YarinoHanzo Practical Musashi Katana
Mar 25, 2014 14:41:48 GMT
Post by Jussi Ekholm on Mar 25, 2014 14:41:48 GMT
Introduction
This sword was sent to me by YarinoHanzo to review. I do not own this sword, and I do not receive anything from reviewing this. But I did get a chance to check a sword I did not otherwise might have had.
This is the second lowest tier of YarinoHanzo offerings. These are about what we might call starter swords or beaters. In other words swords that can cut, and are affordable, but are nothing special.
Historical Overview
It's a katana
Full disclosure
I received this sword to give a review of it. I do not gain anything from reviewing this, but I do get to check out this sword and cut with it. I will send it back after my review.
Of course it's always bit weird for me when the sword is not mine. I'm so used that I only have my own stuff. However I will give an honest review of this sword.
Initial Impressions
This is a beater.
Statistics
Nagasa: 70,4 cm
Nakago: 27 cm
Sori: 1,8 cm
Motohaba: 3,15 cm
Sakihaba: 2,2 cm
Moto-gasane: 7,5 mm
Moto-shinogi-gasane: 8 mm
Saki-gasane: 4 mm
Saki-shinogi-gasane: 4,5 mm
Kissaki: 4,4 cm
Bare blade weight: 725 g
Weight in koshirae: 1019 g
Steel: 1060
Tsuka: 28 cm - weight 135 g
Tsuba: 7,4 x 7,3 cm, thickness 5,6 mm - weight 115 g
Fuchi: 40 x 24 x 11 mm
Kashira: 36 x 18 x 11 mm
Blade
Here you can see the sugata.
Here you can see the nakago. It is something you'd expect from a sword of this level. Machi are very uneven. Nakago is crudely finished, and the was lots of burring on the nakago. Making it very uncomfortable to handle.
The polish on the sword is actually quite crude. Of course it's understandable as these are "beaters". I personally heavily dislike the wire brushed "hamon" but I think some might like it. Bohi termination is quite crudely done, as is the whole kissaki. However none of those things matter much at this level. After all the blade is sharp and capable of good cutting. And I believe that is the most important thing for those who would buy this.
Here is the geometry shot.
Koshirae
Tsuka has good shape to my hands and it does have some curvature on it.
Unfortunately tsukamaki does not have hishigami, so it's very loose. The ito is also fuzzy feeling cotton ito. While it held together during my one day cutting use, I would not feel comfortable using it for long periods.
Fuchi and kashira of this are actually quite nice. They are described of being iron. As crazy as it sounds F&K along with the tsuba are my favorite things about this sword.
You might have noticed something quite large and ugly on those previous pics. And yes, the tsuka had a very large shim inside. It made the tsuka removal very tricky. As well as the reassembly.
I tried and tried multiple times putting the sword back together. Without the shim nakago was moving inside the tsuka. With shim I couldn't get it back on. Finally I was able to put it back together tightly, but it resulted in a problem I've faced before with cheap swords and shims...
Seeing something crooked? Of course that was completely my fault as I disassembled the sword. Before disassembly everything was fine. I would advice against disassembling cheap katana, but of course a goof like myself always disassembles them...
Saya is basic plain kuroro and saya fit is very good. Sageo is cheap looking and feeling.
Cutting
Cutting medium was freestanding soaked (10-30 min soak) newspaper rolls. Newspaper roll soaking time was varying as I was cutting with 4 swords and did not remember how long each roll soaked up.
To be honest I was actually surprised how good this sword was when cutting. I wasn't really expecting much, as I've cut with "similar" level Longquan made katana before. However this sword actually cut quite well.
Here are some rolls cut with this, the scooping is bit due to paper being not yet soaked at all on the inside (it was completely dry). Wetter rolls don't have that scooping effect so much. Should have soaked them bit more, but regardless this performed well.
No damage at all was noticeable after cutting. As the polish is so crude not even scratches are that noticeable.
Conclusion
This is a sword I would not look twice on a website. However now that I've gotten the chance to see this, I must say it's performance surprised me.
Sure there are many things on this sword that I would consider being wrong. But at the same time I must try to remember that this is a budget sword. However my biggest issue might be the loose tsukamaki. As I feel that tight maki is very important for a sword that you use.
With some minor tweaking I think this might be a sword even I could pick up just to cut things. I cannot say I really liked the sword but it did well for the cutting.
This sword was sent to me by YarinoHanzo to review. I do not own this sword, and I do not receive anything from reviewing this. But I did get a chance to check a sword I did not otherwise might have had.
This is the second lowest tier of YarinoHanzo offerings. These are about what we might call starter swords or beaters. In other words swords that can cut, and are affordable, but are nothing special.
Historical Overview
It's a katana
Full disclosure
I received this sword to give a review of it. I do not gain anything from reviewing this, but I do get to check out this sword and cut with it. I will send it back after my review.
Of course it's always bit weird for me when the sword is not mine. I'm so used that I only have my own stuff. However I will give an honest review of this sword.
Initial Impressions
This is a beater.
Statistics
Nagasa: 70,4 cm
Nakago: 27 cm
Sori: 1,8 cm
Motohaba: 3,15 cm
Sakihaba: 2,2 cm
Moto-gasane: 7,5 mm
Moto-shinogi-gasane: 8 mm
Saki-gasane: 4 mm
Saki-shinogi-gasane: 4,5 mm
Kissaki: 4,4 cm
Bare blade weight: 725 g
Weight in koshirae: 1019 g
Steel: 1060
Tsuka: 28 cm - weight 135 g
Tsuba: 7,4 x 7,3 cm, thickness 5,6 mm - weight 115 g
Fuchi: 40 x 24 x 11 mm
Kashira: 36 x 18 x 11 mm
Blade
Here you can see the sugata.
Here you can see the nakago. It is something you'd expect from a sword of this level. Machi are very uneven. Nakago is crudely finished, and the was lots of burring on the nakago. Making it very uncomfortable to handle.
The polish on the sword is actually quite crude. Of course it's understandable as these are "beaters". I personally heavily dislike the wire brushed "hamon" but I think some might like it. Bohi termination is quite crudely done, as is the whole kissaki. However none of those things matter much at this level. After all the blade is sharp and capable of good cutting. And I believe that is the most important thing for those who would buy this.
Here is the geometry shot.
Koshirae
Tsuka has good shape to my hands and it does have some curvature on it.
Unfortunately tsukamaki does not have hishigami, so it's very loose. The ito is also fuzzy feeling cotton ito. While it held together during my one day cutting use, I would not feel comfortable using it for long periods.
Fuchi and kashira of this are actually quite nice. They are described of being iron. As crazy as it sounds F&K along with the tsuba are my favorite things about this sword.
You might have noticed something quite large and ugly on those previous pics. And yes, the tsuka had a very large shim inside. It made the tsuka removal very tricky. As well as the reassembly.
I tried and tried multiple times putting the sword back together. Without the shim nakago was moving inside the tsuka. With shim I couldn't get it back on. Finally I was able to put it back together tightly, but it resulted in a problem I've faced before with cheap swords and shims...
Seeing something crooked? Of course that was completely my fault as I disassembled the sword. Before disassembly everything was fine. I would advice against disassembling cheap katana, but of course a goof like myself always disassembles them...
Saya is basic plain kuroro and saya fit is very good. Sageo is cheap looking and feeling.
Cutting
Cutting medium was freestanding soaked (10-30 min soak) newspaper rolls. Newspaper roll soaking time was varying as I was cutting with 4 swords and did not remember how long each roll soaked up.
To be honest I was actually surprised how good this sword was when cutting. I wasn't really expecting much, as I've cut with "similar" level Longquan made katana before. However this sword actually cut quite well.
Here are some rolls cut with this, the scooping is bit due to paper being not yet soaked at all on the inside (it was completely dry). Wetter rolls don't have that scooping effect so much. Should have soaked them bit more, but regardless this performed well.
No damage at all was noticeable after cutting. As the polish is so crude not even scratches are that noticeable.
Conclusion
This is a sword I would not look twice on a website. However now that I've gotten the chance to see this, I must say it's performance surprised me.
Sure there are many things on this sword that I would consider being wrong. But at the same time I must try to remember that this is a budget sword. However my biggest issue might be the loose tsukamaki. As I feel that tight maki is very important for a sword that you use.
With some minor tweaking I think this might be a sword even I could pick up just to cut things. I cannot say I really liked the sword but it did well for the cutting.