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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2015 17:40:49 GMT
Interesting, and here I thought it was just laziness not to raise it:/ I had considered cutting the front of my own habakis, but that just seemed like a cheap-out instead of a "fit" to my reasoning. I assumed this was the case across the board, so yeh.
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asanatheist
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Post by asanatheist on Jul 25, 2015 19:02:11 GMT
Interesting, and here I thought it was just laziness not to raise it:/ I had considered cutting the front of my own habakis, but that just seemed like a cheap-out instead of a "fit" to my reasoning. I assumed this was the case across the board, so yeh. If you see shinken production (Japanese made), the habaki and mountings (tsuka/saya) are made to fit the blade. With chinese forges, the blade is made to fit the off the shelf habaki (tsukas too, sayas as well). That's why if you see reviews and the nakago is shown, the nagako is often power tooled, or filed heavily). You werent wrong in thinking there are plenty of short cuts taken (cheap-out). To have a sword made and then the mountings to it made for that specific sword is NOT cheap at all. Its just in this particular piece it that they fit the blade to the habaki (hence the power tools to even the notches on the blade (hamachi and mune-machi). Don't get me wrong there are plenty of short cuts taken on this blade, I could write a lengthy paragraph to mention all of the issues. However I am not going to be overcritical to the point of being unreasonable of a $230 almost custom blade. I am not going to buy a $250 katana and expect it to have been made by a master smith.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2015 21:00:33 GMT
Interesting, and here I thought it was just laziness not to raise it:/ I had considered cutting the front of my own habakis, but that just seemed like a cheap-out instead of a "fit" to my reasoning. I assumed this was the case across the board, so yeh. With chinese forges, the blade is made to fit the off the shelf habaki hm. Jake of swordnarmory told me that to have his "performance cutter" made, the very first thing needed was the specs for the habaki for the forge to build from. blade length etc not being the important thing to the 1st step, which was to determine the blade shape, and have habakis made for those particular dimensions. I had assumed the habaki was made after the swords, approximating the dimensions. Jake said that whenever a new sword is commissioned from a chinese forge for swordnarmory, it's habaki first, sword to fit. seems odd to me, which is why I had questioned him about it. His explanation made it sound the sword was designed inside the habaki rather than the habaki being designed around the sword. weird ways to my mind
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Post by Deleted on Jul 25, 2015 21:26:15 GMT
I am not going to buy a $250 katana and expect it to have been made by a master smith. Considering the bo-hi shape, silver plating, specific polish, translucent horn parts and so on, def got a lot of sword for the money. I think the conclusion was accurate as can be in the review. Same xp here that first ebay sword I got years ago was atrocious, newer ones much improved:) lol and yes I'm petty when it comes to the seller's information being taken as read, don't mean for that to be against you rather than the ebay market's hard-to-trust nature in my jaded opinion.
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asanatheist
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Post by asanatheist on Jul 26, 2015 16:47:15 GMT
Okay. Doesn't have proper boshi. hamon disappears at kissaki, may actuall be trailing off.
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asanatheist
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Post by asanatheist on Jul 29, 2015 20:57:20 GMT
Bamboo Cutting Video done and added.
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asanatheist
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Post by asanatheist on Aug 7, 2015 3:20:03 GMT
Updated review with fatal flaw. Will be putting custom piece from Shinken-katana on hold until this gets a resolution. Did a finger polish up to 1 micron. Hamon popped there is no boshi termination. Hamon appears to disappear while trailing off the kissaki.
I was fine with the fact it was not sanmai, but this fatal flaw is not acceptable imho.
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Post by zabazagobo on Aug 9, 2015 6:58:56 GMT
That is really a bummer, the Kissaki. Although the glare makes it kinda hard for me to tell if it does run off, I'm sure its easier to see in person. That's a bummer, because from an aesthetic standpoint for $228 this is a pretty good looking ebay katana.
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Aug 21, 2015 17:38:57 GMT
Have you tried contacting Shinken-Katana and ask for a refund or replacement sword? A fatal flaw is unacceptable, and from what I've heard, they usually have good customer service with major flaws and defects.
Which was a shame, as overall it looked like a stellar sword for its value.
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asanatheist
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Post by asanatheist on Aug 22, 2015 16:00:37 GMT
Yes he said that the boshi was really nice when he polished it. I cannot see the boshi at all, what I do see is a hamon that looks to trail off the edge but disappears before it gets to the edge, no evidence of it turning back. I've done a quick hybrid polish which brought out the hamon to the point it's about as active as it will get without doing chemical etching. I still cannot see the boshi. Whether the hamon trails off or disappears either one is considered a fatal flaw. It's mostly considered a fatal flaw due to the fact a non hardened point would not hold up well to very hard targets if you stab. It is not a fatal flaw that can pose risk to the user. It is not a safety concern as a hagire, or cracks/nicks on the edge which can turn into a helicopter blade.
At this point I've had the sword modified had Salvatori Moretto tsukamaki, and I've repolished the blade to resolve the issue of the boshi. It would be difficult to get a refund. In any case Shinken-katana has replied, he stands by that there is a boshi.
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Post by MessengerofDarkness on Aug 24, 2015 20:56:15 GMT
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admin
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Post by admin on Oct 3, 2015 4:21:09 GMT
In some ways it is good it is not Laminated at that price point - failure rate with DH swords is very high to begin with (depends on the forge, but up to half need to be thrown away from cracks or damage during forging - happens in Japan too, so not limited to Chinese forges).. Lamination failure rates are higher still - Cheness discontinued their laminated blade because it took too many failures to make one pass QC.
Folded blades - at sub$300 also usually not a good idea - often ends up with invisible weld pockets inside the steel and I personally only trust folded blades done to a much higher standard by high level smiths otherwise it can ruin quality modern steel.
Always best to keep it simple at the sub $300 price point.
On another note - looks like this seller is directly ripping off the SBG Torakami design from pre-2010 to the last detail - but the fittings are not quite the same and possibly suspect because of this (there are not many suppliers of koshirae, just a couple of big ones really for anything quality and they are quite expensive.. This plus the buffalo horn suggests something is quite amiss)..
Meh, not a fan of ebay sellers personally especially as many misrepresent who they are, have little knowledge of what actually makes a good sword, etc.
Oh well, thanks for sharing and taking a risk for the team!
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asanatheist
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Post by asanatheist on Dec 13, 2015 7:23:48 GMT
I've cooled off after discovering the improper boshi. Got to understand I spent a lot of time polishing, using very fine grit finger stones and mesh, so it was very upsetting to find the improper boshi.
I couldn't find any flaws after the rough hybrid polish with the lamination apart from a flaw on the tang caused when I rusted it black. This plus the entire package is why I am keeping it.
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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 Jan 4, 2016 14:39:44 GMT
asanatheist, If you want to send your blade to me, I can do a UV laser photograph of the area in question. It will clearly show the transition (if it exists) in the boshi.
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Post by lygon on Apr 13, 2016 1:50:23 GMT
wow this sword is amazing for that price. I think your choices were superb, i love it, yuck about the kissaki tho
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ShinKenRyu
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Post by ShinKenRyu on May 8, 2016 18:56:56 GMT
I've cooled off after discovering the improper boshi. Got to understand I spent a lot of time polishing, using very fine grit finger stones and mesh, so it was very upsetting to find the improper boshi. I couldn't find any flaws after the rough hybrid polish with the lamination apart from a flaw on the tang caused when I rusted it black. This plus the entire package is why I am keeping it. asanatheist, If you want to send your blade to me, I can do a UV laser photograph of the area in question. It will clearly show the transition (if it exists) in the boshi. I just ordered a katana from Sheng. It's been 2 months and he finally shipped it out Tuesday. Everything I have read has been true so far. Slow response and pictures are rare. I have already seen my sword on all his sites ninja-katana, St nihonto and the newest one katana-pie! The sword should be here on weds the 12th. I ordered it mar 3rd and it finally shipped May 3rd. It's full custom so just the levels of polishing should take a month. 2 weeks to start making the blade and another 30 days of polishing. He said he could do soshukiate so we will see. It's not the same as ronins soshukiate. There's lamination lines but it looks exactly like Evens shizoume lamination. We will see for a $650+ sword from Sheng looks like. I told him and showed him pictures of a broken gyaku-kobuse sword I got from Honbon. The lamination failed and the supposed 1060 folded steel chipped off!!! He said it was bad lamination and his will be way better.
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Post by sourcheese on May 25, 2016 2:07:45 GMT
Wow. I was looking at getting a Ryan sword custom but that is amazing. What a great blade for its price. I'm looking on ebay for the vendor... do you have a direct link?
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asanatheist
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Post by asanatheist on Apr 1, 2017 15:48:18 GMT
Update: 4/1/2017
I am still in possession of this sword, it is now dulled considerably since I have been using it off and on for close to 2 years. You can run your fingers through it, but will still cut. Hundreds of bamboo has been cut, dry and fresh. I did a limited omote cutting sessios close to a year ago. I source my bamboo locally. It is nothing like what John Walter cuts, but this stuff is TOUGH.
I am absolutely astounded by how this sword has held up. It has not retained any further damage from bamboo, and some limited tatami omote cutting. It's not yet bent, or chipped or broken. This sword is still tight, and well put together. Apart from some tsuba rattling (normal even with shinken/nihonto), everything is tight.
The kissaki has been tested thoroughly and has been found to be of good heat treat. In fact this sword for the mistakes I've made, must have been heat treated and flux welded extremely well. Despite being build to be lightweight, and nimble this sword has taken more punishment than most of my katanas and euro blades (including albion, and AT).
I CAN WITHOUT A DOUBT RECOMMEND SHINKEN-KATANA. This is still my favorite sword thus far, and I've had my share of a few swords.
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Post by vermithrax on Apr 2, 2017 0:06:20 GMT
Thanks for the update. This looks amazing at the price point!
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Post by connorclarke on Apr 2, 2017 4:35:12 GMT
Update: 4/1/2017 I am still in possession of this sword, it is now dulled considerably since I have been using it off and on for close to 2 years. You can run your fingers through it, but will still cut. Hundreds of bamboo has been cut, dry and fresh. I did a limited omote cutting sessios close to a year ago. I source my bamboo locally. It is nothing like what John Walter cuts, but this stuff is TOUGH. I am absolutely astounded by how this sword has held up. It has not retained any further damage from bamboo, and some limited tatami omote cutting. It's not yet bent, or chipped or broken. This sword is still tight, and well put together. Apart from some tsuba rattling (normal even with shinken/nihonto), everything is tight. The kissaki has been tested thoroughly and has been found to be of good heat treat. In fact this sword for the mistakes I've made, must have been heat treated and flux welded extremely well. Despite being build to be lightweight, and nimble this sword has taken more punishment than most of my katanas and euro blades (including albion, and AT). I CAN WITHOUT A DOUBT RECOMMEND SHINKEN-KATANA. This is still my favorite sword thus far, and I've had my share of a few swords. Did u get a laminated blade still as well?
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