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Post by Maynar on Mar 7, 2013 2:50:38 GMT
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Marc Kaden Ridgeway
Member
Retired Global Moderator
Awful lot of leaving and joining going on here for me .... And gosh I can't recall doing a bit of i
Posts: 8,778
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Post by Marc Kaden Ridgeway on Mar 7, 2013 11:05:32 GMT
The IP comes back to Pennsylvania ... I really have no concrete proof of any kind that this is shyjiro SPAMing us . What would you have us do?
I can't take action without proof of rule violation ... Or rather I shouldn't .... And won't . All SBGers are reminded to be polite and friendly... Express your opinions about the manufacturer freely , but respectfully and refrain from making accusations about the OP please.
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Post by Judosailor on Mar 7, 2013 16:31:01 GMT
I don't think you need to do anything. The OP will either post again and eventually out themselves like all the others, or they will never post again. In either case all the other info given by members about Skyjiro and their previous antics is enough to undo any spam.
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Post by LastGodslayer on Mar 7, 2013 19:14:53 GMT
Actually, if the OP is legit, I'd like to see a small review. Its not that often we get to see a Skyjiro product from an unbiased source.
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Post by LastGodslayer on Mar 7, 2013 23:55:38 GMT
(apologies to the OP for the ensuing derailment)
I'm beginning to get the idea that these Skyjiro folk are somehow related to David Goldberg (a.k.a. Kinzan), who actually makes nice thing, and seems to actually know what he is doing. Could it be that the forge that he uses to make the "production" blades has gone rogue and began to churn out lesser quality stuff using his name to persuade retailers?
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Post by ineffableone on Mar 8, 2013 4:26:16 GMT
They make the claim he works with them. I have yet to see anything where he mentions he works with them.
This is the second thread I have brought up this point, as when Skyjiro first started spamming on SBG their website did not mention David Goldberg that I remember, so this claim is new, yet they claim it was a long standing relationship for them.
He is a highly respected smith and makes amazing stuff, I seriously wonder if he knows they are using his name attached to their products?
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Post by SwordFan on Mar 8, 2013 11:41:48 GMT
Well ill be receiving one (which I have been sent as a a gift from a family member) in the next two weeks ,ill be happy to review it as I have some down time when it arrives after my second lot of surgery ,but I wont be able to do any cutting with it for a while yet as the recovery period after my shoulder surgery is going to be a while yet before I can go about swinging any blades around :cry: Not sure if this will help any ,but at least maybe I can give an objective view point on one of their katana . Ill be receiving the Emperor one (well this is what i think its called ) .
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Post by Judosailor on Mar 8, 2013 13:10:57 GMT
Has anyone contacted him to ask? Also, link to where Skyjiro claims he works with them?
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hhmoore
Member
Sneaking around once in a while
Posts: 656
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Post by hhmoore on Mar 8, 2013 13:33:04 GMT
Check any of their ebay ads
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Post by Travis Nicko on Mar 8, 2013 14:14:31 GMT
Eh, there's some really gaudy hada and the "lingo" used ("Secret", "Ancient") is too lame....but there seems to be some decent and interesting looking maki and blade geometries going on. Would never invest in one over 500-600 though....rather have a tried and trusted blade with proper habaki, machi and nakago remounted.
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Post by Sugiyama on Mar 8, 2013 14:53:09 GMT
C'mon, you're all wasting your time. You guys haven't even let the OP respond. There are other people who actually need help on the beginner's forum and you're all too busy talking smack about what may be an actual person (not likely but, whatever). We've already established Skyjiro is pretty crappy. We've established they like to troll. No amount of snarky comments is going to fix the problem, especially when there are real beginners out there.
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Post by Jussi Ekholm on Mar 8, 2013 15:55:51 GMT
I'm astonished of the hate that the name Skijiro brings everytime it's brought up, granted I wasn't in this forum when the spamming happened. And I do agree that it's highly annoying trying to market a product like that. But it seems everytime someone mentions that name the flood gates open. Personally I see them (at least the cheaper ones) as quite generic production blades. They just wanted to go folded with imitation hamon, and I guess that might be someones taste. You can see good closeup pictures of them on vendor sites, at least Jordy at Katana Samurai Sword, and Ryan at Kult of Athena have personally took photos of the swords, not Skyjiros pics. And Swordfan please do review the sword when it arrives, it will be nice to read it. To my understanding David Goldberg helped in the design. You can see that he sells Skyjiro swords under Gold Mountain Forge, so they most likely are decent blades. You can see Gold Mountain Forges listings here: www.ebay.com/sch/kinzan3/m.html? ... ksid=p3686 , www.goldmountainforge.com/Store/sword.html However do not confuse Skyjiro to Gold Mountain Forge as a whole, Skyjiro's swords are made in China and David forges in the USA. But at least for me the fact that David Goldberg stands behind these products is a very good sign. I was really tempted to get cheapest one for my upcoming katana comparison, but I couldn't afford it. Given the fact that Kinzan is involved in design and Keith Larman was somewhat impressed at their low cost model, I'm thinking these swords must be bit better than the general impression of these is. Of course I can be totally wrong.
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Post by Judosailor on Mar 8, 2013 16:15:49 GMT
Actually Jussi, while some of their advertizing is laughable, I have been looking at their stuff on the web and it seems really nice. So nice, in fact, that I am thinking of getting one. Granted, I do not yet have the eye that some of you have. But some of the things I've learned to look for in better katana (like a tight fitting habaki, alternating ito and a non-machined bohi) seem to be present. I emailed Mr. Goldberg to verify that he really is involved with them. If it turns out he is, that will probably clinch it for me.
None of which changes the fact that I am 99% sure that the OP is fake, and is actually spam by someone associated with Skyjiro.
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Post by LastGodslayer on Mar 8, 2013 16:25:57 GMT
The geometry on even the cheapest models is "close" to being good I'll give you that, but you can see really bad tsuka and off axis tsuka on these blades. A folded steel billet isn't that expensive, and neither is the "double hamon", the marketing claims are bogus (ancient iron... what, hasn't all iron been made since the planetary nebula? Maybe thats why we only get fake hamon since iron by itself cannot a hamon make). Regardless of whoever backs them, they are overpriced, overhyped, questionably constructed katana like objects. I'm not calling out David Goldberg or Keith Larman, as I am yet to see one of these blades in person, but I am pretty sure I could get a similar blade to the "Ancient Iron Warrior" for less than half at any Longquan forge.
The geometry on those blade better be spectacular! And Indigosamuraigirl, please pop back to tell us more about your sword. As you can see it would help dispel a lot of myth that has been going on.
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Post by Vue on Mar 8, 2013 16:54:53 GMT
I recalled some very interesting questions being brought up over on SFI about David Goldberg offerings a few years back, there is no doubt that the man makes very good blades but lot's of questions were raised about some of his cheaper models as being of Chinese origin but weren't label as such. These cheaper models weren't cheap by any standards, they were in the 1k+ range. There was doubt then and even if now Mr Goldberg somehow is involved with Skyjiro then that just might confirms everyone's suspicions a few years back.....no one's really sure at this point.
I don't think there is any actual HATE towards Skyjiro, it's more of annoyance about their marketing tactics than anything. As far as HATE of a manufacturer is concern, that tittle goes to good ol uncle 'Hazama Yakiba' LOL.
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Post by stickem on Mar 8, 2013 17:15:03 GMT
I have no first hand experience with Skyjiro or Goldberg's katana. Buy 'em or not; makes no difference to me No hate coming from my direction I don't really think that way, hating and whatnot... rather, I just found the style of the original posting to be quite amusing. That is, amusing in the way you laugh at bad advertisements for trying to manipulate people who don't know any better or aren't paying attention. Oh, and seeing as how much controversy the subject causes, maybe it is better to refer to Uncle Hazmat as " He Who Shall Not Be Named." Otherwise he might go snickersnack all through your guttyworks with one of his Golden Drunken Unholy Snake Venom Demon Zombie katana :shock: :lol: :roll:
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Post by Jussi Ekholm on Mar 8, 2013 17:47:47 GMT
Yep I agree that there are better options at the same price, that's the reason why I chose another "unknown" katana of similar price to my comparison, as I felt it was better in every way than Skyjiros Warrior. Of course their marketing speeches are something in the borderline of horrible, there are just too many inconsistent sentences when you read the whole thing. But I have to say it will probably be nice for many that are new to swords. However when you for example first say that sword has Japanese made fittings, but soon they are Skyjiro Forge's bronze fittings. Secret ancient methods, calling them nihonto and other marketing gimmicks, if you would make a good enough sword and be honest, you wouldn't need any gimmicks as the sword would speak through it's quality. And of course everything you read online must be read with caution. I know (and believe) that David Goldberg sells these, and is involved in design but not in any way in the actual making. And Keith Larman is involved with Bugei which also sells these. Therefore as both of these gentlemen are directly or indirectly involved in these swords, and I believe (I might be wrong though) that neither David nor Keith pays really close attention to sub 300$ production swords. Mostly we here pay great attention to sub 300$ production swords. Therefore we are maybe seeing them more up to par with their competition. As someone who mostly sees and works with high quality items, seeing low priced item with fairly good quality might be impressed. Where as we who mostly see lower quality items, we are seeing just another lower quality item and compare it directly to those that are in the same category, for us it most likely isn't that impressive. Unfortunately I haven't seen Keith posting anywhere in a while, at least not recalling it. Would be nice to fully hear his thoughts on these swords. I still don't understand why more sword companies don't get into forums, while forum members might be just a small drop in the ocean, at least as a community we are strong drops. There are lots of great manufacturers and vendors here in the forums, and when they personally talk about their own products, it makes me happy. Unfortunately seems like Skyjiro doesn't want to take this route, but seems like they've still tried to get into forum couple times. Openly taking part to the forum like Chris and Ricky do (just to name few for example) can only benefit the business. It's always nice to hear directly from the source. Unfortunately for Skyjiro there is not yet a single review of them that I'm aware of, I'm just keeping thumbs up that SwordFan will get his soon. I must admit I didn't pay close attention to production swords between 2007-2011 as I was focusing so heavily on antiques. I see in the Skyjiros page that they started working together with David Goldberg in 2007, I'm bit just confused, and I hadn't hear anything about Skyjiro before joining this forum. Could this be linked to some cheaper Gold Mountain Forge offerings few years back? I know there's a list of people on each forum that it's best not to mention.
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Post by ineffableone on Mar 8, 2013 18:38:51 GMT
As I mentioned previously, Skyjiro makes the claim of working with David. I have yet to see anything where David Goldberg claims to work with them. Considering their track record of not telling the truth, I am skeptical of their claim until some evidence of David Goldberg saying he works with them is produced.
At this point it is just another of their marketing BS to me, and possibly a source of a law suit from David Goldberg if it is not true.
I mentioned previously also their claim is new, as it was not on their site or ebay the first round of marketing spam they did here on SBG. To me this points toward them making up the connection. Though who knows maybe there is one.
I did post links to their page where they make the claim along with long quotes of the claim, if you want to see it, scroll back a page or two.
I do agree that this thread has a lot of hate for Skyjiro, with most of it due to their marketing. I do think the OP was not given the benefit of the doubt and still say we should not jump to conclusions about the OP.
Swordfan that is cool that you will post up a review when you get one as a gift. It would be nice to actually get a real persons POV on these that we can trust to know isn't them marketing.
From my looking at their ebay and website, their swords seem ok, but over priced. They are not OMG those are dangerous, but more a you can get a much better deal somewhere else sort of swords.
It seems to me, this whole David Goldberg stuff is about them trying to make themselves look more legit and write a more compelling back story about them so they can justify the prices they are charging. I say again I am skeptical of David's involvement with them and would like to see something not from Skyjiro about it. Until then I will not fully believe this claim. All my attempts to google this info has only showed Skyjiro sites or our own threads.
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Post by Judosailor on Mar 8, 2013 20:09:33 GMT
Just out of curiosity, what would be some kats that are just as nice, but come in at a cheaper price point?
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Post by kingrikoraru on Mar 8, 2013 20:17:47 GMT
Just as nice as what?
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