Ebay Seller Even-Sword: Custom Katana Review
Nov 13, 2015 22:36:29 GMT
Post by MessengerofDarkness on Nov 13, 2015 22:36:29 GMT
Introduction:
Hello all who might be reading this review of mine. This review is of a katana blade that I purchased from Ebay seller Even-Sword, who is also the owner of Ebay page Tsunami-Dragon. According to Even, he is not the same operator of the more well known Ebayer Sheng, who apparently owns ST-Nihonto, although I will admit that they seems to share similarities in their layouts and listings. That being said, the purpose of this review is not to prove they are two different people, but instead to do a review of this blade. This blade was custom from the ground-up, and was made specifically for me - this is NOT an off-the-shelf order.
Disclaimer:
I am not affiliated with Even-Sword in any way. I received no special discount on it, although I made it clear from the beginning that I would be reviewing his product. I was not asked beforehand to do this review, I was not paid to do it (Who'd wanna pay me for something like this anyways?), and in the end, this is based on nothing more than my own opinion. And well, if you don't like that, then... Don't listen to it? I am not a very good sword smith, martial artist, or kendo practitioner, not am I pretending to be one.
Initial Impressions:
The blade arrived in a standard yellow packing box bound with tape. Nothing exciting yet. Upon opening the box, the katana was wrapped inside a very nice sword bag made out of what appears to be synthetic silk. No pictures on that yet, and although it was to be expected, it was still a nice touch.
However, I would only later realize that Even had forgotten to send me with both a free sword stand and the katana's certificate, both of which he had promised. Although both would have likely been cheap, and neither were missed very much, it was nevertheless something that should be pointed out.
Katana Statistics:
Overall Length: 104cm
Nagasa: 71cm
Tsuka: 27cm
Nakago: 20cm
Mihaba (near Habaki): 3.2cm
Mihaba (near Kissaki): 2.3cm
POB: About 4.5in from Habaki
The Blade:
I'll start with the blade. The blade is very well polished overall, and has a Hazuya-type polish along it's entire length. The Hazuya polish shows off the hamon rather well, and although there are a few minor scuffs and spots of imperfection in the polish, it is overall very smooth and consistent.
The kissaki is a chu-kissaki type, and indeed has a geometric shift in it's plane. The boshi is very prominent, although the yokote could be a little sharper. While it serves its purpose, and it's quite functional, it nevertheless could use some more zazz.
What is strange about the blade, however, is that the shinogi is of consistent width along the entirety of the blade. In other words, as the ji tapers in width, the shinogi stays the same. I do not know how this affects the blade's performance or balance, although this makes the blade look untraditional.
The blade also arrived with minor scuffs and nicks along the mune, or the back, of the blade. I would assume these to be minor bumps and dings from either the fitters or the forge themselves. However, the particles of steel look to very nice and consistent in size, and I do not see anything that would be indicative of a fatal flaw. The heat treatment seems to be very well done.
However, I had specifically requested a 10 inch nakago, or tang, and unfortunately, the nakago on this blade is only a total of 8 inches. This is probably the main thing that bugs me about this sword overall, as there is now about a three inch 'dead zone' in the tsuka where there is no nakago.
Although this may or may not be a problem, it shows that Even did not listen to the measurements that I gave him, twice. (Yes, I had given him my 'list' two times.) While the blade is well balanced already, the longer nakago that I wanted would have helped with that even more.
The habaki is decently fit, although it could be a bit better. It also arrived a little loose, so I had to tighten the fit a little using some filler... Unfortunately, despite the nice scratch pattern being fulfilled just as I asked for, the habaki is merely silver plated bronze, not the solid silver that I thought it would be. For an extra $35, I wouldn't consider this worth it if I were doing another custom order from them again.
Notice anything? No? Any that's because it's not there. I asked for niku geometry on this blade, mainly to see if Even could do it. He did not. (This also shows the habaki fit.) While this is disappointing, and somewhat expected, it's not the end of the world for me.
However, I would not feel 100% comfortable doing any kind of rigorous cutting with this blade due to both the lack of niku and the shorter-than-asked for nakago. Though no doubt it would be fine for lighter cutting, I just couldn't give it 100% confidence for anything beyond tatami mats.
The Tsuka:
On first impression, the tsuka is actually quite nice. It was indeed given a complete samegawa wrap as I requested, and although there are no emperor nodes, the same is of decent, middle-quality. I can live with that. The ito is real lather, and is VERY tight (I suspect some glue may or may not have been used, although it's too tight to tell). Also, hishigami were indeed used to ensure a more symmetrical wrapping job. The ito diamonds are a little small for my preference however.
Overall, while slightly on the meaty side for my preference, the tsuka is decently shaped.
I don't why know the menuki are like some little dancing-man, but they're what came with the fuchi kashira, so whatever. They're not terrible, and they look nice, though they're a little hard to see. I don't mind them, and they're certainly attractive enough.
I had originally asked for the menuki to be placed in the gyaku-menuki placement instead of as they are, but unfortunately, Even forgot. When I pointed this out to him, he was quick to apologize about it, and asked me to accept them as they are so as to not have to redo the ito wrap and use more hishigami. I begrudgingly accepted this.
The leather ito, unfortunately, overlaps the one single mekugi pin, although only on one side. This makes disassembling the tsuka very difficult. (Although he did only use one mekugi pin/hole, as I requested.) The fuchi was also slightly off-center, as you can see by this picture above.
The kashira arrived a little loose, although the end knots were as tight as a bow. Lifting it a little, I can tell that the glue used to hold it down apparently failed, although it was a little off-center anyways, as you can see by one side of the kashira sticking out a bit to the left. The fuchi, while better fit, was also a little crooked. Also, the last ito diamond is a little 'off', throwing the flow off a bit.
The Saya:
The saya was kinda a mixed bag too. While it was overall nice, it arrived with a relatively poor fit to the blade. I strangely found that the mouth of the saya was not flat, as it should have been, but was instead slightly rounded outwards. A few minutes of careful sanding fixed this.
The koiguchi, kojiri, and kurigata are all real buffalo horn, and although I mistakenly received the black horn version of this saya instead of the brown horn, I find I like the blade better anyways. The buffalo horn parts are lacquered, although they're surprisingly well done. However, the lacquer on the saya itself feels a little thin, and scratches easily.
The habaki fit to the saya is good. Not great, but good. It's tight enough to hold the blade upside down by the saya and not have the blade fall out, but if I begin to shake it, then the blade will slide out within a few seconds. There is also a noticeable saya rattle, which means the fit to the blade could be tighter.
However, the says is also a little off-center in proportion to the tsuka, although the crooked fuchi emphasizes this. This may or may not be a fault of the koshi zori geometry, I simply don't know.
Other:
It may or may not be my imagination, but the tsuba, which is indeed iron as was advertised, seems to sit slightly crooked:
Also, I found the two seppa to be loose upon arrival - I could slide them around a bit. Upon disassembling, I used the punch method to tighten the fit on them to the nakago, so they're a bit better secured now.
The Bottom Line:
Even was very pleasant to deal with. He would usually be the one to contact me when things were done, instead of the other way around. This was a definite plus mark to me. However, while overall not a bad product, there were numerous little things about this blade that kept it from being REALLY good, which is unfortunate.
I would like to see him pay more attention to/follow customer's dimensions a bit more, as that was my #1 gripe about this blade. If he tightens up his QC and really follows a customer's specs, than I'd think he'd be a force to be reckoned with in Ebay vendors. As things stand though, his faults hold him back.
Pros:
-Excellent quality L6 blade, arrived paper-cutting sharp
-Good quality materials, nothing feels 'cheap'
-Excellent communication, definitely a high point for him
-Decent tsuka shape and nakago fit
-Gave me a free mei signature upon request
-Even definitely seems to care about his work
Cons:
-Strange Shinogi to ji proportion (Minor)
-Saya's finish seems thin and easy to mar and scratch (Minor)
-No Niku (Medium)
-Difficult to disassemble due to ito overlapping mekugi (Minor)
-Fuchi, kashira, and saya were all crooked/loose (Medium)
-Nakago was ground down more than I would prefer/remember it being in earlier pictures sent to me (Medium)
-Expected a bit more from a $600 blade
-May require some work right out of the box
My Advice:
I think that Even is definitely worth a good look. His quick communication was a plus, and it seemed to me that he really does care about customers a bit more than some other Chinese vendors. However, he's not without his problems, and I think that he could benefit from listening to his customer's specs a bit more.
With off the shelf orders, I would hope that his QC would be a bit tighter, as I think he definitely has potential to be a big maker in blades. While I can't justify saying, "Go sell your children to buy his stuff!", I would recommend him as a mid-high level Chinese maker of blades.
Just be careful of how much you are willing to spend, as the quantity of money may not 100% reflect in the quality. I may end up selling this blade in the near future, as it's good enough to not return, but not good enough to want to keep as a custom blade - it just wasn't close enough to what I really wanted.
UPDATE:
After this review was published, I linked it to Even and told him that I had completed the review. Here was his reply:
Alec
I'm very sorry, I thought I had put it well, maybe I didn't attention in some small details. I will improve in the future
Accept my apology
best wish
Even