Custom ST-Nihonto T10 katana
Dec 27, 2016 7:35:30 GMT
Post by JagerTotez on Dec 27, 2016 7:35:30 GMT
Good day everyone. It's been an extremely long time since I last posted and I'm in a position where I can again start collecting and practicing swordsmanship once more.
To celebrate, I decided to commission an entirely custom katana from ST-Nihonto on Ebay. I've seen some of his work and it seems like he is right up there with Huawei (who I purchased one of my favorite katana from which I have since sold.)
ST-Nihonto was actually my second choice, as I had initially contacted Huawei but their notorious lag time between messages has caused me to avoid them for this project (as well as stories of people waiting almost a year for their custom piece in addition to the massive delays between contact which I just can't abide. If I'm tying up big chunks of money, I need to at least speak with you haha.)
After massive quantities of ebay messages and finally a skype session where we really hashed out the details we've come to an agreement and a deposit has been made.
$450 USD shipped. This is the price quoted which I have paid $200 as a deposit to begin work. We discussed the coming new year and I informed him that I understood what that means for production of basically ANYTHING in China, however he assures me he can have the blade made before the new year (which I'm interested to see if that is the case as I have given very specific measurements for the katana.)
Never the less, I informed him that I have no issue with wait times so long as we keep in contact and he provides me with periodic updates to which he agreed.
Below is a basic representation of what I wanted and spoke with him about and he was sent this image as well.
This will be the standard to which I will judge the final product.
We discussed a very specific hamon I am looking for, active towards the base and transitioning to a very straight hamon about 2/3rds of the way up. Fair niku for heavier cutting.
A 14 inch tsuka with a 13 inch nakago for safety.
Iron koshirae which we discussed specific options of his offerings and I picked what I wanted from those.
A sori between 0.5 and 1 inch
yellow leather ito
Full samegawa wrap.
I'll be interested to see if he gets all of these correct which he assures me he will. He has stated he is making a list of everything we discussed and will go over it with me once he has compiled everything I asked for in one place.
Thus I can say that the quality of service I have thus far received from ST-Nihonto has been second to none. I've been nothing but pleased with the promptness of replies to my messages, the honesty with cost and what options will raise/ lower price, and the general eagerness to please, earn, and keep a customer.
If all continues on this path, I foresee a happy me at the end of the road. We shall certainly see, but thus far I am rather pleased with how this is all working out.
Stay tuned for continued review of the total service, production, and final product. This will be a multi-stage review encompassing everything and anything. If there is anything anyone feels I am missing in my review of both the producer and the katana, please let me know and I'll do what I can to add it in!
To celebrate, I decided to commission an entirely custom katana from ST-Nihonto on Ebay. I've seen some of his work and it seems like he is right up there with Huawei (who I purchased one of my favorite katana from which I have since sold.)
ST-Nihonto was actually my second choice, as I had initially contacted Huawei but their notorious lag time between messages has caused me to avoid them for this project (as well as stories of people waiting almost a year for their custom piece in addition to the massive delays between contact which I just can't abide. If I'm tying up big chunks of money, I need to at least speak with you haha.)
After massive quantities of ebay messages and finally a skype session where we really hashed out the details we've come to an agreement and a deposit has been made.
$450 USD shipped. This is the price quoted which I have paid $200 as a deposit to begin work. We discussed the coming new year and I informed him that I understood what that means for production of basically ANYTHING in China, however he assures me he can have the blade made before the new year (which I'm interested to see if that is the case as I have given very specific measurements for the katana.)
Never the less, I informed him that I have no issue with wait times so long as we keep in contact and he provides me with periodic updates to which he agreed.
Below is a basic representation of what I wanted and spoke with him about and he was sent this image as well.
This will be the standard to which I will judge the final product.
We discussed a very specific hamon I am looking for, active towards the base and transitioning to a very straight hamon about 2/3rds of the way up. Fair niku for heavier cutting.
A 14 inch tsuka with a 13 inch nakago for safety.
Iron koshirae which we discussed specific options of his offerings and I picked what I wanted from those.
A sori between 0.5 and 1 inch
yellow leather ito
Full samegawa wrap.
I'll be interested to see if he gets all of these correct which he assures me he will. He has stated he is making a list of everything we discussed and will go over it with me once he has compiled everything I asked for in one place.
Thus I can say that the quality of service I have thus far received from ST-Nihonto has been second to none. I've been nothing but pleased with the promptness of replies to my messages, the honesty with cost and what options will raise/ lower price, and the general eagerness to please, earn, and keep a customer.
If all continues on this path, I foresee a happy me at the end of the road. We shall certainly see, but thus far I am rather pleased with how this is all working out.
Stay tuned for continued review of the total service, production, and final product. This will be a multi-stage review encompassing everything and anything. If there is anything anyone feels I am missing in my review of both the producer and the katana, please let me know and I'll do what I can to add it in!