Cheap KOA Pudao: You Get What You Pay For
Feb 28, 2017 7:48:39 GMT
Post by Voltan on Feb 28, 2017 7:48:39 GMT
"Generic" Forged Pudao
Review by Jason L McEntee
One of my bad habits is browsing the "New Products" page on Kult of Athena when it's slow at work---a bad habit in the sense that I could too easily give in to temptation if something catches my eye. Such was the case with this Pudao that popped up about a month ago. Priced at just $49.95, I thought, what the hell? It would make a fine backyard beater, and, if it turned out to be crap, no major loss. Here's the link to the product page on KOA. As you can see, there's no manufacturer's name listed in the product info...
www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=SC096&name=Forged+Pudao
My first impression of the weapon upon unboxing was wow, this thing looks menacing, and appears to be very stout. Everything seemed tight and well built, although the edge was pretty dull. An hour on the belt sander took care of that, and yet again my left arm is hairless. All I needed was for the perpetual rain that we've been having to stop so I could get outside and give it a whirl. So far, so good, right? Here's a couple of pics. Again, I thought this thing looked pretty cool, considering that I'm strictly into Euro & Fantasy blades...
Now, I'm not going to bother listing the specs of the weapon, as during the test cutting, the handle cracked when a bad cut on my part hit the cutting stand. About five minutes into my cutting session (1:05 into the video), a bad cut from my weak side hit the stand, but I didn't think it hit too hard. I checked for damage, and didn't see anything initially. Everything still felt tight, so I continued to cut. As the video shows, this thing was a lot of fun to use:
After cutting, I brought the Pudao inside to begin the post-cutting session cleaning and oiling of the blade, and that's when I saw it---the BIG crack in the handle, just below the guard:
Into the garage it went, with two words in mind: project blade. As I began to work the handle off, I discovered it had a welded on tang extension.
I'll chalk this one up as taking one for the team, and hey, I've got plenty of handle materials in stock; so I'll turn this into a project blade for sure. I did hit the cutting stand, but I've hit it harder than that with my homemade, Home Depot polearms, and their handles are still fine. I think they used some pretty cheap wood for the handle, and the welded on tang extension was a disappointment. So, with shipping, a total of $76 got me one really fun cutting session and a project blade. Let the buyer beware; if it seems too good to be true, it usually is. In most cases, like the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.
Review by Jason L McEntee
One of my bad habits is browsing the "New Products" page on Kult of Athena when it's slow at work---a bad habit in the sense that I could too easily give in to temptation if something catches my eye. Such was the case with this Pudao that popped up about a month ago. Priced at just $49.95, I thought, what the hell? It would make a fine backyard beater, and, if it turned out to be crap, no major loss. Here's the link to the product page on KOA. As you can see, there's no manufacturer's name listed in the product info...
www.kultofathena.com/product.asp?item=SC096&name=Forged+Pudao
My first impression of the weapon upon unboxing was wow, this thing looks menacing, and appears to be very stout. Everything seemed tight and well built, although the edge was pretty dull. An hour on the belt sander took care of that, and yet again my left arm is hairless. All I needed was for the perpetual rain that we've been having to stop so I could get outside and give it a whirl. So far, so good, right? Here's a couple of pics. Again, I thought this thing looked pretty cool, considering that I'm strictly into Euro & Fantasy blades...
Now, I'm not going to bother listing the specs of the weapon, as during the test cutting, the handle cracked when a bad cut on my part hit the cutting stand. About five minutes into my cutting session (1:05 into the video), a bad cut from my weak side hit the stand, but I didn't think it hit too hard. I checked for damage, and didn't see anything initially. Everything still felt tight, so I continued to cut. As the video shows, this thing was a lot of fun to use:
After cutting, I brought the Pudao inside to begin the post-cutting session cleaning and oiling of the blade, and that's when I saw it---the BIG crack in the handle, just below the guard:
Into the garage it went, with two words in mind: project blade. As I began to work the handle off, I discovered it had a welded on tang extension.
I'll chalk this one up as taking one for the team, and hey, I've got plenty of handle materials in stock; so I'll turn this into a project blade for sure. I did hit the cutting stand, but I've hit it harder than that with my homemade, Home Depot polearms, and their handles are still fine. I think they used some pretty cheap wood for the handle, and the welded on tang extension was a disappointment. So, with shipping, a total of $76 got me one really fun cutting session and a project blade. Let the buyer beware; if it seems too good to be true, it usually is. In most cases, like the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.