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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 10, 2014 1:02:39 GMT
^^ correct. Different feel and weight distribution because of the length of the tsuka. I know that both Hanwei and Cold Steel make Nodachi, but KOA is out of stock for the Hanwei at the moment.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 9, 2014 16:05:41 GMT
Great info as always Tom. The vids I posted were just for reference since I don't have personal experience forging anything (yet!)
LG
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 9, 2014 3:00:58 GMT
Here's a couple of vids that should explain why SS swords aren't good for swinging around, cutting with, etc.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 5, 2014 15:04:35 GMT
I recently aquired a new Hanwei Cromwell Mortuary sword for a friend and took it apart as he requested... below are my findings. Commercial Specs directly from the CAS Iberia web page: SPECIFICATIONSOverall: 43 1/2" Blade Length: 32 3/4" Handle Length: 6" Weight: 3lb 4oz Point of Balance: 3 1/2" Point of Harmonics: 21" Width at Guard: 1.35" Width at Tip: .77" Thickness at Guard: .23" Thickness at Tip: .13" My Specs:Handle Length: 6 in. Handle Material: ray skin wrapped with decorative twisted wire around a wood core Tang/Pommel: screw on w/3 side screw attaching the basket hilt to the pommel Tang Length: 6 in. Tang Width: varies from .49 in. to .40 in. Tang Thickness: .20 in. Blade Thickness/Taper: .21 in. blade shoulders .17 in. midway .08 in. tip Blade Length: 32 5/8 in. Weight: 3 lb. 3 oz. Point of Balance: 3 in. Overall Length: 43 in. Scabbard: Fiberglass core wrapped in brown leather On to the pictures! Sword with Scabbard (front) Sword with Scabbard (back)[/]
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/CromwellMortuarySword3_zps6c67f19d.jpg)
Hilt and Pommel
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/CromwellMortuaryHilt1_zps41c9f2cc.jpg)
Disassembled Hilt
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/CromwellMortuaryHilt3_zpsc1dab799.jpg)
Wood Core Hilt
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/WoodCoreHilt_zps917676cb.jpg)
Hilt Length
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/HiltLength_zps88db082c.jpg)
Tang Width at Shoulder
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/TangWidth1_zps25768fad.jpg)
Tang Width near start of thread
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/TangWidth2_zpseeb637ba.jpg)
Tang Thickness Near Shoulders
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/HiltThicknessNearShoulders2_zps11fb0b05.jpg)
Blade Thickness Near Guard
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/BladeThicknessNearGuard_zps348eb12a.jpg)
Blade Thickness Near Middle
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/BladeThicknessMidWay_zps5a215cfb.jpg)
Blade Thickness at Tip
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/BladeThicknessTip_zpsc49510c1.jpg)
Blade Length - Shoulders to Tip
![](http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag114/LGMartialArts/Hanwei%20Cromwell%20Sword%20Construction/BladeLength-ShouldertoTip_zps61b3aec3.jpg)
Thanks for looking - I'll post a review of the sword as time permits.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 4, 2014 21:29:18 GMT
very nice for $30!
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 3, 2014 22:19:09 GMT
Like others have mentioned, it is a pretty good sword for the money even though it's not sharp out of the box. I'm going to dissasemble one in the next couple of days and write a review on it as time permits. Also, if you're still looking for one, I can price match KOA's price on a new one.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 3, 2014 20:57:15 GMT
Congrats and kudos for your great review.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 3, 2014 14:57:24 GMT
I prefer wood over propylene - I've held and used a Cold Steel bokken and it felt "plasticky" in my hands. It will last longer than a regular red oak bokken, but I personally don't like the feel nor the weight. There are different types of woods used for bokken, including oak (red and white varieties), lignum vitae, and other hard woods. It's generally preferable for yours to be made from a similar material as your dojo mates since you don't want to ruin theirs when doing kumitachi. There are many good stores out there selling really good bokken, but I highly recommend Kingfisher Woodworks www.kingfisherwoodworks.com
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 3, 2014 14:46:11 GMT
Thanks for the heads up... the only thing stopping me from buying yours is the shipping from AU to the US
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 3, 2014 11:42:01 GMT
You could also contact Amazon with this problem since they are selling crap knockoffs through this vendor... I know American companies will do their best to take fakes off of their sites b/c of copyright issues. This happened a couple of months ago also on Amazon where a retailer was selling Chinese knockoffs of a few different Buck knives.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 3, 2014 3:10:15 GMT
While it shouldn't affect the overall geometry, most bo-hi swords I've seen/used have a miniscule to no niku near the blade edge (ha) which gives it a thinner profile, leading to a sharper edge than one which has more niku.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 3, 2014 2:56:18 GMT
If you're new to JSA, a sword with bo-hi can help your edge alignment with the audible feedback (tachikaze). One thing to note: you can still get tachikaze with improper edge alignment (hasuji), but this is the kind of sword almost eveyone I know started with. Once you get more proficient with your JSA training, you'll be able to produce tchikaze on a sword with no bo-hi (no-hi), since you'll by then hopefully have learned correct hasuji, which will lead to good tachikaze. I hope that makes sense Also, in my experience, a bo-hi sword will be slightly "sharper" than the average no-hi sword since it'll have less niku ("meat") near the edge.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 2, 2014 16:40:22 GMT
It looks like a reproduction to me, but without looking at the tang, it'll be harder to prove its provenance. I could not resize the pictures, but for some reason, the blade shape and the yokote look "off". The fitings look like they're made of cast metal, and the tsukamaki looks sub standard as well, plus the tsuka looks like it has a weird taper to it. I'm looking at the pictures on my phone, so you need to take that into consideration - I hope someone else can chime in as well.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Oct 1, 2014 2:13:20 GMT
He's a very nice guy to do business with - bought a prototype "Sci-Fi" sword from him and am also happy with it.
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Sept 29, 2014 22:20:29 GMT
Nice! Reviews upcoming?
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Sept 28, 2014 0:52:09 GMT
Great looking katana! One thing of note though - the Officially Licenced swords are made out of Stainless Steel and could break on you if you cut heavy targets with it. I still have the remnants of a Marto Duncan katana I accidentally broke many years ago - the dragon head shattered when it fell out of my wall stand and hit my tile floor. The blade is still OK, but it's not full tang, does have a rat tail at the end since the handle is made out of some kind of metal with a platic resin on top for the dragon design. ** Edit: just saw the vid where you state it's made out of 1045 steel... sorry about that. Here's an older thread that you might find usefull (or not ![:D](//storage.forums.net/forum/images/smiley/grin.png) ) sbgswordforum.proboards.com/thread/17797/united-cutlery-highlander-katana-gluedAttachments:![image.jpg](//storage.forums.net/1694914/thumbnailer/5vKP6vL8Nc9Uiz65TP_1.jpg)
![image.jpg](//storage.forums.net/1694914/thumbnailer/Qf0a7XrpmGi69NOGW3FX.jpg)
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Sept 27, 2014 23:30:12 GMT
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Sept 27, 2014 22:40:11 GMT
Thanks for the added advice
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Sept 27, 2014 22:12:37 GMT
I was actually thinking of that, but after sitting on the idea for a while, don't figure it'll look as clean as just fixing the threads.
Findlithui, actually, I do have a new drill press I bought for a project that I haven't started on yet. I just need to get a drill press vice and it should be a breeze to drill out the pommel (at least I hope so :mrgreen: ).
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Post by LG Martial Arts on Sept 27, 2014 19:57:08 GMT
Thanks everyone for the advice. I think I'm going to use Findlithui's method - sounds like a very strong way to fix this problem. Since I'm working on multiple projects at the moment (plus of course my day job), it'll probably be a few weeks before I post updated pictures of the final "fix".
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