St-Nihonto Folded Katana
Apr 11, 2014 18:17:00 GMT
Post by Jussi Ekholm on Apr 11, 2014 18:17:00 GMT
Introduction
Well this is something I bet nobody would think I'd review. As I've been telling lately that St-Nihonto uses in my opinion shady business tactics as do in my mind many Chinese sellers, and I wouldn't personally buy products from them. Well I didn't, I bought this from a fellow forumite.
Historical Overview
It's a katana.
Full Disclosure
I bought this sword from a fellow forumite. Even though I've voiced out my disrespect for methods used by St-Nihonto, I'll try to put my personal thoughts about the company aside, and I'll just focus on this sword.
Initial Impressions
Well what can I say, as this is a sword I wouldn't normally buy, I didn't have much expectations. Some parts of the sword surprised me positively but most of the sword was pretty much what I expected.
Statistics
Nagasa: 71,4 cm
Nakago: 27 cm
Sori: 1,6 cm
Motohaba: 3,15 cm
Sakihaba: 2,4 cm
Moto-gasane: 8 mm
Moto-shinogi-gasane: 7,4 mm
Saki-gasane: 4,7 mm
Saki-shinogi-gasane: 4,7 mm
Kissaki: 4,8 cm
Bare blade weight: 736 g
Weight in koshirae: 991 g
Steel: -
Tsuka: 27,3 cm - weight 102 g
Tsuba: 7,9 x 7,5 cm, thickness 7 mm (rim) - weight 116 g
Fuchi: 40 x 24 x 13,5 mm
Kashira: 33 x 20 x -(under the ito) mm
Blade
Here you can see the sugata. Personally I don't like it very much as nakago is straight. And it gives bit awkward look.
Here you can see the nakago and machi. I was actually impressed to see even machi. But unfortunately there are these weird dents on both sides... I don't know why these are present in many production swords, they must be somehow part of the manufacturing process, but they shouldn't be there...
You can see the very strong enhancing.
Kissaki is wonky and hi ending is the typical cheap style.
Here is the geometry shot that many like to see.
Koshirae
Purple tsukamaki over black rayskin, it's bold combination. Unfortunately ito is probably rayon or some other artificial material. On bonus side tsukamaki is pretty tight and actually lot better than I thought it would be. It starts at the wrong side though, and overlaps the kashira. Both are annoying small details.
Tsuka shape is actually quite good and it feels good in my hands. Unfortunately it is cracked.
Fuchi and kashira are plain alloy ones, I had to fix the fuchi rattle.
Can you guess the reason for these pics? Yep menuki are cheap knockoff copies of menuki that Hanwei uses in Practical Plus series. Hanwei has actually a real pair, in this sword both menuki are same.
This tsuba is probably from ArtsFeng lineup, it's somewhat decent. Liking of the design is always a personal thing. However the raised seppa-dai is puzzling me. You can see that it raises the seppa several mm's of the surface.
Saya is decent quality regular kuroro, sageo is that shoelace variant.
Conclusion
Well this wouldn't be something I would buy as new, and after my inspection, I would not be very happy if I would have bought something of this quality. I don't think this is very bad sword but you just can get so much better swords even for a budget. Of course I'm happy about this for the price I got this as used.
I still fully understand that a sword like this will make someone happy. Like I said it's not crap, but then again in my eyes this isn't very good sword.
Well this is something I bet nobody would think I'd review. As I've been telling lately that St-Nihonto uses in my opinion shady business tactics as do in my mind many Chinese sellers, and I wouldn't personally buy products from them. Well I didn't, I bought this from a fellow forumite.
Historical Overview
It's a katana.
Full Disclosure
I bought this sword from a fellow forumite. Even though I've voiced out my disrespect for methods used by St-Nihonto, I'll try to put my personal thoughts about the company aside, and I'll just focus on this sword.
Initial Impressions
Well what can I say, as this is a sword I wouldn't normally buy, I didn't have much expectations. Some parts of the sword surprised me positively but most of the sword was pretty much what I expected.
Statistics
Nagasa: 71,4 cm
Nakago: 27 cm
Sori: 1,6 cm
Motohaba: 3,15 cm
Sakihaba: 2,4 cm
Moto-gasane: 8 mm
Moto-shinogi-gasane: 7,4 mm
Saki-gasane: 4,7 mm
Saki-shinogi-gasane: 4,7 mm
Kissaki: 4,8 cm
Bare blade weight: 736 g
Weight in koshirae: 991 g
Steel: -
Tsuka: 27,3 cm - weight 102 g
Tsuba: 7,9 x 7,5 cm, thickness 7 mm (rim) - weight 116 g
Fuchi: 40 x 24 x 13,5 mm
Kashira: 33 x 20 x -(under the ito) mm
Blade
Here you can see the sugata. Personally I don't like it very much as nakago is straight. And it gives bit awkward look.
Here you can see the nakago and machi. I was actually impressed to see even machi. But unfortunately there are these weird dents on both sides... I don't know why these are present in many production swords, they must be somehow part of the manufacturing process, but they shouldn't be there...
You can see the very strong enhancing.
Kissaki is wonky and hi ending is the typical cheap style.
Here is the geometry shot that many like to see.
Koshirae
Purple tsukamaki over black rayskin, it's bold combination. Unfortunately ito is probably rayon or some other artificial material. On bonus side tsukamaki is pretty tight and actually lot better than I thought it would be. It starts at the wrong side though, and overlaps the kashira. Both are annoying small details.
Tsuka shape is actually quite good and it feels good in my hands. Unfortunately it is cracked.
Fuchi and kashira are plain alloy ones, I had to fix the fuchi rattle.
Can you guess the reason for these pics? Yep menuki are cheap knockoff copies of menuki that Hanwei uses in Practical Plus series. Hanwei has actually a real pair, in this sword both menuki are same.
This tsuba is probably from ArtsFeng lineup, it's somewhat decent. Liking of the design is always a personal thing. However the raised seppa-dai is puzzling me. You can see that it raises the seppa several mm's of the surface.
Saya is decent quality regular kuroro, sageo is that shoelace variant.
Conclusion
Well this wouldn't be something I would buy as new, and after my inspection, I would not be very happy if I would have bought something of this quality. I don't think this is very bad sword but you just can get so much better swords even for a budget. Of course I'm happy about this for the price I got this as used.
I still fully understand that a sword like this will make someone happy. Like I said it's not crap, but then again in my eyes this isn't very good sword.