Musashi Musaru Dragon Katana Review (SS249BK)
Jan 4, 2013 19:29:51 GMT
Post by HackThePanda on Jan 4, 2013 19:29:51 GMT
Hello! Today I'm going to show you all a sword that isn't seen in too many stores yet. The beautiful Musaru Dragon Katana.
Seen here on the Musashi Swords website
I ordered it for $130 and received it about 6 days later. The price has gone up now to $150 apparently, so that may impact your decision to buy this sword. This is my first sword so I can't base my opinions off of anything but what I've read.
First off, the good:
-Supposedly real hamon, real or not it's still prominent and pretty
-Tight fittings for the most part
-All the important pieces were up to par (mekugi pegs, tang, tsuba, ito)
-The etching in it is quite nice
-Sharp enough to cut through everything I've put it up against
-Balance is great, about 4 and a half inches from the tsuba
-Sturdy blade
-Sageo excellently wrapped
-Real ray skin
-Packaging was great, sword bag is great
-Dragon themed pommel, tsuba, and whatever you call the metal directly below the tsuba is ornate and detailed wonderfully
-Not really sure what the menuki are supposed to be but they're shiny
The bad:
-The etching is quite deep, and I worry if I'm oiling it well enough
-Menuki slide around a bit but that's probably normal for swords
-Ito is fuzzy cotton, although for this price range that looks to be about all you can get
-The etching is almost purposefully placed in the wrong spot, from what I've seen it should be on the other side and the dragons mouth should be pointed to the kissaki
-This is my fault but it knicks very easy. It fell against concrete from about a foot up and it has a few little spots along the edge. Nothing major, you can't notice it from a distance but it makes it harder to wipe down
-Saya is extremely tight when I first got it. It's slowly loosening but I still need to use two thumbs to push the tsuba up and out
-Saya has a lot of gunk in it, this may just be me pulling the sword out wrong but after a good oiling when I pull the sword out again there's small wood fibers along the edge.
-Saya has some laquer dripped on the koi guchi and just inside. Nothing major I suppose but all in all the saya is below what I was expecting
The bad list is a bit more wordy but that's because I really had to nit pick to find bad things about this sword.
So overall, it's up to you whether you want to pay the price of the blade since it's gone up. I would have to think about whether I would purchase this again at that price, because even at $130 it's a bit of a splurge for what you get. It's likely that this is the exact same blade that the famous Musashi Bamboo katana uses just prettied up a bit, which is fine but for $60 more it's a bit of a lunge.
But anyway, time for some pictures! I threw together a quick imgur album, but if you'd like to see any other part in greater detail I'd be happy to take more pictures.
imgur.com/a/CbNJe#0
Any other questions, feel free to ask
Good day, citizens!
-Hack
P.S. I should mention the things I've cut.
-About a dozen gatorade bottles I've been saving, at first they would just splinter weird or bat across the yard but after a bit I could cut them very cleanly.
-Full gallon milk jug. Judged my swing a bit wrong and took a chip out of the wood stand I was using to hold up my targets. The blade went right through and I didn't even know I had done it until I saw the cleanly cut wood piece laying on the ground.
-A couple of half gallon milk jugs, very scarily easy
-A couple of liter soda bottles, the first one was easy but I was off my game on the second and didn't get a very clean cut.
All in all I've learned the blade doesn't do the work for you, but after some practice it is certainly a good expression of your will.
Seen here on the Musashi Swords website
I ordered it for $130 and received it about 6 days later. The price has gone up now to $150 apparently, so that may impact your decision to buy this sword. This is my first sword so I can't base my opinions off of anything but what I've read.
First off, the good:
-Supposedly real hamon, real or not it's still prominent and pretty
-Tight fittings for the most part
-All the important pieces were up to par (mekugi pegs, tang, tsuba, ito)
-The etching in it is quite nice
-Sharp enough to cut through everything I've put it up against
-Balance is great, about 4 and a half inches from the tsuba
-Sturdy blade
-Sageo excellently wrapped
-Real ray skin
-Packaging was great, sword bag is great
-Dragon themed pommel, tsuba, and whatever you call the metal directly below the tsuba is ornate and detailed wonderfully
-Not really sure what the menuki are supposed to be but they're shiny
The bad:
-The etching is quite deep, and I worry if I'm oiling it well enough
-Menuki slide around a bit but that's probably normal for swords
-Ito is fuzzy cotton, although for this price range that looks to be about all you can get
-The etching is almost purposefully placed in the wrong spot, from what I've seen it should be on the other side and the dragons mouth should be pointed to the kissaki
-This is my fault but it knicks very easy. It fell against concrete from about a foot up and it has a few little spots along the edge. Nothing major, you can't notice it from a distance but it makes it harder to wipe down
-Saya is extremely tight when I first got it. It's slowly loosening but I still need to use two thumbs to push the tsuba up and out
-Saya has a lot of gunk in it, this may just be me pulling the sword out wrong but after a good oiling when I pull the sword out again there's small wood fibers along the edge.
-Saya has some laquer dripped on the koi guchi and just inside. Nothing major I suppose but all in all the saya is below what I was expecting
The bad list is a bit more wordy but that's because I really had to nit pick to find bad things about this sword.
So overall, it's up to you whether you want to pay the price of the blade since it's gone up. I would have to think about whether I would purchase this again at that price, because even at $130 it's a bit of a splurge for what you get. It's likely that this is the exact same blade that the famous Musashi Bamboo katana uses just prettied up a bit, which is fine but for $60 more it's a bit of a lunge.
But anyway, time for some pictures! I threw together a quick imgur album, but if you'd like to see any other part in greater detail I'd be happy to take more pictures.
imgur.com/a/CbNJe#0
Any other questions, feel free to ask
Good day, citizens!
-Hack
P.S. I should mention the things I've cut.
-About a dozen gatorade bottles I've been saving, at first they would just splinter weird or bat across the yard but after a bit I could cut them very cleanly.
-Full gallon milk jug. Judged my swing a bit wrong and took a chip out of the wood stand I was using to hold up my targets. The blade went right through and I didn't even know I had done it until I saw the cleanly cut wood piece laying on the ground.
-A couple of half gallon milk jugs, very scarily easy
-A couple of liter soda bottles, the first one was easy but I was off my game on the second and didn't get a very clean cut.
All in all I've learned the blade doesn't do the work for you, but after some practice it is certainly a good expression of your will.