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Post by randomnobody on Aug 21, 2015 19:15:30 GMT
That's definitely catering to the anime not-samurai. Noto with a sakabto would be a nightmare... I think this just drives the point home that they sell what the market wants, and that is nice looking swords for cheap, regardless of how traditional or functional they are. Sites like TrueSwords is evidence of this as well. Edit: I like the broken Photobucket embedded images too. I remember in the Rurouni Kenshin anime, he would flip the sword and saya over so both were inverted and perform a consequently exaggerated noto, running the "edge" side along the koiguchi. Looked awkward, I doubt I could find a clip or I'd look. Huge market for "sakabatou," though; can't really fault anybody who makes 'em.
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Post by Kiyoshi on Aug 21, 2015 19:22:24 GMT
Yeah, I remember seeing it but it would be quite awkward. The feel would be all wrong. I'd much rather use a spring tempered blunt at that point. I know a lot of the custom ebaytana makers have sold a few in the past and sinosword makes them. They just are things you normally have to ask for. A couple of places like trueswords, SnA, used to sell those crappy low level production versions.
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Post by randomnobody on Aug 21, 2015 19:27:32 GMT
Those crappy ones used to be all you could get, then the internet blew up with demands for "functional" swords and people started asking for more and more. Finally the eBay dealers started offering them as stock pieces and they did well. Obviously, the buyers were more interested in the association with the series than any actual JSA training, but once folk caught on that there was a difference between a "functional sword" and a "decorative wallhanger," they all started insisting they needed their sword "functional" or else..."just in case" as it goes. I think he may actually have done noto sideways, more than upside down... Either way, I'm reminded of how everybody in JSA cries about noto whenever a moroha-zukuri katana comes up. Remember kids, back in those days, noto wasn't really a thing...and kind of didn't matter. Much the same as it would be irrelevant with a "reverse-blade sword" as in this case. Anyway, Ryan Swords...eh, meh.
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Post by Jussi Ekholm on Aug 21, 2015 19:27:46 GMT
I wouldn't be surprised if that blade was just their regular folded sword, that they are trying to hype up. I can't really see any activities in the hamon. Maybe my eyes are bit bad but all I can see is a white line, I can't even see the hamon which is a bad sign. All I can see is the folding pattern. As I was telling from whom an other eBay seller was stealing pics from I can say the same for Ryansword. They stole pictures from Moses Becerra.
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Aug 21, 2015 19:30:51 GMT
Yeah, the whole "sakabato" thing was more for humor that they were actually trying to make them - don't get me wrong, as a kid, I was a huge fan of Rurouni Kenshin, but the sakabato's not at all practical. XD Referencing this: sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/45125/faked-sanmai-katana-ryansword-he Ryan Swords seems to be "meh", as Randomnobody stated ever-so eloquently (:D), but what about other ebayers, like Huawei or ST-Nihonto? Would you all say that thay're at least a little more reliable and trustworthy than Ryan Swords is?
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Mikeeman
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Post by Mikeeman on Aug 21, 2015 19:32:24 GMT
Personally? I would not. But each person on here has their own story about whether they liked what they got, or not.
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Post by Kiyoshi on Aug 21, 2015 19:32:55 GMT
I recognized that picture right off as well. It is pretty common practice for the only images to be really theirs is the sword pictures and the custom your katana fitting pictures.
Yeah noto wasn't a prime concern, on battlefields anyway. It wasn't too uncommon for them to just toss the saya to the side because screw it, might not even live to go find it. I recall having seen kenshin do it a couple ways. I went back and tried to watch the series a few months ago and couldn't. Vagabond has ruined all samurai anime / manga for me. They just don't live up to that kind of character development and implementation of real zen teachings.
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Post by Kiyoshi on Aug 21, 2015 19:35:23 GMT
Yeah, the whole "sakabato" thing was more for humor that they were actually trying to make them - don't get me wrong, as a kid, I was a huge fan of Rurouni Kenshin, but the sakabato's not at all practical. XD Referencing this: sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/45125/faked-sanmai-katana-ryansword-he Ryan Swords seems to be "meh", as Randomnobody stated ever-so eloquently ( ), but what about other ebayers, like Huawei or ST-Nihonto? Would you all say that thay're at least a little more reliable and trustworthy than Ryan Swords is? Not when it comes to lamination. St-nihonto will customize to your specifications but I recommend only picking maru because they fake lamination 99.9% of the time. I'm going to be doing a very in depth review of a daisho when I get them. I was really, really specific in my order so they have no choice but to either blatantly fake it or make a nice sword. We'll know in about another month when it gets here (hopefully).
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Aug 21, 2015 19:39:14 GMT
Yeah, the whole "sakabato" thing was more for humor that they were actually trying to make them - don't get me wrong, as a kid, I was a huge fan of Rurouni Kenshin, but the sakabato's not at all practical. XD Referencing this: sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/45125/faked-sanmai-katana-ryansword-he Ryan Swords seems to be "meh", as Randomnobody stated ever-so eloquently (:D), but what about other ebayers, like Huawei or ST-Nihonto? Would you all say that thay're at least a little more reliable and trustworthy than Ryan Swords is? Not when it comes to lamination. St-nihonto will customize to your specifications but I recommend only picking maru because they fake lamination 99.9% of the time. I'm going to be doing a very in depth review of a daisho when I get them. I was really, really specific in my order so they have no choice but to either blatantly fake it or make a nice sword. We'll know in about another month when it gets here (hopefully). Same with me - the whole saamai and hosanmai thing is really offputting, so I went the maru route with mine. Last I heard, my blade was still being forged from scratch, as I requested koshi zori and a different hamon pattern. Give them no wiggle room or no areas to misinterperate and they'll have a better chance to come out well, I think - but as a whole, would you say that Huawei and ST-Nihonto are better? And I'd very much like to read your review once you get your daisho! :D Here's hoping they come out well.
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Mikeeman
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Post by Mikeeman on Aug 21, 2015 19:41:01 GMT
Huawei? Yes. St-Nihonto? No
Huawei is great. They make good stuff, no doubt. But they are also very expensive, comparitively. And they are also still an eBay vendor. So while they might be the best of eBay, I don't think they are the best in their price range.
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Post by Kiyoshi on Aug 21, 2015 19:49:00 GMT
Same with me - the whole saamai and hosanmai thing is really offputting, so I went the maru route with mine. Last I heard, my blade was still being forged from scratch, as I requested koshi zori and a different hamon pattern. Give them no wiggle room or no areas to misinterperate and they'll have a better chance to come out well, I think - but as a whole, would you say that Huawei and ST-Nihonto are better? And I'd very much like to read your review once you get your daisho! Here's hoping they come out well. I think Huawei might be better than st-nihonto but I've not really liked Huawei's options as much as other users on this forum. I'm also not a fan of their polish. St-nihonto has the occasional issue (tsukamaki could be better) but the bull horn is real bull horn, the saya is well done, the blade geometry is crisp. They do a good job for the price. I like their stuff better than $450 production katana (except for fittings, fittings are mostly booty generic longquan fittings) from places like SnA and Hanwei.
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addertooth
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Working the tsuka on two bare blades from Ninja-Katana, slow progress
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Post by addertooth on Aug 21, 2015 20:03:02 GMT
Yeah, the whole "sakabato" thing was more for humor that they were actually trying to make them - don't get me wrong, as a kid, I was a huge fan of Rurouni Kenshin, but the sakabato's not at all practical. XD Referencing this: sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/45125/faked-sanmai-katana-ryansword-he Ryan Swords seems to be "meh", as Randomnobody stated ever-so eloquently ( ), but what about other ebayers, like Huawei or ST-Nihonto? Would you all say that thay're at least a little more reliable and trustworthy than Ryan Swords is? ******************************************************** I will tell you when I buy one of those brands. I will say ST-Nihonto is willing to step out of his comfort zone and do "odd stuff" if you want it (based upon communications with him). In all fairness, the bar is amazingly low among many other Ebay sellers. Thus far, ordered from: Kaze99 Swordsmith668 (hanbon) Lyueswords RyanSwords Ninja-Katana and a Hanwei Raptor is on hand to round out the group.
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Post by zabazagobo on Aug 21, 2015 21:34:24 GMT
I recognized that picture right off as well. It is pretty common practice for the only images to be really theirs is the sword pictures and the custom your katana fitting pictures. Yeah noto wasn't a prime concern, on battlefields anyway. It wasn't too uncommon for them to just toss the saya to the side because screw it, might not even live to go find it. I recall having seen kenshin do it a couple ways. I went back and tried to watch the series a few months ago and couldn't. Vagabond has ruined all samurai anime / manga for me. They just don't live up to that kind of character development and implementation of real zen teachings. That anime is best left a memory....although the movies that recently came out are really entertaining. The fighting choreography in the third one is awesome. The movies have very....theatrical fighting, but it is fun to see some of those techniques done by actual humans, especially how Takeru Satoh brings Kenshin's battojutsu to life. Definitely worth a watch in my opinion.
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Post by Kiyoshi on Aug 21, 2015 21:48:11 GMT
That anime is best left a memory....although the movies that recently came out are really entertaining. The fighting choreography in the third one is awesome. The movies have very....theatrical fighting, but it is fun to see some of those techniques done by actual humans, especially how Takeru Satoh brings Kenshin's battojutsu to life. Definitely worth a watch in my opinion. I didn't like the movies at all though... The first was okay but the second and third left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't like the changes they made to the movie very much.
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Post by Croccifixio on Aug 21, 2015 23:34:50 GMT
Huawei? Yes. St-Nihonto? No Huawei is great. They make good stuff, no doubt. But they are also very expensive, comparitively. And they are also still an eBay vendor. So while they might be the best of eBay, I don't think they are the best in their price range. What sword in that price range would you recommend then? That's a very interesting perspective.
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Mikeeman
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Post by Mikeeman on Aug 22, 2015 0:35:57 GMT
At that price, I would start comparing them to some mid range Hanwei's. Or Munetoshi. Or any other brand around there.
Or low end Hanwei's that you could have customized for about the same price.
There's a big write up I did a few pages back.
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Post by Kiyoshi on Aug 22, 2015 1:02:44 GMT
I guess it is a personal tastes thing then as I wouldn't use any of those brands to practice with. I've wanted to try a bugei but that is a lot of money for try. Munetoshi and most hanwei just aren't my thing.
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Aug 23, 2015 3:11:19 GMT
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Post by Kiyoshi on Aug 23, 2015 5:29:29 GMT
Tamahagane blade looks alright. Seems real enough to me. Nakago looks like poo though. Seems like he did his usual make a huge one and cut it later technique. The other swords are kinda meh at best. I like the looks of L6 but I'm not a fan of it when it comes to functionality. I've never used Sheng's L6 though. The Tommy Lee looks like an alright polish with cheapo fittings. I'm not a big fan of shobu either. I don't think I'd really end up buying any of these. Of course, I have rather plain tastes so things like fancy hamon actually put me off.
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Aug 23, 2015 7:10:43 GMT
Tamahagane blade looks alright. Seems real enough to me. Nakago looks like poo though. Seems like he did his usual make a huge one and cut it later technique. The other swords are kinda meh at best. I like the looks of L6 but I'm not a fan of it when it comes to functionality. I've never used Sheng's L6 though. The Tommy Lee looks like an alright polish with cheapo fittings. I'm not a big fan of shobu either. I don't think I'd really end up buying any of these. Of course, I have rather plain tastes so things like fancy hamon actually put me off. I've always been more of a fan of active hamon, although I do certainly like less active hamon as well, like suguha - but that's just my personal preference. :) The main reason I linked the Tommy Lee one was because, for it's price of $229 or less, a T-10 katana with a real, lively hamon seemed like a decent enough deal, even if the fittings could be better - I've seen worse sub $300 katana before. And I'll be recieving an L6 katana from Sheng in the future, so I'm planing on seeing how well his performs - I expect it to be somewhere in the T-10 or 1095 HCS range, even if it's not up to par with something like a Howard Clark. With fittings yes, I usually prefer the more simple, but I personally like a more interesting and unique blade.:D
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