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Post by ragebot on May 28, 2024 0:28:01 GMT
Just finished unboxing three swords I got from the SBG Sword Store, Ryujin 65MN Spring Steel Tang Dynasty Two Handed Silver Jian RYU-T62218 Ryujin 65MN Spring Steel Han Dynasty Chinese Longsword RYU-T62220 Ryujin 65MN Spring Steel Giant Miao Dao RYU-T62221 taking advantage of reduced shipping when ordering multiple swords. Total price was $US509.97. All three swords arrived very well packed in a single cardboard box as well as the display cases containing the swords. The silver jian was in a plastic bag in the case and one of the small red beads had fallen off and was in the plastic bag. It was the least sharp of all three but still reasonably sharp. The Chinese longsword was not in a plastic bag but fit nicely in the attractive display case and cut paper. The Miao Dao was in a plastic bag inside the display case. It was much sharper than the other two swords and as a single edged sword it would be expected to be a better cutter. All three swords felt very solid and there was no play when they were in the scabbards. I had read some reviews about the very attractive silver jian having some of the decorations on the scabbard work lose but that was not the case with mine. Time will tell how well the dao and longsword work out as cutters but I am optimistic about the longsword and very optimistic about the dao. All in all these three swords seem like a great value so far. I intend to spend some time sharpening them and test how well they will cut water bottles and pool noodles and make another video when I do. Bottom line I am a happy camper and suspect this will not be my last purchase from the SBG Sword Store. sbg-sword-store.sword-buyers-guide.com/product825.htmlsbg-sword-store.sword-buyers-guide.com/product854.htmlsbg-sword-store.sword-buyers-guide.com/product847.html |
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Post by mrstabby on May 28, 2024 9:50:23 GMT
Nice haul.
I'd be very interested in a hardness estimation. Someone mentioned in a review they might be on the softer side but the maker says 55HRC.
That darn Jian tickles me....
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Post by pellius on May 28, 2024 11:25:49 GMT
Nice
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Post by ragebot on May 28, 2024 14:37:22 GMT
Nice haul.
I'd be very interested in a hardness estimation. Someone mentioned in a review they might be on the softer side but the maker says 55HRC.
That darn Jian tickles me....
This may be above my pay grade. My understanding is there are three main methods of measuring hardness and they all basically involve hitting the metal with a needle like instrument with a specific force and measuring how big the hole made is; something which I have no way of doing. The Rockwell method has also been dissed for variations in results due to not all machines used producing the same results. In any case I am open to suggestions as to other options. Bottom line is I have no experience estimating hardness but would like to learn more about it. Since I tend to only use my swords to cut water filled plastic bottles and normally sharpen them before each cutting session being on the softer side is somewhat of an advantage. Not to mention at this price point all three swords were more than I was expecting. As for the Jian I got it more as a prop for my movie making activities and was somewhat shocked it was as solid as it was. I showed all three swords to the guy who runs the A-camera and when he saw the Jian the first word out of his mouth was "wow". |
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Post by mrstabby on May 28, 2024 16:02:26 GMT
Nice haul.
I'd be very interested in a hardness estimation. Someone mentioned in a review they might be on the softer side but the maker says 55HRC.
That darn Jian tickles me....
This may be above my pay grade. My understanding is there are three main methods of measuring hardness and they all basically involve hitting the metal with a needle like instrument with a specific force and measuring how big the hole made is; something which I have no way of doing. The Rockwell method has also been dissed for variations in results due to not all machines used producing the same results. In any case I am open to suggestions as to other options. Bottom line is I have no experience estimating hardness but would like to learn more about it. Since I tend to only use my swords to cut water filled plastic bottles and normally sharpen them before each cutting session being on the softer side is somewhat of an advantage. Not to mention at this price point all three swords were more than I was expecting. As for the Jian I got it more as a prop for my movie making activities and was somewhat shocked it was as solid as it was. I showed all three swords to the guy who runs the A-camera and when he saw the Jian the first word out of his mouth was "wow". I have a few things with a known hardness value and go from there, not as exact as a tester though. I just try scratching one blade with other stuff at the edge before I sharpen so the scratch will be ground away, You don't even have to make a scratch, you can definately feel the difference between something that would glide (meaning equal or lower hardness of the scratcher) or scratch (higher hardness of the scratcher) only by putting some pressure on it because the harder blade bites in and is hard to move at first. Cold Steel blades are around 49-51HRC, some Hanwei are as well (european and chinese), Windlass are 50-52HRC, LK Chen around 55HRC (mine are all equally hard, no variation so far, none scratches the other, the newer stainless Moras can't make scratches either, the older, harder ones slightly, maybe bite in), Legacy Arms 53-55HRC. It's not perfect, but I am not buying a 1000$ tester and the HRC files are more inaccurate since there are only 5HRC steps available. That's where I began, got a few things tested and went from there. I am not sure how accurate this is, but the difference between the CS and the LK Chen is pretty big compared to the internal variations on Cold Steel blades. I mostly use single edged things for scratching, use the backside of the tip, will result in very little damage to the tip unless you use much pressure or try to make a long scratch. There are also Mora knives, stainless being 54-56HRC, Carbon somewhere around 58-59HRC. The carbon have less variation for some reason, not enough to scratch one another with the pressure I use so I guess my resolution is over 1HRC but under 3HRC because among the stainless I can see a few scratches. Unless my beginning ponts were wrong, I am pretty confident it's close, if the points were wrong everything moves up or down, but th ranking stays the same. The machines need to be calibrated, but the biggest problem is, that if the blade isn't straight on both sides, like if you have a full saber grind, the test will have some error due to the force of the cone not being at a perfect right angle to the surface. Personally as long as something is harder than the Cold Steels it's fine, but softer than that blades become dull far too quickly for my taste. |
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rschuch
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Sharp blades are good to have, if Shire-folk go walking, east, south, far away into dark and danger.
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Post by rschuch on May 28, 2024 17:00:31 GMT
The Miao Dao looks pretty impressive.I’d be curious to see the tang and inside the handle (not suggesting you disassemble yours). I remember seeing a thread comparing 3 different jians from different companies and I think two of them had welded tangs and hollow handles so that if anything happened to the pins the grip would just spin. I think one was the Cold Steel Gim? I can’t find the thread at the moment. With such a large blade on the Miao Dao, you really need a sturdy tang and handle on that baby.
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Post by mrstabby on May 28, 2024 17:24:37 GMT
The Miao Dao looks pretty impressive.I’d be curious to see the tang and inside the handle (not suggesting you disassemble yours). I remember seeing a thread comparing 3 different jians from different companies and I think two of them had welded tangs and hollow handles so that if anything happened to the pins the grip would just spin. I think one was the Cold Steel Gim? I can’t find the thread at the moment. With such a large blade on the Miao Dao, you really need a sturdy tang and handle on that baby.
Welded tang itself isn't bad when done correctly, and the Cold Steels do survive quite a bit abuse. The LK Chens are welded too, much easier to get a good screw that way. I have seen some tests and if it fails, it fails above or below the weld, so a good weld is stronger than the original steel. I think it would only be a problem if the blade were welded to a tang, like at the guard, but a threaded portion welded to the tang should be more than adequate.
Of course that's all second hand info and I could be wrong, but I have not seen many swords fail at the threaded portion of the tang.
EDIT: Also with the CS there is an addittional pin, and the LKCs are glued and have a lanyard rivet adding points that secure the tang. Of course what Ryujin does is anyones guess, unless someone disassembles one.
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rschuch
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Sharp blades are good to have, if Shire-folk go walking, east, south, far away into dark and danger.
Posts: 873
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Post by rschuch on May 28, 2024 18:02:58 GMT
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Post by mrstabby on May 29, 2024 14:39:38 GMT
Sinosword is OK, but the leftmost one, wow. That almost-rat-tail plus all the holes and bad fit are a recipe for a rapid self-disassembly event. Any idea what "HS" is? I need to never even think of buying from them. My cheap (100€) Jian has a better tang on it, although it also had some space inside the grip I filled up with epoxy putty. I like it but I would never use it.
I am not sure how disassemblable these Ryujin swords are, so you are probably stuch trying to use magnets to estimate the tangs width.
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rschuch
Member
Sharp blades are good to have, if Shire-folk go walking, east, south, far away into dark and danger.
Posts: 873
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Post by rschuch on May 29, 2024 15:26:16 GMT
Ha! "rapid self-disassembly event"!
No idea what HS refers to. 2012 is before my time here. They may not even be making swords anymore. One can only hope!
I have the Rodell one, so I'm pretty happy with what I have. But a "rapid disassembly" involving a blade the size of that dao would go through a Buick... definitely would not want to be standing in the way of that. Reviews look promising though.
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larason2
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Post by larason2 on May 30, 2024 3:12:12 GMT
I bought one of these: www.amazon.ca/Hardness-Rockwell-Portable-Machining-Measurement/dp/B08P1Z8M6C/It has a round test head, so a little less damage to the surface of a blade, but I bought it primarily to test rocks! I got it in rockwell though so I can also test swords. I'm sure its not the best meter, but every instrument like this has different precision and accuracy, and what matters isn't the exact values, but the relative values as suggested. Also all of these work best within a certain hardness range, outside of the optimal range, their values are probably subject to greater error, and therefore mean less. There's not a lot of good systems for polishing rock hardness though, so you sort of have to get what you can! I looked at published values for Japanese polishing rock hardness, and the rockwell scale seemed to cover the rock scale reasonably well. In my opinion though, the precise hardness is more relevant to blade smiths, as a quality control. It is relevant to sword use, but once you have a sword with a particular hardness, you can't change it, so better not to worry about it. This is why getting it from a reputable company or smith is important. |
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Post by mrstabby on May 30, 2024 6:54:27 GMT
I have gotten 2 bad tempers before, Windlass and Hanwei, blades were really soft, so it always can happen. I swear I get about 50% damaged goods, likely why I am nit-picky.
The shore hardness tester has that "need to hit the right angle" problem exacerbated since it's a hand tool, but a few measurements should be taken anyways. Does it show HRC as well or only Shore C and you have to convert?
I find hardness is also important if you plan on cutting, soft swords will dull so quickly you need always have a strop at hand.
Primarily I am wondering if Ryujin has an acceptable hardness since some cheap makers run very soft, also if they advertize 55HRC I want that to be in the ballpark.
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Post by ragebot on Jul 4, 2024 5:51:24 GMT
With the hot summer weather in sunny Florida and my dental implant issues I finally got around to test cutting the Ryujin 65MN Spring Steel Giant Miao Dao RYU-T62221. Thing is as you can see at about the ten second mark in the vid I got confused over the question of is this a sword or a spear. Since I intended to stab first and then cut it seemed correct to hold the Dao like a spear which I did at first but then quickly switched to the traditional way one holds a sword. Bottom line is while this thing cuts like a dream straight out of the box (and thrusts as well) I am still a little confused on just how to deal with the correct way to hold it for thrusting and cutting. Does anyone have advice about where I could get advice about this.
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