|
Post by RaylonTheDemented on Nov 24, 2017 22:14:50 GMT
First, I am no representative of anyone except myself and a new sword collector. My wife is taking pictures while I unwrap. This a my second review, on a relatively cheap through hardened Huawei 9260 spring steel Unokubi-Zukuri Katana.Delivery: Shipped from China, received the package one week earlier than I expected, which is very gratifying. Tight wrapping, plastic bag, generic cotton bag, blade greased and wrapped in plastic, tsuka wrapped in plastic, all very neat: Koshirae: Ito is very tightly wrapped, and alternated. It says Ishi-gami on the product info on ebay, maybe someone can tell me how to verify that? There is a slight gap on one side of ito wrap where it joins the kashira. There you see a little wood on the 'corners'. That is due to the kashira being slightly too wide for the tsuka core and not transitionning smoothly with the ito. Not perfect but not a hindrance to handling. Everything else is well and tight. tsuba is very simple iron and fairly small, brass seppa and habaki. Habaki is very squarish and a bit coarse. All tight. Saya: Glossy black, no defect, no scuffs, tight but not exceedly so, have to shake it very hard to hear any rattling. Sageo is ok, Shito-dome are well fixed. Nov 3, 2017 17:53:01 GMT -5 Faldarin said: A heads up - if you manage to get a production katana without saya rattle, hold onto that unicorn. Almost all of them need some work to keep from rattling, at least at lower pricepoints. Nagasa: First it is very sharp, good polish, kissaki is not geometric. Through hardened, so no hamon. Blade got a very slight bend toward the left, maybe a couple millimeters starting at the end of the hi, very hard to notice, had to put the blade flat on the table to confirm it. There is also a small 4 millimeter long darkening at the very edge ha, 2cm from the kissaki tip. Looks like leftover burnt metal from over grinding, but I can't be sure. Very edge itself is polished and bright, barely visible, and only on one side of the blade. The Unobuki-zukuri feels lighter and livelier than my bo-hi Ryujin, tsuka is also quite shorter so too. I can obtain a very, very nice tachikaze, sound is higher in pitch that I get from the Ryujin and easier to obtain. Overall I am quite satisfied of the look and handling, can't wait to cut with it, will build a stand tommorrow so I can begin before Winter settles in. o7
|
|
|
Post by Adrian Jordan on Nov 24, 2017 22:35:55 GMT
That's a nice looking sword you got there.
|
|
|
Post by Faldarin on Nov 25, 2017 0:24:17 GMT
Sir, I am so stealing that picture. Ahem. On a more serious note - that looks really good. For a production sword, those kind of minor defects are unfortunately relatively common... but they are just that, minor. It looks really QUITE excellent. I can't wait to hear how it cuts. As for hishi-gami with the ito... judging from how even the diamonds look, it almost certainly was wrapped that way. If it was not, then someone is inhumanly good at wrapping ito. Looks like you got a great deal for that price.
|
|
|
Post by Cottontail Customs on Nov 25, 2017 2:05:57 GMT
Hishigami is the paper stuffed under the ito that help create the triangular shape each hishi(diamond) has. you can check for these easily by pushing aside the ito enough to take a quick peek underneath (each triangle of ito should have one inside)
the kashira isn't too wide for the core, the gap you see is there because the tsukamaki wasn't finished quite right, especially for the curved style of rim this kashira has. it just resulted in a little exposed wood, nothing terrible. the tsukamae is actually done pretty well for a production sword and certainly for one in this price range.
The slight bend seems to be recurring issue for their 9260, th line of blades. 9260 oil quenched makes for a very resilient blade but unfortunately, it also makes removing a bend quite challenging. shouldn't really be a problem if it's so slight.
Enjoy your new sword!
-Josh
|
|
|
Post by RaylonTheDemented on Nov 25, 2017 3:01:46 GMT
Just came back from an outing in town with my other half, thai food then we got to watch Justice League. Not a bad movie, not great either, was enjoyable and we got few laughs out of it. Now, thank you gentlemen for your good words, I am cleaning my garage a bit tommorrow (it rained today) and will build my stand, got the wood and everything, should be quick. Also got a couple bags of plastic bottles for cutting, yes. @cottontail: Thank you for the input, I did as you counseled and yes, it IS hishi-gami wrapped, thank you. I like it very much, considering the price (I am looking at very nice looking, mor expensive swords for the future). I doubt the VERY slight bend will affect cutting. I also fully expect to bat a few bottles before I get it perfectly right, been practicing with a bokken the last few weeks for that moment. Will keep you updated and take some pics of the cutting. o7
|
|
|
Post by Croccifixio on Dec 4, 2017 6:19:12 GMT
Huawei fit and finish is really a step above their price point
|
|
|
Post by RaylonTheDemented on Dec 16, 2017 21:32:49 GMT
Review update. Did some Winter cutting today (-10c) with my unokubi-zukuri and Ryujin (will talk about the Ryujin in its own thread). Also, it was my very first time cutting, chopping up water filled milk/juice cartons and plastic bottles. Cut about 20 of those with the Huawei. First, I have to say Winter cutting isn't optimal, ice forming up the blade, getting worse after a bit as the blade cooled down, despite frequent wiping. Couldn't get the blade back in the saya due to that, kept the sword in hand all the time. Keeping in mind it was my very first time cutting. So. I have to say, being honest here, I did bat a couple bottles with some badly aligned cuts, that is amateur territory indeed. Examined the blade after each misaligned hit, came out unscathed. Did a few stabbings, blade getting cleanly through most of the time, but then nothing unexpected. On one of my first upward strike, I clipped the 4 by 4 stand and shaved a couple mm at an angle, also cutting cleanly through the target. Examined the blade and no dent, set or edge roll. No scuff either. But then, it is spring steel. Also hit a few bottle necks, got a very small scuff once, disappeared after thorough wiping once back inside. Now, beside some misaligned cuts, I had great fun slicing and shaving rings off 2 liter milk cartons in series of short, well aligned cuts. Had 'Ooohs' and 'Aaahs' from my two boys looking from a distance lol. The blade is light and very easy to align, tried my hand at some trick cuts and it did mostly well. I was worried when I clipped the stand as I had read unokubi-zukuri blades have a tendancy to take a set at end of the bo-hi but all is well. The ito was really tight, still very tight after cutting, koshirae still all tight, nothing moving, but then it wasn't really straining at all. Overall it was quite a satisfying experience, though I am looking forward to cut newspaper rolls, likely in the garage. Will update again once I have done so, will try to record the next session. o7 P.S Wife came back from shopping at the end, she recorded some bits on her cell, will see if I can post those later. Edit: I am cleaning and oiling both katana in the kitchen, and under a better light I found small persistent scuffs on the blade. 'Battle scars!'
|
|
|
Post by Faldarin on Dec 16, 2017 22:29:53 GMT
Nice - glad to hear of a good session. I don't do outdoor cutting sessions in very cold weather - because the ground of my cutting area is grass-covered - and slippery + swords do not mix at all. Milk jugs and the 'thin' plastic water bottles are good to start for new cutters. Eventually you'd upgrade that to soda bottles and such.
I'm really glad to hear the ito has held up - and make sure you really are careful cutting indoors if you do in your garage. It's far too easy to accidentally scrape the ground or something above your head.
And your blade will definitely get scuffs if you cut with them, on almost any cutting medium. Even unicorns get battle scars.
|
|
|
Post by ealdoss on Apr 1, 2018 2:48:17 GMT
Beautiful blade. I'm really considering getting an Unokubi Zukuri, but my priority is on the lightness of the blade. Would you happen to know the weight of the blade without saya?
|
|
|
Post by RaylonTheDemented on Apr 6, 2018 5:29:25 GMT
Sorry for the delay - No I'm not sure of the weight, having no precise scale. All I can tell you is that it feels more lively and a somewhat lighter than my bo-hi Ryujin Custom. I am fully planning to get more Huawei blades though, quite satisfied with the sword. o7
|
|
|
Post by RaylonTheDemented on Jun 3, 2018 16:56:49 GMT
Update: I been tarining a bit on my form with the Unobuki these las few months, and I noticed what seemed a very small creaking close to the tsuba, which leads me to this week.
Done my first Spring cutting with it, blade handle beautifully IMHO, especially for trick cuts, though I can't claim to be any professional. Still the same little, intermitant creaking. Nothing seemed loose though, and tsuka felt solid.
Now, both our sons grew very insisting and I eventually caved in (with my wife's grudging agreement) to let them try some water bottle and milk jugs. Security in mind, I gave them a reminder course on how to handle a sword and some pratical demonstrations to make sure they got it.
Keeping in mind given ther height, the 28'' long blade must have felt like a O-katana to them but then the unobuki feels very light and nimble and after a couple strike to get the feel of it they had no trouble getting quite a few clean cuts and up to three cuts from oposite directions on milk jugs. Darn, that's better than me when I started.
That being said, it brings us back to the creaking: They also both heard it.
So I dismantled the sword today, easily done, some light hits with a rubber mace were needed to remove the tsuka and tsuba, nothing special. The nakago is slightly curved with clean mekugi-ana. You can see that the holes have been cleaned to remove any metal shavings from the drilling.
Tsuka is fine, not cracked as far as I can seen, tsuba is tight on the blade and so is the habaki. Creaking seems to come from the fuchi which is slightly lose, likely due to wood shrinking. I can see a little smear of what seems to be glue, it likely started creaking when the glue failed under winter dry handling. Easily fixed, just need to shave very slight wood filling and glue them in place, maybe with a dot of glue to fic the fuchi in place at reassembly.
Of note, at the end of the cutting session the tsuka's end-knot came loose, so I tightened it as best I could but will have to apply a drop or two of epoxy under it to keep it in place. Everything else on the tsuka is still very tight.
Since it is dismantled, I will be replacing the tsuba with, IMHO, a better looking one. It is also heavier, may change a wee bit POB. New tsuba on the left, old one right side.
o7
|
|
|
Post by RaylonTheDemented on Jul 14, 2019 21:51:53 GMT
It has been a while, just showing up to say that I easily fixed the end knot problem. As it wasn't completely unravelled, I remade it and applied a couple drop of superglue under and in the knot to fix it in place, been used a lot since, everything's fine.
Also fixed the tsuka's creaking by liberally taping up to the last third of the nakago, there was ample space for the tape, one problem of these one-size-fit-all tsuka I guess, but fixed now.
P.S Brought it for tameshigiri at the dojo a couple months back, most of the members were inexperimented and didn't own a katana, using a sub-300 katana provided by the sensei. I offered mine for general use and it stole the show for most of us, I think unobuki profile really helps for cutting tatami, short of having a specialized cutting blade.
o7
|
|
|
Post by aeri on Oct 9, 2019 7:07:43 GMT
Thanks for making the follow-up posts. It is interesting to see how well a product holds up over time beyond the initial review, as some problems may not be apparent at the start.
|
|
|
Post by shobutengu on Oct 12, 2019 14:48:49 GMT
not bad at all for the price .
|
|
|
Post by RaylonTheDemented on Oct 14, 2019 3:42:45 GMT
not bad at all for the price . I would tend to agree.
After a couple years more of experience and a lot of reading and looking (which, don't get me wrong, makes me a debutant still), I can say the fittings are quite cheap, and there may be issues with the tsuka to nakago fitting, and in my case a weak end knot, both of which are fixable with some know-how, but the blade is quite evenly grinded/polished and well profiled.
After a lot of soft and medium target cutting (I qualify cored rolled newspaper as 'medium') the blade holds very well under use, even in very inexperienced hands (got quite a few sword noobs cut with it) and is yet to bend or take a set. It may or may not be 9260 as advertised, but it is definitely springy.
|
|