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Post by N2T on Mar 13, 2013 14:58:24 GMT
I have been interested in swords for a while, but never really saw a need. I did padded weapons combat when younger, but got away from it and did more hunting and archery. I am not sure why but the sword bug bit me recently and I decided I wanted a "real sword". I decided I wanted functional..but not wanting a 500 dollar paper weight, I wanted to try something inexpensive to make sure I would use it as much as I suspect and to make sure I don't buy something expensive, only to realize that I didn't have enough information on what I wanted and end up repurchasing in a year for a simple mistake. After a few emails back and forth I decided to try a (gulp) sword from china made by ryan swords. I got a "ninja" katana meaning strait/no curve as I am a fan of thrusting swords, I thought it would fit me better. It has the blood groove (bo hi?), is made of 1095 through hardened steel with a full tang, iron tsuba and all black furnature. I had them leave a bit of extra meat on the blade (niko?) for cutting hard targets. Figured I am new and won't have perfect form right off, so a more forgiving blade was a good idea. I do a lot of hunting and often have a few extra limbs around or bodies come hunting season, figure there's going to be very few test mediums that accurate, though I'm sure many water bottles and bamboo poles will be used as well. I do have a few questions though, 1 is do any of you purchase blades and just switch your furniture around for diff tasks and so you don't beat up a nice blade or do you just buy more swords? Also, half the sights I checked said a clay tempered 1095 was optimal and through hardened spring steel...the other half said that through hardening was always good and that clay temper though attractive yielded no advantages in performance. What say the experts here? Did I do myself a disservice by getting the 1095 through hardened? I have seen the warnings on china swords, but the people in question have been quite good at explaining their products, did free fitting of the parts I wanted, posted a few comments in these forums and generally gave me a very good amount of information that meshed with what people here said. Now my only real worry is when the sword does come in, I don't have enough exp. to give a detailed report..guess I'll have to work on that.
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Post by LastGodslayer on Mar 13, 2013 16:08:21 GMT
Hi N2T. Welcome to the forums!
Usually we get different swords for different tasks as you'll find swords are very specialized tools. The niku idea was good, and through hardened tends to imply less maintenance. The steel grade is relatively unimportant (good choice though), what concerns me more is the heat treatment itself which I hope Ryanswords will do properly (they have a mixed reputation in most places, and calling it mixed is being kind from what I've seen), but the proof is in the pudding as they say.
DH vs TH (hamon vs spring temper) is a point of contention for almost everybody. What I can say is that TH (well made) gets a very consistent, predictable behavior out of the blades (thats why almost everything is TH), as DH (well made) "can" result in a harder and potentially sharper blade, but there are maintenance (increased proneness to chipping of the edge which leads to frequent touch ups) and longevity issues (the hamon only goes so far into the blade, so when you polish through it the blade becomes much weaker).
Would like to see some tests on those extra limbs you talk about, but since you are a hunter you'll know that after a couple of hours the bones will get dry and that will be a different experience from cutting a live limb (please don't cut any live things, okay? If you do, don't post it here :lol: )
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Post by N2T on Mar 14, 2013 14:09:21 GMT
Yes I did note that their reputation is mixed. I had read that they had an early issue where people/distributors bought their display swords and priced them as combat swords and called them same. This led to some pretty big issues and a bad rep, combined with the fact that they are a mass produced chinese sword manufacturer where lets be honest..they are not producing top of the line stuff. That said, if their heat treat is good (I was assured it was as good as their clay hardened, just uniform in BH), their edge holds up, and their fittings are done right..I won't have any complaints. I am not hoping to buy a 5000 dollar sword for a couple hundred bucks, but I am hoping to get a chopper/beater that I won't mind a scratch or two on and that will hold up to actual use. Bone holding up for 2 hours? I assume you mean cleaned/exposed bone, if the bone is left inside the muscle/skin etc, it will hold up as "green" longer. The forelimbs of deer don't hold much meat, they do however hold a nice big bone and some skin and tendon. I also process my own game, so that should give me access to ribs etc after I remove the edible portions..not a perfect test..but could prove interesting. Those portions will have to be used a bit more quickly as the field dressing process will expose them to air. Killing live things with a sword, highly unlikely, lol far as I can tell, they don't make very good hunting tools. That said..I've never seen an actual sword wound, and to me, it would be interesting to see what a heavy shop does vs a quick one handed cut or back cut with less power involved. I wonder how hard flesh and bone is to actually cut through..best way I have to find out. In the past, I had a rather nice hunting knife, very deep belly, gut hook, curved scraper blade, heavy enough to split hip bones with just a couple chops even at 4" long. But..with the shape, the top would not penetrate flesh, even a full force stab gave me nothing..fur is amazingly tough, with feathers not far behind. I am hoping as a first "real sword" this one will be up to the task. Then as I learn where it's lacking, I can refine what I feel I need before I drop big bucks on something. If nothing else..I get to swing a sword at stuff..there really doesn't need to be much more to it than that, lol.
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Post by LastGodslayer on Mar 14, 2013 14:27:20 GMT
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Post by N2T on Mar 14, 2013 14:56:28 GMT
Ty, I know a bit about hunting and how to process game, knives are involved and you learn basic skeletal structure..the rest is just a lot of reading, with 6 months over in afghanistan, I had plenty of time on my hands. I may have..picked up all 6 seasons of highlander too..lets not talk about that though. Overall, I just read a lot of forums and asked a lot of questions, I actually started out wanting a rapier (damn you rob roy and court jester), overall though, I just read a lot, when I get back to the states, hopefully I can get some more hands on exp. The pics were interesting, I think we sometimes forget what a good blade of any sort is actually capable of. Being an archer, penetrative damage is also quite an impressive and lethal thing. Deep holes tend to be fatal even when imperfectly placed..and quite rapidly so.
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Post by LastGodslayer on Mar 14, 2013 17:52:49 GMT
Its amazing how resilient living beings are but at the same time, how fragile they can be.
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Post by N2T on Mar 30, 2013 20:59:16 GMT
Got my sword in and did some back yard cutting. Nothing fancy but put it through it's paces, you can see the review and pics in the review section. Overall I'm pleased with the sword and company, though I may purchase one of the musha/musashi swords just for comparisons sake in the future, I hear they are pound for pound great budget cutters. Let me know how I did on my first review.
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Post by LastGodslayer on Mar 31, 2013 3:36:23 GMT
NIce review (just read it). How did you like the customer service with Ryanswords, and is the blade exactly what you wanted and payed for (taking into account the modifications you requested)? Also, any chance you could take a picture of the niku of the blade so we can see what Ryanswords defines a hard target edge?
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Post by NJstudent on Apr 3, 2013 23:19:48 GMT
Never heard of anyone hunting with a katana. I picture you beheading a deer while it commits ritual seppuku.
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