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Post by izzy on Apr 27, 2024 20:02:30 GMT
I went with the Corssbowman's Dao because I was not thrilled at T-10. LK Chen does a great sword in 60Si2MnA. When I could not get them to change the guard to something plain, I decided to order anyways, and give the dragons the Dremel treatment later.
I very much like these more stylized version of dragons on the Dao, kinda remind me of viking style drawings of dragons.
The one on the Katana, yes, I have seen this on many a stainless "sword". Not a fan.
I also always opted for the 60Si2MnA over T10 or 1060/T10, it takes a lot more of a beating nad keeps sharp really well.
I like the design as well...just can't have the occult that goes along with it without literally defacing it.
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Post by Arlequin on Apr 27, 2024 21:48:06 GMT
I very much like these more stylized version of dragons on the Dao, kinda remind me of viking style drawings of dragons.
The one on the Katana, yes, I have seen this on many a stainless "sword". Not a fan.
I also always opted for the 60Si2MnA over T10 or 1060/T10, it takes a lot more of a beating nad keeps sharp really well.
I like the design as well...just can't have the occult that goes along with it without literally defacing it. I take it that means your gonna destroy the dragons for religious reasons I presume? Not that I blame you, a friend of mine designed a sword with a goat head that looked a little too bapho-ish for my taste, he was so proud of his designs I couldn't tell him it gave me the heebie jeebies lol.
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Post by Cottontail Customs on Apr 28, 2024 1:36:46 GMT
From what I can see, the blade looks average with a semi mirror polish. The hamon may look better in person or if etched but the habuchi looks a little thin and wiry. The hi looks super deep. Ilthe maki doesn’t appear to have hishigami and the samegawa panels look like they’re not inlaid. The menuki look to be upside down and the tsuba is mounted backwards. The details on the fittings look a little soft. Imho, it looks like a katana put together by someone that doesn’t usually make katana… I hope it cuts well and the blade is sharp and durable and has great overall feel and balance or I think I’d just consider it a very average entry level sword that you may be able to find for less elsewhere. I’ll wait for some reviews before I know for sure how I feel about it.
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Post by Arlequin on Apr 28, 2024 2:21:04 GMT
From what I can see, the blade looks average with a semi mirror polish. The hamon may look better in person or if etched but the habuchi looks a little thin and wiry. The hi looks super deep. Ilthe maki doesn’t appear to have hishigami and the samegawa panels look like they’re not inlaid. The menuki look to be upside down and the tsuba is mounted backwards. The details on the fittings look a little soft. Imho, it looks like a katana put together by someone that doesn’t usually make katana… I hope it cuts well and the blade is sharp and durable and has great overall feel and balance or I think I’d just consider it a very average entry level sword that you may be able to find for less elsewhere. I’ll wait for some reviews before I know for sure how I feel about it. Yeah that's abit of an issue when it comes to LK, they don't really do flashy grand fittings, with exceptions like the white serpent and the Tiza, most of their line up is relatively subdued, they really prefer to cater to the martial arts crowd who just solid, accurate blades. They probably would have been better going with less dimensional koshirae and focus more on the Tsuka, and again this is their first katana so they obviously didn't have tsukamaki guy on standby to do QA. But that's the cool thing with LK, they do take feedback and try to improve, many of their models started rough around the edges and became more refined with each batch, so well just have to wait and see what they do next, unfortunately because katana have so many small parts that they can go wrong, they probably will have to raise the price to see significant improvements. I do believe the owner has expressed on YouTube he intends to do another one, and an older design at that so it's a waiting game.
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Post by Cottontail Customs on Apr 28, 2024 2:45:36 GMT
The only LK Chen sword I saw in person was the Flying Phoenix and it was pretty amazing imo. I know very little about Chinese style swords but it was fast and light and super agile as well as super sharp. It felt extremely good in hand and I liked the look of the blade a lot. I didn’t get to cut with it since it was not mine but a commission
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Post by pellius on Apr 28, 2024 12:38:43 GMT
I have a couple of LKC Chinese swords (niuweidao). They are pretty good imho, especially at the price point. Not many makers seem to produce such broad thin blades, especially with a large overall size appropriate for modern practitioners.
The LKC’s have good distal taper, an excellent spring temper, and a stable hilt appropriate for the intended use.
With all due cultural respect, though (and as I understand it), niuweidao as an historical class of weapon were generally low cost and civilian oriented. Lacking broad uniformity and quality control, and requiring a price point far below that required for generational craftsmanship, niuweidao were inherently far less sophisticated than any nobleman’s katana would’ve been.
I do not practice JSA, but I suspect some of the inherently destructive techniques used in CSA (such as, for example, cutting downward into the ground itself) would make a JSA practitioner shudder. I always took the niuweidao to be intended as an easily replaced consumable weapon, very unlike the katana.
With their experience being mostly from Chinese style swords, and their method of creating new styles of sword beginning from copying originals, it wouldn’t be too surprising for LKC to make a decent copy of an extant katana blade, but struggle a bit in learning how to economically manufacture tsuka to an acceptable level of craftsmanship.
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Post by mrstabby on Apr 28, 2024 13:39:58 GMT
Just looked at LKC homepage information for the Katana. It looks like they copied the blade and Tsuba from different swords.
Secondly the now have released a KuK/Prussian M1889 Dragoon saber, very appealing.
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Post by izzy on Apr 28, 2024 14:54:27 GMT
I like the design as well...just can't have the occult that goes along with it without literally defacing it. I take it that means your gonna destroy the dragons for religious reasons I presume? Not that I blame you, a friend of mine designed a sword with a goat head that looked a little too bapho-ish for my taste, he was so proud of his designs I couldn't tell him it gave me the heebie jeebies lol. Understood...there is one place that has really nice swords, that shall not be mentioned, but also sells Balphomet ( +Ba'al Chomet = Master of Heat) statuary...real shame cause otherwise I would buy from them. A Sword w/ Dragons I buy if I feel the urge, as they really are more decorations for most, but for a minority they do give the attribute to the mythical creature ( walking snake) power. Had to do some defacing with a drill press on Oni Menuki and Dragon Menuki on a 2 Cheness swords as well a few years ago... Anyhow other than that love the LK Chen sword, since it's peened, it's pretty much set.
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Post by pellius on May 3, 2024 9:24:56 GMT
I like the design as well...just can't have the occult that goes along with it without literally defacing it. Me, too.
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AJGBlack
Member
"This world will stress you like Orson Wells on the radio." -RTJ
Posts: 393
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Post by AJGBlack on May 3, 2024 13:31:23 GMT
I like the design as well...just can't have the occult that goes along with it without literally defacing it. Me, too. Same. The one time I got a piece with a cross on the pommel I had to grind it off. Ancient torture/execution devices creep me out.
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Post by vidar on May 3, 2024 21:38:08 GMT
Just looked at LKC homepage information for the Katana. It looks like they copied the blade and Tsuba from different swords. Secondly the now have released a KuK/Prussian M1889 Dragoon saber, very appealing. Unfortunately, that M1889 saber has a plastic grip. I don’t understand why they do this.
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Post by vidar on May 3, 2024 21:41:50 GMT
From what I can see, the blade looks average with a semi mirror polish. The hamon may look better in person or if etched but the habuchi looks a little thin and wiry. The hi looks super deep. Ilthe maki doesn’t appear to have hishigami and the samegawa panels look like they’re not inlaid. The menuki look to be upside down and the tsuba is mounted backwards. The details on the fittings look a little soft. Imho, it looks like a katana put together by someone that doesn’t usually make katana… I hope it cuts well and the blade is sharp and durable and has great overall feel and balance or I think I’d just consider it a very average entry level sword that you may be able to find for less elsewhere. I’ll wait for some reviews before I know for sure how I feel about it. Very interesting feedback, thanks! I think you’re right: it may be assembled by people who have little experience in working on katana.
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Post by pellius on May 3, 2024 22:28:57 GMT
Just looked at LKC homepage information for the Katana. It looks like they copied the blade and Tsuba from different swords. Secondly the now have released a KuK/Prussian M1889 Dragoon saber, very appealing. Unfortunately, that M1889 saber has a plastic grip. I don’t understand why they do this. The original had a Bakelite grip, I believe. Modern plastic performs better, and Bakelite is probably NLA. Just a guess.
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Post by mrstabby on May 4, 2024 5:34:50 GMT
Unfortunately, that M1889 saber has a plastic grip. I don’t understand why they do this. The original had a Bakelite grip, I believe. Modern plastic performs better, and Bakelite is probably NLA. Just a guess. Making Bakelite uses quite nasty chemicals (Formaldehyde, Phenole, nasty... not that china cares much, you surely could find someone), it's just not worth it to go full 1:1 (you would need to mold it right there because once it's dry it keeps the shape). I trust LK did their homework and use something with similar strengths. The only thing Bakelite has over many modern plastic is a warmer feeling when touched, something like that. Bakelite also is brittle copared to even ABS (which counts as brittle nowdays) and had a tendency to splinter when hit with force.
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Post by izzy on May 4, 2024 18:50:04 GMT
Same. The one time I got a piece with a cross on the pommel I had to grind it off. Ancient torture/execution devices creep me out. Not looking to insult our Christian Members and Friends, but yah those who have ancestors who fled the Inquisition just cant have that, we just don't see ourselves as crusader Knights and the slaughter that led to...to be fair I don't wear Hexagrams either ( aka "Star of David"), it's occult as well ( can be found in the Temple to Jupiter in BalBek, but is mostly associated with Saturn, and more recently fake "Kabbalah")...Learning Symbols, what they mean and stand for makes a lot of decoration less appealing.
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Post by mrstabby on May 4, 2024 19:10:55 GMT
Yeah, but symbols mean a lot of different things to different people, it's just a symbol, it has only the meaning we give it.
Don't misunderstand me, I get the sentiment, but if you go looking you'll find sinister meaning behind every symbol - just like with names, there will always be at least one unsavoury character called by it.
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AJGBlack
Member
"This world will stress you like Orson Wells on the radio." -RTJ
Posts: 393
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Post by AJGBlack on May 4, 2024 20:14:16 GMT
Apparently I neglected to add a "/s" to the end of my previous post. I'm not trying to come down and belittle someone's beliefs, but it struck me as odd to deface a reproduction from a specific culture that uses traditional imagery.
We're also way, way off track here.
On subject: I honestly would have considered the LK Chen katana as a project piece if it didn't have the bohi. LKC has done a great job with its other replicas in keeping the blade shapes historically accurate. I would have been happy to grab one of these for a remount with fittings closer to the blade's original time period. But I'm not a bohi fan.
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Post by Arlequin on May 4, 2024 20:26:41 GMT
Yeah, but symbols mean a lot of different things to different people, it's just a symbol, it has only the meaning we give it.
Don't misunderstand me, I get the sentiment, but if you go looking you'll find sinister meaning behind every symbol - just like with names, there will always be at least one unsavoury character called by it.
That's how I feel generally two, like Asian dragons have nothing to do with dragons of judeo-Christian scripture but, to each his own.
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Post by izzy on May 5, 2024 3:35:54 GMT
Yes it's a bit off topic. In Asia Dragons are Storm and Water gods, as well as just plain "good luck". I would have sprung for the LK Chen Katana if offered in 60Si2MnA, I shun T-10, and told the CS at LK Chen why I ordered the Crossbowman's Dao instead. Symbols are all around us, if you study their meaning and continued use, you have to decide for yourself if that is acceptable or not to you. It was common for Hebrews to deface Roman Coins, as the "Imperator" was deified in the Eastern Tradition Since Augustus...4 revolts later we are still at it.
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Post by mrstabby on May 5, 2024 6:14:15 GMT
Apparently I neglected to add a "/s" to the end of my previous post. I'm not trying to come down and belittle someone's beliefs, but it struck me as odd to deface a reproduction from a specific culture that uses traditional imagery. We're also way, way off track here. On subject: I honestly would have considered the LK Chen katana as a project piece if it didn't have the bohi. LKC has done a great job with its other replicas in keeping the blade shapes historically accurate. I would have been happy to grab one of these for a remount with fittings closer to the blade's original time period. But I'm not a bohi fan. They will surely update it when they get additional inspiration. The NiuWei Dao has had 3 slight redesigns now. I am not sure they are gonna get the thoughts from the forum. Maybe one of you better versed in nihonto should shoot them an e-mail of what was discussed at the end?
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