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Post by MichaelRS on May 25, 2021 3:49:16 GMT
So, there's really nothing to do with all that at this point except be grateful that the sword is on the move. Indeed....when it looks like the SOB is actually moving.
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Post by MichaelRS on May 25, 2021 16:00:47 GMT
Well now, supposedly, the package has "Departed from facility" (Osaka, Japan) and will be "forwarded to a UPS facility in the destination city."
They probably left out the part that says "...after a brief tour of World War II Pacific island battlefields."🙄
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Post by Lancelot Chan on May 25, 2021 16:15:16 GMT
My 3 swords order has been placed on ryan swords now. I'll review them once they arrived and let you guys know about the quality.
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Post by MichaelRS on May 25, 2021 17:56:35 GMT
My 3 swords order has been placed on ryan swords now. I'll review them once they arrived and let you guys know about the quality. That is great. I hope they are quality swords in their price range. I was looking at Ryan at one point, but the kind of thing with the blade in the link below gave me pause. But it has been a while. Have they recovered their reputation since then? sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/45125/faked-sanmai-katana-ryansword-he
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Post by Lancelot Chan on May 25, 2021 18:11:40 GMT
My 3 swords order has been placed on ryan swords now. I'll review them once they arrived and let you guys know about the quality. That is great. I hope they are quality swords in their price range. I was looking at Ryan at one point, but the kind of thing with the blade in the link below gave me pause. But it has been a while. Have they recovered their reputation since then? sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/45125/faked-sanmai-katana-ryansword-heNo idea really. We'll see.
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Post by RufusScorpius on May 25, 2021 18:18:15 GMT
Well now, supposedly, the package has "Departed from facility" (Osaka, Japan) and will be "forwarded to a UPS facility in the destination city." They probably left out the part that says "...after a brief tour of World War II Pacific island battlefields."🙄 I wouldn't stress too much over the tracking. Sometimes I've watched the tracking and it said the package was in Japan and 10 minutes later it was delivered to my doorstep. Sometimes it's accurate, sometimes not. The important part is that it was shipped. Everything that happens after that is in the hands of the almighty.
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Post by jester on May 26, 2021 11:54:50 GMT
In my opinion, it's not a matter of reputation. I genuinely believe that more than half of Longquan forges try to sell swords lying about lamination and/or steel type. Ryan's has just been caught while the others didn't yet eventually. Consider that their target is mostly people without a lot of knowledge in steels (if any at all) and 9 times out of 10 they will never open a tsuka in their lifetime. Nonetheless, I do not deem Longquan forges as "bad". You just have to understand a few things and try to minimise the "damage" if you want to order from them. Examples: - the koshirae will ALWAYS be crap. It's cheap stuff in the end. It would be best to select simple parts, without too much details and colours. The simpler, the better. - the more you custom, the worse it's gonna be. Every custom tweak means a chance to do mistakes/cut corners. Much better to select a "done" sword and ask to change the bare minimum. - swords with heavy discounts and special offers are most likely defective. Avoid. - keep things simple: avoid damascus, folded, lamination, etc. A monosteel in maru within the standard sizes is always the best thing if you order from them, unless you want a sword just as a decoration piece. In conclusion, for a functional katana, I would just browse their selection of ready swords, pick the one most similar to what I have in mind among the "[steel type] - mono - maru" range, and ask them to change the few parts I need to change and send me pictures of it once done before shipping. This way, you reduce dramatically the chances of mistakes and corner cuttings, the blade would still be decent and you can always upgrade the fittings later.
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Post by MichaelRS on May 26, 2021 16:20:55 GMT
HUZZAH! It has finally arrived at my local UPS distribution center. Some interesting back and forth tracking entries there between Osaka and Anchorage before being checked into Anaheim. Anyway, hopefully it'll be in my grubby little hands by today or tomorrow. Attachments:
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Post by MichaelRS on May 26, 2021 17:30:52 GMT
jester. Excellent points. Thanks for your input.
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Post by MichaelRS on May 26, 2021 23:21:26 GMT
Supposedly "out for delivery" now, but it's going to my POB. So, depending how knowledgeable the driver is in working with post office deliveries, I should have a notice in my box tomorrow to pick it up at the window or they will take it back to the UPS hub and try to contact me to go pick it up there.
EDIT: Well, apparently they got it right and, according to the email delivery notice, left it at the post office receiving dock at 6:15 this evening. So I should have it by tomorrow.😁
If anybody is interested, it was supposedly to be sent by UPS expedited service. I don't know what that is Hanbon's usual M.O. or if that was just done to impress a first-time customer or what. But, when it was actually moving, it made good time.👍
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tera
Moderator
Posts: 1,661
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Post by tera on May 27, 2021 4:21:45 GMT
Congratulations, glad to hear it arrived safely. It sounds like, as expected, the delays were at crossing national boundaries.
Looking forward to pictures and a review!
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Post by MichaelRS on May 27, 2021 5:12:08 GMT
Congratulations, glad to hear it arrived safely. It sounds like, as expected, the delays were at crossing national boundaries. Looking forward to pictures and a review! Thank you. I haven't seen yet but hopefully you are right and it did arrived safely/undamaged. I will be making a new thread for the review.
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Post by noktorn on May 27, 2021 5:41:21 GMT
Congratulations, glad to hear it arrived safely. It sounds like, as expected, the delays were at crossing national boundaries. Looking forward to pictures and a review! Thank you. I haven't seen yet but hopefully you are right and it did arrived safely/undamaged. I will be making a new thread for the review. Congrats! My tachi finally got pulled from the SF warehouses by Yomikuni, and I just got issued a UPS tracking number that works. Here's hoping mine makes it as quick as yours. My Sino should hopefully ship tomorrow as well. 'Bout time things start moving!
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Post by MichaelRS on May 27, 2021 6:08:37 GMT
Thank you. I haven't seen yet but hopefully you are right and it did arrived safely/undamaged. I will be making a new thread for the review. Congrats! My tachi finally got pulled from the SF warehouses by Yomikuni, and I just got issued a UPS tracking number that works. Here's hoping mine makes it as quick as yours. My Sino should hopefully ship tomorrow as well. 'Bout time things start moving! Glad to hear it. Although I just noticed something odd with my package, maybe you, or anybody else, would know; The delivery email I got from UPS said that the package weighed 0.5 kg/ 500 grams = 1.10bs. I'm not totally familiar with metric conversions so I had to look it up and that is extremely light for what it's supposed to be. What I looked up says that Katanas basically start at 900 grams, = ~2 lbs, and generally go up to about 1400 grams = ~3 lbs. So you would think the package would weigh 2 or more lbs, but here it's coming in at 1.10 lbs. I wonder what's up with that?
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Post by notthesharpest on May 27, 2021 16:53:54 GMT
<abbr data-timestamp="1622095717000" title="May 27, 2021 2:08:37 GMT -4" class="o-timestamp time">May 27, 2021 2:08:37 GMT -4</abbr> MichaelRS said:Glad to hear it. Although I just noticed something odd with my package, maybe you, or anybody else, would know; The delivery email I got from UPS said that the package weighed 0.5 kg/ 500 grams = 1.10bs. I'm not totally familiar with metric conversions so I had to look it up and that is extremely light for what it's supposed to be. What I looked up says that Katanas basically start at 900 grams, = ~2 lbs, and generally go up to about 1400 grams = ~3 lbs. So you would think the package would weigh 2 or more lbs, but here it's coming in at 1.10 lbs. I wonder what's up with that? They are shipping the other half of your sword separately?
Sorry - up all night working, and I'm punchy.
Wishing your sword a safe arrival, as expected,
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Post by MichaelRS on May 27, 2021 17:39:39 GMT
FUDGE! Now the post office says they cannot find the package and it was not in the palette of their UPS deliveries. <sigh>
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tera
Moderator
Posts: 1,661
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Post by tera on May 27, 2021 17:41:21 GMT
Sometimes shipping charges vary by package weight. They may be under-reporting weight to save you shipping costs. Not exactly ethical as the carrier gets screwed for jet fuel, but I've seen it done before.
I seriously doubt there is any cause for worry. They won't mistake your sword order for only a tsuba.
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Post by MichaelRS on May 27, 2021 18:50:21 GMT
Sometimes shipping charges vary by package weight. They may be under-reporting weight to save you shipping costs. Not exactly ethical as the carrier gets screwed for jet fuel, but I've seen it done before. I seriously doubt there is any cause for worry. They won't mistake your sword order for only a tsuba. Yeah, that's kind of what I thought. But you would think that at some point the carriers would be on to that, but then again it is originating in China, so what's a little corruption along the way? And since shipping is included in the price from these guys, they definitely have the incentive to save where they can. But at this point somebody at UPS or the post office is either lying or incompetent or both. But I've never had any other package, whether coming from FedEx or UPS or anyone else, lost being delivered to my PO. If it said delivered I've never not been able to go down there and pick it up, only to find that it's "lost". Oh well, I'm going to check again in about 3 hours and maybe they "found" it by then.
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Post by pellius on May 27, 2021 21:10:45 GMT
I hope it works out for you.
Last sword I ordered from China was a JKOO. As always, I had it shipped to my PO Box. They sent it UPS. In my neck o’ the woods, UPS absolutely will not deliver to a PO Box, regardless of their ads.
Mine got lost in the bowels of UPS, showing “returned to sender” for months. No service rep would help track it down. It was always “on a truck” or something.
I had long given up on it, when one day a guy in street clothes just showed up at my office, and handed it to me. No paperwork, no explanation, nothing. I was happy to get my sword, though.
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tera
Moderator
Posts: 1,661
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Post by tera on May 27, 2021 21:14:20 GMT
I hope it works out for you. Last sword I ordered from China was a JKOO. As always, I had it shipped to my PO Box. They sent it UPS. In my neck o’ the woods, UPS absolutely will not deliver to a PO Box, regardless of their ads. Mine got lost in the bowels of UPS, showing “returned to sender” for months. No service rep would help track it down. It was always “on a truck” or something. I had long given up on it, when one day a guy in street clothes just showed up at my office, and handed it to me. No paperwork, no explanation, nothing. I was happy to get my sword, though. Same here. I've never heard of UPS delivering to a P.O. Box. That's not feasible where I live, but maybe policies have changed. 2020 changed everything, including shipping logistics, so maybe the policy has changed here, too.
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