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Post by shepherd214 on Feb 8, 2020 22:23:25 GMT
Since you seem to have missed it... ... the shitodome on the kurikata seems a bit clumsily made/cast. ... I'd say the menuki is probably the weakest. Its not bad, but something about it seems off. ... The biggest flaw is the ito. I bought this new, but the ito wasn't overly firm or tight. It shifts up and down the tsuka fairly easily, especially around the menuki. Not like it is really loose and about to fall off or anything. The shift is in centimeters, but it is there. Perhaps because of this or just due to some shrinkage, you can see a very small gap by the fuchi where both same and ito have shifted, and you can see the wood core below. ... Bottom line is that while I do like the big blade, I do think it is over-priced for what it is. Oh you mean that. While that is unfortunate, I didnt think it sounded bad enough for the whole thing to be negative. As I pointed out before I'm mainly concerned with blade and habaki and for the fittings to just be serviceable for now.
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Post by shepherd214 on Feb 8, 2020 17:18:24 GMT
This helps a ton, thank you so much. It seems like you have also had a little trouble with the ito like some others. I might have it rewrapped eventually anyway, but I do want it to be usable until I have the money for the rewrap. As long as the blade is tough and habaki fits well, I can have all the other stuff fixed eventually. I'll remember your feedback when making the choice. Hey again, Shepherd. I thought of a few things after my initial reply. The other o-tanto in the Cold Steel line have a somewhat different blade profile. I'm sure there is a specific name for it, but I'm not sure what it would be. Basically, the Dragonfly's kisaki is a bit longer and pointier. The others seem like their kisaki seem shorter and deeper from the pictures I've seen. Not sure if this is a major concern of yours, but thought I'd mention it just in case. You mentioned the habaki fit. Mine is pretty much perfect with no problems. It seems very thick and strong, fitting to the blade very well. For that matter, the habaki fit in the saya is good, too. Maybe even more so, to the point that unsheathing the tanto takes effort. I'm ok with this, because I'd rather have to make the effort, then to have the tanto slip out of the saya when I don't want it to. I hope you find what you're looking for, whether it be the o-tanto or the wakizashi. Right now I'm leaning toward the wakizashi. It seems more like a ko katana than a waki though, which is fine. I did look at cold steels other tantos but the reviews for those seemed to be way more unhappy than the dragonfly series. I would rather a tight saya fit than a loose one as well.
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Post by shepherd214 on Feb 8, 2020 17:16:19 GMT
All of Cold Steel's tanto are unokubi-zukuri, but the Dragonfly is maybe more kanmuri-otoshi zukuri. It's also more wakizashi than o-tanto, and the wakizashi is o-wakizashi bordering on katana. I've thought many times of picking up a Dragonfly tanto, because I love the sugata, but I don't want anything through-hardened and I don't want anything Cold Steel. Unfortunately, the Dragonfly line is just the best overall representation of the sugata I've seen. I'm not surprised the product isn't particularly good, though. Who said it wasnt good?
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Post by shepherd214 on Feb 8, 2020 2:27:26 GMT
Hi Shepherd. I have the Dragonfly O-Tanto. I would say its about ten years old, so perhaps the model has changed somewhat since then. I can't say much to its cutting ability, because I can't really do any cutting in such a crowded neighborhood with nosey neighbors. It is sharp, though. Koshirae are very nice. Tsuba, fuchi-kashira, seppa, especially. The shitodome on the kashira is fine, while the shitodome on the kurikata seems a bit clumsily made/cast. This isn't a big deal to me. Of all the koshirae, I'd say the menuki is probably the weakest. Its not bad, but something about it seems off. Sageo is fine. The biggest flaw is the ito. I bought this new, but the ito wasn't overly firm or tight. It shifts up and down the tsuka fairly easily, especially around the menuki. Not like it is really loose and about to fall off or anything. The shift is in centimeters, but it is there. Perhaps because of this or just due to some shrinkage, you can see a very small gap by the fuchi where both same and ito have shifted, and you can see the wood core below. I do love the largeness of the blade, the O in the O-tanto. It is the main reason I bought this, because ten years ago, it seemed like no other production company was making o-tanto. Just Cold Steel. So, there are other o-tanto in their line. I went with this one, as I wanted something other than just plain black ito on white same, and I liked the koshirae better. Bottom line is that while I do like the big blade, I do think it is over-priced for what it is. A less expensive o-tanto in the Cold Steel line might be a better choice. Or, now there are other o-tanto options in the production market, too. Of course, you could also stay on the look out for used models that have the price marked down. Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, feel free to fire away. Hopefully I can answer them. This helps a ton, thank you so much. It seems like you have also had a little trouble with the ito like some others. I might have it rewrapped eventually anyway, but I do want it to be usable until I have the money for the rewrap. As long as the blade is tough and habaki fits well, I can have all the other stuff fixed eventually. I'll remember your feedback when making the choice.
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Post by shepherd214 on Feb 8, 2020 2:18:40 GMT
Hi Shepherd. I have the Dragonfly O-Tanto. I would say its about ten years old, so perhaps the model has changed somewhat since then. I can't say much to its cutting ability, because I can't really do any cutting in such a crowded neighborhood with nosey neighbors. It is sharp, though. Koshirae are very nice. Tsuba, fuchi-kashira, seppa, especially. The shitodome on the kashira is fine, while the shitodome on the kurikata seems a bit clumsily made/cast. This isn't a big deal to me. Of all the koshirae, I'd say the menuki is probably the weakest. Its not bad, but something about it seems off. Sageo is fine. The biggest flaw is the ito. I bought this new, but the ito wasn't overly firm or tight. It shifts up and down the tsuka fairly easily, especially around the menuki. Not like it is really loose and about to fall off or anything. The shift is in centimeters, but it is there. Perhaps because of this or just due to some shrinkage, you can see a very small gap by the fuchi where both same and ito have shifted, and you can see the wood core below. I do love the largeness of the blade, the O in the O-tanto. It is the main reason I bought this, because ten years ago, it seemed like no other production company was making o-tanto. Just Cold Steel. So, there are other o-tanto in their line. I went with this one, as I wanted something other than just plain black ito on white same, and I liked the koshirae better. Bottom line is that while I do like the big blade, I do think it is over-priced for what it is. A less expensive o-tanto in the Cold Steel line might be a better choice. Or, now there are other o-tanto options in the production market, too. Of course, you could also stay on the look out for used models that have the price marked down. Hope this helps. If you have any other questions, feel free to fire away. Hopefully I can answer them. This helps a ton, thank you so much. It seems like you have also had a little trouble with the ito like some others. I might have it rewrapped eventually anyway, but I do want it to be usable until I have the money for the rewrap. As long as the blade is tough and habaki fits well, I can have all the other stuff fixed eventually. I'll remember your feedback when making the choice.
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Post by shepherd214 on Feb 7, 2020 3:37:05 GMT
Does anyone have experience with these? Lots of good reviews, some criticize the fittings, but those are older reviews. Almost everyone says the blades are nice. I'm very interested on balance/maneuverabilty and heat treat, wrap quality, etc.
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Post by shepherd214 on Feb 6, 2020 18:09:02 GMT
I think you'll be happy with it for the price. Looks pretty solid to me. No major red flags from those pictures that I can see.
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Post by shepherd214 on Feb 3, 2020 2:57:49 GMT
Oh, really? Hell, we didnt know anything about that! What would we all be doing without you? *sarcasm off* Yes maybe true with the newbis; but here are lots of makers, modders and long time collectors as well. Yes, my comments were directed with all the newbies in mind who know little about the industry and are taken advantage of right and left, focusing on representations about steel and hamon's without knowing far more goes into making a real sword/weapon. They usually find out after their money is gone and they have a POS blade they may hurt themselves with or they more typically paid far more than its worth.. Right but the point a few of us are making is that Huawei isnt your typical ebay seller that scams and sends subpar products and is the best in their price range, and generally ebay protects you anyways if its within their 90 day window or whatever. Forge Direct comes from Longquan and is susceptible to the same typical Longquan issues as other longquan brands. I received a st nihonto once that wasnt sharpened the last 3 inches of the blade on the kissaki and I got a 2/3 of a refund through ebay and sold the sword 3rd party and got all my money back. Does forge direct do this? Maybe idk, buy I have thr ebay guarantee so thats something and I dont even have to send the sword back.
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Post by shepherd214 on Jan 29, 2020 4:33:06 GMT
I think this thread has seen a lot of sway from the OP; hope its ok if I also go with the sway of the thread. It is true, so to return the core issue - honesty - it's kind of crazy for Sinoswords to claim that they, as a maker of budget swords, has a national treasure smith tucked away in their office somewhere who literally charges hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars for his swords..
But now he is making $400 Tamahagane blades from pig iron? Seems like a bit of a stretch at the best of times, and is clearly not true.
If we leave the quality or lack of quality out of the equation, I have to ask the question - why is the community so forgiving of sellers who are happy to make up unbelievably audacious lies like this? Such as trying to explain away why Huawei's Forge's address is a Candy shop, how Jacky/Jackie pretends to be a male and a master smith and says they have their own forge when they clearly, don't.. Why is this okay?
Personally I think it sucks as we spent many years trying to explain what really goes on in the industry, and now we are back guessing and chasing shadows again.. A big step backwards for the industry generally - but if that is what people want and no longer want to know the truth or dig deeper, we are in more trouble than I ever suspected..
/rant over - I have said all I want to say in this thread, you guys know my thoughts on this and so there is no need to beat a dead horse. SBG has a lot of new projects starting up this year, so onward and upwards..!
One final thing - don't discount the value of old reviews, especially if the product is still selling (and even more so if it is at the same price and defying inflation). If a product has stood the test of time and is still selling, it is a classic. We don't jump on every new trend in the industry or every new hot seller as they have not stood the test of time - and what happened before will likely happen again. So if, for example, Huawei have a history of lying to customers - can you really believe that they have now 'come good?'.
Okay, I have said enough. You all know how I feel about these sellers and I can assure you, they are not a force for good in the industry - have no allies here or even with the forges, and have muddied the waters to such a degree that all the hard work we put in trying to bring you the truth behind the industry has been obfuscated..
Oh well..
I'm not understanding a lot of things with this comment. Old reviews should be discredited partially because brands and makers get better with time. Cheness used to be one of the better options out there and they have made very few improvements over the years. They even still have a disclaimer on their site saying you might not even get a sword that's sharp or polished well and they still dont alternate their ito wraps. Not bad swords for the money but Huawei in 2010 looks nothing like Huawei 2019. Clear improvements have been made. I'm not holding a brand accountable for a broken tang that happened in 2010. Secondly, I really dont mind if you say their address is a candy store. First of all we only have your word on that because most of us dont visit china and secondly I get the same consistent product every time I order so I'm really not bothered if they are a reseller. They clearly have access to a good forge that makes the same good blades over and over. With other brands you can notice they source from different forges the way the blades are ground and polished. Not huawei. They also dont advertise tamahagne, they dont advertise L6, just basic spring steel and t10 blades and they deliver every time. Terrific habaki fit, great looking nakagos, good heat treat, good tsukamaki work, etc. I dont know how to make it more simple than that. The topic was changed when you came here and started talking about banning ebay swords and Sinosword doesnt even sell on ebay to my knowledge or if they do it's not under sinosword. Also your article states Hanbon and St Nihonto are the same company and I'm almost certain they are not. Hanbons swords look nothing like any st nihonto swords and that goes for blade geometry, fittings, wrap style, etc. St nihonto is crooked though and some believe they are ryansword.
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Post by shepherd214 on Jan 27, 2020 20:25:55 GMT
At this point the only Chinese eBay seller I would buy from would be Huawei-sword. The rest of them in my own opinion are a bunch of crooks. Prime example is sheng-sword / ST Nihonto pure out right crook. Other brands I trust are: Musashi, Hanwei and the best to date is Motohara. Motorhara is great it's just that you pay 5x as much for one as you do for a Huawei. Probably worth it but not in everyone's budget.
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Post by shepherd214 on Jan 27, 2020 7:08:03 GMT
Of course theres the occasional saya rattle or cracked tsuka, but unlike what the article posted yesterday on SBG says, in the last 3 or 4 years I've not heard of one person getting a 1045 blade(its very easy to tell if its 1045 because it takes a set easily and can be bent back easily), zinc alloy fittings(they are all cheap solid iron cutouts or higher quality iron), or a broken tang. Every sword labelled 9260 I've bought from them and many more I've seen others buy, they can be bent to almost 90 degrees and be returned true and straight, not possible with 1045 blades. I've also only seen one person not receive their sword but they were refunded their money. Also sending any sword back to China no matter what brand it is always results in chinese customs taking your sword, yet the article seems to indicate this only happens to ebay swords. I did however see a post on the SBG Facebook forum the other day receive a forge direct sword that had the blade forged crooked and out of line with the tang. He also paid 700 bucks for it... Not sure what's happening with that yet.
I also was interested in offering some 9260 blades and we checked every major forge in Longquan - no-one could do it. Only Cheness, Hanwei and MAS seem to legitimately offer it. So how can small players find it when we have direct access to all the same forges they use and some extra ones? And the pricing is also a give away, but the only way to tell for certain is to have some of these swords scientifically tested..
I do understand how the promise of 'anything you want' is attractive, but if these companies track records is anything to go by, its more like 'whatever is close enough they can find'..
As to sending swords back, we CAN and do do this.. And I am aware of a case of a really bad crooked Duan Dao that we are taking up with the forge as soon as they finish up their holidays. We will replace it or refund in full as we do every time there is an issue. The eBay guys CANNOT do this as they don't have a US based warehouse. And even if they did, I would be surprised if they would take customer service to the same genuine level we do..
But I think that the thing that really saddens me the most is that everyone here KNOWS that these companies are damaging the industry and if left to their own devices, would happily see every other established sword company disappear along with these very forums and the site that is now a pain in their side. So if you have no loyalty to the industry or the hobby, then all I can say is grab what you can while you can - these companies are killing the forges and all honest competitors and will continue doing so until there is nothing left to sell. How long it will take for the sword industry to bounce back, if it WILL bounce back, really is anyone's guess if worst comes to worst..
Finally, I agree that in many ways standard offerings are getting more boring as established companies avoid anything they perceive as risky. It has been this way for almost a decade now - anything unproven is a huge risk in this day and age, and usually requires significant upfront capital while these guys print money on demand, so of course they can claim to be able to make you 'anything'..
This double whammy will accelerate the decline of established sellers and further bolster support for the eBayers until they are unable to find suppliers, and then they will move on to another local product as they could not care less about swords or the sword industry (unlike most established sellers who started in the sword industry because they love swords)..
I will do all I can to prevent this from happening, but just know that every-time you buy from them you are making things much worse for the industry as a whole and hurting many honest sellers who simply cannot compete with a dishonest seller..
- Paul 1045 can be tempered well but I've seen quite a few people talk about their 1045 blades and how they can bend them over their knee. Even Ronin, which you promote, has videos of those 130 dollar 1045 blades being torture tested and the guy in the video bent one between 2x4s and it stayed bent. It did hold up nicely to the tests for a cheap sword though. Also of note is 1045 does not have a high hardness no matter what, which we can also test when our blades arrive. So I'm not saying you're wrong about them not being able to get 9260, but I have not seen Huawei give people 1045 but maybe 1060 since the hardness and testing of peoples blades seem to be above what 1045 can offer, including mine. I test the hardness of all blades I get and I've had 4 or 5 "9260" blades from them, and all have hardnesses are too high for 1045. So I'm just a little surprised at that claim. It may be hard to tell the difference between 1060/9260 but theres a clear performance difference in 1045 and 1060/9260. Another thing to note is that most of the reviews you took the time to link for Huawei are very old. There are a couple from 2016-17 that I saw but the vast majority are from 2010-14 which I would say are horribly outdated as the market has evolved a ton since then and most recent Huawei reviews that I mentioned previously arent even on your site, they are on facebook. A quick facebook search in groups yields dozens of Huawei reviews or highly positive comments/conversations from 2017-19. So yes maybe like 10 years ago someone got a 1045 blade by mistake but I havent seen anything like that in the last few years. A better way to see what the current market looks like is to ask practitioners and craftsman like Cottontail Customs or Randy Black, who have seen hundreds of swords that they have to disassemble and can tell you exactly what's under hood of various brands. I seem to remember them saying that Huawei has its share of issues like any production brand but they are consistently better than most other swords in the same price range and theyve also seen horror stories from almost every brand out there, including ones that are promoted on this site. It just doesnt seem fair to hold all ebay swords accountable when good and bad can be found on any website where you can buy swords. If you know what you're buying you can make good decisions on ebay same as anywhere. You can make good decisions on amazon or aliexpress even. What can and does happen on ebay is that you are protected. I've only had a couple bad experiences on ebay but every time its happened I have gotten a full refund from the seller. And sometimes its accompanied with "please give good feedback for me" to get the refund but they dont even need you to send the sword back. And in certain cases like Sinosword I've seen many instances lately where they also dont require you to send the sword back if something is wrong or one goes missing, they just make you another. So sending the sword back to China isnt even a big deal because A.)ebay will protect you if the seller wont and B.) Most instances I've seen recently with Sinosword and in my case St Nihonto you get full or partial refunds for flawed items and you dont even have to bother sending the sword back at all. And trying not to beat a dead horse but I've never had to message Huawei about any issues in all my purchases from them because I've noticed attention to detail on their swords that just doesnt happen on other Longquan swords I've bought and I'm not the only one who has noticed this as well. As a side thing about the candy store, it seems to me one possibility is that Jacky from Huawei could know someone at that candy store and uses that as a mailing address, and just has connections to a good forge in Longquan, because the blades coming from there have great geometry, polish and heat treat and have consistent characteristics. Especially the T10 ones.
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Post by shepherd214 on Jan 25, 2020 20:02:47 GMT
Well said Admin! No argument there. I have not bought Huawei for a few years. When I was, blades good, tsuka good, blade to saya fit was IMO bad (blades rattled badly in both vertically and horizontally, when blade in saya and sword is shaken). Swords that rattle in the saya are to me, well, funky. Also as I ordered customs, Huawei's customer response was usually very slow. As Admin says, SGB swords such as Forge Direct are well worth out support. And SGB sword store "ads" should be "in you face" here at the chat site. I am guilty of going direct to the SGB chat site and so completely miss the SGB store ads. And after a while, pretty much forgot about the SGB Store and forget to check it out for purchases. I strongly suggest SBG Store ads be "in your face" here at the Chat site. BTW, do current production Huawei's no longer rattle in the saya's? I pretty much gave up on Huawei's for that reason (after getting 4 of them, the last one being a waki that was truly a barking dog of a sword...loose ito, terrible blade-to-saya fit....). RinC Current Huawei's are getting very good reviews in all areas. Of course theres the occasional saya rattle or cracked tsuka, but unlike what the article posted yesterday on SBG says, in the last 3 or 4 years I've not heard of one person getting a 1045 blade(its very easy to tell if its 1045 because it takes a set easily and can be bent back easily), zinc alloy fittings(they are all cheap solid iron cutouts or higher quality iron), or a broken tang. Every sword labelled 9260 I've bought from them and many more I've seen others buy, they can be bent to almost 90 degrees and be returned true and straight, not possible with 1045 blades. I've also only seen one person not receive their sword but they were refunded their money. Also sending any sword back to China no matter what brand it is always results in chinese customs taking your sword, yet the article seems to indicate this only happens to ebay swords. I did however see a post on the SBG Facebook forum the other day receive a forge direct sword that had the blade forged crooked and out of line with the tang. He also paid 700 bucks for it... Not sure what's happening with that yet. Jacky from Huawei also just sent me preview pics for a wakizashi I ordered a few months ago, it will be my 6th custom sword from them. It looks amazing and the the sword is disassembled in the pic and looks great.
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Post by shepherd214 on Jan 24, 2020 21:15:30 GMT
admin Can you elaborate on where the statistics come from for the Huawei chart? What sort of numerical data represents this depiction? This figure has no statistics attached to it, and I have no idea from where it is sourced.
Would you also mind elaborating on who the master smiths involved with Forge Direct are? This is frequently mentioned in newsletters and announcements, but I do not recall hearing mention of who specifically works on these projects. Clarification on who they are and what rank of mastery they possess would be rather informative.
And, as well, can you elaborate on what differentiates SBG custom offers from vendors such as JKOO/Sinosword who also make use of the same general fittings, saya and tsuka customization options as the similarly Longquan sourced swords sold on the SBG website? Since there is quite the overlap in materials and designs, and the market is niche, I am curious what differentiates these identical parts and fittings from the vendors you mentioned available on Ebay.
It is important to elaborate on this data so that the community can make responsible and informed buying choices.
Cheers! If you go literally anywhere else other than sword buyers guide, Huawei has overwhelmingly positive reviews. Katana groups on facebook which are far more active than this site is nowadays, have constant reviews from Huawei that show they are the superior choice for most sub-500 dollar swords. I myself have had about 5 swords from them and they have all been amazing for the price. Yes, communication is spotty but I was very surprised to see that pie chart above say most reviews are neutral. Maybe on SBG, but nothing but positivity elsewhere.
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Post by shepherd214 on Dec 17, 2019 5:46:45 GMT
For what it's worth to anyone worried, the couple swords I've had from them I was pretty happy with. I've sold them since then, but that's only because I'm constantly searching for the few swords I cant live without. The swords I received from them were a little rough. The fittings had dings and chips on the black coating. The habaki fit on them wasnt 100%. The blades and sayas also has small scratches or imperfections in the polish. But they had nice handling, very tight tsukamaki, saya fit was near perfect, and the heat treat on them seemed to be solid. Both were a little less than 300. They were very fine for what they were. And I use mine alot. I kept my order stupid simple. Very basic lengths of handle and blade, no measurements of sori/width/thickness, and asked them to make sure tsuka fit and wood quality was above average for safety. I got good tsukas both times I asked.
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Post by shepherd214 on Dec 1, 2019 14:47:55 GMT
I'm so back and forth on sinosword. Ive had two from them that I really liked, but sold them trying to get better swords from other brands. Then I see some stories recently where things didnt go well. Then I see this, where they made a great replacement sword and I think maybe I can get a great budget sword. I just dont know.
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Post by shepherd214 on Aug 3, 2019 19:38:13 GMT
Could anyone lend advice as to whether this looks worth 180 bucks? Its St. Nihonto brand.
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Post by shepherd214 on Jun 6, 2019 18:25:07 GMT
What's funny is that I messaged Cheness a long time ago about getting their Tenchi ko katana but without the fake hamon and they said they dont offer that because too many people want the fake hamon. Lol.
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Post by shepherd214 on May 8, 2019 2:51:52 GMT
Yes Huawei does custom work, but the wait time can be up to several months depending on what you ask for. If you simply want a wrap or fittings swapped the wait time is usually shorter.
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Post by shepherd214 on Mar 9, 2019 2:03:08 GMT
Myself, I'm of the camp where plastic goes on cheap, crappy "swords" that nobody wants. "Real swords" use "real materials" like wood, horn, and metal. Honestly, the easiest solution to this is a disclaimer. Weather, climate, season, whatever, affects wood. Your sword fit great when it left. If it's not fitting great right now, well, that sucks, but here's the thing: it happens. Easy fix. Let it sit for a few days to see if the wood balances out. If it's still tight, grab a nail file and go slow until it's not anymore. If it's still too loose, get some paper or cardboard or a thin bit of wood (balsa or whatever your local craft store sells) and cut about an inch off and glue it to one side of your saya. Too tight now? File it. Plastic is terrible. Some plastic even still warps in temperature shifts, humidity, what have you. It just adds cheapness to the product, and I'm sure it's terrible for the steel. Heck, the first "real sword" I ever bought had a crack in the koiguchi. I let it go for a few years, because the fit was still fine. Eventually it progressed to the point where I had to glue it, and it's been fine since. Sometimes you need to adjust your swords when you get them. Sometimes you luck out and everything's perfect, but then sometimes you'll still have to fix something eventually. Now, if the blade is bent, chipped, cracked, or otherwise damaged on arrival...that's an actual problem. This makes very little sense to me honestly.
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Post by shepherd214 on Jan 30, 2019 22:36:57 GMT
I've had two, they are pretty good for the price. There are some flaws but overall I was very happy.
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