1:43:07 GMT
By the way, just another quite note here.. the Jade lion gim I got comes with a pretty damn poor sharpening edge, meaning that if you use a cloth to wrap the blade and wipe it down, you feel the edge is eating up the cloth even it is not touching the edge... it's not good. You can feel it is like the edge sharpened more toward one side, it' s not evenly done. So after all that disappointment with the chipped from chopping the soup can, I went and use my sandpaper to polish the whole thing and also to hone the edge again and now I can wipe the sword without feeling the cloth "scratch" or eating up when it slide thru the blade. Now it's smooth and nice. I think that is also the cause of the chip blade too, a bad edge can lead to many problem. If the edge is not sharpen to an even edge, then of course when it smash down a hard target, it will curl or bend or chip, it NEED to be in a good sharp V shape to not chip.. logic comes to mind again.
What do you think? does yours have this problem with the factor edge? I saw the same problem with my CS butterfly swords too, they come with an edge that is not too sharp and one of the blade even have problems cutting paper, damn! So I took my stones and worked on them to a better edge and fix the blur on them...
CS is great in promotion but sometimes their stuff don't come as good as I think they are promoted. I got a few machete from them and they are not really that nice with the edge too, the panga one come very sempriniesque instead and I have to redo the whole thing and put a convex edge on it myself.
So.. what is your jade lion like from factory settings?
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Post by Turok on Nov 6, 2012 6:14:58 GMT
I think the jade lion sword and many other jians in the market are designed to have a flat diamond geometry. The Rodell cutting sword from Hanwei however has a traditional "appleseed" or "clamshell" geometry. The Rodell should hold a better edge when cutting more tougher objects like you were describing. The flat diamond jians should be used more for thrusting however in my opinion. I think there was a thread about jian geometry before...we should look that up!
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Post by Nox on Nov 6, 2012 8:05:40 GMT
It is a shame about the jade lion, it handles so well but I think they softness of the steel and it's shape is just not good for cutting anything more than those thin water/milk jugs. I gave mine to my friend and he told me earlier today when i brought this up that the tip had bent from thrusting the sword into a water bottle, so I would be careful with it if you do that, though in the cold steel vid theirs went through a car hood.
I really liked this sword, but I also really liked the look and feel of the cold steel dadao my friends purchased and it came blunt, so it might be a quality control issue when it comes to sharpness, I think they have their swords made in multiple factories but I'm not entirely sure. When I bought their standard gim a few years back it was pretty tough, though did not handle as well ( to me anyways ) as well as the jade lion.
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Post by MakChingYuen on Nov 6, 2012 10:27:42 GMT
Thanks for the two comments above... wow, I am shock, hearing what you two said, with the dadao doesn't come sharp and the jade lion bend the tip etc,. holy semprini. I am shock. I think CS over promoted their stuff then because I had purchased by butterfly swords and they don't come 100% sharpen nicely too. One blade is sharper than the other and the blunter one can't cut paper properly too so I have to redo the whole thing.. I fixed the edge of it and it is better now. At first I can even feel the edge is more sharpen on one side and there is a thin blur there.. damn I thought CS is good in quality control and now they really piss me off.
Yeah you are right, they push the jade lion thru a car's hood in the video and in real life it cannot do well vs a milk jug? WHAT THE HECK!?! It's real damascus though, how come?! heat treatment problem?!
Now I tried cutting the soup cans with my han jian and it did fine and no chipping too, what is wrong now? sigh..... my han jian is less than $200 too! High carbon steel blade! holy cow!
Any of you tried the taichi damascus from hanwei? I read the review on this forum before and say the tang and handle is not as nice as the cutting sword, but I want more weight.. the cutting sword looks filmsy to me am I right here?
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