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Post by Lancelot Chan on May 4, 2014 11:11:58 GMT
Zheng Qi Ren started in late 2000. He was originally a medical student in university but turned to become a swordsmith somehow, after learning how dark the Chinese university and medical fields are. He learned from some swordmakers in Lung Chuan, and also learned from my sword-making students, Mars Lo. Thus that's why I came to know him as a friend. He even sent me swords to test for him so that he can further improve his stuff. I tested 3 of his swords so far. He is known to the mainlanders as the 17th. You can find the videos I tested his swords with in the following links: You can see how I put his swords through some heavy usage/abuse.
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Post by Damacus on May 4, 2014 11:21:49 GMT
Hello Lancelot, Thank you for your kind assistance with the information. Just to recap our conversation by email... Begin quote Hello. Yes, I know him as a friend. In fact, I still have a wakizashi with hamon made by him here on consignment for sale. hahah. Let me know if you're interested. www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 133&type=1 555.8 USD before shipping. He uses a various type of steels, so I dunno which type of steel he used on the sword in the pic. Zheng Qi Ren started in late 2000. He was originally a medical student in university but turned to become a swordsmith somehow, after learning how dark the Chinese university and medical fields are. He learned from some swordmakers in Lung Chuan, and also learned from my sword-making students, Mars Lo. Thus that's why I came to know him as a friend. He even sent me swords to test for him so that he can further improve his stuff. I tested 3 of his swords so far. He is known to the mainlanders as the 17th. You can find the videos I tested his swords with in the following links: You can see how I put his swords through some heavy usage/abuse. His own test can be found here, to compare with other lung chuan T10 katana blades: end quote
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Post by uchiha998 on May 4, 2014 12:50:16 GMT
Well his sword can take some major abuse that is for sure. But as for the other 2 swords in the video that broke, I suppose we don't know how well they were made. The heat treat on them could have been sub-par for all we know. Then again the heat treatment on them could have been excellent as well. Still as I said his blade was obviously able to take an amazing amount of punishment.
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Post by madawcisrich on May 4, 2014 13:23:21 GMT
Totally.
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Post by Lancelot Chan on May 4, 2014 14:49:08 GMT
Those are katana commonly made in Lung Chuan. The reason Zheng has since then stayed offline for most of the time, was because he often got attacked by his colleagues in Lung Chuan about how his swords had made theirs looked bad. There were plenty dirty moves they've employed against him. Since I don't want to get involved either, I can't tell you exactly where did those T10 katana come from. I can only say that, it's what most people in the mainland got from Lung Chuan.
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Post by Damacus on May 4, 2014 15:57:14 GMT
Yep his T-10 sword take some very hard abuse. He wasn't exacty testing it with tatami mats and 2x4s. Banged it on hard steel at least 50 times with no breakage. I'd say the whole inquiry into this swordsmith turned out to reveal quite a lot of information. Quite a lot of drama over there in the Chinese sword community....I wouldn't want to piss off a swordsmith.
Thanks to Lancelot for his help and information.
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Post by Damacus on May 4, 2014 18:17:30 GMT
Reviewing the sword testing video revealed the weaker swords each broke in less than 10 hits. The stronger sword withstood 56 power hits on steel post and including several hits on anvil. Plus a bend test after about 45 hits shows sword not cracked and returned to true. A very significant demonstration that the sword is strong in its own right.
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Post by Damacus on May 4, 2014 23:04:47 GMT
Zheng Qi Ren is known by sword vendors, sword smiths and sword testers as a young, rising-star in the Chinese sword making world. Qi Ren began his science education as a Chinese medical student but eventually turned to the sword smith profession upon developing a passion for crafting steel. Qi Ren started his smithy training in the late 2000’s working directly with seasoned sword smiths belonging to several different forges in Longquan, China. Qi Ren demonstrated a high aptitude and talent for working hot steel and quickly advanced in his craft. Today Qi Ren is closely associated with sword vendors, sword testers and independent sword smiths located in Hong Kong and Longquan, China. While Qi Ren has found it is best to maintain a low profile and anonymity in the very competitive and sometimes ruthless Chinese sword smithing community, the quality of his work has made it hard to avoid both celebrity and envy. One such example of his superior craftsmanship was demonstrated when his sword surpassed strength and durability testing when compared to equivalent swords purchased from other Chinese forges. A video of this testing showed that his custom Chinese differentially hardened T10 katana withstood 56 power strikes against both steel post and anvil, while the equivalent competition swords broke in under 10 blows. Qi Ren currently is able to work according to a number of Chinese and Japanese sword making traditions and is known for his attention to steel treatment, understanding of basic metallurgy and the ability to provide refined, quality aesthetics to his blades. One such example is his beautifully-rendered, traditional, clay and water-quench hamon found on differentially-hardened high-carbon Chinese katana blades. Qi Ren’s swords typically fall within the $400 to $2,000 price point. Common steels you will find in Qi Ren swords include ChineseT8/T10 carbide high-speed tool steel, Chinese 1060/75/95 high carbon steel, stainless steel, various spring steels including 9260 and occasionally more exotic steels such as Tamahagane. Keep your eyes open for Qi Ren’s higher quality blade offerings; they are sure to become collector’s items on the Chinese sword market. Damacus – Sword Reviewer, May 2014 Attachments:
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Post by Bluntsword on May 4, 2014 23:59:28 GMT
OK after skimming through the posts this is what I have learn't:
- sword smith was a guy who then changed into a girl, in which a member here wanted to go to China and pick her up, then she changed back into a guy.
- swords made by this sword smith seems pretty tough from the amount of abuse it can receive from testing.
Did I miss anything else important? :lol:
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Post by Damacus on May 5, 2014 0:08:24 GMT
That's it. There was very little info about this lesser known swordsmith, but people were asking questions about him. After seeing some of his offerings I jumped at the opportunity to do a little investigative journalism. I spoke to several of his associates in China and was able to learn a thing or two.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on May 5, 2014 0:20:04 GMT
Thanks for the run down on an apparently pretty good smith. We often hear about "master smiths" and the like in China, but never really get any names or information about them.
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Post by Damacus on May 5, 2014 0:30:05 GMT
No problem. These guys make only a few hundred dollars a month and they do a pretty hard job. So I thought I'd give this guy some props for gaining some success and notoriety.
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Post by Robert in California on May 16, 2014 18:55:18 GMT
Master LC, Thanks for the videos, etc. ZQR works out of Longquan? Should I have chance to visit there, it would be honor to meet ZQR. Huawei has a $400usa sword of his. How would you think the performance of that $400usa blade compare to his $1,800usa blade? The $400 blade (on Huawei site) is mono steel. And the $1,800 is folded? But the heat treatment is key. Seems ZQR has mastered that. So blade performance about the same? Thanks! RinC
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Post by Lancelot Chan on May 17, 2014 6:56:53 GMT
If you have chance to visit Lung Chuan, pay him a visit and send him my greetings. hahaha
You may have to establish contact first though. I don't know if he's taking some vacation or not. He's not getting online anymore starting 2014. He mentioned that he's going to get some days off and let his students to do the bulk work.
His heat treat is good as you can see in the video. I won't say he "mastered" it yet, though. Metallurgy knowledge is very lacking among Lung Chuan smiths and they mostly learned by trials and errors, often missing something very fundamental and important. Most of them cared for good look more than performance since the swords were to be gifts anyway, instead of to be used.
The damage on the blade I tested for Zhen when striking other steel swords, were relatively larger than those from Howard Clark's, Randal Graham's, John Lundemo's and Tinker's when done the same way. That's what I asked him to improve. He used to strive for unbreakability but sacrificed other attributes. However, it seems in 2013 he started to understand there must be a balance between all attributes.
Haven't tested his latest work, so dunno. But I did sell one of his latest sword and that one seems alright!
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Post by Robert in California on May 20, 2014 14:34:59 GMT
Master LC, Thank you for the videos. Most interesting! RinC
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