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Post by OttoVonFaart on Feb 9, 2013 2:37:27 GMT
One hour & 47 minutes ago the FedEx guy delivered my first katana, a Musashi SS-806RD aka/ Red Bamboo. I've been waiting for the FedEx guy all day, like a kid waiting for Santa Claus to slide down the chimney. And I am NOT disappointed. The Musashi katana has exceeded my wildest expectations, especially considering the under $100 price point. When I first joined the SBG Forum back in October, I had every intention of buying something before now, but an extensive "honey do" list interfered with my plans. The lovely Mrs. made it clear that me buying a sword was not high on her list of priorities. This wasn't without advantages as it provided me with 3 months to delve deeply into researching almost everything I could find online about swords and katana in particular. As it's turned out, Musashi Bamboo SS series swords have been mostly out of stock at the main SBG recommended vendors until just recently. I've had an amazingly good buying experience purchasing from SwordNArmory in Montclair, California. I saw they had a Musashi "Red Bamboo" on eBay but it wasn't listed as in stock on their web site. After I inquired, they sent me an e-mail telling me that these swords were in stock and available for immediate shipment. Their eBay site said they had 7 in stock, I watched that number decline daily for 3 days and then called them. Spoke with a very helpful Asian girl who not only took my order on the phone but extended their eBay "Free Shipping" offer to me if I paid the slightly higher eBay price ($5.ºº more) I probably saved $20 in shipping charges. I asked her if she would personally check the katana before shipping it to make sure everything was as it should be. Anyway, an hour after getting off the phone with her, I received an e-mail from FedEx with a tracking number and confirming my package was in transit! I ordered on Feb 4th and it was at my front door on Feb 8th, Not bad. Being a noob to the whole katana thing I don't feel qualified to do an actual review but I can tell you my first impressions. Opening the outer shipping box, very snug. No damages, cardboard shims to keep the inner box from sliding around. Inner box printed with Musashi logo, katana in black cotton bag snugged inside with styrofoam supports. Nothing rattled or moved. Slipped katana out of cotton bag, noted tight ito wraps but diamonds are not especially remarkable for their perfection, which is to say there's a lot of room for improvement there, snug tsuka, real samè (panels, not wrap) fuchi-kashira and fuchi seem to be made of blackened brass. Tsuba is ferrous metal (probably steel), seppa are properly fitted and are brass. The habaki has just the slightest angular misalignment. It's less than 0.05mm off center. Saya fits snuggly, dare I say perfectly. Zero play or rattle. Habaki literally "snaps" in and out of saya with thumb pressure on tsuba. Nagasa oiled, covered in light plastic film. After removing the saran wrap like plastic, I carefully wiped the blade, the thing is wickedly SHARP! The kissaki is counter polished only, no geometric yokote but overall it's nice. The bo-hi are symetric. I don't really know enough to make any further judgements only that I am very pleased. This particular Musashi katana has exceeded my expectations. I expected to find "issues" and have not. The people at SwordNArmory were great to deal with and have made my purchase an exceptional experience.
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Feb 9, 2013 2:45:30 GMT
Excellent pics have some karma on me
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Post by WEWolf on Feb 9, 2013 8:24:34 GMT
Congratulations on your first sword! Sword'n'Armory are great to deal with, and those Musahsi's are terrific bang for the buck. I bought my son one, and I've long considered getting one for myself.
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Post by William Swiger on Feb 9, 2013 9:03:29 GMT
I had three of their models a few years back and they were a good buy. Congratulations!!
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Post by OttoVonFaart on Feb 9, 2013 13:11:52 GMT
Up a bit early this morning, looking forward to going out in the back yard later to swing my katana around a bit but it won't be light enough to see for another hour or so. I'm wondering if I'll be able to hear any tachikaze since I have trouble hearing high frequency sounds? After reading the comments I am beginning to understand the things I'd like to do with my Musashi. First of all, I think she needs a name... suggestions welcome but I'm leaning towards Red Tomoe. (for Tomoe Gozen) or perhaps Flower of Carnage, one artist's nickname for Tomoe Gozen. One high priority for me is to convince SBG Forum member ZentesukenVII who also lives in Brew City (he calls it Beer City) to teach me to do tsukamaki or let me watch him do it. I know the misaligned diamonds of my Musashi's tsuka ito are going to make me crazy. As soon as I get a few backup tsuba, I'm going to be removing the black finish from the steel bamboo motif tsuba, nickel plating it & then giving it a thick copper plating. Then repatinated using rokushō. (you can't copper electroplate steel or iron without nickel plating first) Eventually I'm gonna want to have the blade sharpened, or learn to do it myself. I mean REALLY, REALLY sharp. Sharp enough to slice falling autumn leaves! Or cleanly slice through thrown cherry tomatoes so I can make salads with thinly sliced cherry tomatoes. Of course, this is a wish list. Something that will carry me through my so-called " golden years" ~ retirement is really boring!
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Feb 9, 2013 14:15:56 GMT
Let me dissuade you a little from making salads, tomatoes in particular are very acidic and will rapidly rust your blade, if you must slice some fruit (something we all have done at some time) make sure you have some warm soapy water and a cloth handy to wash the blade, wipe clean with alcohol and re-oil.
"I mean REALLY, REALLY sharp. Sharp" takes time and patience, all of my swords are sharp, much sharper than the original "factory" edge, I have one that is truly "scary sharp", dragging you finger across the edge in the time honoured tradition "Is it sharp?" will remove your finger prints, do a search for "sharpening" on here, there are many good reads to be had.
Above all else enjoy!
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Post by OttoVonFaart on Feb 9, 2013 14:46:38 GMT
This is directed to the Oz Bunny (Aussie-Rabbit) ~ but others are encouraged to add their 2 cents...
Any feelings or opinions regarding AccuSharp or similar tools for interim sharpening? Oh and I won't even touch my blade with bare hands without cleaning it & wiping it down with a bit of oil immediately after. I know how corrosive fruits & veggies can be. One of my first jobs as a kid growing up in California was picking lemons in Ventura County, California - lemon trees have thorns up to 2" long.
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Post by Maynar on Feb 9, 2013 15:42:58 GMT
Accusharp is a big no-no for Japanese style. Can work on Euros if you don't mind secondary bevel, but I wouldn't bother personally. TomK has a thread about sharpening that seems to be a definitive reference. Sorry I don't have a link atm, but it should be easy to find.
Best o' luck!
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Post by Sullivan on Feb 9, 2013 17:12:33 GMT
Great review! Funny thing is that this was my very first katana as well, and I agree with you on it being a great buy for the money. I got the black scabbard version, and it's handled everything I've expected out of it, and more. SBG brought me to mine, too. That's what's kept me at this site and forum since my first visit! Congrats on your first acquisition!
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Post by johnwalter on Feb 9, 2013 21:03:04 GMT
Congrats!
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Feb 10, 2013 4:28:27 GMT
AccuSharp = great in the kitchen since it's easy to use, hard on knife steel, FORGET using it on a sword, :? for those who REALLY need something fast/easy/etc I would suggest the Wüsthof Chef's Choice Electric Sharpener - I have used one in a professional kitchen and was reasonably impressed with the performance. Nothing beats time and a honing stick
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Feb 10, 2013 4:34:41 GMT
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Post by OttoVonFaart on Feb 10, 2013 6:00:36 GMT
The main reason I asked about AccuSharp and similar tools was because of the stuff Paul Southern mentioned in the main SBG site, www.sword-buyers-guide.com/sharp ... words.html where he praised the AccuSharp. Left me believing it was a panacea for the less than perfect edge.
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Post by Springs on Feb 10, 2013 6:15:57 GMT
Paul used it on a Medieval sword - which is acceptable, but due to the different geometry of the katana, an accusharp would put an edge to it, but would be incredibly ugly and the sword wouldn't work the way it's supposed to (which is sort of a pulling motion)
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Post by lamebmx on Feb 10, 2013 14:20:48 GMT
I have owned 4 to 6 musashi's. Cheap good throwaway swords basically. Really good bang for the buck. All of them have been crazy sharp for a sword. The swords are hard enough for the normal targets we cut, but a little of the soft side. Hopping the thought train for a quick second, straight razors are also crazy sharp. An edge so crazy thin, people say the notice a difference if its been used for a paper cutting test or a thumbnail test. Take a not crazy hard steel, make it really thin and you are going to find it cuts really good for a really short period of time. Now if you just touch up the edge that is on there (which shouldn't have any problem cutting a hanging leaf, never tried a falling one) you will find you get a lot more cutting time vs. sharpening time. Well tsukamaki & sharpening are two very relaxed and time intensive aspects of the sword hobby. Your of retirement age so I am sure you have learned you lessons about practice and patience. Thanks to the yen being pretty low, it makes the kit from namikawa a pretty good deal, $485 at the moment (first time I looked at it it was about $700 in USD) www.namikawa-ltd.co.jp/english/s ... g_kit.html You can also find a wealth of information about sharpening stones on woodworking and straight razor forums. The basics apply to swords too, create the geometry then its just polishing the scratches left from the previous stone. In the case of a touch up, you just start at a higher grit and follow the geometry thats already there.
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Post by OttoVonFaart on Feb 10, 2013 15:25:45 GMT
OK... I guess the reason I am being so persnickety about this subject is that after closely examining the cutting edge using my very old thread counter loop I noticed something I thought I had felt with my fingertip earlier; mainly a very slight roughness on the omote side of the ha. The rough spot(s) are intermittent/interrupted and aren't continuous. I tried to get a photo through my TC loop but it's not as clear as I'd like it to be. I'll get out my good digital camera later & try and get a better photo. Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm just being OCD-like or persnickety or expecting way too much, but I want to make this blade as perfect as I can. The little rough spots are almost non-existent but they are there. I wanna make them go away. Should I go to my shop and look for my best stone or buy some wet-dry 5000µ grit paper? Make a leather strop stick & get out the jeweler's rouge or semichrome polish? Suggestions please.
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Post by aussie-rabbit on Feb 10, 2013 15:54:26 GMT
Strop stick and a little polish, what you can feel is the "wire edge" left after sharpening, no need to use anything aggressive,
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Post by OttoVonFaart on Feb 10, 2013 16:31:33 GMT
Thank you Oz Bunny, you've saved the day! I've been obsessively examining the blade edge in the past 1/2 hour since I wrote the previous post w/photo of the raggedy ass ha and wiped down the blade with a touch of CLP Break Free gun oil using an extremely soft Viva paper towel (the only paper towels softer than optometrist recommended lens cleaning paper) and I could feel & see micro-bits of paper snagging on the little raggedyass parts of the ha. It was/is making me crazy! OK, crazier than I already am.
I really don't have OCD but I'm reluctant to try and cut anything (I have some pool noodles) with my Musashi until I fix the edge. I'm afraid of causing further raggedyass-ness. I can see it now, it won't be long until spring and I can slice the wings off buzzing flies & mosquitoes in my back yard.
Now that I know what to do, I know a shoe repair place that's open on Sunday & I'm going to go to his shop and sweet talk him into selling me a 30cm strip of thick, soft leather about 4cm wide and glue it to a nice strip of cedar or mahogany and make a strop stick. Then get out my genuine Harley-Davidson™ chrome polish (or jeweler's rouge) and work on that wire edge.
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Post by zentesukenVII on Feb 10, 2013 20:25:22 GMT
Beautiful sword Otto. Sorry for the late response. I have been busy lately and the slowness of the forum wears my patience a bit.
As far the the tsuka-maki stuff, I would be happy to show you how to do it when we meet up. Right now I'd suggest using a small flathead screwdriver and pushing/adjusting the diamonds yourself. After that take a wooden mallet of something and hammer the top of the folds lightly to flatten them out. Re-adjust, rinse and repeat until you are satisfied. What I like about the Musashi ito material is that after a lot of swinging it gets glossy where your hands sit instead of fuzzy and looks really cool imo. the diamonds will even themselves out a bit to with the shape of your fingers. If it as tight of a wrap as I had on my other shirakawa swords it will be just fine after some use.
I am actually making a step by step how to remount a Japanese blade series for youtube, I will post the video series here once it is finished.
In regards to sharpening, I am no expert but I have but a good edge on all my swords after heavy cutting. I just take a piece (1inch by 1inch or so) of 1000 grit sand paper and lightly, evenly and slowly run it along each side of the edge, following the geometry of the blade closely, but not so close that it buffs the polish past 2mm or so from the edge if that makes sense. If your sword is already reasonably sharp, this will do the trick right there if done right.
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Post by OttoVonFaart on Feb 11, 2013 16:29:10 GMT
Update: OK, went out yesterday afternoon looking for some good quality leather strap to make a strop with. No joy. Going to try Tandy Leather today. But I did find some high quality 3M automotive finishing wet/dry sandpaper 1000, 1500 & 2000 grit for less than $3 per 5 sheet pack of 9.5cm X 23.5cm paper. I'm going to use this stuff starting with the 1000 grit to clean up the wire edge on my katana ~ which BTW now has a name. Red Tomoe ~ Flower of CarnageAlso found a local retail source for a decent quality 60X-100X Variable Pocket Microscope. Better photos of blade clean up / sharpening using automotive wet/dry sandpaper to come. I won't be doing anything aggressive.
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