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Post by cjb080781 on Feb 17, 2024 16:34:24 GMT
I put in a deposit down today for a blade and was quite surprised his lead time was "only" 6-9 months.
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Post by toddstratton1 on Feb 17, 2024 17:25:53 GMT
Well I appreciate the heads up on that, I thought it was closer 2 years
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Post by Lancelot Chan on Feb 17, 2024 17:53:41 GMT
He controls his queue very carefully by stop taking orders once the queue adds up to 9 months.
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Post by blairbob on Feb 17, 2024 21:04:39 GMT
maybe 2 yrs is by the time it's fully polished and mounted. his temp site says 220 grit.
i read 400 is enough for a working knife and no idea how that applies for swords. but my guess it's not enough for a keen edge to cut with.
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Post by eastman on Feb 17, 2024 21:17:34 GMT
probably that is enough to make it a smoothed and profiled blade ready to be sent to a polisher to finish.
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Post by toddstratton1 on Feb 17, 2024 21:31:45 GMT
maybe 2 yrs is by the time it's fully polished and mounted. his temp site says 220 grit. i read 400 is enough for a working knife and no idea how that applies for swords. but my guess it's not enough for a keen edge to cut with. I guess that makes sense, I think last time I heard from Matthew Janssen. It seemed like a took a lot longer. Maybe cause you had 2 different working on it after, one for polishing. And then somebody else to fit it and for mountings. Motohara can do both though and does an awesome job. I was just gonna have Jason do it if I ended up picking one up. But if it's only a 6 to 9 month wait, it would be done fairly faster than I expected.
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Post by cjb080781 on Feb 18, 2024 0:07:33 GMT
I've been going back and forth with him going over the particulars of the blade order. I told him I'm completely ignorant but I'm looking for a Shinogi Zukuri style blade just put together what you think will be best for all around usage. He's very particular, apparently folks who are much more knowledgeable than I am request blades with particular dimensions to be used for particular reasons. The sword that was recently posted in the For Sale forum, he said those specs were for "a mat cutting special for tournament use".
I just had to ask him if he happened to have anything sitting around that may be available at this time? He said, as a matter of fact I do have a Shinogi Zurkuri blade on hand. I replied I'll take it so the 6-9 wait time went down to zero. I told him I still want to move forward with my existing order but if you are open to whatever he may have something on hand you can pick up at the present time.
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Post by toddstratton1 on Feb 18, 2024 0:21:25 GMT
I've been going back and forth with him going over the particulars of the blade order. I told him I'm completely ignorant but I'm looking for a Shinogi Zukuri style blade just put together what you think will be best for all around usage. He's very particular, apparently folks who are much more knowledgeable than I am request blades with particular dimensions to be used for particular reasons. The sword that was recently posted in the For Sale forum, he said those specs were for "a mat cutting special for tournament use". I just had to ask him if he happened to have anything sitting around that may be available at this time? He said, as a matter of fact I do have a Shinogi Zurkuri blade on hand. I replied I'll take it so the 6-9 wait time went down to zero. I told him I still want to move forward with my existing order but if you are open to whatever he may have something on hand you can pick up at the present time. Reach out to Jason at motohara katana and you can get the blade polished, mounted , and fitted for a great price and shorter wait time. That's awesome. L6 or 1060? Mat cutters are going to be thinner edge profile, but a good regular blade shape will handle well for different kind of targets.
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Post by atomicfear on Feb 18, 2024 2:19:11 GMT
let us know it turns out; I'm very interested.
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Post by cjb080781 on Feb 18, 2024 5:46:32 GMT
I've been going back and forth with him going over the particulars of the blade order. I told him I'm completely ignorant but I'm looking for a Shinogi Zukuri style blade just put together what you think will be best for all around usage. He's very particular, apparently folks who are much more knowledgeable than I am request blades with particular dimensions to be used for particular reasons. The sword that was recently posted in the For Sale forum, he said those specs were for "a mat cutting special for tournament use". I just had to ask him if he happened to have anything sitting around that may be available at this time? He said, as a matter of fact I do have a Shinogi Zurkuri blade on hand. I replied I'll take it so the 6-9 wait time went down to zero. I told him I still want to move forward with my existing order but if you are open to whatever he may have something on hand you can pick up at the present time. Reach out to Jason at motohara katana and you can get the blade polished, mounted , and fitted for a great price and shorter wait time. That's awesome. L6 or 1060? Mat cutters are going to be thinner edge profile, but a good regular blade shape will handle well for different kind of targets. Jason has stated, and I'm paraphrasing, polishings and basic fittings/saya runs appx 2500 and takes about 6 months. So currently a start to finish howard clark finished product can currently be done in about 12-15 months which doesn't seem too bad.
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Post by blairbob on Feb 21, 2024 19:26:43 GMT
$2500 is a hellified deal for all of that, including whatever level of polish that is (cutting polish?)
i mean, tsuka+saya would probably be $1500 in the US somewhere.
I'm just guessing that would mean shipping the sword abroad unless he has people in the US that could do that work for that much (and his cut)
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Post by wildv on Feb 23, 2024 8:06:45 GMT
$2500 is a hellified deal for all of that, including whatever level of polish that is (cutting polish?) i mean, tsuka+saya would probably be $1500 in the US somewhere. I'm just guessing that would mean shipping the sword abroad unless he has people in the US that could do that work for that much (and his cut) To be done properly from a master craftsman tsukamaki alone is $500 and saya start at $1500. This includes 0 fittings and nothing even looking at a polish.
You have to understand for the $2500 price, it's South Korean work not custom level work that we would know to expect as normal for a blade/s like this. I know they do good stuff I own one of their blades and there is no doubt they are excellent don't take my words out of context. You're definitely not going to get this level of work from the video in this thread - sbg-sword-forum.forums.net/thread/73432/interesting-video-tsuka-special-wrapping but it might not be far off hence the much larger price you pay might not be worth it for you personally.
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Post by blairbob on Feb 23, 2024 17:29:04 GMT
yep. Lohman's charges $750 for a saya but tsuka+saya+polish&simple (the works) furniture is $2495.
$1000 for a polish isn't even $35/inch while I think a professional level togishi starts at $100?
just don't know exactly if Lohman's prices are current besides if contacting them is easy enough.
I have always heard the South Koreans pride themselves in their work (my cousin was a merchant marine so he used to visit their docks a lot in tankers).
and while the S Korean cars were crap initially, they've come a long way. Samsung has QC issues but I never had issues with LG before they closed shop (some heating issues but Samsung had the same issues likely from form factors and core heat and speeds)
Korean electronics are pretty damn good compared to the Japanese these days.
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Post by larason2 on Feb 23, 2024 21:25:29 GMT
I think professional togishi are now like $200 per inch. They're pretty picky about their work too, if you don't have a fairly high level blade, or one where they don't see potential, they often won't take it. Of course, they also would never take anything not made in Japan! I think $35 per inch is a pretty good deal, particularly if they actually use stones/etc.
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Post by wildv on Feb 24, 2024 1:51:16 GMT
yep. Lohman's charges $750 for a saya but tsuka+saya+polish&simple (the works) furniture is $2495. $1000 for a polish isn't even $35/inch while I think a professional level togishi starts at $100? just don't know exactly if Lohman's prices are current besides if contacting them is easy enough. I have always heard the South Koreans pride themselves in their work (my cousin was a merchant marine so he used to visit their docks a lot in tankers). and while the S Korean cars were crap initially, they've come a long way. Samsung has QC issues but I never had issues with LG before they closed shop (some heating issues but Samsung had the same issues likely from form factors and core heat and speeds) Korean electronics are pretty damn good compared to the Japanese these days. Spot on, I have a recently model S Korean car (well it's my wife's car) and it's bombproof. Great little car they definitely do good work now. No worry with sending a sword there, even if it's not what I'd personally do with a HC.
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Post by blairbob on Feb 25, 2024 1:07:33 GMT
I have not checked in a long time but I thought the rates started at $100/inch and were going up to $200/inch. Wouldn't surprise me if they started at 2 hundo these days
Pretty much the only polishers that will take non Japanese stuff is when they are beginner to journeyman level and yet to establish their name.
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Post by cjb080781 on Feb 25, 2024 1:57:35 GMT
I have not checked in a long time but I thought the rates started at $100/inch and were going up to $200/inch. Wouldn't surprise me if they started at 2 hundo these days Pretty much the only polishers that will take non Japanese stuff is when they are beginner to journeyman level and yet to establish their name. Howard Clark had nothing but great things to say about Motohara, that is who did a sword he had made for himself (I posted a link to it below). If they are good enough for him they are good enough for me. I also have a sword from Motohara and am quite happy with it. Motohara also has a working relationship with Howard so the logistics of getting everything figured out and arranging shipping was seamless. For someone like myself who knows next to nothing about blades, their dimensions, what works and what doesn't work when it comes to putting together a finished product being able to rely on Jason Yoon to be able to reach out to Howard directly to ensure he is getting the blade the way he needs it to put together the final product has been invaluable. Motohara send the blades to Korea to have the polishing done. I also reached out to Yugen Swords, as they do nothing but Howard Clark and Kanemasa blades and they are priced at $65 an inch, but they never got back to me when I reached out. The polishing alone from them for my 31.5" would be over 2000. drive.google.com/drive/folders/16vzTs4qwsiCJ7s_yLsfrGHY2Pr5pmUE_?usp=sharing
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Post by wildv on Feb 25, 2024 3:00:51 GMT
I have not checked in a long time but I thought the rates started at $100/inch and were going up to $200/inch. Wouldn't surprise me if they started at 2 hundo these days Pretty much the only polishers that will take non Japanese stuff is when they are beginner to journeyman level and yet to establish their name. Howard Clark had nothing but great things to say about Motohara, that is who did a sword he had made for himself (I posted a link to it below). If they are good enough for him they are good enough for me. I also have a sword from Motohara and am quite happy with it. Motohara also has a working relationship with Howard so the logistics of getting everything figured out and arranging shipping was seamless. For someone like myself who knows next to nothing about blades, their dimensions, what works and what doesn't work when it comes to putting together a finished product being able to rely on Jason Yoon to be able to reach out to Howard directly to ensure he is getting the blade the way he needs it to put together the final product has been invaluable. Motohara send the blades to Korea to have the polishing done. I also reached out to Yugen Swords, as they do nothing but Howard Clark and Kanemasa blades and they are priced at $65 an inch, but they never got back to me when I reached out. The polishing alone from them for my 31.5" would be over 2000. drive.google.com/drive/folders/16vzTs4qwsiCJ7s_yLsfrGHY2Pr5pmUE_?usp=sharingThat price of $2000 for one blade is still really cheap. It cost me that to get a single tanto of mine done properly. But it sounds like the relationship between hc and motohara is really good anyway so should be fine. Especially if you don't know yourself what is good and what isn't then I'd bet you'd really struggle to see or tell a difference between the $2500 price tag you have and an almost $10k one to get it all done through custom craftsman. Like I said it's probably not worth the extra thousands for you to pay for something you won't even notice!!
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Post by toddstratton1 on Feb 25, 2024 3:56:47 GMT
That price of $2000 for one blade is still really cheap. It cost me that to get a single tanto of mine done properly. But it sounds like the relationship between hc and motohara is really good anyway so should be fine. Especially if you don't know yourself what is good and what isn't then I'd bet you'd really struggle to see or tell a difference between the $2500 price tag you have and an almost $10k one to get it all done through custom craftsman. Like I said it's probably not worth the extra thousands for you to pay for something you won't even notice!! Who charges 10k for a modern sword steel polishing that will be used for cutting and etc? That seems way too much money if it isn't an antique nihonto that will only be displayed and dramatically in need in a polish clean up or the like to raise the value and etc.
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Post by wildv on Feb 25, 2024 5:32:34 GMT
That price of $2000 for one blade is still really cheap. It cost me that to get a single tanto of mine done properly. But it sounds like the relationship between hc and motohara is really good anyway so should be fine. Especially if you don't know yourself what is good and what isn't then I'd bet you'd really struggle to see or tell a difference between the $2500 price tag you have and an almost $10k one to get it all done through custom craftsman. Like I said it's probably not worth the extra thousands for you to pay for something you won't even notice!! Who charges 10k for a modern sword steel polishing that will be used for cutting and etc? That seems way too much money if it isn't an antique nihonto that will only be displayed and dramatically in need in a polish clean up or the like to raise the value and etc. I meant 10k for the whole thing haha! Polish, handmade fittings, putting everything together, the whole job. Poster has said it's for collecting so in my mind you want a higher quality polish but that might just be me? I'd never pay much to polish a sword I plan to use. Once again, might just be me?
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