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Post by Richard Arias on Nov 15, 2018 6:12:39 GMT
Well dont expect to much from the mounts. My sheath is binding a bit. And I may need to apply a few drops of glue as the desert weather where I live is already starting to give some play in the kashia. My previous 2 had the same problem. The sheath binding will probably go away as the weather dries it out. But the blade is what you pay for. The polish is decent and to speck. The mounts are common chinese forge mounts. Know that going in 😏 I see. Thanks a lot. I'm not much into Japanese mounting so as long as functional I'm fine. :D Yeah nothing a little DIY know how couldnt fix. 😊
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Post by csills2313 on Nov 16, 2018 15:41:43 GMT
Robert, thanks for posting your review. Looks like the T10 katana you purchased is a pretty good one overall. I also have a katana that I purchased recently for about the same money you spent on this one. It also had some side to side blade rattle in the saya. The rattle is not that bad however.
Will you be posting some cutting videos for this sword? I would love to see yours in action!!
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Post by maewyn on Nov 16, 2018 18:28:12 GMT
Robert, thanks for posting your review. Looks like the T10 katana you purchased is a pretty good one overall. I also have a katana that I purchased recently for about the same money you spent on this one. It also had some side to side blade rattle in the saya. The rattle is not that bad however.
Will you be posting some cutting videos for this sword? I would love to see yours in action!!
Oh yes me too!Id love to see you and Ricky demonstrate these swords cutting.I imagine that would be some impressive cutting.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Nov 17, 2018 1:40:55 GMT
Okay folks, not only is the thread being derailed it's being derailed to include discussion on a product that the owner of the forum has specifically no-no'ed discussion of. I'm going to be pruning the thread and going forward lets keep discussion and questions regarding the sword that has been reviewed unless steered away by the OP. Thank you.
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Post by Richard Arias on Nov 17, 2018 1:47:59 GMT
Okay folks, not only is the thread being derailed it's being derailed to include discussion on a product that the owner of the forum has specifically no-no'ed discussion of. I'm going to be pruning the thread and going forward lets keep discussion and questions regarding the sword that has been reviewed unless steered away by the OP. Thank you. Sorry boss.
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Post by Adrian Jordan on Nov 17, 2018 1:53:28 GMT
It happens every now and then. I'll take care of it.
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Post by Robert in California on Nov 17, 2018 14:34:20 GMT
I am trying to think what I can test a sword on. Face it, water-filled plastic bottles are just play stuff...fun but just stuff any sword, should cut ok without risk. No bamboo here. Pool noodles are in the plastic bottle category. Maybe those lightweight pine wood garden stakes? But they bend easily....hard to do clean cuts on bendy stuff. Wrap in wet newspaper? Ideas? Thanks, RinC
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Post by Lancelot Chan on Nov 17, 2018 14:44:05 GMT
I am trying to think what I can test a sword on. Face it, water-filled plastic bottles are just play stuff...fun but just stuff any sword, should cut ok without risk. No bamboo here. Pool noodles are in the plastic bottle category. Maybe those lightweight pine wood garden stakes? But they bend easily....hard to do clean cuts on bendy stuff. Wrap in wet newspaper? Ideas? Thanks, RinC Fully soaked newspapers at upper arm diameter, with 13 chopsticks core. :) Simulate upper arm pretty well. Takes only 15 mins to prepare.
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Post by csills2313 on Nov 17, 2018 15:15:16 GMT
I bought a couple of cheap tatami mats. Now that the weather has improved, I will soak it for 12 hours and see how my new 9620 sword performs on mats. I used to have a patch of bamboo growing next to my first house in North Ga. My daughter owns the property now so I can probably go over there and get some green bamboo next spring or summer.
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Post by Battodoka on Nov 17, 2018 20:39:02 GMT
I am trying to think what I can test a sword on. Face it, water-filled plastic bottles are just play stuff...fun but just stuff any sword, should cut ok without risk. No bamboo here. Pool noodles are in the plastic bottle category. Maybe those lightweight pine wood garden stakes? But they bend easily....hard to do clean cuts on bendy stuff. Wrap in wet newspaper? Ideas? Thanks, RinC You can get tatami mats from tameshigirimats.com. They're based out of Orange, California. Or you can get beach mats if you want something cheaper and easier to cut.
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Post by Robert in California on Nov 18, 2018 6:37:38 GMT
Thanks for the ideas guys!
I've never done a cutting video..many years ago, our sword class used to occasionally cut pampas grass stalks (about all we had available that we did not have to buy...some of us poor, others cheap....me? I was poor and cheap (Scottish blood, and all, what?). We pretty much all sucked. Most of our cuts sent pieces of pampas grass stalk flying across the room (we used lower prices nihontos...was all that was usable and available back then...converted guntos for the most part...this in the 1980's).
Still am, I guess. RinC ============================================= "Oh yes me too!Id love to see you and Ricky demonstrate these swords cutting.I imagine that would be some impressive cutting." =============================================
Maeywn....I LOVE you dude!!! You are one seriously funny guy!! Our senses of humor seem to be identical. Your comment gave me the only smiles and laughs I have had all week (it has been a really lousy week). To say that I am a 3rd or 4th rate swordsman would probably be giving me undeserved praise. But given a chance, I don't mind giving you a demo that leaves you rolling on the floor with tears in your eyes. Geez man, I just can't stop grinning. You da humor man! (Hey guys, say a respectful hello to Sensei John Walter Pope's big bro...a cool dude!). RinC
p.s. In my own defense, I do claim that I have skills....the Sensei thinks I sweep and mop the Dojo floor quite well.
(still can't stop laughing! .... ok to delete this....I just could not, not post a reply to Maeywn. Still grinning!) Or I can come back in a day or so and edit this post into something innocuous.)
BTW, I have hopes my younger Chinese wife will let me back into the (MMA) Dojo. My injuries am mostly all better now. Wives are odd....they seem to think Dojo injuries are unnatural. I was a once a week student for about 5 years....never got really good nor advanced, but did get closer to my goal of not hitting anyone and not being hit by anyone. Sort of an odd philosophy perhaps, but it is a small Dojo....not a lot of spare bodies. One of my favorite Sensei's was this young (everyone looks young to me these days) guy who was a Shodan (or maybe a Nidan) and had such lightning reflexes that he could back away from a punch or kick faster than I could do one. In the last several years, I only hit him once (I used a very advanced, secret technique...."Look, a squirrel!").
Hey guys, you know the difference between an occasional Dojo student (MMA anyway) and a regular? If you come to the Dojo and nothing hurts, you are an occasional. If you come to class already hurting, you are a regular.
Biggest problem in having a sedentary type job and very little personal time, is stamina. I was always good for the first 90 seconds of a 3 minute match. Everyone being about 30+ years younger....tough to match their stamina. I sure couldn't. Us old dudes, were best served by a slow/fast technique.....sort of tai chi variation, to conserve energy and minimize movement, when sparring (at least for the boxing or karate matches) to make limited stamina last longer. Block and counter seems to work best for us slower, older folks. Especially against much more advanced students. Took me a while and a number of right and left hooks to the head and ribs to realize and accept that us old folks can't copy young folks style of fighting successfully. But was great fun. Made friends easy there too. Contact sparring is a great ice breaker for getting to know folks.
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Post by wicker on Nov 27, 2018 2:27:59 GMT
Does anyone have any opinion on how JKOO swords compare to hanwei, for the same price? Polish, blade quality, fittings, saya rattle, etc.
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admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2,088
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Post by admin on Nov 27, 2018 3:37:18 GMT
I just have one question about the Tamahagane sword you mentioned.. How can they sell that for $500?
Its just way too time consuming to make to be able to sell for that kind of price. Is it just local Longquan iron? Then $500 makes sense, but to call it Tamahagane is an extraordinary claim..
Might be worthwhile to ask them since you are getting a few selected sponsored deals with them and have a good line of communication. I don't think they are being deliberately misleading, but something ain't right..
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Post by Robert in California on Nov 27, 2018 7:19:04 GMT
My $518 Jkoo /Sinosword tamahagane katana (included about $51 shipping) was made from pig iron, not iron sands. My understanding was that there was a time when iron sands was used, but my katana blade started out as chunk(s) of pig iron, not iron sands. Would have cost more if they started with iron sands. Seems they can get pig iron chunks there in Longquan, China.
I am unsure what pig iron is made from....iron sands? iron ore chunks? I have not researched that yet.
RinC
(I know my 'tamahagane' is out of pig iron because I asked Jkoo's Van Yang if iron sands and he said, pig iron (not iron sands).
Maybe "tamahagane' is not the right term for a sword made from pig iron. But I am not sure what to call such...
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Post by AndiTheBarvarian on Nov 27, 2018 10:43:40 GMT
Pig iron is melted iron with 4 - 5 % carbon, much too much carbon for steel, more like cast iron. In modern steel making they blew oxigen through it to burn and reduce the carbon and making steel with 0.3 - 1,5 % carbon. Afaik every steel produced in blast furnaces is made out of pig iron, so that's nothing special. Real Japanese tamahagane is made out of Japanese iron sand, in a special type of bloomery (tatara) and this produces some pig iron too, but also steel. The steel with high carbon 1 - 1,5 % is called tamahagane. Sometimes the pig iron from a tatara was called tamahagane too, but pig iron is not steel. Chinese "tamahagane" is something different and much cheaper to produce.
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admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2,088
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Post by admin on Nov 29, 2018 3:34:32 GMT
They really should qualify it - Tamahagane technically only comes from one place in Japan - but the biggest problem is with newbies who only know a few key words and will think that a genuine Tamahagane sword must be better than anything else at that price point, creating all sorts of unrealistic expectations and is very much against what we try to do at SBG..
Of course, it would not sell very well if it was labeled 'pig iron' - but if that is what it is, it needs to be clearly stated. Its just one step off from calling some 1045 carbon steel 5160 spring steel or whatever is the flavor of the month.
Next time I catch up with Sam Sung from Ryujin I will have a chat about this - in passing last time I saw him he mentioned he knew of some easy techniques people can use to identify steel types and expose this common eBay practice as these sellers hurt the industry and take sales away from companies who do the right thing.. :-(
In the last 5 years since the eBay sellers have got stronger you would think that the sword industry over there would be thriving. But it a wasteland these days and many forges are shutting down or moving into other industries. If and when this happens, the pool of available one offs and bits and pieces the eBayers sell will no longer be around either, and who knows how many years it will take for the industry to recover...
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Post by zabazagobo on Dec 3, 2018 2:54:50 GMT
My take is they do a somewhat more involved process folding the steel so it has more dynamic characteristics that resemble the whirls and twirls of tamahagane more than typical Chinese folded steel. So calling it 'tamahagane' is probably not the most accurate sales pitch, but an attempt to distinguish a higher grade of folded steel. It's clear from word of mouth and their website that their specialty lies in customer service and swordmaking, not necessarily marketing in English.
To hop on a soapbox for a moment on the topic Paul brought up, I honestly think the main issue isn't so much ebay sellers (I don't think Sinosword has an ebay page) but rather the oversaturation of cheap swords in the $250 or under price range which are frankly not all that great. With the surplus of cheap (and poor quality) swords, customers consequently undervalue a higher quality sword's value and instead go for the cheapest sword (especially when they're new to the market), and end up purchasing swords which have plentiful issues (especially with the tsuka). Subsequently, a lackluster experience may disillusion customers about production sword quality, discourage future purchases and take attention away from folks who make genuinely good swords for $1,000 or less. Factor in the consumer choice dynamics due to the exaggerated surplus of options on the market, and I wouldn't be surprised if the current market is, to put it mildly, sluggish from oversaturation. Too many cheap options, too hard to find a quality one, less customer engagement with the market, that old chestnut. Often less is more, and I think this is a lesson the production katana market will have to learn the hard way.
Ultimately, if a manufacturer makes a good sword, they could call it starlight steel if they were so inclined and it wouldn't change the fact it's a good sword. If on the other hand a manufacturer makes a poor sword and solicits it for cheap, it won't inspire much confidence. Hopefully things shift around and there's a healthier emphasis on selling a quality sword for a fair price, not a serviceable sword for a low price. It's the latter mindset which is crippling the production market. Which is why it's nice to see Sinosword doing what they do, it seems they genuinely care about their customers and go out of the way to provide good swords and service.
Anyways, just my 2.5 cents (bit too wordy to be two, but more concise than usual for me so not quite three). Back to the original thread topic, it is quite refreshing to hear a positive consensus around these swords. Look forward to hearing more about the other swords you have and plan to review.
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