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Post by Kiyoshi on Sept 3, 2015 6:52:44 GMT
Hey guys, I've put an order with Sheng also but held off after seeing this thread and decided to wait on him to finish your swords first and see the outcome. From what I can see, and from spending a small fortune on eBay katanas from various sellers, he seems to pay extra attention to what all the other vendors are missing. Tsuka is shaped well, he has Japanese imported leather with good hishigami wrap and clean end knots, the iron/steel fittings look above average and unique, has nice bohi termination on some of his swords and will take customs readily even down to the shape of the tang. I'm eagerely awaiting these reviews so I can maybe put an order in. Been disappointed with so many other eBay vendors in the past. I've looked pretty deep into Sheng's stuff. He has the usual Arts Feng fittings. A lot of his "iron" fittings are black painted steel. His tsuka are shaped well but they aren't shaped to accommodate menuki, so gyaku-te can be helpful. His "silk" is synthetic, so same rough stuff you'll find on other synthetic silk ito. I am ordering his new cotton ito this time, I want to see what it feels like. His end knots are better than a lot of people's. The knot shows no same under the end and he doesn't use an extra piece of ito to hide it either. That makes them sorta better than some Japanese made iaito. However, they can come loose. I have a shinken of his and it came loose after a bit so I glued the kashira on. He does have hishigami. He does do traditional wrapping, full same, etc. He can make double habaki, custom fit to your sword, do polishing styles not shown on his options, make blades to your dimensions, do neat hamon, etc. What he does not do, however, is fancy tsukamaki like tsunamimaki and jabaramaki, make real laminated blades (99% of the time), make the nakago by traditional means (he makes a HUGE one then cuts it down to fit the tsuka, not fit the tsuka to the nakago), make custom saya (he will send your design to a custom saya maker though, but it can take some time as they have to paint and air dry it), and a few other things I can't think of off the top of my head. If you know what to order, you can get a really nice sword. The one I am getting now was insanely specific. I sent a page ort so of measurements and links to examples. I specified the file marks on the nakago, motohaba, sakisane, and so on. About the only thing I didn't ask for was nugui, burnishing, and polisher marks.
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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 Sept 3, 2015 12:44:15 GMT
I am not familiar with the seller's actual name, versus their Ebay name. What Ebay name does Sheng sell under?
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Post by Croccifixio on Sept 3, 2015 13:16:01 GMT
St nihonto even sword and one other
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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 Sept 3, 2015 13:32:05 GMT
Ah, yes, I have seen good things posted about them. They were the ones I had several emails with who showed a great willingness to do unusual customizations. My last purchase was a toss-up (a literal flip of a coin) between them and Swordsmith668/Hanbon. ST-Nihonto lost. As it turned out, I was not disappointed with the result. Swordsmith668/Hanbon produced the actual lamination they advertised (the second actual lamination blade to arrive of the nine laminations which were paid for, but seven were Maru Damascus). Nothing wins my heart like receiving the lamination which was actually paid for.
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Post by levi on Sept 3, 2015 13:34:54 GMT
got pics of the blade? im actually interested in buying one of their kobuse blades
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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 Sept 3, 2015 13:36:54 GMT
Do you want a normal picture, or UV laser enhanced which shows the lamination point more clearly? The one I got was Gyaku Kobuse (hard mono-steel edge which is wrapped in Damascus on the sides and back).
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Post by greatsaiyaman on Sept 3, 2015 14:02:43 GMT
Kiyoshi, do you think he would be able to make the nakago like this and make a tsuka to accomodate the shape?
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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 Sept 3, 2015 14:06:19 GMT
Here is a UV picture of the lamination line Levi. It is a high res picture so you can zoom in a lot for specific details.
Attachments:
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Sept 3, 2015 14:49:41 GMT
Sheng operates under four Ebay usernames: ST-Nihonto, Even-Sword, Shinken-Katana, and Tsunami-Dragon. From what I understand, he is usually regarded as a trustworthy seller, although I have no experience with buying a laminated blade from him - my custom L6 from his is just DH maru style.
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Post by levi on Sept 3, 2015 15:57:07 GMT
Here is a UV picture of the lamination line Levi. It is a high res picture so you can zoom in a lot for specific details.
Thanks heaps for that! looks like this is a eBay seller I can trust with my first lamination blade! I was weighing up between a Huawei but I decided I wanted a laminated blade just for the novelty and its added aesthetics . Much appreciated
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Post by Kiyoshi on Sept 3, 2015 16:50:48 GMT
Kiyoshi, do you think he would be able to make the nakago like this and make a tsuka to accomodate the shape? He can cut the nakago to that shape but I think you'd end up getting a usual tsuka. You can ask him to do a tsuka fit to the nakago, he'll probably do it with a little extra charge. I'm waiting to see the accuracy of my sword before I say if he can or can't replicate the shape well. I've seen that he can do hamon close to what you give him (hard to do an exact copy for anyone). I know he is accurate with kissaki shape, hi shape, and he can do custom habaki. The more measurements you can send, the better. 1cm or even 0.5cm can change the way a sword looks by a good amount.
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Post by greatsaiyaman on Sept 3, 2015 17:24:17 GMT
That sounds very good. What measurements have you asked for on the blade and how do you hope for it to look?
I've seen the custom 2 piece habaki and I'm not entirely sure what this is. I asked him about it and was told it's just a custom habaki. Does this mean that it is made specifically for that blade for perfect fit because looking at the pictures it just looks like 2 production piece habaki's welded together. 70usd is quite a high asking price coming from longquan fittings.
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Post by Kiyoshi on Sept 3, 2015 17:56:24 GMT
Katana Shinogi Zukuri Material: Folded T-10 Hazuya polish (asked for a traditional kissaki polish after I saw the boshi) Nagasa: 74cm Motohaba: 3.2cm Sakihaba: 2.0cm Sakisane: 0.5cm Good Niku Kissaki: Chu Kissaki Boshi: KaeriHada: MasameHamon: Asaki NotareYasurime: SujikaiTsuka: 27cm Ito: Black Cotton Traditional With Hishigami Same: Black Full Wrap Seam on Ura Side Haichi Shape Menuki: None Mekugi: Single, Painted Black Seppa: Silver Habaki: Silver with file marks like this one. Saya: SY 58# with black horn
I've sent a couple of other things to him and he's been accommodating so far. My first question was the cost of a replica of a daisho nihonto set, he said it depends on what I wanted. I sent him these measurements and some links that I don't remember and he said $850 which is $150 - $200 more than he sells them for on his other accounts but they aren't this specific most of the time.
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Post by greatsaiyaman on Sept 3, 2015 18:33:40 GMT
Very nice I have similar specifications in mind to and it looks like you have covered most of the details. I cant wait to see it!
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Post by Kiyoshi on Sept 3, 2015 18:37:10 GMT
My goal was to be as specific as humanly possible. I wanted to see how accurate he can make his swords. If I get a usual piece of his work, they are normally pretty alright, and if I get everything I ordered, I'll have a really nice sword. So I figure I'll get a decent result for the price. I'll be posting an in depth video review once I get the sword.
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Greg E
Member
little bit of this... and a whole lot of that
Posts: 1,336
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Post by Greg E on Sept 3, 2015 19:41:36 GMT
Here is a UV picture of the lamination line Levi. It is a high res picture so you can zoom in a lot for specific details.
Is it like this on both sides of the blade?
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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 Sept 4, 2015 0:34:34 GMT
Yes, the central core hard steel was well centered. The core has a nice thickness to it and doesn't appear to wander.
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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 Sept 4, 2015 0:35:41 GMT
Here is a UV picture of the lamination line Levi. It is a high res picture so you can zoom in a lot for specific details.
Thanks heaps for that! looks like this is a eBay seller I can trust with my first lamination blade! I was weighing up between a Huawei but I decided I wanted a laminated blade just for the novelty and its added aesthetics . Much appreciated He did well for me. The list of vendors selling fake laminations on Ebay is long and illustrious (and notorious).
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Post by Kiyoshi on Sept 4, 2015 0:39:39 GMT
Can't wait to see your review on all of the swords.
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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 Sept 4, 2015 2:37:32 GMT
I am waiting for two vendors to send replacement blades before the review is done. I am going to give them a reasonable chance to redeem themselves before I pen a response. Now that paypal has extended their refund policy to 180 days, I have a bit more breathing room to wait.
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