Post by frankthetank on Jun 20, 2023 20:49:24 GMT
So this is just gonna be a quick review seeing as I have rewrapped the tsuka and sharpened the sword since I've had it.Quick backround on myself,Ive had quite a few katana in the past and have just recently gotten back into collecting. The most expensive katana I've ever owned cost me about 600 bucks back in like 2013. I am in no way an expert or a martial arts practitioner, just an enthusiast and back yard cutter. As I previously stated I just got back into swords and cutting after stumbling upon Matthew Jensen's channel on YouTube ( Awesome channel check it out if you haven't). I had gotten rid of all the katana I had previously years ago and found myself in need of a backyard cutter. Originally I was planning on spending around 300 dollars and getting something decent to practice with, however after scrolling through Amazon I stumbled upon quite a few different brands I had never heard of selling T-10 Differentially hardened swords for very little money. I was kind of taken a back because previously you couldn't find that for the price. I wasn't sure what kind of quality it would be, but I had a little experience working on my own swords so I figured for the price what the hell. In total I've had it about a month. Sword came packed in two boxes, no sword bag or anything unnecessary, and arrived in what I'm assuming was the same condition it was shipped in. I didn't notice anything out of shape or broken right away, the saya was a nice textured matte black (Half the reason I bought it) Sageo was of decent quality, though it looked more green than blue. The ito was the kind of tightness you would expect for the price ( loose, but tight enough. Something you'd either have to rewrap or glue in the somewhat near future) diamonds were uneven (which I expected) same was real, though they were panels and of low quality. The fittings (I'm assuming for the price) are alloy ( I personally hate the tsuba) but it will do the job. The blade has a real hamon and is fairly prominent, the geometry of the blade is flawed ( which I did not notice right away) when they shaped the edge they ground down one side more than the other leaving more tip on one side of the mune than the other. The blade was paper cutting sharp out of the box, however needed a touch up to make silent cuts or statics on water bottles. After removing the tsuka I realized it was cracked, again for the price I was expecting that kind of thing. The ito did become extremely loose after about a month of trying to do kata and practicing cutting for about an hour each day. I have hit my cutting stand on more occasions than I care to admit and had my share of bad draw cuts on bottles, The blade had remained straight and held it's edge without any nicking or rolling. All in All I'd say it's a pretty good value katana for someone who wants a project or a cheap beater. For the money it's not bad, but if I hadn't known how to do the work myself I probably wouldn't be as happy with it. That's the long and short of it thanks for having me back, glad to be part of this community again.
Frank
Frank