EBAY: Shinken-Katana T10 Forge Folded DH Review
Jul 16, 2015 2:51:39 GMT
Post by asanatheist on Jul 16, 2015 2:51:39 GMT
T10 Folded DH Katana
By: AsAnAtheist (Crimsoned)
Introduction:
I was looking for a decent katana on ebay/sword dealers, I had been out of collecting swords for a while now and got the urge for some steel. My requirements were simple: Clay tempered, Geometric yokote, decent fittings/saya.
Browsing ebay, I found a seller with swords for a good price and rather nice features. Hazuya polish, clay tempered, geometric yokote, and sanmai+folded steel. Most were under $300. With the situation with Huawei (delayed), and a few other vendors (increased costs) decided to give them a try.
I attempted to have a custom piece done however could not agree on payment. I ended up buying an off the shelf model, and having the Koshirae changed out.
Full Disclosure:
I bought this sword with my own money. No discount was given, nor am I affiliated with Shinken-Katana on Ebay. The seller was explained a review would be made for this piece. I paid the asking price, nothing more or less I also used the free koshirae change as per the advertisement. A free sword stand was included, I believe in compensation for the delay in shipping the sword out. Not sure if that is relevant but thought I'd include it. The price for the sword was $228 shipped.
Initial Impressions:
The sword arrived well packaged in your typical foam box wrapped in yellow tape. The sword was inside a nice sword bag which is decorated with birds and dragons, while the bag itself is tied with tassels. Dealing with Shinken Katana was pleasant even communicating regarding the custom katana was fine nothing seemed to have been lost due to communication issues. Had a small hiccup, and the sword was not shipped until a week or so later. It is unclear why apart from Koshirae change (rewrap only). In any case the item did ship via EMS which was fast.
The first thing that struck me when I removed the sword from the box was balance. It seems the sword was well balanced, with a POB close to the handle. Once I took the sword out of the bad the first thing that surprised me was the fittings, and saya. It's been a bit since I've ordered a sword straight from China, and it seems that the quality of fittings has dramatically improved over the last 2.5-3 years, the saya was also very well done with no issues with the paint job, or issues with the koiguchi, kojiri, or kurikata.
The blade was the last part that I looked at and it blew me way. The polish, geometry, hada, and yokote all assured me that I was holding a quality sword.
Components
Tsuka
Lets start with the Tsuka and Koshirae. The Tsuka is 10” Long, and is wrapped with brown synthetic ito over white samagawa. The ito is wrapped for function, and does alternate. It does not feature hishigami, and it is not super tight however Shinken katana does offer the option of Hishigami. It will do it's job in it's current state.
The tsuka is also shaped in haichi style with a very slight overall curve. This gives great comfort and good feedback to the user letting them know when they're holding it with the wrong way. The curve on the tsuka also helps with the body mechanics of cutting with katana.
Nice Healthy Tsuka core
Koshirae
The Koshirae are of a tiger motiff and are usually described as high quality copper alloy fittings in many ebay vendor pages.
The Tsuba show cases a tiger on one side.
While on the otherwise the back of the tiger.
The fuchi shows a tiger while on the other side a bamboo stalk with flowers.
The kashira showcases an old man and a tiger.
The menuki finishes the theme with flower bushes in clear reference to a tiger hiding in the bush.
The koshirae are all in a sculpted style but are obviously high quality cast pieces. The finishing of the fittings was well done with no visible issues. There are no rattling parts in the tsuka everything is very tight.
Samegawa is genuine and of surprisingly decent quality.
Saya
Next we have the beautiful ishime lacqured saya with Ox horn fittings. Ishime lacquering (eggshell finish) is my favorite type of finish on a saya. It gives some dimension to the saya yet fends off fingerprints perfectly. The ox horns are fitted well showing a clear transition from saya to horn while on the kurikata the lacquer helps masks off the kurikata ridges on the saya.
The kouiguchi is well formed, and holds the blade in place with minimal pressure, I have reshimmed it to be a little tighter. It would be perfection in production swords but the blade/tsuka/saya aren't on the same angles so the saya does not sit flush on the ha side (tiny gap).
The horn on the saya is one of the nice features that drew me the sword due to the nature of ox horn (changes color/translucency, see the well fit kojiri).
The Kurikata features silver plated (or painted) Shitodome which have plenty of detail and are a bit of a step up from your typical shitodome found on lower end production swords unfortunately they are not fit to the kurikata so they are loose and rattle. Again that horn makes the saya all that much more worth it.
Blade
First off let's address the unpleasantness of this sword as being sold as Sanmai. This is actually not sanmai but simply folded T10. I messaged the vendor to get a response as to why the sword was not sanmai. The seller replied that the sword was made with T10 folded steel not sanmai IN consideration of my previous inquiries of a custom T10 folded piece. Claims he can make Sanmai of best quality for me if I want. We will see later on.
The blade it self is quite a beauty and follows the shinogi zukuri shape and features a bohi. It has a 28” nagasa, and is very sharp from one end to the other with symmetrical niku through out the blade. It seems symmetry was taken very serious in the sword. Every feature is very symmetrical (yokote, bohi, shinogi, niku, dimensions (width of ha/shinogi). The sword features a prominent but hidden hamon in gunome midare style. The hamon is hidden under the reverse hazuya polish but in certain angles towards the light the hamon is very visible with plenty of activity (a little ashi and quite a bit of nie (feet of nie/large cloud respectively)). The superb niei (and nioi) is often misinterpreted as a wide hamon, this appears to be mostly niei however hazuya polish could be hiding nioi as nie.
The nagasa is aggressively tapered and fondly reminds me of two nihonto I owned 3 years back, both were older pieces and very nice unfortunately had to sell both for a song. The sword is lively and handles well. The niku is light, a bohi being present and the aggressive tapering all mean it will be great for performing complex cuts on soft to medium targets. The blade also features a very uniform edge/edge angle, this means with proper hasuji it will be a joy to do tameshigiri with. The blade is made of T10 folded steel. In any case it is properly hardened based on the stones feedback when honing the edge to remove a couple inches of wire edge.
The steel used to make the sword is folded into an itame-hada (wood burl skin) pattern. It is quite beautiful and well done.
The kissaki is decently formed, and the yokote has a physical shift in plane to give a feature called a “geometric yokote” both sides are symmetrical.
The hamachi and munemachi were done decently but it seems with aid of power tools, and are matching in plane, as is typical of traditionally made katana in Japan.
The silver plated habaki however does not form well around the blade, but does let the blade sit properly on both ha/mune. Shinken katana seem to offer copper-color or copper alloy habaki as an upgrade. The sword has 2 silver plated seppa.
Handling:
The katana handles beautifully and is very comfortable. The tsuka's tapering, lightweight of the sword, and superb balancing make this a whole lot of fun. While it lacks considerable cutting power of a no-hi version, nihonto and shinken were seldom made to thick and wide dimensions seen on production katana now a days so it is nice to see change.
Tameshigiri:
Conclusion:
The market for custom, and off the shelves swords from ebay has really come a long way from years past. From 1045 sold as 1095, to fake hamons, to crappy tsukamaki. Many negative attributes from ebay swords of the past left sour tastes in enthusiasts mouths that led many into the safety and consistency of production companies such as Hanwei, Ronin Katana, Dynasty Forge, Last Legend, Oniforge, Kensei, and many others. This sword seems to be quite a gem of a find and while there will always be crappy examples of swords from Ebay it goes to show that some ebay forges are quite dedicated to their craft and wish to make it a long term preposition versus fly by night forges.
While it is not possible to asses a vendor based on one purchase and one review the overall experience was very good, I could recommend shinken-katana as a possible ebay forge to use. Shinken-katana understands English and Japanese sword lingo well enough to have a very honest forthcoming conversation regarding any work needed, or items offered.
Update 4/1/2017
This sword has been used for nearly 2 years for backyard cutting and amateur practicing of Kata. It has been absolutely a workhorse despite being built lightly. It has some dulled some and has been cross polished many times. The kissaki was well made, and has held up without issues. The hamon does not run off. I just wanted to take back what I said earlier, this sword has been fantastic.
The market for custom, and off the shelves swords from ebay has really come a long way from years past. From 1045 sold as 1095, to fake hamons, to crappy tsukamaki. Many negative attributes from ebay swords of the past left sour tastes in enthusiasts mouths that led many into the safety and consistency of production companies such as Hanwei, Ronin Katana, Dynasty Forge, Last Legend, Oniforge, Kensei, and many others. This sword seems to be quite a gem of a find and while there will always be crappy examples of swords from Ebay it goes to show that some ebay forges are quite dedicated to their craft and wish to make it a long term preposition versus fly by night forges.
While it is not possible to asses a vendor based on one purchase and one review the overall experience was very good, I could recommend shinken-katana as a possible ebay forge to use. Shinken-katana understands English and Japanese sword lingo well enough to have a very honest forthcoming conversation regarding any work needed, or items offered.
Update 4/1/2017
This sword has been used for nearly 2 years for backyard cutting and amateur practicing of Kata. It has been absolutely a workhorse despite being built lightly. It has some dulled some and has been cross polished many times. The kissaki was well made, and has held up without issues. The hamon does not run off. I just wanted to take back what I said earlier, this sword has been fantastic.