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Post by anj4de on Mar 21, 2024 7:52:09 GMT
What are your thoughts between the 3 brands? Which makes a better blade? I'd say zsey but only just. Only because zsey custom make the tsuka to fit the nakago, huawei don't and you can actually order a zsey and receive one. Really for the blade alone, I wouldn't be able to pick who is better both are quality blades for the price. ...and with zsey you have to pay a big price...granted for a nice sword. From Huawei, when they were available, you could get a super nice blade for just around 500$. sometimes less.
thx Uwe
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voidec
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Post by voidec on Mar 21, 2024 12:25:33 GMT
I bought my Huawei back in 2018 for 399 shipped. Really wish I didn’t sell it
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wildv
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Post by wildv on Mar 21, 2024 14:40:52 GMT
I'd say zsey but only just. Only because zsey custom make the tsuka to fit the nakago, huawei don't and you can actually order a zsey and receive one. Really for the blade alone, I wouldn't be able to pick who is better both are quality blades for the price. ...and with zsey you have to pay a big price...granted for a nice sword. From Huawei, when they were available, you could get a super nice blade for just around 500$. sometimes less.
thx Uwe
totally right with the price tag. Sadly, I think this is why huawei are going under, their price is too low and they are too swamped with work. Just charge more and it would fix a lot of the issues, but then zsey would be better as you get made to fit tsuka and even made to fit saya as an option. It's hard to say exactly, but I do believe zsey polish is "slightly" better than huawei. I own swords from both makers and the polish is top notch on both, you simply cannot fault either. But with zsey you can pay a tag more ($100) and get a higher quality polish as far as I'm aware huawei just have the one polish.
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voidec
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Post by voidec on Mar 21, 2024 15:51:05 GMT
Is Shadow Dancer part of Zsey?
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Post by jester on Mar 21, 2024 15:52:29 GMT
Is Shadow Dancer part of Zsey? No but they collaborate. Apparently Shadowdancer has access to many zsey products including full swords. But they are not the same company.
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voidec
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Post by voidec on Mar 21, 2024 16:14:40 GMT
I see on the Shadow Dancer site they have a lot of Zsey swords for sale. I’m curious if there is a shipping frame difference ordering off Shadow Dancers site vs Zsey’s
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Post by blairbob on Mar 22, 2024 9:17:52 GMT
Z-seys site is still alive but all current business is through Shadowdancer. Or was. They probably just haven't taken down their original site.
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voidec
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Post by voidec on Mar 22, 2024 18:01:27 GMT
Oh has no one gotten something in from their site recently?
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Post by blairbob on Mar 22, 2024 18:56:12 GMT
Z-sey put out a statement last year that at one point they were freezing orders then they put out another stating they would be through Dragonsword now called Shadowdancer.
you missed things happening on your sword aficionado hiatus. so did i basically until 2020 from 2010
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voidec
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Post by voidec on Mar 22, 2024 19:42:31 GMT
Z-sey put out a statement last year that at one point they were freezing orders then they put out another stating they would be through Dragonsword now called Shadowdancer. you missed some semprini on your sword aficionado hiatus. so did i basically until 2020 from 2010 No kidding, kinda sad since just there seems to be a lot more options on the Zsey site compared to whatever is listed on Shadowdancers site
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Post by blairbob on Mar 22, 2024 22:01:51 GMT
they might still take custom orders. because they like money lol
they just won't mass produce their various models besides the really popular ones.
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Post by Arlequin on Mar 22, 2024 22:32:52 GMT
ZSey will still take orders directly, just may take longer for them to get back to you. Would probably recommend that if your doing a custom with really nitpicky specs.
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Post by larason2 on Mar 22, 2024 23:08:04 GMT
Zsey got very popular, then they couldn't cope with demand, then quality control started suffering around the same time as the shipping crash related to Covid. Then, they made Shadow dancer (previously Dragon sword) their distributor (looks like also operations manager?). I've not heard anyone on this forum order or mention an order from Zsey since then. Their pieces are very nice, but the whole incident seemed to kill trust in their company at least from forum users. If I was to attempt to order a Zsey, I'd try to do it through Shadow Dancer, or at least contact them to see what's the best way to order, and what's the estimated wait currently. But I think there are alternatives with a much better track record of reliability! I'd probably still try this before I attempt to order a Huawei.
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Post by Arlequin on Mar 23, 2024 0:26:11 GMT
The problem with ZSey is more of a problem with the community and katana collectors as a whole. I've talked with allot of people and the general consensus of guys with money(usually older with some bias) is "why pay $xxxx amount when I can just get a low end Nihonto instead". Unfortunately the other half of the community that doesn't have Nihonto bias, generally don't want to spend more than a few hundred bucks because they're more casual collectors. This is why Huawei got so popular is because they were right in that sweet spot of quality and cost efficiency. Also I'm going to be honest, I've been jumping around between various different realms of the sword collecting world, katana collectors are by far the most finicky when it comes to scrutinizing the small details (and granted they're reasons for that) , I don't think ZSey was quite prepared for that lol.
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voidec
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Post by voidec on Mar 23, 2024 1:02:08 GMT
Zsey got very popular, then they couldn't cope with demand, then quality control started suffering around the same time as the shipping crash related to Covid. Then, they made Shadow dancer (previously Dragon sword) their distributor (looks like also operations manager?). I've not heard anyone on this forum order or mention an order from Zsey since then. Their pieces are very nice, but the whole incident seemed to kill trust in their company at least from forum users. If I was to attempt to order a Zsey, I'd try to do it through Shadow Dancer, or at least contact them to see what's the best way to order, and what's the estimated wait currently. But I think there are alternatives with a much better track record of reliability! I'd probably still try this before I attempt to order a Huawei. With Huawei's track record and current non existent response I am staying away from them
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Post by blairbob on Mar 23, 2024 1:48:47 GMT
yeah, someone dug up that they were shipping out of the same place in Macau besides the fact that locations in the pictures seemed to be the same.
I've heard some "forges" actually share space in China and just work on different days or something.
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wildv
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Post by wildv on Mar 23, 2024 3:01:01 GMT
Zsey and Dragonsword (Shadowdancer) are the same company ran by the same people. They tried to play off two businesses as zsey: high end, dragonsword: lower end. They did it as a reputation thing, because Chinese culture is like that. But when their business was 99% international and not domestic it became to hard and pointless really to run two businesses and pretend like they were different because people in the west don't care so much about business reputation (in context like that). Zsey also started to have issues with Paypal I'm guessing due to the huge amount of orders. I got my zey well before they got super popular and mine is an amazing blade. It is better than Huawei, no doubt, but I also paid 100-200 dollars more so it evens out in my mind.
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voidec
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Post by voidec on Mar 23, 2024 3:30:20 GMT
Zsey and Dragonsword (Shadowdancer) are the same company ran by the same people. They tried to play off two businesses as zsey: high end, dragonsword: lower end. They did it as a reputation thing, because Chinese culture is like that. But when their business was 99% international and not domestic it became to hard and pointless really to run two businesses and pretend like they were different because people in the west don't care so much about business reputation (in context like that). Zsey also started to have issues with Paypal I'm guessing due to the huge amount of orders. I got my zey well before they got super popular and mine is an amazing blade. It is better than Huawei, no doubt, but I also paid 100-200 dollars more so it evens out in my mind. Anyone know if there are still QC issues?
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wildv
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Post by wildv on Mar 23, 2024 8:11:42 GMT
Zsey and Dragonsword (Shadowdancer) are the same company ran by the same people. They tried to play off two businesses as zsey: high end, dragonsword: lower end. They did it as a reputation thing, because Chinese culture is like that. But when their business was 99% international and not domestic it became to hard and pointless really to run two businesses and pretend like they were different because people in the west don't care so much about business reputation (in context like that). Zsey also started to have issues with Paypal I'm guessing due to the huge amount of orders. I got my zey well before they got super popular and mine is an amazing blade. It is better than Huawei, no doubt, but I also paid 100-200 dollars more so it evens out in my mind. Anyone know if there are still QC issues? I'd assume their might be. But to be fair, it's more of a risk to buy a Hanwei and definitely a Huawei than a Zsey. At least with Zsey they will try and fix any issue for you with Hanwei they just make up excuses (personal experience) and Huawei you don't even get a response or answer to begin with. They would be your best bet as failing that you need to pay over 2k and go with Citadel, Motohara or full custom to get perfect QC
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voidec
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Post by voidec on Mar 23, 2024 13:36:07 GMT
That is at least reassuring
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