addertooth
Member
Working the tsuka on two bare blades from Ninja-Katana, slow progress
Posts: 458
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Post by addertooth on Oct 29, 2015 0:26:49 GMT
Shhhhh Messenger.... someone will hear you say Niku
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Post by nihontocaster on Oct 29, 2015 0:34:19 GMT
So...Do RyanSwords blades have enough Niku? And how is their lamination?
SCNR, my Muramasa made me do it.
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addertooth
Member
Working the tsuka on two bare blades from Ninja-Katana, slow progress
Posts: 458
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Post by addertooth on Oct 29, 2015 0:52:30 GMT
RyanSwords have the typical amount of Longquan Niku. Some vendors have a bit more, some a bit less. Overall all of the Longquan sellers tend to have niku on the light side. I have yet to receive any heavy niku blades from any of the Ebay sellers. But, I am quite okay with that; heavy niku blades do not appeal to me. As for almost all (with a few exceptions) Ebay sellers, you must prove what you received is not laminated before a blade gets sent which is laminated. It all boils down to the sellers polishing the last quarter inch of the edge to hide the Damascus pattern. They hope you can't tell the difference, as a Damascus blade is cheaper to make than a laminated blade. On the plus side, all of the sellers who I have provided micro-photographs of the blade (showing Damascus all the way to the edge), have provided replacement laminated blades. One of them (Ryan) sent an entirely new sword, and to my surprise did not ask for the old one back. Another seller (ninja-katana) sent replacement blades, then made me a sweetheart deal to keep the original Damascus Maru blades at an excellent price (avoiding the hassle of sending the blades back to China). To their great credit, Swordsmith668/hanbon sent a gyaku kobuse blade in the initial shipment, no photographs or fuss required.
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Oct 29, 2015 0:53:02 GMT
From the look of thing, people were arguing over whether or not Niku adversely effects cutting performance, as opposed to a slimmer blade.
And it does, though not very much - blades with Niku might have a wider angle of cutting, but they also have more mass, as opposed to a blade without Niku, which has a shallower angle of cutting area, but have less mass behind them. (Note: this doesn't apply to ALL scenarios, but it is generally so.)
That being said, I'd (personally) prefer a blade WITH Niku, simply because metal can always be removed if you prefer, but not put back on as easily.
(And the majority of Chinese forges have a substantial lack of Niku in their blades - as I stated in Kiyoshi's review of the Daisho he purchased from ST-Nihonto, chinese blades are often machine made and shaped initially, and then profiled using either belt sanders or sandpaper affixed onto flat surfaces. These flat-shaped abrasive surfaces leave no room for conformity for the blades, and thus sand the shinogi-ji very flat and even, resulting in blades with little to no Niku. Not necessarily a bad thing, just not what some people prefer.)
P.S. I think I might have mentioned Niku a few times, sorry. XD
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Post by greatsaiyaman888 on Oct 29, 2015 1:16:40 GMT
^ This is why I'll refrain from posting anymore in threads in the future. All the best and good luck with your sword endeavors.
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Post by nihontocaster on Oct 29, 2015 1:57:10 GMT
RyanSwords have the typical amount of Longquan Niku. Some vendors have a bit more, some a bit less. Overall all of the Longquan sellers tend to have niku on the light side. I have yet to receive any heavy niku blades from any of the Ebay sellers. But, I am quite okay with that; heavy niku blades do not appeal to me. As for almost all (with a few exceptions) Ebay sellers, you must prove what you received is not laminated before a blade gets sent which is laminated. It all boils down to the sellers polishing the last quarter inch of the edge to hide the Damascus pattern. They hope you can't tell the difference, as a Damascus blade is cheaper to make than a laminated blade. On the plus side, all of the sellers who I have provided micro-photographs of the blade (showing Damascus all the way to the edge), have provided replacement laminated blades. One of them (Ryan) sent an entirely new sword, and to my surprise did not ask for the old one back. Another seller (ninja-katana) sent replacement blades, then made me a sweetheart deal to keep the original Damascus Maru blades at an excellent price (avoiding the hassle of sending the blades back to China). To their great credit, Swordsmith668/hanbon sent a gyaku kobuse blade in the initial shipment, no photographs or fuss required. Oh thanks a lot for the explanation, damn now I feel sorry triggering all that work - I was just joking, since those both topics were the most heated discussions in this thread True though about the Niku. Never really seen a heavy Niku blade from Longquan so far, usually even the ones people ordered with lots of Niku turned out not having them...Meh. Ahwell, I stay away from the eBay forges anyhow, outside of Huawei and maaaaybe a lower priced Even-Swords if MessengerofDarkness experience turns out good or at least okay. RyanSwords somehow were never my thing just from the looks already (can't even explain why...Sometimes I see a Katana and it just does nothing to me).
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Post by Kiyoshi on Oct 29, 2015 2:07:28 GMT
Probably a good idea. I'm getting pretty turned off from them myself. If I order another custom, I'll probably try to get a nice custom from a good smith, but I should probably wait until I can afford a new car. XD Aside from that, my next goal is a bugei which are hit and miss on niku too. But I really want to try one out.
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Oct 29, 2015 15:26:49 GMT
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Post by DigsFossils-n-Knives on Oct 29, 2015 15:34:33 GMT
I see 19 bids on that item. There are a few people that didn't see the shipping cost (or they know it's a mistake which will be corrected later).
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Oct 29, 2015 15:37:22 GMT
I see 19 bids on that item. There are a few people that didn't see the shipping cost (or they know it's a mistake which will be corrected later). I think I'm going to be sick - I wouldn't pat $20 for those, much less $1500. (Though I'll admit that I cracked up pretty bad when I saw that XD)
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Post by supertrooper on Oct 29, 2015 16:36:49 GMT
If you scroll down in the listing it says free shipping.
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Post by DigsFossils-n-Knives on Oct 29, 2015 16:51:59 GMT
If you scroll down in the listing it says free shipping. Yes it does, but that might be a copy & paste error from an older listing. If you look in the shipping and handling details is says $1515. This value has to be entered when creating a new listing. Either way I think its a mistake.
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addertooth
Member
Working the tsuka on two bare blades from Ninja-Katana, slow progress
Posts: 458
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Post by addertooth on Oct 30, 2015 2:31:21 GMT
Sounds like an "ask the seller a question" moment. "how much is the shipping".
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Oct 30, 2015 2:31:40 GMT
For $1500, it better have D*MN good shipping!
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Post by Kiyoshi on Oct 30, 2015 2:42:47 GMT
Introducing next minute shipping. Just pay $1,500 for the nuclear battery and we'll teleport your product to you in a matter of seconds!
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Oct 30, 2015 2:46:33 GMT
Comes complete with instantaneous service, guaranteed to leave the competition in the dust! ;)
(WARNING: Products teleported by this service may or may not cause cancer, and should not be ingested, handled regularly, or make direct skin contact.)
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Post by nihontocaster on Oct 30, 2015 2:53:02 GMT
Shipping to Germany is free, but I still dont want it ;-(
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Post by Aurelius Talhoffer on Oct 30, 2015 10:19:53 GMT
Returing to my earlier question (which katana/forge seems to be worth the purchase), what say you of this model:
warriorsword
I really like the patterns on this one. Any thoughts on the seller - Warrior sword?
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Oct 30, 2015 12:53:54 GMT
Returing to my earlier question (which katana/forge seems to be worth the purchase), what say you of this model:
warriorsword
I really like the patterns on this one. Any thoughts on the seller - Warrior sword? Looks like a pretty typical Longquan construction - the saya looks decent, and the blade is definitely folded steel. The hamon is also real, but tother than that, it seems pretty typical overall.
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addertooth
Member
Working the tsuka on two bare blades from Ninja-Katana, slow progress
Posts: 458
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Post by addertooth on Oct 30, 2015 12:55:40 GMT
This is my take on the sword Aureliustalhoffer: Tip is cosmetic versus geometric. (The tip is ground 90 degrees to the angle of the blade without a shift in plane angle, the grind makes it "look" like there is a shift in plane (as if it has a chisel tip) but it doesn't) The "real silk" ito and sageo are actually rayon. Other than those items, the sword has a nice set of options for "free", which other sellers normally charge you for (horn on the saya, higher end tsuba, menuki, fuchi, kashira..). The add reads as the exact same language of another ebay seller, I just can't remember which. I always find it humorous when the sword is pictured with fittings which are not available "for choosing". Ask the seller if a smooth habaki is available, the giraffe/pebble habaki is kind of played out.
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