Jkoo/Sinosword T10 Midare Wakizashi (dull)
Jan 6, 2021 20:32:56 GMT
Post by Robert in California on Jan 6, 2021 20:32:56 GMT
Above: Jkoo/Sinosword T10 tool steel wakizashi with midare hamon
Sword Review:
22” Custom JKOO/Sinosword Mono T10 Midare Hamon Wakizashi. January 2021
Above: This Jkoo/Sinosword wakizashi arrived undamaged packed inside this thick, tape-wrapped, styrafoam shipping box.
Above: Well protected, undamaged...well packed for the trip from Longquan, China to California...sword in a black sword bag.
Above: The sword bag looked to be a black, lined, bag of synthetic material. Simple but does the job.
Above: The midare, T10 Jkoo/Sino wakizashi
Above: Other side of the Jkoo/Sinosword wakizashi
Above: Wakizashi theme...black and white...(nothing wild...no flashing LED's)
Above: Basically a simple wakizashi with full rayskin tsuka wrap, one mekugi, gloss black saya, brass tsuka and brown horn saya furniture.
This is a review of a Jkoo (www.sinosword.com) wakizashi. Jkoo/Sinosword is a Longquan forge that makes and sells swords directly, forge to customer. Jkoo offers custom and pre-made, plus wholesale. Sinosword is the website. Jkoo is the forge. I ordered this sword via the Sinosword/Jkoo custom choices menu and it is a 22 inch, mono T10 tool steel, midare hamon wakizashi. I could have bought a “already made” sword from the Sinosword/Jkoo web site since I did not ask for anything fancy. Jkoo/Sinosword’s “already made and available now” swords are here: www.sinosword.com/Japanese-sword-nihonto.html Swords via the Jkoo custom order menu are here:
www.sinosword.com/Custom-Japanese-Samurai-Katana-Sword-Unique-Design.html
Jkoo/Sinosword offerings are fairly feature rich for the prices charged. To me, Jkoo/Sinoswords are attractive because I can get a lot of features for a fairly modest price. When I do a custom specs order, Jkoo usually but not always gets my specifications correct. But normally close enough to make me pleased. On average, I would say that out of ten specifications, Jkoo/Sino gets 8/10 and sometimes 9/10 right. The other 2/10 or 1/10 spec misses are either a feature I wanted that did not get done or was not done as I wished it. For example, this custom wakizashi was made as I asked, except for one notable spec….I asked for “sharp with niku”. I normally ask for that and get a sword that has niku but still slices school 3-ring binder paper. This time, the blade was sharp but not so sharp that it could slice school binder paper. More like my pocket knife….cuts what I need but won’t shave any hair off my arm. Sort of a disappointment because normally Jkoo “sharp with niku” blades come paper-slicing sharp.
Above: Tears the paper. Did not slice the paper.
Ok, so it mostly tore thin lined school binder paper instead of slicing. How did it do on back yard bottle cutting?
Above: More force needed to cut the milk jugs and did not cut the cardboard juice cartons.
Above: True, I was cutting with my injured right arm, but still....it should have completely cut thru the juice cartons like my other Jkoo's.
In backyard cutting, I cut water-filled plastic one gallon, milk jugs, waxed cardboard half gallon and milk and juice cartons. I sat them on top a 4”x4” wood fence post that was about 4 feet high. This wakizashi cut the plastic milk jugs ok using a little more effort than with my Jkoo “razor sharp” swords, but had trouble cutting the waxed cardboard juice and milk cartons. On them, it was more like hitting a baseball with a bat. Aaarrgghh! My friend was over to also cut bottles and cartons. He did better and could cut the juice cartons, but my excuse would be that he did not have an injured shoulder, whereas I did, which weakened my one handed cutting power by about half.
So maybe part of the problem cutting the juice cartons was me. But still, even with a weakened shoulder limiting my cutting ability, I am used to Jkoo swords that always cut through. So, I was not happy.
I have never tried to sharpen a Jkoo sword because all my others could slice paper, some better than others, but the others all could.
Above: A careful 5 or so minutes with an Eversharp tool and the blade was slicing school binder paper.
And so I did. I bought an Eversharp “knife and sword sharpener tool” off Ebay and in about 5 minutes, this wakizashi that could and did slice paper. The Eversharp tool did, however, created a very small secondary bevel of about 1 mm. And it was more shiny than the Jkoo hamon’s level of polish, so it did not blend in well. I wanted to dull the shine. So, I then finished the thin, shiny Eversharp-sharpened hamon edge with some Japanese hazuya stones to smooth and dull the shine. Anyway, the Eversharp tool (which I learned about from the Sword Buyers Guide sharpening techniques site ( www.sword-buyers-guide.com/how-to-sharpen-a-sword.html ) was easy to use and did well, to create a paper-slicing edge with minimal time and effort. Non-traditional, but this wakizashi was to be a backyard “bottles and stuff” cutter. A “beater” wakizashi.
On to the sword specifications:
JKOO Sinosword Wakizashi Specs.:
The Sword:
Cost: A bit under $300usa , including shipping (China to USA)
Weight: 2.12 pounds (sword only)
Weight: 2.61 pounds (sword + saya)
Total Length (sword + saya) = 33 inches
Total sword length = 31 5/8 inches
Sword Point of Balance: 3 inches ahead of the tsuba.
The Blade:
Above: Bare blade...T10 tool steel, midare hamon, geometric bohi, one mekugi hole, signed on nakago.
Above: better view of the hamon and geometric bohi
Above: Hamon more of a sanbon sugi than a midare?
Above: close up of the kissaki
Above: Another view.
Above: Is this really a midare hamon?
Above: close up of the hamon
Above: Nakago with no sharp edges...nice....something I asked for.
Above: One mekugi ana (hole) nakago
Above: close up of mekugi hole and file and shaving marks of nakago
Above: Signed blade (an option from the custom menu)
Blade metal: T10 tool steel
Blade length: 22 3/8 inches (kissaki tip to muni-machi)
Blade nakago: 8 ½ inches
Blade length: 30 7/8 inches (kissaki tip to end of nakago)
Blade construction: mono (non-folded)
Blade polish: Jkoo “cosmetic” (appearance resembles a finger stones polish)
Blade (with niku) sharpness: sharp but not razor sharp. Feels sharp but when trying to slice student binder paper (thin paper), it tears the paper, not slices it.
Blade sori: 7/16 inches
Blade thickness at yokote: 5 mm
Blade thickness ½ way down blade: 6 mm
Blade thickness at habaki: 7.5 mm
Blade width (ha to mune) at yokote: 15/16 inches
Blade width (ha to mune) ½ way down: 1 1/8 inches
Blade width (ha to mune) at habaki: 1 1/4 inches
Bohi type and width: geometric, 8 mm
Kissaki length: 1 1/2 inches (medium kissaki)
Blade hamon: midare (irregular, width range of 3/16” to ½”, averaging 1/4 inches wide)
Blade boshi (hamon of kissaki): suguha (straight, 1/4 inch wide)
Above: Brass habaki
The Habaki:
Habaki: dulled gold color brass with diagonal file scratches
Habaki length = 1 1/16 inch
Habaki height = 1 ¼ inch
Thickness, max = 7/16 inch
Habaki fit: Perfect fit. This has been an area where improvement has been needed. This habaki is a perfect fit. Nice work Jkoo!
Above: Brass tsuba from the custom menu
Above: Other side of tsuba
The Tsuba:
Tsuba: darkened brass, raised lip edges, roundish with four indentations, design is raised vegetation and birds with patches of worn black paint.
Tsuba thickness: 3/16”
Tsuba length (ha to mune direction): 3 1/16 inches
Tsuba width side to side): 2 3/4 inches
Above: Tsuka, full samegawa wrap, brass furniture, black cotton tsuka-ito
Above: Other side of tsuka
Above: Black cotton ito, soft, comfortable, wrapped very tight...done inhouse at Jkoo.
Above: Brass menuki...one of the choices, kind of a favorite of mine.
Above: Close up of black cotton ito and samegawa (rayskin)
Above: Bamboo mekugi pin
The Tsuka:
Tsuka length: 9 1/4 inches
Tsuka: full wrap of raw, white, small nodules ray skin
Tsuka ito: black cotton
Tsuka ito wrap: traditional “criss-cross”. Very tight. Diamonds even.
Tsuka Mekugi: one, bamboo
Tsuka width (ha to mune) at fuchi: 1 8/16 inches (with ito)
Tsuka width (ha to mune, half way between fuchi & kashira): 1 1/8 inches (with ito)
Tsuka width (ha to mune) at kashira: 1 1/4” inches (with ito)
Tsuka thickness (side to side) at fuchi: 7/8 inch (with ito)
Tsuka thickness (side to side) at kashira: 3/4 inch (with ito)
Above: Brass fuchi
The Fuchi:
Fuchi: darkened brass with raised waves design
Fuchi length: 1 1/2 inches
Fuchi width: 7/8 inches
Above: Brass kashira
The Kashira:
Kashira: dulled golden brass, rounded oval, with raised waves design.
Kashira length: 1 1/4 inches
Kashira width: ¾ inches
Seppa:
Seppa: Brass, gold color
Seppa length: 1 11/16 inches
Seppa width: 1 inch
Above: Brass menuki. Multiple choices available.
The Menuki:
Menuki: dull, darkened brass, floral design
Above: Saya with buffalo horn furniture, glass black finish, black&white synthetic silk sageo
Above: Other side.
Above: Closeup
Above: Black and white sageo of synthetic silk
Above: Koguichi
Above: Kojiri, buffalo horn
The Saya:
Saya length: 23 5/8 inches
Saya width at kojiri: 1 1/2 inches
Saya thickness at kojiri: 7/8 inches
Saya width at koguichi: 1 5/8 inches
Saya thickness at koguichi: 15/16 inches
Saya furniture (kojiri, kurigata, koguichi): buffalo horn, natural translucent brown
Saya color: gloss black
Saya shito-done: brass (bright gold)
Saya sageo: black & white braided, Chinese cotton
Saya weight: 1/2 pound
My Thoughts:
This Sinosword/Jkoo mono T10 tool steel, midare hamon wakizashi is a good, solid sword with plenty of features for a reasonable price. No spectacular looks, but functional. A good value. It did force me to finally learn to use an Eversharp tool. Which turned out easier than I expected. I got the idea to use an Eversharp from our Forum's article on sharpening:
www.sword-buyers-guide.com/how-to-sharpen-a-sword.html
Summary and nit picking:
The Good:
Attractive blade and furniture. Good workmanship. First class tsuka ito wraps. Good feel in the hands. Perfect habaki to nakago fit. Nice and snug.
The Bad:
Sharpness. While all of the blade would slice heavy-grade (thick) typing paper, only part of the blade is sharp enough to slice thin paper, such as lined, binder paper.
The sword, when tipped upside down, would slide out of the saya. I had to shim the koguichi. Used duck tape. There is probably a more elegant way to shim a koguichi.
Thoughts:
Sinosword/Jkoo swords IMO, offer a lot of features for the money. Where occasional problems are, is in quality control. The good workmanship on this sword would suggest better attention to detail. And the Eversharp knife and sword sharpening tool gave a “paper slicing” edge to the blade. But my personal expectations is that "sharp with niku" edges should still slice paper.
Robert in California, California January 2021