Review: Jkoo/Sinosword 28" San Mai katana
Jun 1, 2021 20:56:53 GMT
Post by Robert in California on Jun 1, 2021 20:56:53 GMT
Review: JKOO/Sinosword San Mai katana:
above: 28" Jkoo/Sinosword San Mai katana, blade discounted to $99 due to black spots on one side of kissaki, plus another $100 for the furniture. Shipping was about $55usd.
above: sword and saya
above: another view
above: black, two layer cloth sword bag
above: close up of sword bag material
This review is about a discounted due to flaw, 28” Sinosword/Jkoo sanmai katana blade that I got for $99usd. For another hundred, I got a saya and tsuka with buffalo horn fittings for the saya and brass fittings for the tsuka. Along with a full wrap of white samegawa for the tsuka. Tsuka ito was black Chinese cotton.
What is a sanmai blade? Think of a sandwich, meat between two slices of bread. The meat is a thinner, harder, higher carbon non-folded mono steel layer between two thicker, softer, lower carbon, folded steel layers. Folded outer steel and mono inner steel. Total came to about $200usd and there was shipping for about $55usd. Why the blade discount down to $99usd? This blade has some small black spots on one side of the kissaki.
Jkoo is the name of the forge, run by Kane Yang and Van Yang. They get the rough blade blanks from a specialty forge and do the finish forging, hamons, heat treatment, blade polishing and the sayas and tsukas. Sayas and tsuka material are selections of production items. Not individually crafted from “scratch”. Www.sinosword.com is the website. Ordering is done at the website.
Wikipedia defines sanmai as this:
“San Mai, in the context of metal blade construction/metalwork, refers to a knife, blade or sword that has the hard steel hagane forming the blade's edge, and the iron/stainless forming a jacket on both sides. It is also the term used to refer to the technique used to create these blades.”
Another description is:
“What is San Mai steel? San Mai steel is, in many ways, similar to Damascus steel—it’s well known for incredible levels of durability despite being forged and cut down into blades, and they have exceptional cutting power.
San Mai steel is Japanese in origin and aims to achieve specific goals in its composition and construction process. Its name, translated from the original Japanese, roughly comes to mean “three parts”, which is a very apt description for the makeup of these blades. The makeup of the blade is rather simple; the central core of the blade (the part that becomes the edge) is made with a harder steel, whereas the two outer edges beyond that point are made up of a milder, more pliable steel.
This method of creating blades combines the best aspects of both varieties of steel and creates a blade with traits few others have. The hard metal steel at the center of the blade provides it with a sharp, sheer edge that’s perfect for slicing and cutting, whereas the milder steel surrounding it gives the blade shock resistance and helps prevent the blade from shattering, which is a common problem with blades made of pure hard steel. This interplay of different elements gives a San Mai blade it’s unique and legendary reputation.”
Below are the furniture specifications I requested. The blade was already made and in the discount section of www.sinosword.com. I used www.sinosword.com’s custom sword ordering menu to specify my furniture choices, for this katana blade.
Katana specifications:
Sword:
Weight, sword plus saya: 3.5 lbs
Weight, sword only: 2.9 lbs
Blade length: 28" (not including habaki)
Blade sori: 3/4"
Blade thickness at habaki: 5/16"
Blade thickness at kissaki: 3/16"
Blade point of balance: 5" past the tsuba
Blade width at habaki: 1 1/4"
Blade width at kissaki: 7/8"
Kissaki length: 1 1/2"
Blade edge to shinogi at habaki: 7/8"
Blade edge to shinogi at kissaki: 5/8"
Habaki:
Habaki: 2 metal, silver partial overlay of yellow brass with decorative rain fall scratches (1" long)
above: Habaki of two layers
above: Thin silver layer on top the brass. Makes habaki thicker/wider. Requires koguichi hole to be wider.
above: This is one of several Jkoo/Sinosword two layer habaki's.
above: Raindrop theme decorative etches
above: Bottom of two layer habaki
above: Habaki fit good, no vertical nor lateral movement. Small gap at habaki end did not extend far in. No looseness.
Tsuba:
Tsuba: darkened, aged-looking brass with flowers, branches and birds (3 ¼” x 3" in diameter, 3/16” thick)
above: Darkened, antiqued look, brass tsuba.
above: Brass tsuba, another view.
above: Back of tsuba showing the punch marks traditionally done to create a more precise fit.
Seppa:
Seppa: dulled brass
above: Brass seppa, no looseness on nakago
above: Brass seppa with some vertical gap, but tight lateral fit. No looseness.
above: Brass seppa on nakago, tight fit.
Tsuka:
Tsuka: full wrap, raw white samegawa with black Chinese cotton tsukaito wrap and 1 bamboo mekugi.
Tsuka length: 11 1/4", straight with taper from 1 8/16" at tsuba tapering to 1 5/16" at kashira.
above: Traditional Jkoo/Sinosword shaped tsuka. Custom order menu now offers a more hourglass shape choice as well.
above: Full wrap of white/natural samegawa (rayskin). No cracks in tsuka wood.
above: One mekugi tsuka
above: Rayskin close up.
above: Tsuka ito of black Chinese cotton.
above: Jkoo/Sino ito wrap even and as tight as my Huawei's.
above: Imperfect fit of nakago to mouth of tsuka.
above: Mekugi ana (hole for mekugi, drilled at slight angle)
above: Cotton ito is more soft and has a more fuzzy look than Jkoo synthetic or real silk. Comfortable to hold.
Fuchi:
Fuchi: brass, floral designs
above: Just one of multiple fuchi/kashira choices available on the Jkoo/Sino custom menu.
above: Jkoo/Sinosword tsuka furniture choices are factory production, not individually hand made.
above: Fuchi of aged, floral appearance. Options are choices of brass, iron and more fancy material.
above: Ito and fuchi/kashira same height.
Kashira:
Kashira: brass, floral designs
above: Kashira of molded brass, dulled and darkened.
above: Kashira close up, sword arrived with darkening worn off at end.
above: Another close up, showing worn off area of darkening of kashira.
Menuki:
Menuki: brass, floral design, 1/4" x 1 5/16"
above: Aged appearance of brass, floral design menuki
Saya:
Saya: 30 3/4" long, gloss black with tiny silver sparkles enamel with brown buffalo horn koguichi, kurigata and kojiri.
above: Farther away, saya looks gloss black.
above: Close up, saya looks gloss black with silver sparkles
above: Closer view of saya. Many choices on Jkoo/Sino custom menu. This one of the cheaper, less fancy.
above: Brown, buffalo horn saya furniture (koguichi). Black also available. I have both. Brown can be translucent and a blend of color.
above: Saya/buffalo horn finished in gloss.
above: End of buffalo horn koguichi, unfinished. Wood near mouth rough.
above: Another view of brown horn koguichi. Not quite perfect alignment of seppa and koguichi.
above: Kojiri of brown buffalo horn
above: Brown buffalo horn kurigata
above: Close up of kurigata
Blade:
Blade: Powerful, San Mai laminated construction, 28", single bohi, chu kissaki, wide midare hamon, Jkoo "cosmetic" polish:
above: Kissaki good side
above: San mai lamination line visible some areas.
above: Black spot flaws on other side of kissaki caused this blade to be discounted.
above: Hada/folding of the softer "skin steel" on either side of the harder, unfolded, interior T10 tool steel.
above: Tight, interesting hada fine, not course.
above: Being used to "in your face" folding, this sword's folding/hada is subtle and appears elegant. Higher grade of hada?
above: Top view, note black spot flaws near tip of kissaki.
above: Bohi is one of multiple types Jkoo/Sino can do.
above: A better view of the transition into the midare hamon.
above: Fine hada closer to nihonto hada style than other Longquan blades I have had.
above: View of mono steel interior T10 "slab" line. The mono "meat" between the folded steel.
above: View near the habaki
above: Other side, in different lighting.
above: Hamon appearance reminds of early morning ocean fog.
above: Activity in the hamon
above: Wide midare hamon with sughua-gunome flavor
above: Another view
The nakago:
above: Nakago in less light. Bottom of nakago pic looks slanted but is flat. It was hard to photograph.
above: Other side of nakago. Appears dark due to different lighting.
above: Nakago file marks
above: Nakago, top view.
above: Top of nakago smoothed so no sharp edges.
How does this San Mai Jkoo katana feel?
Slower but more powerful than my lighter, faster Jkoo 29” katanas. Somewhat quicker, more nimble than my 29” Jkoo Dotanuki katana.
Edge slices paper as one would expect.
The Good:
.1. A lot of sword for the money, good looks and feel. Everything feels tight and solid. No saya rattle. No movement of blade in tsuka. Turned upside down, sword does not gravity fall out of saya.
.2. Huawei-tight ito wrap on the tsuka.
.3. Good habaki fit.
.4. A new type of Jkoo “cosmetic” polish that gives the hamon a look like clouds, catches the eye nicely.
.5. Tight, well-folded, eye candy hada.
The Bad:
.1. Folding flaw: black spots on one side of the kissaki. Cause of blade sold at discount.
.2. Slightly off tsuka-nakago alignment, at least at front of tsuka.
Overall thoughts:
The kissaki black spots, of hard but unknown to me material are the reason this Jkoo blade was discounted to $99usd. Being the cheapskate that I am and its otherwise good looks, I bought this bare blade and spent minimal money for the furniture (simple saya with buffalo horn fittings, full wrap of rayskin on the tsuka, black Chinese cotton ito).
Happily, workmanship was good. Better than I would expect for the features for this $200usd (w/o shipping) sword. I did not have a Jkoo San Mai. I did not want to spend a lot of money, but did want to take a close look at Jkoo/Sinosword folded steel
As to handling, is this sword a dream for me to wield? No. It is a heavy, powerful sword and ok for my two handed wielding. But as an old guy with a shoulder injury, I find this sword too heavy for me for my one hand wielding. Heavy and powerful blades are better for young buff folks than us senior citizens.
BTW, a straight edge showed the blade to have niku yet the blade still sliced thin, lined school binder paper .
Robert in California
May 2021
above: 28" Jkoo/Sinosword San Mai katana, blade discounted to $99 due to black spots on one side of kissaki, plus another $100 for the furniture. Shipping was about $55usd.
above: sword and saya
above: another view
above: black, two layer cloth sword bag
above: close up of sword bag material
This review is about a discounted due to flaw, 28” Sinosword/Jkoo sanmai katana blade that I got for $99usd. For another hundred, I got a saya and tsuka with buffalo horn fittings for the saya and brass fittings for the tsuka. Along with a full wrap of white samegawa for the tsuka. Tsuka ito was black Chinese cotton.
What is a sanmai blade? Think of a sandwich, meat between two slices of bread. The meat is a thinner, harder, higher carbon non-folded mono steel layer between two thicker, softer, lower carbon, folded steel layers. Folded outer steel and mono inner steel. Total came to about $200usd and there was shipping for about $55usd. Why the blade discount down to $99usd? This blade has some small black spots on one side of the kissaki.
Jkoo is the name of the forge, run by Kane Yang and Van Yang. They get the rough blade blanks from a specialty forge and do the finish forging, hamons, heat treatment, blade polishing and the sayas and tsukas. Sayas and tsuka material are selections of production items. Not individually crafted from “scratch”. Www.sinosword.com is the website. Ordering is done at the website.
Wikipedia defines sanmai as this:
“San Mai, in the context of metal blade construction/metalwork, refers to a knife, blade or sword that has the hard steel hagane forming the blade's edge, and the iron/stainless forming a jacket on both sides. It is also the term used to refer to the technique used to create these blades.”
Another description is:
“What is San Mai steel? San Mai steel is, in many ways, similar to Damascus steel—it’s well known for incredible levels of durability despite being forged and cut down into blades, and they have exceptional cutting power.
San Mai steel is Japanese in origin and aims to achieve specific goals in its composition and construction process. Its name, translated from the original Japanese, roughly comes to mean “three parts”, which is a very apt description for the makeup of these blades. The makeup of the blade is rather simple; the central core of the blade (the part that becomes the edge) is made with a harder steel, whereas the two outer edges beyond that point are made up of a milder, more pliable steel.
This method of creating blades combines the best aspects of both varieties of steel and creates a blade with traits few others have. The hard metal steel at the center of the blade provides it with a sharp, sheer edge that’s perfect for slicing and cutting, whereas the milder steel surrounding it gives the blade shock resistance and helps prevent the blade from shattering, which is a common problem with blades made of pure hard steel. This interplay of different elements gives a San Mai blade it’s unique and legendary reputation.”
Below are the furniture specifications I requested. The blade was already made and in the discount section of www.sinosword.com. I used www.sinosword.com’s custom sword ordering menu to specify my furniture choices, for this katana blade.
Katana specifications:
Sword:
Weight, sword plus saya: 3.5 lbs
Weight, sword only: 2.9 lbs
Blade length: 28" (not including habaki)
Blade sori: 3/4"
Blade thickness at habaki: 5/16"
Blade thickness at kissaki: 3/16"
Blade point of balance: 5" past the tsuba
Blade width at habaki: 1 1/4"
Blade width at kissaki: 7/8"
Kissaki length: 1 1/2"
Blade edge to shinogi at habaki: 7/8"
Blade edge to shinogi at kissaki: 5/8"
Habaki:
Habaki: 2 metal, silver partial overlay of yellow brass with decorative rain fall scratches (1" long)
above: Habaki of two layers
above: Thin silver layer on top the brass. Makes habaki thicker/wider. Requires koguichi hole to be wider.
above: This is one of several Jkoo/Sinosword two layer habaki's.
above: Raindrop theme decorative etches
above: Bottom of two layer habaki
above: Habaki fit good, no vertical nor lateral movement. Small gap at habaki end did not extend far in. No looseness.
Tsuba:
Tsuba: darkened, aged-looking brass with flowers, branches and birds (3 ¼” x 3" in diameter, 3/16” thick)
above: Darkened, antiqued look, brass tsuba.
above: Brass tsuba, another view.
above: Back of tsuba showing the punch marks traditionally done to create a more precise fit.
Seppa:
Seppa: dulled brass
above: Brass seppa, no looseness on nakago
above: Brass seppa with some vertical gap, but tight lateral fit. No looseness.
above: Brass seppa on nakago, tight fit.
Tsuka:
Tsuka: full wrap, raw white samegawa with black Chinese cotton tsukaito wrap and 1 bamboo mekugi.
Tsuka length: 11 1/4", straight with taper from 1 8/16" at tsuba tapering to 1 5/16" at kashira.
above: Traditional Jkoo/Sinosword shaped tsuka. Custom order menu now offers a more hourglass shape choice as well.
above: Full wrap of white/natural samegawa (rayskin). No cracks in tsuka wood.
above: One mekugi tsuka
above: Rayskin close up.
above: Tsuka ito of black Chinese cotton.
above: Jkoo/Sino ito wrap even and as tight as my Huawei's.
above: Imperfect fit of nakago to mouth of tsuka.
above: Mekugi ana (hole for mekugi, drilled at slight angle)
above: Cotton ito is more soft and has a more fuzzy look than Jkoo synthetic or real silk. Comfortable to hold.
Fuchi:
Fuchi: brass, floral designs
above: Just one of multiple fuchi/kashira choices available on the Jkoo/Sino custom menu.
above: Jkoo/Sinosword tsuka furniture choices are factory production, not individually hand made.
above: Fuchi of aged, floral appearance. Options are choices of brass, iron and more fancy material.
above: Ito and fuchi/kashira same height.
Kashira:
Kashira: brass, floral designs
above: Kashira of molded brass, dulled and darkened.
above: Kashira close up, sword arrived with darkening worn off at end.
above: Another close up, showing worn off area of darkening of kashira.
Menuki:
Menuki: brass, floral design, 1/4" x 1 5/16"
above: Aged appearance of brass, floral design menuki
Saya:
Saya: 30 3/4" long, gloss black with tiny silver sparkles enamel with brown buffalo horn koguichi, kurigata and kojiri.
above: Farther away, saya looks gloss black.
above: Close up, saya looks gloss black with silver sparkles
above: Closer view of saya. Many choices on Jkoo/Sino custom menu. This one of the cheaper, less fancy.
above: Brown, buffalo horn saya furniture (koguichi). Black also available. I have both. Brown can be translucent and a blend of color.
above: Saya/buffalo horn finished in gloss.
above: End of buffalo horn koguichi, unfinished. Wood near mouth rough.
above: Another view of brown horn koguichi. Not quite perfect alignment of seppa and koguichi.
above: Kojiri of brown buffalo horn
above: Brown buffalo horn kurigata
above: Close up of kurigata
Blade:
Blade: Powerful, San Mai laminated construction, 28", single bohi, chu kissaki, wide midare hamon, Jkoo "cosmetic" polish:
above: Kissaki good side
above: San mai lamination line visible some areas.
above: Black spot flaws on other side of kissaki caused this blade to be discounted.
above: Hada/folding of the softer "skin steel" on either side of the harder, unfolded, interior T10 tool steel.
above: Tight, interesting hada fine, not course.
above: Being used to "in your face" folding, this sword's folding/hada is subtle and appears elegant. Higher grade of hada?
above: Top view, note black spot flaws near tip of kissaki.
above: Bohi is one of multiple types Jkoo/Sino can do.
above: A better view of the transition into the midare hamon.
above: Fine hada closer to nihonto hada style than other Longquan blades I have had.
above: View of mono steel interior T10 "slab" line. The mono "meat" between the folded steel.
above: View near the habaki
above: Other side, in different lighting.
above: Hamon appearance reminds of early morning ocean fog.
above: Activity in the hamon
above: Wide midare hamon with sughua-gunome flavor
above: Another view
The nakago:
above: Nakago in less light. Bottom of nakago pic looks slanted but is flat. It was hard to photograph.
above: Other side of nakago. Appears dark due to different lighting.
above: Nakago file marks
above: Nakago, top view.
above: Top of nakago smoothed so no sharp edges.
How does this San Mai Jkoo katana feel?
Slower but more powerful than my lighter, faster Jkoo 29” katanas. Somewhat quicker, more nimble than my 29” Jkoo Dotanuki katana.
Edge slices paper as one would expect.
The Good:
.1. A lot of sword for the money, good looks and feel. Everything feels tight and solid. No saya rattle. No movement of blade in tsuka. Turned upside down, sword does not gravity fall out of saya.
.2. Huawei-tight ito wrap on the tsuka.
.3. Good habaki fit.
.4. A new type of Jkoo “cosmetic” polish that gives the hamon a look like clouds, catches the eye nicely.
.5. Tight, well-folded, eye candy hada.
The Bad:
.1. Folding flaw: black spots on one side of the kissaki. Cause of blade sold at discount.
.2. Slightly off tsuka-nakago alignment, at least at front of tsuka.
Overall thoughts:
The kissaki black spots, of hard but unknown to me material are the reason this Jkoo blade was discounted to $99usd. Being the cheapskate that I am and its otherwise good looks, I bought this bare blade and spent minimal money for the furniture (simple saya with buffalo horn fittings, full wrap of rayskin on the tsuka, black Chinese cotton ito).
Happily, workmanship was good. Better than I would expect for the features for this $200usd (w/o shipping) sword. I did not have a Jkoo San Mai. I did not want to spend a lot of money, but did want to take a close look at Jkoo/Sinosword folded steel
As to handling, is this sword a dream for me to wield? No. It is a heavy, powerful sword and ok for my two handed wielding. But as an old guy with a shoulder injury, I find this sword too heavy for me for my one hand wielding. Heavy and powerful blades are better for young buff folks than us senior citizens.
BTW, a straight edge showed the blade to have niku yet the blade still sliced thin, lined school binder paper .
Robert in California
May 2021