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Post by junesbanunes on Jan 2, 2022 20:34:13 GMT
The recent Huawei thread started a discussion on custom smiths/craftsmen but only named a few so I thought it deserved it's own thread. Here's from the huawei thread as well as some additions of my own: Josiah Boomershine facebook page from US Pavel Bolf katana-kaji.com from Czech republic Rado radoswords.com from from Slovakia Michael Sabatier michael-sabatier.com from France Pierluigi Ponzio japanesesword.es from Spain Does anyone have experience with any of these? And what more alternatives are there?
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Post by Arlequin on Jan 2, 2022 22:25:06 GMT
Would add james raw.
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Post by vidar on Jan 2, 2022 23:32:02 GMT
I have a sword from Michael Sabatier. The sword is great and the price is reasonable. On the downside, you need patience, lots of it.
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Post by junesbanunes on Jan 3, 2022 7:25:58 GMT
How about some more info?
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Post by junesbanunes on Jan 3, 2022 7:27:56 GMT
I have a sword from Michael Sabatier. The sword is great and the price is reasonable. On the downside, you need patience, lots of it. How long was the waiting time and may I ask what you paid? How was the customer service?
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Post by vidar on Jan 3, 2022 9:04:49 GMT
I have a sword from Michael Sabatier. The sword is great and the price is reasonable. On the downside, you need patience, lots of it. How long was the waiting time and may I ask what you paid? How was the customer service? Originally the lead time was going to be 6 months but it took about a year. The problem is sometimes communication, he promises timings that he cannot realise. For example “it’s almost ready” and then 4 weeks later still nothing… Also when you send an email, you can get a reply after 5 minutes, or after a week… it’s a bit the stereotype of a chaotic artist But in the end, I received a very nice sword. I paid around 2500 Euro. I took the blade without Bo-hi, tameshigiri polish, reinforced saya, I supplied an antique tsuba. The f&k are basic. Silk ito over full wrap samegawa. Excellent fit and finish. On his website, you have the option to see the price, based on the options you choose. So that is very transparant.
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Post by Stef on Jan 3, 2022 12:25:50 GMT
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Post by shepherd214 on Jan 4, 2022 2:36:41 GMT
The recent Huawei thread started a discussion on custom smiths/craftsmen but only named a few so I thought it deserved it's own thread. Here's from the huawei thread as well as some additions of my own: Josiah Boomershine facebook page from US Pavel Bolf katana-kaji.com from Czech republic Rado radoswords.com from from Slovakia Michael Sabatier michael-sabatier.com from France Pierluigi Ponzio japanesesword.es from Spain Does anyone have experience with any of these? And what more alternatives are there? I would remove Pavel Bolf from this list Lol what happened with this one?
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Post by junesbanunes on Jan 4, 2022 7:46:30 GMT
I would remove Pavel Bolf from this list What's the point of writing something like that without further information?
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Post by Stef on Jan 4, 2022 8:21:18 GMT
I would remove Pavel Bolf from this list What's the point of writing something like that without further information? Pavel was hospitalized with exhaustion, he seems to have completely shut himself away to catch up with orders, ne social media. he estimated 1 year but he is also not replying to emails and not giving updates to people waiting on orders. so the situation very fuzzy and a lot of unhappy people
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Post by randomnobody on Jan 4, 2022 11:52:27 GMT
What's the point of writing something like that without further information? Pavel was hospitalized with exhaustion, he seems to have completely shut himself away to catch up with orders, ne social media. he estimated 1 year but he is also not replying to emails and not giving updates to people waiting on orders. so the situation very fuzzy and a lot of unhappy people First I've heard of that. I've admired his work for years and he's on my bucket list, so here's hoping he makes a full recovery and gets back to his craft, if at a more reasonable level.
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Post by vidar on Jan 6, 2022 8:07:07 GMT
What's the point of writing something like that without further information? I payed for a wakizashi almost 3 years ago...he did sent me pictures and it was basically finished... he did not reply to my messages or emails since then (has passed 2years and half) There are more people like me and they have paid big bucks Sorry to hear that. Did you have to pay the full amount before the sword was complete? With Sabatier, you have to pay one third up front and the remainder when the sword is complete and ready to be shipped.
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Post by novak77 on Jan 6, 2022 17:36:55 GMT
It took me two years and quite a few emails to finally get a response from Pavel.
He said it would be late 2022, or early 2023 at the earliest to get to me, and that would be just forging the blade, polish and Koshirae would be another year or so. We were emailing back and fourth about specifics, and he kinda just disappeared.
Hoping he is in good health.
Cheers
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Post by shepherd214 on Jan 7, 2022 5:58:52 GMT
It took me two years and quite a few emails to finally get a response from Pavel. He said it would be late 2022, or early 2023 at the earliest to get to me, and that would be just forging the blade, polish and Koshirae would be another year or so. We were emailing back and fourth about specifics, and he kinda just disappeared. Hoping he is in good health. Cheers Lol that's interesting. Wonder how many customers die or something before they finally have the blade in hand after waiting for 5 years. The chances have to go up you'd think
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Post by Arlequin on Jan 7, 2022 6:15:57 GMT
It took me two years and quite a few emails to finally get a response from Pavel. He said it would be late 2022, or early 2023 at the earliest to get to me, and that would be just forging the blade, polish and Koshirae would be another year or so. We were emailing back and fourth about specifics, and he kinda just disappeared. Hoping he is in good health. Cheers Lol that's interesting. Wonder how many customers die or something before they finally have the blade in hand after waiting for 5 years. The chances have to go up you'd think thats something that actually worries me and its kept me from employing higher end smiths until now. Hopefully I don't end up waiting too long, I need to enjoy things while I can lol.
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Post by junesbanunes on Jan 7, 2022 9:34:30 GMT
Been talking to the some of the above and I would remove Josiah from the list. He is not even taking custom orders because he can't be bothered with getting the specs right. He just makes swords and then you pay $3500 for mono $7500 for folded (bare blade) if he happens to have anything you like in stock. So even more if you want it mounted.
Rado is €2700 for bare blade and €4000 for basic koshirae.
Michael Sabatier is around €2500 depending on what options you want and posssibly a bit unreliable with time. Currently says he has a production time of 6 months.
Pierluigi is around $4000 and has a long waiting list, currently 10-11 months before he can even start production.
As a reference I also talked to Huawei that explained 2021 had been a messy year for them for personal reasons but they expect to be back on track now and can deliver a sword in 3 months (guess we'll see about that).
It's a shame that there's such a leap from china blades to local smiths. I would love to support local and not china but with such an expensive sword I wouldn't dare to use it... I guess Motohara is the only mid-range custom option at about $2000 but I'm not into the micro-bevel on their swords.
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Post by vidar on Jan 7, 2022 10:39:57 GMT
Considering the many hours required to make a sword, a price of 2000-3000$ is very reasonable I would say. Mr Sabatier needs 3 weeks to make a sword.
While you can and should use these swords for tameshigiri at some point, I would still advice to also buy a cheaper sword (like a basic T10 Chinese sword) for practising as long as you’re not confident about your skill.
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Post by Stef on Jan 7, 2022 11:13:47 GMT
Rado is €2700 for bare blade and €4000 for basic koshirae. much much cheaper if you go with mono steel. I think a basic nono steel with basic koshirae is around 1.5 to 2k
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Post by Arlequin on Jan 7, 2022 14:29:36 GMT
Been talking to the some of the above and I would remove Josiah from the list. He is not even taking custom orders because he can't be bothered with getting the specs right. He just makes swords and then you pay $3500 for mono $7500 for folded (bare blade) if he happens to have anything you like in stock. So even more if you want it mounted. Rado is €2700 for bare blade and €4000 for basic koshirae. Michael Sabatier is around €2500 depending on what options you want and posssibly a bit unreliable with time. Currently says he has a production time of 6 months. Pierluigi is around $4000 and has a long waiting list, currently 10-11 months before he can even start production. As a reference I also talked to Huawei that explained 2021 had been a messy year for them for personal reasons but they expect to be back on track now and can deliver a sword in 3 months (guess we'll see about that). It's a shame that there's such a leap from china blades to local smiths. I would love to support local and not china but with such an expensive sword I wouldn't dare to use it... I guess Motohara is the only mid-range custom option at about $2000 but I'm not into the micro-bevel on their swords. did you happen to get the turn around time for Rado? hes expensive but still abit of a deal for the attention to detail you get.
Also lol at huawei, "Jacky" has been telling people 3 months through out the whole pandemic, I get semprini happens, but can't really trust what he says aftter bullsempriniting so many people.
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Post by Arlequin on Jan 7, 2022 14:48:20 GMT
It's a shame that there's such a leap from china blades to local smiths. I would love to support local and not china but with such an expensive sword I wouldn't dare to use it... I guess Motohara is the only mid-range custom option at about $2000 but I'm not into the micro-bevel on their swords. I agree, personally before hiring a custom smith, a person should a broad understanding of sword design and take the time come up with something unique. I don't understand why someone would shell out several thousand for just a typical shinogi blade with standard dimensions and bland koshirae they didn't even design themselves.
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