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Post by Lancelot Chan on Apr 8, 2015 17:16:02 GMT
I've recently bought myself a "ready sword", which was meant to be a disposable, mass produced and lightweight sword that resembles the length of my "combat sword" DS. It should be compatible with the techniques I use DS with, so I will not have to adapt to a different length and a different set of skills when fighting with the "ready sword". So while it should be light in weight to lessen the burden during carriage, it has to be heavy in balance in order to lend me the power in the strikes like DS would. For the matter, I purchased a Ronin Katana O Katana, based on its length similarity to DS and the much toted "Dotanuki" design. The sword has a 84cm blade length 115cm overall length 2 lb 12 oz weight POB at 18.5cm off the tsuba. The so-called "Dotanuki" turned out to be a no fuller, V shape edge cross section that was common in Lung Chuan made katana. These type of edge geometry cuts aggressively for sure but I was expecting to see something "less common". It was not so unlike the other candidate of my "ready sword", Cold Steel O Katana. So yeah, there was a slight disappointment. The hilt features 2 wooden pegs, so I know at least where the tang would extend to. The cosmetic yokote was fine for me. However, upon further inspection, I noticed a small nick around the tip. The edge has rolled there. I was thinking, hmm... rolled instead of crack at tip, maybe it's not brittle? Well, read on to find out! Well, I fixed it myself very soon. The blade has a small bend to the right. It is not bent to the degree that would affect functionality though, so I think I'm ok with it. The edge line is also bent along with the blade but I think it is not to the severity that would affect cutting either. I do notice there were two temper lines on the blade, one near the forte and one near the tip. I flipped the sword around and the temper lines were also there on the other side of the blade. So they are true temper lines that exist through the blade. I went on to check the hardness of the three different zones, separated by the temper lines. The longest zone in the middle of the blade read 60 HRC approx. with occasional slighter lower and higher readings. The zone close to the hilt produces below 40 HRC reading, which I'm ok with. However, I think the soft zone could be a bit too big. The zone that is close to the tip, produces approx. 40 HRC reading, with spots that were slightly higher or lower. Now this is something I'm quite disappointed with. Cold Steel O Katana would have been more consistent in heat treat, at least for the ones I've checked. A possibility was that their facility could not handle the length of the sword and left parts of it out of the heat source. Either way, it was not very cool. I will test cut with it tomorrow to verify its compatibility with my DS skill set. But for now, that's it.
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Post by Lancelot Chan on Apr 9, 2015 12:26:21 GMT
Ronin O Katana vs Alvin DS, done with the same cut.
The O Katana surpassed the Alvin DS in cutting ability. There were 4 different leg cuts performed by the O Katana that end up unrecorded due to technical error. The O Katana succeeded in all 4 leg cuts.
The Alvin DS could not perform the same because of a more robust edge geometry.
So the O Katana is compatible to all my techniques, close to the cutting ability of John Lundemo DS.
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Post by Lancelot Chan on Apr 9, 2015 16:22:55 GMT
The combat sword DS and the ready sword O katana.
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Post by Robnose on Apr 9, 2015 22:29:38 GMT
All of my Ronin blades have these temper lines. I was wondering what they were. Think it affects the blades structural integrity?
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Post by Lancelot Chan on Apr 10, 2015 6:50:48 GMT
All of my Ronin blades have these temper lines. I was wondering what they were. Think it affects the blades structural integrity? They implies there is a structural change in the blade, different crystalline build up to contrast the the zones. In my case, the forte being soft won't hurt. The tip portion being soft will roll the tip instead of break the tip, but the edge won't hold very well there. It could be due to the possibility that they heat many swords in the same time and parts of those swords stuck out of the oven and not getting heated, in BBQ style. Common in Lung Chuan mass produced swords. I won't be returning the sword or asking for refund, but if Chris provides me a better one I would be happy. Though he doesn't seem to reply on his FB page about this post, despite he used to reply other very fast. :P
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Post by Robnose on Apr 11, 2015 2:07:01 GMT
How or what did you use to check the hardness? Should I be concerned cutting with my blades?
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Post by Lancelot Chan on Apr 11, 2015 6:52:02 GMT
How or what did you use to check the hardness? Should I be concerned cutting with my blades? I use calibrated hardness files. As long as you hit soft targets, you should be fine. Since I'm not limited to hitting soft targets, in my case it's not as usable.
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Post by Lancelot Chan on Apr 11, 2015 6:54:09 GMT
What worries me is that the sword's body at 60 HRC indicated that it might be over heated and not tempered. That could render the blade brittle. I dare not to test.
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Post by Robnose on Apr 11, 2015 13:32:13 GMT
I have 5, all with the same lines. Ordered over the span of a couple of years. They are even present on a ko-katana. This is very disconcerting.
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Post by johnwalter on Apr 11, 2015 14:55:15 GMT
Dotanuki.More of Ronins BS advertising.Ive used(not owned) 5 to date on hard targets and they were all crap in one way or another.3 either rolling, chipping and or setting on Blue Hennon bamboo.
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Post by Robnose on Apr 11, 2015 15:35:20 GMT
crap... i hope they hold up to mats this spring.
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Post by johnwalter on Apr 11, 2015 16:46:00 GMT
crap... i hope they hold up to mats this spring. The blade edge should hold up to mats, a friends Dojo set on a single, but he had no training and very little experience.Id be more concerned with the bad maki and horrible wood they usually use for the tsuka and saya.
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Post by Lancelot Chan on Apr 11, 2015 17:50:32 GMT
A friend of mine who own a Ronin confirmed that his blade also has those temper line. I'm not surprised with your experience, John Walter. It echoes what the heat treat would do. It would either roll, take a set or chip on a hard target indeed. And bamboo isn't the "hardest" thing a sword would face in combat.
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Post by Lancelot Chan on Apr 11, 2015 17:55:32 GMT
I've sold the sword at 43% of the cost I paid for it to a student, trying to fund my next purchase of "ready sword", either a cold steel o katana, or a new Zheng Qi Ren O katana specially made for me.
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Post by Robert in California on Apr 15, 2015 16:33:01 GMT
Hi MLC, Thanks for the review. Sorry it was a disappointing sword, though your attitude was optimistic and compassionate. Zheng Qi Ren O katana --- he making swords again? That is good news. Did his $555 wakizashi sell? (the one with the lovely blade and very blue saya?) I sure liked it! Very authentic nihonto type hada....indicates excellent skill. RinC
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Post by Lancelot Chan on Apr 15, 2015 17:43:11 GMT
Hi MLC, Thanks for the review. Sorry it was a disappointing sword, though your attitude was optimistic and compassionate. Zheng Qi Ren O katana --- he making swords again? That is good news. Did his $555 wakizashi sell? (the one with the lovely blade and very blue saya?) I sure liked it! Very authentic nihonto type hada....indicates excellent skill. RinC He's the director of the factory. He left the sword making to his friend but he still participate in R&D. The wakizashi is still here. :)
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Post by Robert in California on Apr 16, 2015 16:18:12 GMT
Thanks MLC! Good to know Zheng Qi Ren is still in the business. I am pleased with my Huawei folded 1085/T10 waki...it had a detail-minimal budget polish on it, but after I did a simple hazuya fingerstone polish, all sorts of detail came out...eye candy stuff. Except the hada/grain is so tight that it is almost mono steel in appearance. Maybe only an acid wash will bring out the folding? Yes, that Zheng Qi Ren waki was breath takingly beautiful (the blade...bright blue is not my favorite saya color...me being a dull kind of person). Would have loved to buy it...only my greater fear of my small, excitable Chinese wife overcame my desire for that waki....sigh...my advice to guys contemplating marriage is "buy your guy toys BEFORE you marry her." Sorry you aren't here or that I am not there....your sparring videos look like great fun! Thanks for sharing them (not that I would have a lot of hope to ever get a clean hit in on you...but maybe someone's 80 year old grandma? :-)) RinC p.s. I got what I think was a hint that (a) Jacky of Huawei is a master swordsmith himself and (b) that Huawei has at least 2 master level swordsmiths and that (c) Huawei master level swordsmiths helped teach Zheng Qi Ren.
p.s. Am still waiting for my Huawei (medium to hard target) folded 1085/T10 katana....but looking forward to it when Jacky gets it finished. No way will I nag Jacky though....no one does their best word on a custom when the buyer nags. p.p.s. Best wishes to you and family.
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Post by Lancelot Chan on Apr 16, 2015 17:15:27 GMT
Hello. Thanks for your kind words on our sparring videos. Huawei is actually a mechant who gets swords from various smiths and remount them / polish them for sale. They stopped selling Zheng's stuff because the quality of Zheng's stuff do not put their other swords in good light. You know what I mean. ;) Zheng didn't learn from Huawei's owner or the smiths that provided Huawei swords, though. He had 3 teachers. The first one who taught him blade smithing in Lung Chuan, who's also the master smith in his factory now. They had become good friends and shared growth together. The other teacher was Mars Lo, my sword-making swordsmanship student, who's also my metallurgy teacher. The third one was me. ;) Thanks for your best wishes and I wish you good luck getting the sword you want. I've made custom orders that I paid in deposit or even full and not getting stuff back way beyond the estimated delivery date, by some very famous smiths. :( Thanks MLC! Good to know Zheng Qi Ren is still in the business. I am pleased with my Huawei folded 1085/T10 waki...it had a detail-minimal budget polish on it, but after I did a simple hazuya fingerstone polish, all sorts of detail came out...eye candy stuff. Except the hada/grain is so tight that it is almost mono steel in appearance. Maybe only an acid wash will bring out the folding? Yes, that Zheng Qi Ren waki was breath takingly beautiful (the blade...bright blue is not my favorite saya color...me being a dull kind of person). Would have loved to buy it...only my greater fear of my small, excitable Chinese wife overcame my desire for that waki....sigh...my advice to guys contemplating marriage is "buy your guy toys BEFORE you marry her." Sorry you aren't here or that I am not there....your sparring videos look like great fun! Thanks for sharing them (not that I would have a lot of hope to ever get a clean hit in on you...but maybe someone's 80 year old grandma? :-)) RinC p.s. I got what I think was a hint that (a) Jacky of Huawei is a master swordsmith himself and (b) that Huawei has at least 2 master level swordsmiths and that (c) Huawei master level swordsmiths helped teach Zheng Qi Ren. p.s. Am still waiting for my Huawei (medium to hard target) folded 1085/T10 katana....but looking forward to it when Jacky gets it finished. No way will I nag Jacky though....no one does their best word on a custom when the buyer nags. p.p.s. Best wishes to you and family.
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