Shin Gunto Type-94 Reproduction
Aug 5, 2016 19:50:42 GMT
Post by Veerdin on Aug 5, 2016 19:50:42 GMT
Hello everybody! Welcome to my first ever sword review!
I've done a video review: I apologise for the poor quality video as my best camera right now is, unfortunately, on my Samsung J1. I've done some editing to make the sound a bit better (hopefully) but there's nothing I can do to clean up the film itself, sadly.
If you can't view the video for whatever reason or just want to see a bit more of an in-depth review, I've got a written segment underneath the embedded vid which covers pretty much all the same points.
Enjoy!:
Today I'll be reviewing a reproduction shin gunto type-94 (it was listed as being a type-98 on the page, but its design is more consistent with the earlier type-94 as it has two belt rings as opposed to one.) This item was sold on Ebay by “Cnbest”, a shop operating out of China that does hand-made swords as well as a few other items.
You can check out their shop here:
www.ebay.com.au/usr/cnbest?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
Some of you might already be rolling your eyes at the whole “China” and “Ebay” thing, and considering the overall lack of quality control from international Ebay sellers, it's easy to see why. But allow to me say here and now that I was pleasantly surprised by this item. The construction and presentation is – barring one minor issue – very good in my opinion, especially considering the price of the item.
The sword cost $112.99 USD ($148.30 AUD) with a shipping cost of $15.00 USD ($19.68 AUD). I purchased the item on 26/07/16 and received it on 02/08/16 (1 week shipping.)
I'll start off with the blade specs', as written on the site itself as well as provided to me when I contacted Cnbest:
Weight: 3.54lbs / 1.610kg
Overall Length: 41" /104cm
Blade Length: 28.5" / 72cm
Handle Length: 11" / 28cm
Blade width (near Habaki): 1.16" / 3cm
Blade Steel: 1045 Pattern-welded, differentially hardened.
Blade Tang: Full, single mikugi pin.
Fittings: Copper, artificially aged.
Saya: Steel, painted Army Green
Rayskin: Genuine, artificially aged.
Ito Wrapping: Unknown brown fabric (neglected to ask.)
Now, onto the review proper:
Appearance:
As a collector, this sword is everything I was hoping for, visually. It looks pretty true to the historical examples; being modelled after the type-94 shin guntos that were issued to Japanese officers at the start of World War II.
The solid copper fittings as well as the rayskin have all been artificially aged and have a distinctive patina about them, giving the sword a kind of “antique” look, despite it having presumably been constructed fairly recently. The blade, on the other hand, does not appear to have any aging done on it. Instead, it's fairly well finished steel with a subtle grain pattern from the forging process visible under correct lighting. There are one or two small imperfections on the blade, but nothing that would be difficult to remove.
The sword doesn't have a hamon line as it wasn't clay tempered, and a fake one was – thankfully – not added. Instead, the sword is the same texture of steel all the way to the tip. This is yet another consistency regarding the historical swords that this item was modelled after, as the majority of the shin guntos were made of machined steel rather than traditional Japanese forging techniques.
This sword, however, was clearly hand forged. Looking along the distal taper of the blade shows the tell-tale irregularities of a forging hammer, instead of the perfect, uniform-straightness of a machine made blade.
The Saya has been painted Army Green, and I'm not entirely sure if this is historically accurate to real examples (all the examples of type-94s I've seen have simply been painted brown) but it does still fit the visual aesthetic. The mountings are all in the right place, too, and the sword in its sheath looks like it's straight out of a museum.
All-in-all, this item is exactly what I was looking for visually. It may not be 100% historically accurate, but it's close enough for my tastes.
Construction:
And now we get to the part that really matters! For the most part, construction on this piece seems pretty solid. The blade seems to be the right hardness and durability, the ito wrapping is tight and comfortable and none of the fittings are loose. The rayskin is a tiny bit frayed towards the edges, but I suspect this was intentionally done as part of the aging process (if not, then it certainly fits.)
The mekugi pin is a proper bamboo one and the sword can be disassembled without much hassle. And outside of the tarnish on the fittings (which, again, I suspect is intentional) there don't appear to be any blemishes on that front.
The only part of this sword that presented a minor problem was the tang's fit with the handle. When I first got the sword, the tang would move a few millimetres in each direction when I swung it. It wasn't to the point of even being visible, let alone threatening the integrity of the sword, but it was noticeable in the handling of the sword.
Thankfully, this issue was very easy to fix. Thanks to some advice from fellow forum user, Jon Frances, I was able to remedy the problem entirely by wrapping a couple of layers of tape around the tang.
Since doing this, I've had no issues. But I can see this being a potential turn-off to anybody who might be looking into this sword. As this is a hand-made item coming out of China, there is no guarantee that the item you receive will be of equal quality to this one.
It is also worth mentioning that when I contacted the seller of this item, I was informed that the sword was not “battle ready”. Cnbest also advised me against using the sword cut wood or anything similar, which is fine by me, as I wasn't intending to do any heavy cutting with it regardless. But it's a point I feel is important to note.
Additionally, while this sword does come “sharpened”, the edge on it is frankly pathetic. Again, this isn't exactly a problem for me, as I'm mostly after a collectors piece, but if you're looking for something to do some light cutting with, then expect to spend a bit of extra time or money getting a proper edge put on this.
All in all, construction could be better, but considering the price I paid for it and the fact that my singular issue with it was an easy fix, I'm not too bothered by this.
Handling:
As a quick disclaimer, I'm yet to do any actual cutting with this sword, so all my experience with the handling has been simply swinging it around with a few basic sword drills. I might get a proper edge put on this later on and do a bit of light cutting with it, but for now I'll simply talk about how it feels to swing this baby around.
The first point to note is the weight. Clocking in at 3.54lbs / 1.6kg, and with an above-average blade length of 28.5" / 72cm, this sword is a smidge heavier than the average katana. The point of balance is roughly 5 or 6 inches from the guard, meaning that one-handed movements are a bit awkward. However, as this is a katana, it's designed to be used with two hands anyway, and when gripped properly, the blade feels great!
The handle length (also longer than average, if my research is correct) allows for a lot of movement and a lot of leverage power when striking, and the overall balance feels very good in the hand. It's heavy enough that I know it's there, but light enough for me to make quick, fluid movements with.
In regards to drawing and sheathing the blade, the gunto were worn like older tachi swords with the edge facing down, rather than edge-up like more traditional katana. This means that some of the Iaijutsu techniques I learned all those years ago needed a bit of an update for muscle-memory's sake.
Overall, the sword handles very nicely and smoothly – at least it does now that I fixed the small issue I had when I got it.
Verdict:
When I first purchased this item, I was worried that I was going to have yet another horror story to add to the pile regarding Ebay and it's notorious lack of quality control. However, now that I have this sword in my hands, I couldn't be happier!
As a collector first and foremost, this sword fits my needs. However, it is by no means perfect. If you're a connoisseur of high-quality swords, then you'll probably want to look elsewhere, as this sword's somewhat suspect construction and lack of decent edge would make it quite lacklustre for serious usage.
Ultimately, you get what you pay for, and in my view, this sword is worth the price I paid. I wanted a cool, gunto-style collectors piece that I could potentially swing around for some light cutting, and I got exactly that.
This sword has my recommendation if you're a collector, or simply on a bit of a tight budget. It delivers a neat aesthetic and a good-enough quality construction to make somebody like me happy. However, in terms of quality, there are far better options out there, if you have the cash.
Hope you enjoyed this review! I enjoyed writing and filming it.
Cheers.
I've done a video review: I apologise for the poor quality video as my best camera right now is, unfortunately, on my Samsung J1. I've done some editing to make the sound a bit better (hopefully) but there's nothing I can do to clean up the film itself, sadly.
If you can't view the video for whatever reason or just want to see a bit more of an in-depth review, I've got a written segment underneath the embedded vid which covers pretty much all the same points.
Enjoy!:
Today I'll be reviewing a reproduction shin gunto type-94 (it was listed as being a type-98 on the page, but its design is more consistent with the earlier type-94 as it has two belt rings as opposed to one.) This item was sold on Ebay by “Cnbest”, a shop operating out of China that does hand-made swords as well as a few other items.
You can check out their shop here:
www.ebay.com.au/usr/cnbest?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
Some of you might already be rolling your eyes at the whole “China” and “Ebay” thing, and considering the overall lack of quality control from international Ebay sellers, it's easy to see why. But allow to me say here and now that I was pleasantly surprised by this item. The construction and presentation is – barring one minor issue – very good in my opinion, especially considering the price of the item.
The sword cost $112.99 USD ($148.30 AUD) with a shipping cost of $15.00 USD ($19.68 AUD). I purchased the item on 26/07/16 and received it on 02/08/16 (1 week shipping.)
I'll start off with the blade specs', as written on the site itself as well as provided to me when I contacted Cnbest:
Weight: 3.54lbs / 1.610kg
Overall Length: 41" /104cm
Blade Length: 28.5" / 72cm
Handle Length: 11" / 28cm
Blade width (near Habaki): 1.16" / 3cm
Blade Steel: 1045 Pattern-welded, differentially hardened.
Blade Tang: Full, single mikugi pin.
Fittings: Copper, artificially aged.
Saya: Steel, painted Army Green
Rayskin: Genuine, artificially aged.
Ito Wrapping: Unknown brown fabric (neglected to ask.)
Now, onto the review proper:
Appearance:
As a collector, this sword is everything I was hoping for, visually. It looks pretty true to the historical examples; being modelled after the type-94 shin guntos that were issued to Japanese officers at the start of World War II.
The solid copper fittings as well as the rayskin have all been artificially aged and have a distinctive patina about them, giving the sword a kind of “antique” look, despite it having presumably been constructed fairly recently. The blade, on the other hand, does not appear to have any aging done on it. Instead, it's fairly well finished steel with a subtle grain pattern from the forging process visible under correct lighting. There are one or two small imperfections on the blade, but nothing that would be difficult to remove.
The sword doesn't have a hamon line as it wasn't clay tempered, and a fake one was – thankfully – not added. Instead, the sword is the same texture of steel all the way to the tip. This is yet another consistency regarding the historical swords that this item was modelled after, as the majority of the shin guntos were made of machined steel rather than traditional Japanese forging techniques.
This sword, however, was clearly hand forged. Looking along the distal taper of the blade shows the tell-tale irregularities of a forging hammer, instead of the perfect, uniform-straightness of a machine made blade.
The Saya has been painted Army Green, and I'm not entirely sure if this is historically accurate to real examples (all the examples of type-94s I've seen have simply been painted brown) but it does still fit the visual aesthetic. The mountings are all in the right place, too, and the sword in its sheath looks like it's straight out of a museum.
All-in-all, this item is exactly what I was looking for visually. It may not be 100% historically accurate, but it's close enough for my tastes.
Construction:
And now we get to the part that really matters! For the most part, construction on this piece seems pretty solid. The blade seems to be the right hardness and durability, the ito wrapping is tight and comfortable and none of the fittings are loose. The rayskin is a tiny bit frayed towards the edges, but I suspect this was intentionally done as part of the aging process (if not, then it certainly fits.)
The mekugi pin is a proper bamboo one and the sword can be disassembled without much hassle. And outside of the tarnish on the fittings (which, again, I suspect is intentional) there don't appear to be any blemishes on that front.
The only part of this sword that presented a minor problem was the tang's fit with the handle. When I first got the sword, the tang would move a few millimetres in each direction when I swung it. It wasn't to the point of even being visible, let alone threatening the integrity of the sword, but it was noticeable in the handling of the sword.
Thankfully, this issue was very easy to fix. Thanks to some advice from fellow forum user, Jon Frances, I was able to remedy the problem entirely by wrapping a couple of layers of tape around the tang.
Since doing this, I've had no issues. But I can see this being a potential turn-off to anybody who might be looking into this sword. As this is a hand-made item coming out of China, there is no guarantee that the item you receive will be of equal quality to this one.
It is also worth mentioning that when I contacted the seller of this item, I was informed that the sword was not “battle ready”. Cnbest also advised me against using the sword cut wood or anything similar, which is fine by me, as I wasn't intending to do any heavy cutting with it regardless. But it's a point I feel is important to note.
Additionally, while this sword does come “sharpened”, the edge on it is frankly pathetic. Again, this isn't exactly a problem for me, as I'm mostly after a collectors piece, but if you're looking for something to do some light cutting with, then expect to spend a bit of extra time or money getting a proper edge put on this.
All in all, construction could be better, but considering the price I paid for it and the fact that my singular issue with it was an easy fix, I'm not too bothered by this.
Handling:
As a quick disclaimer, I'm yet to do any actual cutting with this sword, so all my experience with the handling has been simply swinging it around with a few basic sword drills. I might get a proper edge put on this later on and do a bit of light cutting with it, but for now I'll simply talk about how it feels to swing this baby around.
The first point to note is the weight. Clocking in at 3.54lbs / 1.6kg, and with an above-average blade length of 28.5" / 72cm, this sword is a smidge heavier than the average katana. The point of balance is roughly 5 or 6 inches from the guard, meaning that one-handed movements are a bit awkward. However, as this is a katana, it's designed to be used with two hands anyway, and when gripped properly, the blade feels great!
The handle length (also longer than average, if my research is correct) allows for a lot of movement and a lot of leverage power when striking, and the overall balance feels very good in the hand. It's heavy enough that I know it's there, but light enough for me to make quick, fluid movements with.
In regards to drawing and sheathing the blade, the gunto were worn like older tachi swords with the edge facing down, rather than edge-up like more traditional katana. This means that some of the Iaijutsu techniques I learned all those years ago needed a bit of an update for muscle-memory's sake.
Overall, the sword handles very nicely and smoothly – at least it does now that I fixed the small issue I had when I got it.
Verdict:
When I first purchased this item, I was worried that I was going to have yet another horror story to add to the pile regarding Ebay and it's notorious lack of quality control. However, now that I have this sword in my hands, I couldn't be happier!
As a collector first and foremost, this sword fits my needs. However, it is by no means perfect. If you're a connoisseur of high-quality swords, then you'll probably want to look elsewhere, as this sword's somewhat suspect construction and lack of decent edge would make it quite lacklustre for serious usage.
Ultimately, you get what you pay for, and in my view, this sword is worth the price I paid. I wanted a cool, gunto-style collectors piece that I could potentially swing around for some light cutting, and I got exactly that.
This sword has my recommendation if you're a collector, or simply on a bit of a tight budget. It delivers a neat aesthetic and a good-enough quality construction to make somebody like me happy. However, in terms of quality, there are far better options out there, if you have the cash.
Hope you enjoyed this review! I enjoyed writing and filming it.
Cheers.