Forge Direct Elite katana Review
Jan 21, 2021 23:00:22 GMT
Post by RaylonTheDemented on Jan 21, 2021 23:00:22 GMT
Introduction
Hi all,
Disclaimer: Please bear with me if there is bad english, grammar or badly phrased sentence as english is not my native language.
This a follow up and review for, as the title says, a Forge Direct Custom katana I made in July 2019, following a discussion in THIS thread.
I decided to buy one because A) There were none (at the time) or very few reviews of the brand and given Paul's offering of a discount in hope to see more buyers/reviewers it fell into my budget at the time, and I thought to myself 'why not'.
This is a double review, because I actually received, examined and handled two of the same 'model', so to speak, after the first one I received was a bit short and had the wrong fittings and thus was returned and exchanged as a result (more details later).
Full Disclosure
I am a backyard cutter, collector and a beginner at JSA practice. I am not affiliated to the seller, the forge or the SBG Store in any way and paid the full price for the item, minus the discount. I used to look (and own 5 of them) at sub 300$ budget katana and this one is the most expensive I ordered so far at 600$ (discount included).
I am aware that production swords may and will have flaws, usually the cheaper the worse it is, but not always, also I am aware that lemons happens. And you may sometimes find a pearl amongst the trash if you are knowledgeable and lucky enough. Now that this have been said...
Since then my philosophy started to change and I am looking more for quality over quantity.
The Long Saga
The first katana: I ordered the sword early July 2019, expecting the sword to be made and shipped 6-8 weeks after ordering.
I also asked Paul if it was possible to have horn fittings which he agreed to for an extra 30$.
...Eventually I received emails from Paul that orders were delayed, and I would receive it a bit later, telling me they had delays with their saya makers and he was gracious enough to knock off the extra 30$ for the horn considering the delays. Finally received the sword in early December, so it overall took 20 weeks.
After some email exchanges, Paul said that while some of the noted flaws (see later) are to be expected on a production sword, the error in length and wrong fittings were unacceptable and I ended up returning it without fee after the Christmas holidays. It was resold as Scratch & Dent in the SBG Store.
The second coming replacement katana: PLACE HOLDER
Initial Impressions
Cardboard box with ubiquitous yellow Longquan tape, with nice looking decorated box inside, everything was well packed and the sword couldn't move in a sword shaped hollow. Solid black cotton sword bag with inner white layer.
Looking alright at first view, saya nice looking, tsukamaki looked okay if diamonds a little uneven, but wrong fuchi and kashira.
Statistics
Blade/Nagasa Length: 28 1-2" from mune-machi (asked for 29") - (72,4cm)
Steel: T10 tool steel
Motohaba/Sakihaba: Didn't note them
Motokasane/Sakikasane: Didn't note them
Overall Length: 40 1/8" (102cm)
Tsuba Width: 2.7" (69mm)
POB (Point of Balance): Forgot to note it
Weight: Forgot to note it
The Nagasa: Very nice shoji hamon (reverse polished, as we often see from china) with a straight, well made Koshi-hi (partial, rounded bo-hi close to the tsuba), polish was very well made, no ripples, every lines were straights and crisp, with a flared chu kissaki and geometrically ground yokote. The blade was straight ground with little to no niku and paper cutting sharp.
It felt balanced in hand and not tip heavy despite the koshi-hi reducing weight at the base of the blade, tapering from mune-machi to a few inches from the kissaki before it flared up wider. I do not have much quality images of the blade as it was not my focus when I was communicating with Paul.
Habaki: Plain, cast brass habaki, slight gaps on the side.
The Tsuka: The shape was somewhat haichi and a bit 'boxy', as opposed to 'oval' (both are historical as far as I know), the tsuka flowed and followed the overall sori of the blade.
Black artificial black silk. No hishigami. Diamonds were uneven but not terrible. Tsukamaki was not very tight, as was the end knot. The copper menuki were moving easily around under the ito. There was a 'lip' at the transition between the tsukamaki and both the fuchi and kashira. You can see that the samegawa was protruding slightly from its channels and caused slight ridges on both side of the tsuka.
The tsuka was filled with some kind of cement or putty/epoxy and hammered in and was very difficult to remove. The reason it was filled with cement was immediately obvious as the nakago was much thinner than the tsuka slot's depth.
The black, tanned samegawa panels with small nodes was drilled through along with the nakago and the bit punched as much as drilled the samegawa panels, so the mekugi were pushing up the edge of the same with them, didn't look too pretty. Tanned same isn't very rigid. so it doesn't help.
Nakago: Was relatively well shaped but roughly filed. The drilling burrs of the mekugi ana weren't cleaned. Lots of metal fillings from the drilling. Mune-machi and ha-machi didn't line up and were machine ground with slightly rounded inward angle.
The Tsuba: Copper with painted gold highlights, standard Longquan tsuba. It was tightly fitted and sat straight on the habaki. A punch was used to make it to fit at the nakago-ana.
I chose these koshirae because it was han-dachi style (which I never had or handled) with a smaller tsuba and wanted to get the 'feel' of it.
Fuchi-Kashira: Copper fuchi and kashira with gold and silver painted highlights. Both were well fitted with no play. The fuchi was glued on, couldn't remove it.
The menuki were also copper with painted gold and silver highlights. As mentioned earlier these were somewhat loose and moving easily under the tsukamaki.
You can see all the tsuba and fuchi/kashira pics I did if you scroll up a bit.
The Saya:
Black lacquered with spiralling mother of pearl and black horn. While it looked great there was a lot of bumps and recesses under the hand due to the inlays. Blade rattled in, no more or less than your average production saya.
Kurigata was possibly horn with brass shitodome, looked glued in place and not loose. Sageo was black artificial silk, not shoelacy. Kojiri well fitted and transition well with the wood.
The same cement/putty/epoxy that was used inside the tsuka was applied to shim the koiguchi for a tight habaki fit.
I asked for horn fittings and while I cannot attest for the kojiri and kurigata the koiguchi was indeed horn.
It was angled downward (which is a nice attempt) and while the angular shape of the koiguchi was well made, the angled down filing was obviously done after the horn was fitted to the saya and the file strokes broke and damaged the wood inside the koiguchi and saya. The koiguchi was rough with file strokes and unpolished.
There was a drill hole close to the mouth of the saya.
Handling Characteristics:
It was Winter and since I was to return it I only did some dry handling. I found it an agile enough blade, well balanced in hand and a pleasure to swish around.
Conclusions:
I had a lot of back and forth e-mailing with Paul about the delays and issues which we got over points by points, he was gracious about it and told me there were points he would report to the forge for amelioration.
I had no trouble returning the katana to a warehouse in Texas, from where it was resold as S&D to a member of the SBG FaceBook page who was quite happy about it.
Pros:
- Habaki was okay fit.
- Blade was beautiful, everything straight, very crisp, definitely the nicest looking one we have home.
- Sharp with a good polish, pretty shoji hamon.
- Well balanced, a pleasure to handle.
- Tight fit, the general assembly was tightly done overall, but there were some issues.
- Tsuka flowed and followed the sori.
- Mother of pearl saya.
- Horn koiguchi.
- Well fitted kurigata and kojiri.
- Koshirae was generally well cast, with some casting lines visible, neither a pro or a con, average Longquan fittings.
Cons:
- Habaki was okay fit.
- Nakago: Machi not ground the same length. Drill burrs on mekugi-ana. Tsuka full of metal fillings. Epoxy filled tsuka.- Saya: Lacquer quality was lacking with bumps all over the mother of pearl. Koiguchi shimmed with epoxy (it should be wood). Hole and damaged wood inside, close to the koiguchi. All cosmetic defects, but it adds.
- Horn koiguchi rough and unpolished.
- Tsukamaki could have been tighter, menuki moving easily.
The Bottom Line:
- Tsukamaki tightness can be fixed by lacquering.
- None of the flaws were fatal and the sword was fully functional.
Would I recommend that katana? I don't know. First, we have to consider the quality service and communication with the seller, and mostly the lifetime warranty, which has a definite worth.
Now, for the discounted price I paid (600$, shipping included) I think it is reasonable to expect some flaws and as a project blade I think it may be a good enough expense. For the regular 800$? I think it's a bit steep, but then I didn't cut with it, maybe I would have been blown away with laser cuts, I don't know.
There is certainly improvements to be made IMHO, namely:
A) Stop epoxying the tsuka and saya as proper carving or shimming replacement, that screams cheap cutting of corners. I understand how production tsuka are made one-size-fit-all, but shimming is better, epoxying/gluing the tsuka is not ok.
B) The machi of the nakago. Please use a file for the finishing touch to make both machi straight after the grinder job.
C) Horn Koiguchi. Angled inside needs to be shaped to form and polished before being glued in place, or stop doing the inward angling altogether, as filing it in situ really screw up the work and damage the inside of the saya. And please don't shim the koiguchi with epoxy, see A.
I also discussed with Paul of the possibility to acquire Forge Direct blades in shirasaya as project swords, that could prove interesting.
Edits: Mostly done. I surely missed stuff, don't be shy and point it out I will do my best to fill in the gaps.
I will write anextended conclusion and opinion after the review on the Second Coming katana, which I received in October 2020.