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Post by kristian on Dec 11, 2017 0:16:03 GMT
Order was placed around Oct 2 and the sword arrived at my friend's house on Dec 8. I had it shipped there because I live in an apartment and I didn't want the delivery person to just leave it at the door if no one was home. Pictures will be uploaded later as I am still on my phone. Edit: 12/12/2017; attached images This is the package as it arrived. Just a styrofoam box wrapped in glorious amounts of tape. After tearing at the tape with scissors because I forgot my knife, I realized I could have just cut it along the sides and pull the top off. Welp, left a nice mess in my friend's room. Saya is actually tight and even my friend commented that it seems a bit too tight. You can see him playing the Monster Hunter World beta on PS4 off to the left.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2017 2:12:26 GMT
Wow. Shipped from China to Hawaii?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2017 12:59:13 GMT
From your monster size pics, I can tell they lubed it well for shipment.
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Post by 28shadow on Dec 13, 2017 19:43:27 GMT
That is quite nice. I like that tsuka.
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Post by RaylonTheDemented on Dec 13, 2017 22:37:37 GMT
Looks very nice, what are the specs?
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Post by kristian on Dec 15, 2017 19:09:53 GMT
Oh man, I don't know why some of the pictures came out so massive. The blade is 30 inches and the tsuka is 10 inches. It has a geometric yokote as well. I'm not sure if it has o-kissaki or chu-kissaki as I haven't measured it yet. This is because on the request form I originally filled out, I chose o-kissaki along with a brass habaki and seppa. When emailing Van about the sword price, I changed my mind to chu-kissaki and silver habaki and seppa. However, the habaki and seppa are clearly brass. I even noticed this in the photos he emailed me when the sword was finished. I chose to let it slide because I didn't want them to take it apart all over again just to replace the color. Also, the guys at the forge probably only follow the specs that are listed on the request form. The changes I requested over email were minor and easily overlooked.
One complaint I do have is the menuki. I'm sure it's metal (someone clarify which metal it usually is, I'm not sure) but it looks like plastic. It's as if someone just gave it a simple paint job. Or it could have been made hastily, whether it be casting or some other method. The samegawa also looks like it was just painted black but it doesn't seem as obvious. Another complaint I have is the are where the spine of the blade meets the habaki. Facing the spine, on the left side, it's not seated flush with the habaki. A little corner is sticking out.
As for handling, it feels much better than my katana from trueswords. Their sizes and dimensions are close to each other but the trueswords one felt heavier and the sinoswords one felt lighter. One thing to note, I originally requested a cotton/silk ito that was dark red. However, Van told me that they had run out of that color and suggested a leather ito in similar dark red. The leather ito feels nice in the hand and it's wrapped really tight.
Here's the ito and the sageo pictures. The sageo color really fits the black and red theme I was going for.
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Post by MatthewGMK on Dec 15, 2017 20:08:10 GMT
Just a thought, I learned a lesson a long time ago to never play with, move, clean, or un-package a sharp sword in bare feet.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2017 22:20:04 GMT
Kris - Looks Nice! I like the less amount of sori in the blade. I would email Van any concerns. Who knows, you might get a discount or something. I started out using the form, but had more spec. changes, so I emailed Van my own complete specifications list instead of the online form and we worked off list I created.
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Post by Cottontail Customs on Dec 16, 2017 3:59:45 GMT
most Chinese production sword menuki are usually made of brass or other similar alloys. sometimes they are steel. yours are probably a thin brass or maybe zinc alloy but yes, they do look pretty cheap and poorly cast.
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