Swords of Northshire 1095 Custom Katana
May 18, 2019 18:47:25 GMT
Post by darthmuhl on May 18, 2019 18:47:25 GMT
Swords of Northshire Katana review.
I’ve lurked here for quite a while, but this is my first actual post.
First a bit of an introduction:
I have a disease. Often, once my bank account slips dangerously into positive territory and if I’m a little bored I buy another sword. Lately I’ve been on something of a binge buying katanas. I already had a couple of Hanwei/Paul Chen production swords, including a wakizashi, an Iron Tiger Forge Laminated Katana, and a Musha Damascus Dynasty Katana (these last two from Kult of Athena). Also, several Western Medieval swords and a rapier. Then I’m forgetting the entirely too many light sabers from Ultra Sabers. (I told you it was a disease.) I like/love them all.
These are entirely for display with the occasional slicing of sheets of paper to test for sharpness. At my age if I went outside and tried cutting mats or water bottles, I’d probably throw out my back or cut off a foot. Also, my neighbors would probably call the cops or an ambulance. (On the other hand, the sound and lighting effects from the light sabers are very cool and have led to some spirited mock battles in my living room.)
I recently discovered the world of “custom” katanas through this forum and some of Matt Jensen’s YouTube reviews. I recently received a katana from Swords of Northshire, which I’ll review here, and I have three more in the pipeline from other sellers. (I told you have a disease.) These are not super expensive pieces, since I’m not that wealthy and I think you can get some really fine pieces in the $500 - $800 range. I like starting with a steel and construction method and I lean towards folded and/or laminated blades with more or less traditional clay tempering. I know that modern steels don’t make this necessary, but I like the aesthetics of these methods and spend a fair amount of time staring at the hamon and hada patterns in the steel. I also like the ability to pick and choose the “furniture” usually picking a theme and color pattern. My other katanas are fairly standard looking and lately I’ve been drawn to brighter colors and fancier looking fittings. Some may find my tastes to be on the gaudy side.
With all that said here goes my review of my SoN Custom 1095 folded and clay tempered 1095 katana.
I first started putting together an order using the standard options on the SoN website. I sent a series of questions to Bryce at SoN and he sent me his fittings catalog which gave me many more options. Let me say at the outset the service I received from Bryce was outstanding and the sword arrived a month or so after I ordered it. Before he shipped it, he sent me some very nice photographs which I’m including here. I’m not set up at home to take high quality pictures.
The blue paint job is actually kind of speckled like a metallic finish. I couldn’t see this in the catalog, but I really like it. I was going for a serpent/snake theme and a blue/gold/white color pattern. I asked him if it was possible to get a dark blue saya and he pointed out one in the fittings catalog that I think is really stunning. I also chose a carved dragon filled with gold paint on the sides of the saya.
I was initially looking for a snake/serpent design and Bryce offered to have one made if I could send him a picture to start from. I hunted around a bit before deciding on the dragon design in the catalog.
The tsuba and fuchi/kashira have a snake theme and there’s a snake engraving on the silver habaki. SoN offers lots of options for engravings. The characters on the blade are a phonetic translation of my name into kanji.
I also asked to have the bohi start in front of the habaki.
Now on to the blade. The hada is not very apparent which I think is usual for a single alloy folded blade. I really like the random pattern of the hamon.
Now on to the blade. The hada is not very apparent which I think is usual for a single alloy folded blade. I really like the random pattern of the hamon.
The blade shape is the usual shinogi zukuri with a chu kissaki. I’ll eventually try some different options.
The ito wrap is very tight. The white color will show up stains and dirt so I have to keep my hands clean when fondling the sword. The sword doesn’t rattle in the saya, but the fit of the habaki is a little tight. I may work up the courage to loosen it up a bit. I did manage to remove the tsuka. It was very tight and I don’t quite know why I did it. The smith’s name is engraved on the tang.
I ordered it mirror polished and razor sharp and it came that way. I’m not great at it, but it diagonally slices paper very easily, but it doesn’t shave arm hair, but I don’t plan on shaving with it.
That’s about all I can think of saying. I’m at a loss for adjectives to describe how pleased I am with this katana and I can’t say enough nice things about the quality of service from Swords of Northshire.
That’s about all I can think of saying. I’m at a loss for adjectives to describe how pleased I am with this katana and I can’t say enough nice things about the quality of service from Swords of Northshire.