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Post by Robert in California on Jan 19, 2020 21:05:39 GMT
Hi Folks,
I got this from Jkoo/Sinosword's Van Yang.
It is a little confusing to me, but seems to indicate that yes, they have a pretty good smith there, be it Mr. Yu is National rank or assists a National rank smith there. I did not ask if they have other smiths of a range of skill levels. Since they do wholesale as well, my guess would be that they have more than one person for a given task.
==================
"I got this from Van Yang and think I'll post a part of it:
====================
"Yes, Yu Wei Ping is our smith, But he is a assistant of master national smith, primary level of National smith.......<clip>. Sand iron is very less in Longquan, no sand iron supplied in Longquan at present. We start from pig iron for tamahagane made"
====================
At the least, this answers the question of whether or not Jkoo/Sinosword make their own.
(FYI, Van Yang is part owner of forge...which explains a lot).
RinC
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Post by sacredcompass on Jan 19, 2020 21:55:51 GMT
Hi Folks, I got this from Jkoo/Sinosword's Van Yang. It is a little confusing to me, but seems to indicate that yes, they have a pretty good smith there, be it Mr. Yu is National rank or assists a National rank smith there. I did not ask if they have other smiths of a range of skill levels. Since they do wholesale as well, my guess would be that they have more than one person for a given task. ================== "I got this from Van Yang and think I'll post a part of it: ==================== "Yes, Yu Wei Ping is our smith, But he is a assistant of master national smith, primary level of National smith.......<clip>. Sand iron is very less in Longquan, no sand iron supplied in Longquan at present. We start from pig iron for tamahagane made" ==================== At the least, this answers the question of whether or not Jkoo/Sinosword make their own. (FYI, Van Yang is part owner of forge...which explains a lot). RinC I think I read somewhere that they make reproductions for museums? |
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Post by zabazagobo on Jan 19, 2020 22:54:15 GMT
Cool stuff, I keep having mixed opinions on them: part of me wants to nab a folded long katana from them, another part of me is concerned with the tsuka assembly (recall a few less than favorable accounts)...
Having had quite a few of their swords now, how would you say the tsukas are constructed? Especially compared to Huawei (I know you've nabbed a few of those as well) and Hanwei (I forget if you own anything from Hanwei's Japanese line)
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Post by loveofswords on Jan 19, 2020 23:08:29 GMT
Told ya . Beautiful work from mr. Yu . Only the best work comes out of his hands.
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Post by Robert in California on Jan 20, 2020 2:34:36 GMT
As for tsukas on $200 to $300USA Jkoo/Sinosword stuff, remember that the tsukas will not be "custom carved for that nakago" stuff. They will be production via some kind of factory. Now consider this...(I am only guessing here but am more likely right than wrong)...just as shoes come from the factory in different sizes, it is possible "tsuka factories" can make the tsuka wood halves (tsukas all come in halves...you know...matched pairs)...that tsukas can be ordered with different inletting for the different nakagos. So to start off with a "pretty good fit" even though factory made.
The other thing sword makers can do, is to do a standard nakago that fits pretty good a certain inletted tsuka. Standardization of nakago's on production blades of dimensions to be a reasonable fit to the factory inletting of factory tuska wood halves.
But this is a guess. I have not asked about it. I don't know what Huawei currently does, but one thing I noted with the four Huawei's I bought, was that sometimes the thin slices of shim wood would come out and I had to glue them back in (long, wide, very thin wood shims). So far, I have not seen wood shims in the tsukas of my Jkoo's.
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Post by Robert in California on Jan 20, 2020 3:49:17 GMT
Production swords in the $300 plus/minus range won't compare to $1,000 or $2,000 custom's.
For example, of the two Jkoo waki's I just got, one has perfect habaki to koguichi fit, but has a little blade-in-saya rattle down at the kojiri (bottom end) of the saya. The other has no rattle at all, but the habaki to koguichi fit is not as good and I'll probably glue in a shim. Other than that, they both look good. And the habaki to blade fit looks good. But still, there is something I can nit pick. But value for the money? No complaint with Jkoo, Sinosword. Worst issue I've had was when I asked for a Jkoo/Sinosword "cosmetic" polish and received a mirror polish (ugh! I just do not like mirror polishes).
RinC'
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Post by masondj on Jan 21, 2020 9:44:43 GMT
Production swords in the $300 plus/minus range won't compare to $1,000 or $2,000 custom's. For example, of the two Jkoo waki's I just got, one has perfect habaki to koguichi fit, but has a little blade-in-saya rattle down at the kojiri (bottom end) of the saya. The other has no rattle at all, but the habaki to koguichi fit is not as good and I'll probably glue in a shim. Other than that, they both look good. And the habaki to blade fit looks good. But still, there is something I can nit pick. But value for the money? No complaint with Jkoo, Sinosword. Worst issue I've had was when I asked for a Jkoo/Sinosword "cosmetic" polish and received a mirror polish (ugh! I just do not like mirror polishes). RinC' Hi Robert, Do you have some photos of your mirror polished katana? Somehow mirror polish and cosmetic polish kinda look the same on their website. Did you pay extra for cosmetic polish? Thanks |
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Post by Robert in California on Jan 22, 2020 4:46:25 GMT
Mirror, I think is the cheapest. I forget the diff for cosmetic...nice upgrade, wasn't too much. Mirror polish Jkoo:
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Post by haon on Jan 22, 2020 5:20:08 GMT
When I asked them recently, they told me the mirror polish is free, cosmetic is 60$ and hazuya is 80$
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Post by Robert in California on Jan 22, 2020 5:23:57 GMT
Thanks Haon!
RinC
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Post by haon on Jan 22, 2020 5:25:54 GMT
You're welcome^^
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Post by masondj on Jan 22, 2020 8:11:34 GMT
Thanks guys!
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Post by Google on Jan 23, 2020 9:08:54 GMT
Personally, I haven't seen any high quality sword from jkoo, even those they price high. They have very basic mistakes that make them not worth the price, imho.
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Post by sacredcompass on Jan 23, 2020 16:41:05 GMT
Personally, I haven't seen any high quality sword from jkoo, even those they price high. They have very basic mistakes that make them not worth the price, imho. What kind of common mistakes? They told me mine comes in late February so I'm hoping to spot any issues with my blade when it comes in. |
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admin
Site Admin
Posts: 2,114
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Post by admin on Jan 24, 2020 2:52:06 GMT
Among many other things right now, I am putting up something of a 'fact checker' on eBay/direct from China sellers. Had to hire Daniel Dacombe to do it as I personally find these sellers and their tactics extremely distasteful at best to downright dishonest, never mind about the products themselves..
I'll post a link to the article shortly as it will be helpful to cut through the hype surrounding some of these sellers. It would seem that for the most part, the only time people get something really special is when they announce to the seller that it will be reviewed.. This allows them to go the extra mile on that one sword so that it IS something much more than what other people will get, and so also creates a distorted impression of what to expect that bears out when you read reviews of people who did not announce that it would be reviewed..
But anyway, to this case in point - the response is an outright lie I am afraid. We have had someone actually visit their workshop and there is a small office space with a single grinder, a single polisher and a storage area. So they are getting their blades from hammertown - which makes 1045, 1060 and 1095 carbon steel blades. No 9260, No L6 and no Tamahangane..
And no smiths..
It is a joke that they say a high level smith like Yu Wei Ping is 'THEIR' smith. They might commission him for certain works just as anyone else in Longquan might. But to claim that they have lots of smiths there is totally false, they don't even have ONE smith or even a place to forge anything!
Furthermore, with regards to tsukas - they are mass produced and purchased in bulk just like everyone else there. There are various grades available, but they are all 'one size fits all' and so it is up to the assembler to do the best they can shimming it or otherwise getting one that fits the best and assembling it so it is nice and solid. All covered in a video made many, many years ago.
Best not to guess on these things when the information is out there..
So to answer the question if JKoo makes their own - the answer is NO. And they lied about it..
Finally, Tamahagane..
Making good Tamahagane is a very complex process - it can and is made locally by smiths in Japan using a Kotatawara (small tatawara) but they are super fussy about what can be used where and not every smelt creates usable material that is up to standard.
The very nature of Tamahagane means that extreme precision and care needs to be taken to avoid creating a bad product.. In every sense, pig iron blades are inferior to even the most basic 1045 carbon steel blade - and for $400 or so, there is NO WAY that there is enough time invested to do it properly (and is one of the reasons why Katana made in Japan are typically around $7K for a new bare blade in Shirasaya - it is TIME and EFFORT invested to make it all come together).
I guess they could not sell as many swords if they said 'made from cobbled together pig iron' but that is the truth. This stuff cannot be called Tamahagane and it is very unwise to use a sword made from this material (I would personally prefer a stainless steel blade than one of those).
Hope this helps - let's try to stick to facts and avoid giving these eBay guys too much of a platform here as they are ultimately extremely damaging to the industry and undo much of the hard work we have put in over the years trying to make it all as transparant as possible.
In all honesty, I am actually considering an all out ban on eBay reviews - just too misleading as the customer service and quality varies within a matter of weeks and I am getting tired of all the BS and lies they peddle trying to get free advertising..
P.S. This is not directed at JKOO personally but rather applies to ALL sellers like them. Enough is enough..
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karl j
Manufacturer/Vendor
Posts: 178
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Post by karl j on Jan 24, 2020 4:00:41 GMT
Personally, I haven't seen any high quality sword from jkoo, even those they price high. They have very basic mistakes that make them not worth the price, imho. What kind of common mistakes? They told me mine comes in late February so I'm hoping to spot any issues with my blade when it comes in. Not to speak for Google, but from my perspective typically on these types of swords in no particular order, and mind you I'm not bashing... Misshaped and poorly finished nakago Uneven Machi Poorly shaped kissaki of all types Uneven mune Rounded shinogi Poorly finished bohi Loud garish hada I digress.. |
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Post by jackytheblade on Jan 24, 2020 4:27:52 GMT
Among many other things right now, I am putting up something of a 'fact checker' on eBay/direct from China sellers. Had to hire Daniel Dacombe to do it as I personally find these sellers and their tactics extremely distasteful at best to downright dishonest, never mind about the products themselves..
I'll post a link to the article shortly as it will be helpful to cut through the hype surrounding some of these sellers. It would seem that for the most part, the only time people get something really special is when they announce to the seller that it will be reviewed.. This allows them to go the extra mile on that one sword so that it IS something much more than what other people will get, and so also creates a distorted impression of what to expect that bears out when you read reviews of people who did not announce that it would be reviewed..
But anyway, to this case in point - the response is an outright lie I am afraid. We have had someone actually visit their workshop and there is a small office space with a single grinder, a single polisher and a storage area. So they are getting their blades from hammertown - which makes 1045, 1060 and 1095 carbon steel blades. No 9260, No L6 and no Tamahangane..
And no smiths..
It is a joke that they say a high level smith like Yu Wei Ping is 'THEIR' smith. They might commission him for certain works just as anyone else in Longquan might. But to claim that they have lots of smiths there is totally false, they don't even have ONE smith or even a place to forge anything!
Furthermore, with regards to tsukas - they are mass produced and purchased in bulk just like everyone else there. There are various grades available, but they are all 'one size fits all' and so it is up to the assembler to do the best they can shimming it or otherwise getting one that fits the best and assembling it so it is nice and solid. All covered in a video made many, many years ago.
Best not to guess on these things when the information is out there..
So to answer the question if JKoo makes their own - the answer is NO. And they lied about it..
Finally, Tamahagane..
Making good Tamahagane is a very complex process - it can and is made locally by smiths in Japan using a Kotatawara (small tatawara) but they are super fussy about what can be used where and not every smelt creates usable material that is up to standard.
The very nature of Tamahagane means that extreme precision and care needs to be taken to avoid creating a bad product.. In every sense, pig iron blades are inferior to even the most basic 1045 carbon steel blade - and for $400 or so, there is NO WAY that there is enough time invested to do it properly (and is one of the reasons why Katana made in Japan are typically around $7K for a new bare blade in Shirasaya - it is TIME and EFFORT invested to make it all come together).
I guess they could not sell as many swords if they said 'made from cobbled together pig iron' but that is the truth. This stuff cannot be called Tamahagane and it is very unwise to use a sword made from this material (I would personally prefer a stainless steel blade than one of those).
Hope this helps - let's try to stick to facts and avoid giving these eBay guys too much of a platform here as they are ultimately extremely damaging to the industry and undo much of the hard work we have put in over the years trying to make it all as transparant as possible.
In all honesty, I am actually considering an all out ban on eBay reviews - just too misleading as the customer service and quality varies within a matter of weeks and I am getting tired of all the BS and lies they peddle trying to get free advertising..
P.S. This is not directed at JKOO personally but rather applies to ALL sellers like them. Enough is enough..
Wow...well this is unfortunate. I had planned on ordering a 55 inch T-10 nodachi from them, but if they can't be honest and upfront about their operation, I don't see why I should do any business with them really. I have seen other reviewers speak very highly of them and that they improved significantly in the last decade or so. Oh well, I'll keep my money. Have a Ryujin T10 O-katana I bought from SBG store, I'm cool with that. |
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Post by pvsampson on Jan 24, 2020 4:33:29 GMT
Paul admin do you really feel we need a blanket ban on all ebay sellers? There are some claims that are false but there are some,not many though,that are honest. Huawei comes to mind. There are some reasonably decent entry level swords coming from some of the sites. Maybe a sticky clearly stating that the claims that have been mentioned be kept out of the reviews and just to review the actual item. Moderators here are pretty vigilant,and any review that has misleading info could be edited by request to OP if has misleading info slip through. If not then mod edited. It would be a shame to not see some of the reasonable quality swords get shown. |
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Post by Robert in California on Jan 24, 2020 4:37:23 GMT
Interesting.
What was the date of the visit to Jkoo/Sinosword?
Thanks.
RinC
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Post by sacredcompass on Jan 24, 2020 5:21:35 GMT
Interesting. What was the date of the visit to Jkoo/Sinosword? Thanks. RinC I'd like to know this as well, seconded. |
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