Cold Steel Warrior and Dynasty Forge Musha, side by side
May 19, 2014 22:17:42 GMT
Post by skane on May 19, 2014 22:17:42 GMT
Here’s a mini review of a Cold Steel Warrior second, with side by side pics with a Dynasty Forge Musha… Hope this helps anyone considering these through-hardened Japanese style cutters that have a good reputation for toughness.
I have a couple Dynasty Forge Musha’s (DFM) that I like, and I’ve read that the Musha and CS Warrior (CSW) are the same, or at least very similar. Cold Steel had a parking lot sale in Ventura this past weekend, so I took a drive over to Ventura to see if I could get a CSW at a bargain. I looked through about a dozen CSW seconds (returns or QC issues), and picked one for $170 out the door.
The CSW second I picked had a few small rust spots and scratched saya.
CSW notes...
I have a couple Dynasty Forge Musha’s (DFM) that I like, and I’ve read that the Musha and CS Warrior (CSW) are the same, or at least very similar. Cold Steel had a parking lot sale in Ventura this past weekend, so I took a drive over to Ventura to see if I could get a CSW at a bargain. I looked through about a dozen CSW seconds (returns or QC issues), and picked one for $170 out the door.
The CSW second I picked had a few small rust spots and scratched saya.
CSW notes...
[*]Habaki, tsuba, fuchi, kashira fit is all tight. Habaki has gapping on one side and is offcenter a bit, but there’s no movement.[/*:m]
[*]Tsuka and blade alignment along length and mune-ha is good.[/*:m]
[*]The tsukamaki alternates and is done with hishigami. It's moderately tight.[/*:m]
[*]I pushed the wrap apart on the mune side along the entire tsuka length to do a cursory check for any through-core cracks or seam separations, it looked good. I popped out the mekugi but couldn’t get the tsuka off using normal force; so I reinstalled the mekugi and left it as-is for now.[/*:m]
[*]Saya is nicely fit with no rattle; identical to a Musha saya, but without shitodome on the kurikata.[/*:m][/list:u]
CSW summary comparison with my DF Musha:
[*]Overall, fittings, tightness, and build quality are about equal.[/*:m]
[*]Samegawa quality is equal. Both have small-medium nodes with continuous density[/*:m]
[*]CSW tsuba, fuchi, kashira, and kojiri are plain black finished ferrous/magnetic, like the DFM.[/*:m]
[*]DFM has noticeably smoother/finer blade finish.[/*:m]
[*]CSW blade is thicker than DFM at motokasane and sakikasane. Both have no-niku bevels from shinogi to ha. The cross ground section for the kissaki on the CSW is longer than on the DFM.[/*:m]
[*]Overall weight is around the same; the CSW has hi, my DFM doesn’t have hi. DF also offers a shinogi zukuri Musha with bohi.[/*:m]
[*]CSW POB is 6” from tsuba, vs. 7” on my DFM shinogi zukuri without hi. The CSW tsuba might be heavier. Balance and handling are pretty much the same, both are tip heavy.[/*:m]
[*]Tsukas look and feel identical; fairly thin with straight tapering from fuchi to kashira rims. Material used for the ito looks/feels the same. Menuki are identical.[/*:m][/list:u]
I cut a few bottles with the CSW; no surprises, it did fine. I might get to cut some tatami with it next month…
I cleaned off the rust spots and touched up the saya scratches. Did some minor adjustments on the wrap, and lacquered the tsuka.
Here are the pictures… the gold tint of the CSW samegawa is lacquer, it was clean and white prior to the lacquering.
Pictures are 1000 pixels wide and may be truncated depending on your screen size and forum style choice...