Ronin Dojo Pro Ko Katana Review 7.19.13 (Pic Heavy!)
Jul 20, 2013 4:46:56 GMT
Post by Timberwolf on Jul 20, 2013 4:46:56 GMT
Hi, people!
First off, my apologies to Chris at Ronin and Paul here at SBG, I said I'd do a review of this kat when I received it, but my grad school stuff got in the way, so here it is, finally, 4 weeks later.
Marc K. Ridgeway did an excellent review of this sword a while back at the beginning of Dec '12, so I'll try not to repeat anything he said. I'm in complete agreement with him, so look at that review for a more lengthy assessment of this Ronin from his perspective. If Bill Swiger is reading this, please add this to the review list. I'm kinda biased now, but I think these little guys deserve all the good reviews they can get.
My camera is a 10 year old 2.1 megapixel rig, so I'll apologize in advance for the quality of some photos, close-ups in particular.
I think it does OK with the other pics.
Remember to right click on the pic and hit "view image", or whatever option you have that makes the pic work for you.
I'll also try to stick to the "review template", but you know me, there's no guarantees being made here. With that said, let's get on with this!
Introduction:
I owned a coupla kats a LONG time ago, and last winter I decided I wanted another one. So, I wound up here in December, and have spent a LOT of time researching almost everything there is to be known about katana. Yeah, I've barely scratched the surface. :roll:
For my first kat, I decided that the most practical one would be a ko/chisa katana. They're long enough to be a real kat, with a full tsuka, but the shorter blade length is more desirable for close-quarters work and all-around usefulness. There are a good handful of fine companies to choose a katana from, so I did some searching and discovered there really isn't much out there in the way of a KoKat in the $250-$350 range.
I wanted something that would be a great cutter, be reasonably nice-looking, and have good, tight ito and koshirae. I also wanted a stout blade, to be good for hacking some miscreant into pieces if the need for that ever arose!
After considering these criteria, and the lack of options/availability, the Ronin was the only one I could buy right away. So, I went ahead and ordered this one through the SBG Store here.
Historical insights:
As far as I can tell right now, it's debatable as to whether the KoKat was ever a common weapon in feudal Japan, and references to it or an O-wakizashi are unclear, tall tales of "ninja" notwithstanding. :roll:
There is some evidence of the ~24" nagasa being the preferred length around the turn of the 16th century, plus or minus 50 years, but I honestly haven't researched this to a great extent. Regardless, this is a fun and useful size as far as I'm concerned, so I really don't care about the historical veracity of the KoKat. A few of you guys know a lot more than I do about this, so I guess you can blind us with your brilliance in the comments! :ugeek:
Full Disclosure:
I'm not affiliated with Ronin, Chris Scoggin, Paul Southren, or the SBG Sword Store at all, and I paid the full price of $260 for this brand spankin' new kat. However, I'd love to be Chris' good friend when I get around to buying a Ronin Elite!
Initial Impressions and Descriptions:
The deal went through perfectly. I ordered the kat online here, like I said, and received an e-mail from Paul with the tracking info. It arrived in a few days. The outer box was plain old solid cardboard, and had the cool-looking factory box inside, all in great shape. I opened it up, and there she was, secured nicely by the styrofoam pieces.
I pulled it out, dusted off the flakes of white stuff, and took a good look at the protective cloth bag. Nice, it even has a thin but decent quality layer of white cloth on the inside. It'd be hard to scratch the saya if you dropped it, bag and all.
OK, out she comes. Oh, this is cool! Piano-type lacquered saya, buffed up nicely. The kurikata (knob) has a cats-eye, kinda silvery-gold. Nice touch, and a testament to that little bit of extra detail that says someone was thinking about impressing me when they put that on there. The sageo is a tight weave with great quality as well. I'm liking this baby a lot and I haven't even seen the blade yet. (I never could get a clear shot of that kurikata with this old camera. I'll post one if I ever have a better camera over here.)
The tsuka has a very tight alternating ito, shiny black silk, with an almost glossy black samé. It terminates very cleanly into the kashira with a knot that would make Josh smile. The menuki are some funky critters in an almost antique brass, but they are not weird or cheesy, and they look good and solid. The mekugi have white spots, but 30 seconds with a Sharpie fixed that. The fuchi and kashira are solid smooth semigloss black steel. Damn, I wish they were the hammered flat black design to match the tsuba, but I ain't sempriniing. (Oh, the ito is STILL tight, after playing with this quite a bit!)
The tsuka also has a "waist", vs. a taper or straight profile. I don't think that improves anything, but it does add a little bit of variety to the design. So far, nothing about this KoKat says, "boring".
There is a TINY wiggle in the saya, but when I turn it over, the kat doesn't come out unless I shake it, the habaki seats firmly in the koiguchi. The habaki has a small gap on each side, but that is perfectly acceptable at this price. The tsuba is a fat eighth thick by 3 inches diameter, in that hammered/antiqued finish, and it is solid iron. The lightning style looks good, and it has the kozuku-ana and kogai-ana like an authentic traditional tsuba. It's actually slanted a bit to match the curve of the entire kat! The seppa and habaki are good brass with machined designs, and tight.
Alright, I've been doing this like I'm sipping a good beer, but it's time to take a big chug. Here we go! Ah, the entire blade is covered in a thin layer of light oil. Looking down it, there's a smooth curve from kashira to kissaki; good. After I take an old sock to it, I get a little rush. This blade has the "Ronin Ghost Hamon"! Now I'm jacked! I'd do the Snoopy Happy Dance, but the neighbors already think I'm crazy, and I *do* have a freakin' Katana in my hand! Muaaahaahahaha! :twisted:
(Those aren't spots on the blade, they're reflections from the trees, etc.)
The blade has torii-sori (curved evenly from the center), about a half inch, which are both just perfect to me. It's a satin polish, but still blinds you in the sun. The kissaki is definitive and crisp, counterpolished with a slightly rougher grind, giving it contrast to the rest of the blade. The transition lines are damned near perfect.
It's SHARP! Scary freakin' sharp! And it sounds really wicked slicing through the air, and this doesn't even have a bo-hi! (Evil laughter!)
And it has the ghost hamon. Did I mention the ghost hamon? Yep, it has a ghost hamon. Yeah, that is wicked in itself!
Specifications:
Did I tell you how much I HATE it when someone does a review of something in their hands and posts the specs from the company website? And how they vary and are often WRONG? Well, here are the REAL numbers regarding this sword!
(In other words, give us the specs from the actual sword/knife you have. Buy a scale and a tape measure, damn you!)
Weight with saya: 1240g / 43.7 ozs / 2.734 lbs
Weight of kat alone: 1032g / 36.4 ozs / 2.275 lbs
Overall length in saya: 94 cm / 37.0"
OAL of kat alone: 90 cm / 35 3/8"
Length of saya: 64.5 cm / 25 3/8"
Blade, tip to tsuba: 60.65 cm / 23 7/8"
Nagasa: 58.75 cm / 23 1/8" / 1 shaku, 9 sun, 4 bu
Tsuba: 7.6 cm x .3 cm / 3" x 1/8"+
Tsuka: 28.6 cm / 11 1/4" / 9 sun, 4.3 bu
Point of Balance: 8.25 cm / 3 1/4" (Yeah!)
Motohaba : 3.2 cm / 1 1/4"
Sakihaba : 2.2 cm / 7/8"
Motokasane : 7.0 mm
Sakikasane : 5.5 mm
Kissaki: Chu style, 5 cm / 2.0"
(It is only slightly different than the one Marc has. I imagine they all vary just a little, but this means they are very consistent.)
Handling:
Disclaimer and Warning: Be EXTREMELY CAREFUL with a live blade! I'm an athletic guy with excellent balance, spatial perception, and reflexes. I was also highly trained in this in a previous lifetime. Well, a long time ago, as I said earlier. However easy I might make this sound, I am ALWAYS mindful of the fact that at any time I could slice myself wide open with my new katana, and I could be dead before I'm able to stop the blood from spurting out of me.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND? Alright then, back to the fun.
OK, it's been a LONG time since I've wielded a kat (swung a cat? LOL!), but I was pretty good back then IMNSHO, and it all seemed to come right back to me. The POB, short blade, and light weight of this thing allow me to maneuver it like some guy in a martial arts flick! It has some weight to it, but I can snap it and it moves in a very controlled path, right where I wanted it to go, and stops quickly. I practiced all of the basic moves until I got into some fast katas and then went for the full power slices, pushing the back of the tsuka in the opposite direction. That went VERY smoothly, and it "whooshed" a bit. I finally alternated back and forth with a series of 3 fast power slices, and by then I was feeling like a very dangerous you-know-what. Then I went inside and imagined goblins attacking in the hallway. It does really well in a tight space, and I never hit the walls once! :roll:
I'm not a big or tall guy, but I was a contractor for a long time, so I'm still built well for an old fart, or anyone, for that matter. Handling this KoKat is very easy for me. But I think that just about anyone with some training and a decent amount of balance and muscle could be extremely competent with this kat, it just has a natural feel to it, and the learning time from out of the box to becoming comfortable with it is short.
Cutting Stuff:
The only thing I had laying around to cut was the cardboard box this baby came in. As you'll see in the pics, I don't have a proper stand, and I really didn't want to build one right then. I wanted to slice something! NOW!
Despite the flimsy "stand", and the box moving as soon as I touched it, this booger sliced up that box with ease. It IS very sharp, and by then my technique was close enough to good that she floated right through it with a sharp "WHACK" each time. I tore the box once with a lousy cut, but that was all my fault. If I had some better targets and a real stand/platform, I would have been out there for hours.
So, it was a very limited test of its slice and dice capabilities, but I'm honestly satisfied. Someday soon, I'll test it on harder targets for fun. Gauging from the design and feel, this isn't a superslicer. I believe it would be very competitive on harder and more dense targets, though.
For those of you who are wondering, and I know a lot of you are, yes! If you had to use this thing as a weapon, it would be an awesome implement of destruction. That is, until you hit something truly solid, like a big bone, or a wall, or a car. Then I think the game might be over. I personally don't know how tough this baby is, but if someone wants to find out, there are a lot of Ronin destruction tests on the web.
I stacked this chunk back on top to show how clean the cut is. Not bad for something that took off sideways as soon as I hit it. Yeah, ya gotta be FAST with a crappy, makeshift stand!
Oh, here's my "stand", the cheesy lil' jack from the truck. Yeah, it wobbled around and didn't do much for holding things still, but it kept the box upright. Sort of? :lol:
Conclusions/Pros/Cons:
First, remember that this is a $260 katana. I might be giving this kat a lil' latitude because of that, but I'm trying to be very objective here. For that price, you get a really solid piece that has strong visual appeal. I think they could sell this for $50 more and it would still be a fantastic deal, even in this competitive market.
Pros? Almost everything. The blade, saya, koshirae, and tsukamaki are all excellent, for not only this piece, but for a kat that would sell for much more. Even the sageo is quality stuff. And that cat's-eye on the kurikata is downright captivating. Once again, sorry for the inability of my old camera to take killer close-ups.
Cons? I really have to stretch to come up with any. A tiny wiggle in the saya. A tiny bit of goo inside the saya. Little gaps in the habaki to blade fit. No hiraniku (overall niku), only a good amount of ha-niku (right at the edge). I wish mine had come with the hammered/antiqued iron fuchi/koshira instead of the smooth steel. But I have the "ghost hamon", and this is a GREAT kat, so I wouldn't dare trade it.
Personally, I'd like it to weigh 1/4 pound / 120g more, with medium hiraniku, and an inch more nagasa. I'd also like it better with a 10.5" / 26.5 cm tsuka. (You listening, Chris?)
The Bottom Line:
A lot of people will prefer to buy a full-sized katana as their first purchase. I'd argue that this KoKat might be the perfect katana for the beginner, or even someone like me, who owned one before, but hasn't used one in a long time. Think about that before you buy your first katana, people.
This is really a nice lil' katana, and I'd recommend it to everyone. And I'm a picky bastard. :twisted:
Other Thoughts:
I would have posted a pic of this bad boy with my .338 Lapua "Death From Afar" weapon or something, just to poke at Marc a lil', but I don't want to put pics of my firepower on the 'net!
Thanks for reading and I hope you liked this review. Regardless of that, let me know what you think. You know me, I don't care if we go off topic, but someone might complain, so say something about this review somewhere in your responses. Since I'm a shameless comment and karma whore, anything you contribute will be deeply appreciated. Gracias.
I'm also busier than hell with this summer semester for another 3 weeks, but I'll try to drop by at least every few days to answer any questions or whatever.
- Timberwolf (TW)
(Edited to clarify that one cut pic.)
(And again to say those aren't spots on the blade.)
First off, my apologies to Chris at Ronin and Paul here at SBG, I said I'd do a review of this kat when I received it, but my grad school stuff got in the way, so here it is, finally, 4 weeks later.
Marc K. Ridgeway did an excellent review of this sword a while back at the beginning of Dec '12, so I'll try not to repeat anything he said. I'm in complete agreement with him, so look at that review for a more lengthy assessment of this Ronin from his perspective. If Bill Swiger is reading this, please add this to the review list. I'm kinda biased now, but I think these little guys deserve all the good reviews they can get.
My camera is a 10 year old 2.1 megapixel rig, so I'll apologize in advance for the quality of some photos, close-ups in particular.
I think it does OK with the other pics.
Remember to right click on the pic and hit "view image", or whatever option you have that makes the pic work for you.
I'll also try to stick to the "review template", but you know me, there's no guarantees being made here. With that said, let's get on with this!
Introduction:
I owned a coupla kats a LONG time ago, and last winter I decided I wanted another one. So, I wound up here in December, and have spent a LOT of time researching almost everything there is to be known about katana. Yeah, I've barely scratched the surface. :roll:
For my first kat, I decided that the most practical one would be a ko/chisa katana. They're long enough to be a real kat, with a full tsuka, but the shorter blade length is more desirable for close-quarters work and all-around usefulness. There are a good handful of fine companies to choose a katana from, so I did some searching and discovered there really isn't much out there in the way of a KoKat in the $250-$350 range.
I wanted something that would be a great cutter, be reasonably nice-looking, and have good, tight ito and koshirae. I also wanted a stout blade, to be good for hacking some miscreant into pieces if the need for that ever arose!
After considering these criteria, and the lack of options/availability, the Ronin was the only one I could buy right away. So, I went ahead and ordered this one through the SBG Store here.
Historical insights:
As far as I can tell right now, it's debatable as to whether the KoKat was ever a common weapon in feudal Japan, and references to it or an O-wakizashi are unclear, tall tales of "ninja" notwithstanding. :roll:
There is some evidence of the ~24" nagasa being the preferred length around the turn of the 16th century, plus or minus 50 years, but I honestly haven't researched this to a great extent. Regardless, this is a fun and useful size as far as I'm concerned, so I really don't care about the historical veracity of the KoKat. A few of you guys know a lot more than I do about this, so I guess you can blind us with your brilliance in the comments! :ugeek:
Full Disclosure:
I'm not affiliated with Ronin, Chris Scoggin, Paul Southren, or the SBG Sword Store at all, and I paid the full price of $260 for this brand spankin' new kat. However, I'd love to be Chris' good friend when I get around to buying a Ronin Elite!
Initial Impressions and Descriptions:
The deal went through perfectly. I ordered the kat online here, like I said, and received an e-mail from Paul with the tracking info. It arrived in a few days. The outer box was plain old solid cardboard, and had the cool-looking factory box inside, all in great shape. I opened it up, and there she was, secured nicely by the styrofoam pieces.
I pulled it out, dusted off the flakes of white stuff, and took a good look at the protective cloth bag. Nice, it even has a thin but decent quality layer of white cloth on the inside. It'd be hard to scratch the saya if you dropped it, bag and all.
OK, out she comes. Oh, this is cool! Piano-type lacquered saya, buffed up nicely. The kurikata (knob) has a cats-eye, kinda silvery-gold. Nice touch, and a testament to that little bit of extra detail that says someone was thinking about impressing me when they put that on there. The sageo is a tight weave with great quality as well. I'm liking this baby a lot and I haven't even seen the blade yet. (I never could get a clear shot of that kurikata with this old camera. I'll post one if I ever have a better camera over here.)
The tsuka has a very tight alternating ito, shiny black silk, with an almost glossy black samé. It terminates very cleanly into the kashira with a knot that would make Josh smile. The menuki are some funky critters in an almost antique brass, but they are not weird or cheesy, and they look good and solid. The mekugi have white spots, but 30 seconds with a Sharpie fixed that. The fuchi and kashira are solid smooth semigloss black steel. Damn, I wish they were the hammered flat black design to match the tsuba, but I ain't sempriniing. (Oh, the ito is STILL tight, after playing with this quite a bit!)
The tsuka also has a "waist", vs. a taper or straight profile. I don't think that improves anything, but it does add a little bit of variety to the design. So far, nothing about this KoKat says, "boring".
There is a TINY wiggle in the saya, but when I turn it over, the kat doesn't come out unless I shake it, the habaki seats firmly in the koiguchi. The habaki has a small gap on each side, but that is perfectly acceptable at this price. The tsuba is a fat eighth thick by 3 inches diameter, in that hammered/antiqued finish, and it is solid iron. The lightning style looks good, and it has the kozuku-ana and kogai-ana like an authentic traditional tsuba. It's actually slanted a bit to match the curve of the entire kat! The seppa and habaki are good brass with machined designs, and tight.
Alright, I've been doing this like I'm sipping a good beer, but it's time to take a big chug. Here we go! Ah, the entire blade is covered in a thin layer of light oil. Looking down it, there's a smooth curve from kashira to kissaki; good. After I take an old sock to it, I get a little rush. This blade has the "Ronin Ghost Hamon"! Now I'm jacked! I'd do the Snoopy Happy Dance, but the neighbors already think I'm crazy, and I *do* have a freakin' Katana in my hand! Muaaahaahahaha! :twisted:
(Those aren't spots on the blade, they're reflections from the trees, etc.)
The blade has torii-sori (curved evenly from the center), about a half inch, which are both just perfect to me. It's a satin polish, but still blinds you in the sun. The kissaki is definitive and crisp, counterpolished with a slightly rougher grind, giving it contrast to the rest of the blade. The transition lines are damned near perfect.
It's SHARP! Scary freakin' sharp! And it sounds really wicked slicing through the air, and this doesn't even have a bo-hi! (Evil laughter!)
And it has the ghost hamon. Did I mention the ghost hamon? Yep, it has a ghost hamon. Yeah, that is wicked in itself!
Specifications:
Did I tell you how much I HATE it when someone does a review of something in their hands and posts the specs from the company website? And how they vary and are often WRONG? Well, here are the REAL numbers regarding this sword!
(In other words, give us the specs from the actual sword/knife you have. Buy a scale and a tape measure, damn you!)
Weight with saya: 1240g / 43.7 ozs / 2.734 lbs
Weight of kat alone: 1032g / 36.4 ozs / 2.275 lbs
Overall length in saya: 94 cm / 37.0"
OAL of kat alone: 90 cm / 35 3/8"
Length of saya: 64.5 cm / 25 3/8"
Blade, tip to tsuba: 60.65 cm / 23 7/8"
Nagasa: 58.75 cm / 23 1/8" / 1 shaku, 9 sun, 4 bu
Tsuba: 7.6 cm x .3 cm / 3" x 1/8"+
Tsuka: 28.6 cm / 11 1/4" / 9 sun, 4.3 bu
Point of Balance: 8.25 cm / 3 1/4" (Yeah!)
Motohaba : 3.2 cm / 1 1/4"
Sakihaba : 2.2 cm / 7/8"
Motokasane : 7.0 mm
Sakikasane : 5.5 mm
Kissaki: Chu style, 5 cm / 2.0"
(It is only slightly different than the one Marc has. I imagine they all vary just a little, but this means they are very consistent.)
Handling:
Disclaimer and Warning: Be EXTREMELY CAREFUL with a live blade! I'm an athletic guy with excellent balance, spatial perception, and reflexes. I was also highly trained in this in a previous lifetime. Well, a long time ago, as I said earlier. However easy I might make this sound, I am ALWAYS mindful of the fact that at any time I could slice myself wide open with my new katana, and I could be dead before I'm able to stop the blood from spurting out of me.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND? Alright then, back to the fun.
OK, it's been a LONG time since I've wielded a kat (swung a cat? LOL!), but I was pretty good back then IMNSHO, and it all seemed to come right back to me. The POB, short blade, and light weight of this thing allow me to maneuver it like some guy in a martial arts flick! It has some weight to it, but I can snap it and it moves in a very controlled path, right where I wanted it to go, and stops quickly. I practiced all of the basic moves until I got into some fast katas and then went for the full power slices, pushing the back of the tsuka in the opposite direction. That went VERY smoothly, and it "whooshed" a bit. I finally alternated back and forth with a series of 3 fast power slices, and by then I was feeling like a very dangerous you-know-what. Then I went inside and imagined goblins attacking in the hallway. It does really well in a tight space, and I never hit the walls once! :roll:
I'm not a big or tall guy, but I was a contractor for a long time, so I'm still built well for an old fart, or anyone, for that matter. Handling this KoKat is very easy for me. But I think that just about anyone with some training and a decent amount of balance and muscle could be extremely competent with this kat, it just has a natural feel to it, and the learning time from out of the box to becoming comfortable with it is short.
Cutting Stuff:
The only thing I had laying around to cut was the cardboard box this baby came in. As you'll see in the pics, I don't have a proper stand, and I really didn't want to build one right then. I wanted to slice something! NOW!
Despite the flimsy "stand", and the box moving as soon as I touched it, this booger sliced up that box with ease. It IS very sharp, and by then my technique was close enough to good that she floated right through it with a sharp "WHACK" each time. I tore the box once with a lousy cut, but that was all my fault. If I had some better targets and a real stand/platform, I would have been out there for hours.
So, it was a very limited test of its slice and dice capabilities, but I'm honestly satisfied. Someday soon, I'll test it on harder targets for fun. Gauging from the design and feel, this isn't a superslicer. I believe it would be very competitive on harder and more dense targets, though.
For those of you who are wondering, and I know a lot of you are, yes! If you had to use this thing as a weapon, it would be an awesome implement of destruction. That is, until you hit something truly solid, like a big bone, or a wall, or a car. Then I think the game might be over. I personally don't know how tough this baby is, but if someone wants to find out, there are a lot of Ronin destruction tests on the web.
I stacked this chunk back on top to show how clean the cut is. Not bad for something that took off sideways as soon as I hit it. Yeah, ya gotta be FAST with a crappy, makeshift stand!
Oh, here's my "stand", the cheesy lil' jack from the truck. Yeah, it wobbled around and didn't do much for holding things still, but it kept the box upright. Sort of? :lol:
Conclusions/Pros/Cons:
First, remember that this is a $260 katana. I might be giving this kat a lil' latitude because of that, but I'm trying to be very objective here. For that price, you get a really solid piece that has strong visual appeal. I think they could sell this for $50 more and it would still be a fantastic deal, even in this competitive market.
Pros? Almost everything. The blade, saya, koshirae, and tsukamaki are all excellent, for not only this piece, but for a kat that would sell for much more. Even the sageo is quality stuff. And that cat's-eye on the kurikata is downright captivating. Once again, sorry for the inability of my old camera to take killer close-ups.
Cons? I really have to stretch to come up with any. A tiny wiggle in the saya. A tiny bit of goo inside the saya. Little gaps in the habaki to blade fit. No hiraniku (overall niku), only a good amount of ha-niku (right at the edge). I wish mine had come with the hammered/antiqued iron fuchi/koshira instead of the smooth steel. But I have the "ghost hamon", and this is a GREAT kat, so I wouldn't dare trade it.
Personally, I'd like it to weigh 1/4 pound / 120g more, with medium hiraniku, and an inch more nagasa. I'd also like it better with a 10.5" / 26.5 cm tsuka. (You listening, Chris?)
The Bottom Line:
A lot of people will prefer to buy a full-sized katana as their first purchase. I'd argue that this KoKat might be the perfect katana for the beginner, or even someone like me, who owned one before, but hasn't used one in a long time. Think about that before you buy your first katana, people.
This is really a nice lil' katana, and I'd recommend it to everyone. And I'm a picky bastard. :twisted:
Other Thoughts:
I would have posted a pic of this bad boy with my .338 Lapua "Death From Afar" weapon or something, just to poke at Marc a lil', but I don't want to put pics of my firepower on the 'net!
Thanks for reading and I hope you liked this review. Regardless of that, let me know what you think. You know me, I don't care if we go off topic, but someone might complain, so say something about this review somewhere in your responses. Since I'm a shameless comment and karma whore, anything you contribute will be deeply appreciated. Gracias.
I'm also busier than hell with this summer semester for another 3 weeks, but I'll try to drop by at least every few days to answer any questions or whatever.
- Timberwolf (TW)
(Edited to clarify that one cut pic.)
(And again to say those aren't spots on the blade.)