Thoughts on Rodell Cutting Jian, Cold Moon Jian & Amazon
Jul 22, 2015 4:20:12 GMT
Post by Jayhawk on Jul 22, 2015 4:20:12 GMT
I received my Rodell/Hanwei Cutting Jian tonight, and wow...I love this sword! Shipping was uber quick, but you have to see the COMPLETE packing materials in a picture I'll attach at the very end. It's very clear Amazon is not accustomed to shipping swords, and they shipped it only in the Hanwei box without an outer box and zero additional padding (just a foam piece in the middle of the Hanwei box). It was sliding around in that box in shipment from Texas to my house in Kansas, and I'm lucky it wasn't broken. The price was great with gift card for opening a credit card account ($190), but buying swords from Amazon appears to be a big old risk (this was Amazon LLC, so the real company and not an Amazon vendor).
Anyway, the sword itself came less than perfect, and I think most of the issues came from sitting oiled in the scabbard for over a year and a half. The oil had dried and some is still crusted onto the blade (either that or some form of glue is on part of the blade), but the blade itself though is fine and came paper cutting sharp (except with the dried oil/glue is on one 3 inch section near the guard). Scabbard is nice but appeared to be either unstained, more lightly stained, or perhaps oil soaked onto one side - each side was a different shade of the wood. Final gripe, and I assume this happened at the Hanwei factory...a bit of pommel material (this is not a pure polymer as I expected beneath the rayskin and wrap, but appears to be dymondwood, which is a wood infused with polymer and is fine) was sticking out over the wrap at the guard base - it appeared the material was not cut perfect and a few splintery bits stuck out. I cut the wood bits off with a knife and used a sharpie to color the wood bit black and all is fine now.
Obviously, I had to go cut something, and the only thing I had handy was a Dawn dish soap bottle, which is at least twice as heavy/strong as the strongest plastic water bottle. It cut through it no problem at all. Very fun. I'm going to have a blast cutting things with this. POB about 4" from the guard gives a different, more lively, feel than the Cold Moon jian at 2.5" to 3", and I'm sure the lighter weight (using the bathroom scale method it's .6 to .8 pounds lighter - weighing either 2 lbs or 2.2 lbs depending on which time I stepped on the scale with the sword) helps with that lively feeling as well. Temper seems great as exhibited by the flex in the blade, but the flex is no better than the flex/temper of my Cold Moon jian. I actually hacked an 8" oak branch that fell on the ground with the Cold Moon the other day and didn't damage the blade at all...it's one tough sword.
Overall, comparing the two, I prefer the simpler look of the Rodell jian, but now realize the Cold Moon jian is pretty nice overall and at roughly half the price (I suspected this, but without the Rodell as a reference point was only guessing the Cold Moon was actually well made) is a good value, too.
Anyway...I like both swords. I may end up using the Cold Moon for forms since it's heavier and will be a good workout as well as being not nearly as sharp and therefore a little safer for me in house. Plus, it's about 2 inches shorter, so safer for others and my old house!
FWIW, totally random thought, but if you just want to cut things with a Chinese style sword, the Condor Dadao is by far and away the best bang for your bucks...people who cut with it simply love it. This Rodell, though, is much classier and much more classic looking...I'm very happy to have it and the collecting urge is now satiated (at least for now!). It'll be fun getting to know it's cutting abilities better.
Now...pics of the two Jians for reference. Feel free to any questions if your curious about how the Cold Moon stacks up to the Rodell. The Rodell is definitely nicer, but much less nicer than I had expected if that makes sense compared to the Cold Moon.
I'd be curious to hear if anyone out there has the Cold Moon jian with simpler brass fittings and no peg through the tang on Total Martial Arts Supplies' website. I wonder if it's as well made as the one I and Mak have.
Anyway, the sword itself came less than perfect, and I think most of the issues came from sitting oiled in the scabbard for over a year and a half. The oil had dried and some is still crusted onto the blade (either that or some form of glue is on part of the blade), but the blade itself though is fine and came paper cutting sharp (except with the dried oil/glue is on one 3 inch section near the guard). Scabbard is nice but appeared to be either unstained, more lightly stained, or perhaps oil soaked onto one side - each side was a different shade of the wood. Final gripe, and I assume this happened at the Hanwei factory...a bit of pommel material (this is not a pure polymer as I expected beneath the rayskin and wrap, but appears to be dymondwood, which is a wood infused with polymer and is fine) was sticking out over the wrap at the guard base - it appeared the material was not cut perfect and a few splintery bits stuck out. I cut the wood bits off with a knife and used a sharpie to color the wood bit black and all is fine now.
Obviously, I had to go cut something, and the only thing I had handy was a Dawn dish soap bottle, which is at least twice as heavy/strong as the strongest plastic water bottle. It cut through it no problem at all. Very fun. I'm going to have a blast cutting things with this. POB about 4" from the guard gives a different, more lively, feel than the Cold Moon jian at 2.5" to 3", and I'm sure the lighter weight (using the bathroom scale method it's .6 to .8 pounds lighter - weighing either 2 lbs or 2.2 lbs depending on which time I stepped on the scale with the sword) helps with that lively feeling as well. Temper seems great as exhibited by the flex in the blade, but the flex is no better than the flex/temper of my Cold Moon jian. I actually hacked an 8" oak branch that fell on the ground with the Cold Moon the other day and didn't damage the blade at all...it's one tough sword.
Overall, comparing the two, I prefer the simpler look of the Rodell jian, but now realize the Cold Moon jian is pretty nice overall and at roughly half the price (I suspected this, but without the Rodell as a reference point was only guessing the Cold Moon was actually well made) is a good value, too.
Anyway...I like both swords. I may end up using the Cold Moon for forms since it's heavier and will be a good workout as well as being not nearly as sharp and therefore a little safer for me in house. Plus, it's about 2 inches shorter, so safer for others and my old house!
FWIW, totally random thought, but if you just want to cut things with a Chinese style sword, the Condor Dadao is by far and away the best bang for your bucks...people who cut with it simply love it. This Rodell, though, is much classier and much more classic looking...I'm very happy to have it and the collecting urge is now satiated (at least for now!). It'll be fun getting to know it's cutting abilities better.
Now...pics of the two Jians for reference. Feel free to any questions if your curious about how the Cold Moon stacks up to the Rodell. The Rodell is definitely nicer, but much less nicer than I had expected if that makes sense compared to the Cold Moon.
I'd be curious to hear if anyone out there has the Cold Moon jian with simpler brass fittings and no peg through the tang on Total Martial Arts Supplies' website. I wonder if it's as well made as the one I and Mak have.
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