Ok on my search for my birthday sword I set me eyes on three. The Hanwei Practical Plus, Practical Plus Elite and the Dynasty Forge Musha Class series. They don't seem to have a name but here on wiwingti's site they are listed as $275 www.wiwingtiswordsupply.com/mushaclass.html
So of the three which one? I guess Straight up the Plus elite is just better in everyway from the regular plus right? So That shouldn't even be an option. Though depending on how much shipping gets tacked on to the PPE's $295 Price point it might be. But they Have a real Hamon vs the mono tempered DF Musha. All have real same and should have other equally decent fittings.
um, you basically just said that they're equal quality and you just have to choose between Differential harden or through harden and you need to ask? Choose the one you want, hamon with slight decrease in durability or no hamon and increase in durability, unless you're going to be chopping wood it doesn't matter much.
Good choices, among the best in your given price range.
For the dynasty forge, you are getting a monosteel 1060 blade. Off the bat, you know that will be a lot tougher than the differentially hardened hanwei with the authentic acid enhanced hamon. What I like about the DF is that they don't fake a hamon. Here is a video showing the toughness of a DF.
But I never let toughness of the blade be a deciding factor, because I am never going to chop wood or any ridiculously hard targets. If you can tell us what you will be using this sword for maybe we can give a more focused answer. The hanwei blades will be plenty tough for most targets such as tatami omote, plastic bottles, milk jugs, etc.
With regards to the DF blades not having a name, they actually do. They just are called the Musha class, and within the class there are many different blades. Be sure to pick one you like. They have blades with different lengths, bo hi and no bo hi, different themes and fittings, and even different geometries like the shobu geometry. If you are going to be doing a lot of tameshigiri I would say skip the bo hi and get a no bo hi version. On wiwingti's site if it doesn't say it has a bo hi, then it is without a bo hi. If you want to see the musha class cutting, go on youtube and look up kfkonrad1 testing a DF shobu. You can also search SBG because kenpachi on this forum did a very nice review of the katana with musashi theme.
For the hanwei's like you said the plus elite is better than the practical plus, but some people actually may like the plus better. They have different geometries, the elite is more optimized for cutting. It is in between the standard geometry and the XL geometry. Personally I would pick the elite, but I think that one is over 300. Unless wiwingti has it lower than 300, i'm not sure but you should check. I remember seeing them around 330ish on swordsofmight.com, which is also an excellent place to buy. But marc will have a better price I think.
Ok, back to your original question about DF musha vs the plus elite vs. the plus. Here would be my personal choice. I would take the plus out, although you may want to keep it if you like standard geometry with a leather ito. I think that's the only one out of all 3 that has a leather wrap. So the plus is out. Now it's down to the plus elite and DF musha. This would be a tough choice. If I already had a monosteel blade I'd get the hanwei, if I had a traditionally clay tempered blade i'd get the DF. That way I can have one of each. If it was going to be my only katana, then I think i'd be stuck lol. Just remember like bishop said, take the durability factor out because I'm sure you're not going to be bending the sword or chopping wood. HOWEVER, if you are a beginner and there is a possibility of you hitting the cutting stand...or making a cut with such horrible form that the blade bends then stick with the musha. I have swords from the practical line and one from the musha line, so let me know if you have more questions. Oh one other thing, if you are only going to be cutting tatami I would suggest the XL geometry, the practical plus XL is the same price as the plus elite I think. People either love those or hate them, but for cutting mats the XL is the best...it's almost like cheating because cutting tatami is so effortless.
The Musha class are nice though. I haven't handled one, but I have heard good things.
Bang for your buck-wise, the plain old PPK is hard to beat.
Yep, like I mentioned there is a different in geometry between the plus and plus elite. Hanwei puts elite in the "competition" category along with their XL blades.
Here is a closer look at a hanwei plus XL. It's the one I happen to have pictures off, but it will give you an idea of how the other two are because they'll pretty much be very similar.
good luck and be careful with whatever you get! Both those babies are SHARP. I remember when I got my first hanwei, I got the camera out to take pictures and I decided to see how sharp it was using my thumb...not a good idea...
Well on that site I mentioned for the musha, the PPE is 295, just shy of 300. But I don't know how much the shipping is going to hurt so thats why I left the PP in there. The PPE has, like he said, some kind of synthetic leather like material that according to the description is made for an "optimized grip".
At first most of my cutting will probably be of the bottle and milk jug variety. But eventually I will order some mats and a cutting stand. Also unfortuntly the PPXL is alread over the $300 price point on its own, than shipping on top of that.
I have seen videos of the Musha though, they look nice. The few "functional" blades I own are masahiro, so they are monosteel with quality control all over the place. So I want a Katana with a TIGHT wrap with decent fittings, and a real Hamon (though I want the tight wrap and decent fittings more than te hamon). But, like you said, I am worried about bad form screwing up my sword.
Also, ouch man, Hi-Res photo of a nice cut. I would never use my bare skin. I use my fingernail, see if it shaves off a top layer.
The Practical Plus has the fake leather ito, which apparently offers "optimised grip". The Practical Plus Elite has cotton ito. As does the Musha class from DF.
If you want a real hamon, you'll have to go DH, so that's Hanwei. It's a decision then between the 'performance' geometry of the Elite or the more 'traditional' geometry of the Plus... or if you don't care about that, a matter of price in regards to shipping.
Good choices, among the best in your given price range.
For the dynasty forge, you are getting a monosteel 1060 blade. Off the bat, you know that will be a lot tougher than the differentially hardened hanwei with the authentic acid enhanced hamon. What I like about the DF is that they don't fake a hamon. Here is a video showing the toughness of a DF.
But I never let toughness of the blade be a deciding factor, because I am never going to chop wood or any ridiculously hard targets. If you can tell us what you will be using this sword for maybe we can give a more focused answer. The hanwei blades will be plenty tough for most targets such as tatami omote, plastic bottles, milk jugs, etc.
With regards to the DF blades not having a name, they actually do. They just are called the Musha class, and within the class there are many different blades. Be sure to pick one you like. They have blades with different lengths, bo hi and no bo hi, different themes and fittings, and even different geometries like the shobu geometry. If you are going to be doing a lot of tameshigiri I would say skip the bo hi and get a no bo hi version. On wiwingti's site if it doesn't say it has a bo hi, then it is without a bo hi. If you want to see the musha class cutting, go on youtube and look up kfkonrad1 testing a DF shobu. You can also search SBG because kenpachi on this forum did a very nice review of the katana with musashi theme.
For the hanwei's like you said the plus elite is better than the practical plus, but some people actually may like the plus better. They have different geometries, the elite is more optimized for cutting. It is in between the standard geometry and the XL geometry. Personally I would pick the elite, but I think that one is over 300. Unless wiwingti has it lower than 300, i'm not sure but you should check. I remember seeing them around 330ish on swordsofmight.com, which is also an excellent place to buy. But marc will have a better price I think.
Ok, back to your original question about DF musha vs the plus elite vs. the plus. Here would be my personal choice. I would take the plus out, although you may want to keep it if you like standard geometry with a leather ito. I think that's the only one out of all 3 that has a leather wrap. So the plus is out. Now it's down to the plus elite and DF musha. This would be a tough choice. If I already had a monosteel blade I'd get the hanwei, if I had a traditionally clay tempered blade i'd get the DF. That way I can have one of each. If it was going to be my only katana, then I think i'd be stuck lol. Just remember like bishop said, take the durability factor out because I'm sure you're not going to be bending the sword or chopping wood. HOWEVER, if you are a beginner and there is a possibility of you hitting the cutting stand...or making a cut with such horrible form that the blade bends then stick with the musha. I have swords from the practical line and one from the musha line, so let me know if you have more questions. Oh one other thing, if you are only going to be cutting tatami I would suggest the XL geometry, the practical plus XL is the same price as the plus elite I think. People either love those or hate them, but for cutting mats the XL is the best...it's almost like cheating because cutting tatami is so effortless.
Actually The DF Shobu and Kogarasu katana interest me quite a bit. I like the odd geometry katanas .
I have the shobu, very nice. Check out this guy cutting with the shobu. Of course him being able to do that has a LOT to do with his training and technique, but nonetheless it shows the DF shobu not getting a scratch even after heavy cutting.
JonSchwertFechter: what is maximum file size to post image/picture file on forum.. need to know soon.. thanks
Aug 28, 2024 23:27:30 GMT
Roscoe57: After a year of use this Tuoyuan is my favorite mat cutter. Cuts with ease.
Aug 27, 2024 20:30:15 GMT
Ouroboros: He was in awe of my recipe--tried it with explosive peppers...the rest is history
Aug 20, 2024 20:28:00 GMT
mrstabby: yeah, and if you go up to the original pose, deleted. So a deletion doesn't go into the quotation marks, good to know.
Aug 17, 2024 19:37:26 GMT
AndiTheBarvarian: @jitte, he was quoted in the recently updated hot pepper thread.
Aug 17, 2024 19:27:40 GMT
mrstabby: Must have been on purpose though, else he would have been back, no? I didn't get why we should talk about the plant....The singer you moron! Took me longer than I would like to admit....
Aug 17, 2024 9:11:18 GMT
AndiTheBarvarian: We could start a thread about Poppy to lure him back.
Aug 17, 2024 7:41:37 GMT
mrstabby: I don't know how I got the name so wrong, it was "jitte", looked like he was in the middle of posting and suddennly was gone, just weird
Aug 17, 2024 6:26:08 GMT
Sir Thorfinn: Ah, those come and go. We see a lot of promising folks, burn bright and go away....
Aug 16, 2024 20:02:34 GMT
mrstabby: no, it was a new account, a month maybe.
Aug 16, 2024 19:25:20 GMT
Sir Thorfinn: IZZY maybe?
Aug 16, 2024 19:17:37 GMT
nerdthenord: that's odd, thanks
Aug 16, 2024 14:42:14 GMT
mrstabby: ceri-something, one second was editing a post, next second whole account was gone.
Aug 16, 2024 13:29:47 GMT
nerdthenord: who was it?
Aug 15, 2024 19:23:13 GMT
mrstabby: Hey, did he do anything and got booted or delete himself?
Aug 7, 2024 9:23:40 GMT
Deleted: The cane I have is a 37" hickory with octagon shaft and a 5.25" opening from end of crook to shaft. It is very light, quick, easy to handle and you could work it like Poppy does in the video. Everybody wants to be Poppy.
Aug 7, 2024 5:56:06 GMT
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