Custom Tachi from Hanbon - Yao - Ebay Swordsmith668
Jan 6, 2016 2:02:27 GMT
Post by thazari on Jan 6, 2016 2:02:27 GMT
Intro
So, for a while now I wanted to have a functional sword. I have collected daggers, knives and swords as a child and my pride was a rusty shin gunto, but my parents really hated this utterly violent and disgusting hobby and threw my weapons out with the trash at some point.
After finally having some job security and no longer being dependent on parents-that-hate-everything-pointy to move my stuff from place to place every year, it's time to make up for the loss! So I started looking around for my first real sword. I was really on the fence between a katana and an European sabre of sorts, but I could never really find anything that suited my tastes; I want something pretty and unique and the generic stuff from the large well-known vendors just wasn't appealing enough, and if it was, it was barely functional.
Eventually I started browsing Ebay and came upon several Chinese katana vendors. After checking reviews, I decided to go with Swordsmith668, also known as mr. Yao of Hanbon Sword, and then spent another month brooding over the sword I would order.
Disclosure
I'm just a noob buying my first real sword and not affiliated with the seller. I didn't get any special discounts or other favors. Since I'm not knowledgeable at all it may be that I missed important things in my review and I don't really have much experience with other weapons that I can compare this sword with.
Buying Process and Communication
I'm not a person that starts slow and invests a little bit of money for a mediocre entry product; I rather spend a bit more to get something awesome. This is also because I don't want to end up like a packrat with 20 different swords of which 75% are just gathering dust because they're no longer cool enough - if I order something I want it to be unlike anything I already have and I want it to last for a long time. So I went with one of Swordsmith668's top products, the gyaku-kobuse katana, which has an edge of 1095 steel surrounded by 1060 folded steel and normally has a price of $601. I bade my time and observed how this shop conducts business and noticed that swords were frequently put up for auction instead of fixed price, and the starting bid for the auctions was lower. I waited until a gyaku-kobuse sword was listed and put a bid in just before the auction ended. I was the only bidder so that's nice, and ended up paying only $448 for the blade.
That was just the start though, because in the mean time I had decided that I didn't really want a katana. I mean, katanas are nice, but you have to stick the saya into an obi and obi is not part of my daily attire. I do have a very pretty leather shoulder strap that I salvaged off an old bag, so a tachi would be way more practical as I can simply attach the strap to carry it around, should I ever need to. So I contacted mr. Yao to discuss customizing the sword. Initially it took a while to get a response (tried skype, email and ebay messaging), but I think mr. Yao was very busy preparing for christmas sales or was on holiday or something. Once I got in touch, all subsequent responses have been very fast, typically within hours. It took a few days to discuss options and for me to make up my mind what I actually wanted. At every step, I made an MS Paint image of the entire thing so there would be no misunderstanding what I wanted. Swordsmith668 really offers a lot of customization options so I had a bit of choice paralysis there, but mr. Yao was very helpful. I paid an extra $100 for the special options (20 for longer blade and 80 for the Tachi saya).
Auction won: 30 August
Initial conversation: 4 November
Order finalized: 9 November
Product completed and shipped: 2 December
Package received: 14 December (It actually arrived 11 Dec, but was held by customs over the weekend as I had to pay GBP 20 import taxes)
The Product Specifics
Tachi-style sword
Overall Length: 108 cm
Blade Length: 74.5 cm
Grip Length: 27 cm
Construction: gyaku-kobuse
Material: 1095 edge, rest 1060 folded steel
Treatment: Differential hardened with clay
Shape: shinogi-zukuri (no grooves)
Weight: Cannot measure exactly but it is pretty heavy, estimate around 1.3kg without the saya
Customized Tachi Saya
No signature
Initial Impressions
The sword came well-packaged: wrapped in plastic, put in a sword box and the box was put in a huge packaging container made of that white plastic stuff. Unfortunately, the parcel was really badly damaged during transport and the packaging material had dents in it. It was so bad it almost looked like someone had thrown it off the top of a roof. The sword box also took a beating and the tsuba of the sword smashed through the swordbox, tearing a hole in the box. Too bad, the box would have been pretty but it is so badly damaged that I cannot put it up for display. Still it served its purpose as the sword was nearly intact. The only damage it suffered was a 1cm-long chip to the top-middle on the saya where the lacquer had come off. I decided not to complain about it as it clearly wasn't the sellers fault and it looks like something I can hide with some careful painting. The saya has a matte finish so it likely won't be very obvious.
After discarding the containers I removed the plastic wrapping. The blade and grip were wrapped individually and the blade was well-oiled. The blade itself looked magnificent, with a really wonderful grainy pattern on the steel. There is a very thin and irregular weld-line near the edge where the 1095 and 1060 steel have been welded and at some parts of the blade this line is so tiny that you really have to look hard for it. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think that is a sign of good craftsmanship, to have such tiny weld-lines. The hamon was very clearly visible. I personally don't really have an opinion about hamon beauty, but I suppose it looks nice amplifying the pattern-welding effect of the folded steel.
All the fittings were REALLY tight. No movement anywhere. Initially I had some difficulty removing the sword from the scabbard as the lock was very tight, but by now the thing has worn and it comes out easily. I suppose it is good to have this to be too tight rather than too lose as it will always wear a bit.
There was also a crude sword stand in the box for free.
Handling
I personally think the sword is well balanced, the point of balance is precisely in the middle of the yellow sageo on the picture. The length of the sword is great and I don't have any difficulty to draw it from the scabbard, my length is 1.75m (of course it draws much slower than a katana). Initially I found the sword way too heavy. The last time I handled anything like this was the old rusty shin-gunto which only had a length of roughly 85 cm total so this was a bit of a shock. I don't exercise so my arm strength is very poor and I don't have any technique that I could apply to such a heavy weapon. I've been practicing almost every day since, and I'm now starting to become accustomed to it. Nevertheless it is a sword that I absolutely must wield with both hands as I simply lack the strength to hold it one-handedly. In retrospect, I think it was a dumb thing to order a long blade as my first sword, being a noob and knowing that I don't have much physical strength nor endurance for that matter.
The sword came moderately sharp. It won't cut paper very well but it is not bad. The tip however is crazy sharp. I had to put it to the test and it easily penetrated a whole centimeter into a loose piece of hardwood, without even thrusting very hard. I think I know how to best use this sword in case of emergency self defense: stab stabby stab!
Appearance
The sword is an absolute beauty in my opinion. The saya is very well done and covered in additional wrapping and fittings. All the fittings are super-tight. The blade itself looks magnificent, in particular the grain and the wavy pattern welding of the steel. The polish looks good, I didn't find any blemishes or scratches anywhere.
The only problem I had is that since I'm practicing with it every day for 3 weeks now, is that I noticed some small discoloration on the handle wrapping. On the ridges, the cord is starting to lose its bright purple color and turning darker. I suppose that's something to be expected when you actually use your sword but it's slightly disappointing that this is happening so quickly already.
Pros
* Awesome customization that allows for a unique sword
* Good, tight fittings
* Mesmerizing detail on the blade
* I think price was quite good
* Shipping was fast
* Well-packaged
* Got a free basic sword stand
Cons
* Heavier than expected (my fault for not having a clue what to order)
* Cord of handle starting to lose bright color due to use
* Initially took a while to get in touch with seller (great communication from that point on)
* Some fool smashed up the package during shipping
Conclusion
Value-for-money wise I am very happy with my purchase. I'm no expert but the gyaku-kobuse construction looks genuine and you can clearly see that there was a lot of effort and careful manual labor involved in the production. Mr. Yao was very pleasant to deal with. However I don't think this type of sword was the right choice or me as initial sword due to my physical limitations, but I will keep practicing.
If you are stronger than me, this sword shouldn't give you any issues though and the extra length is going to be great for you. It is a typical tachi-katana tradeoff, trading some speed for longer reach. If you already have a katana or two and looking for something different, then I can absolutely recommend a tachi like this sword. For ornamental purposes it is excellent as well, especially since you can customize it to suit your personal taste. All in all, I'm sure I will order from Swordsmith668 again in the future, but next time it will be something smaller.
Note: I don't have close up pictures on the blade, but if you're interested I could try to make some next weekend.