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Post by william m on Jun 3, 2011 15:27:14 GMT
I got a partial refund but will never buy another Cheness sword. The fittings and overall fit are just too nasty. I have owned the practical katana the pro and the plus. I really liked my practical plus as the tsuka was fantastic and all of the fittings were great. The sageo was of a decent quality too. The only thing I didn't like was how straight the tsuka was. The ppk has decent quality ray skin (samé). It is worth mentioning that I owned the cheness and various Paul chen katana around 5 years ago so I don't know how these swords have changed.
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Post by william m on Jun 3, 2011 12:48:06 GMT
Another pic.
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Post by william m on Jun 3, 2011 12:47:20 GMT
Here are my thoughts on Cheness. When I came out I was quite excited as they were very different to anything that was on the market at the time. I bought a katana after several glowing reviews. The blade was very nice but had a big problem. The hamon ran off the edge, Cheness refused to believe this and re-etched it on their end to show me proof. But am certain that I was shown a different katana as I saw the hamon was of a slightly different design. Also the fittings are pure junk, nasty quality on everything and the tsuka is made in a dangerous manner. They used to have a video of their workers making the swords. The tsuka were made from a generic stock and were hammered into place. This meant that almost everybody who bought a Cheness sword suffered from a cracked tsuka. If you are not handy and can make a new one yourself, it really does raise the cost of the Cheness sword as you would have to ask for a professional to make a new one for you. Here is a pic of one of my cracked tsukas from Cheness.
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Post by william m on Jun 3, 2011 11:46:02 GMT
Hi guys,
Thanks for the helpful responses so far! With regards to a squire line viking, I had initially looked at this as an option. Albion Europe would had been the choice as they offer a few more variants of the squire line viking. The gotland SL for example looks great!
However an Albion sword from Europe is going to be much too expensive for my budget. For example here are the costings. Sharp SL viking €410 + postage €45 + VAT €91 for a total bill of €546 or £484.68
With Jell Dragon, I am certain that their viking swords come from armourclass, which is based in the UK. Good handling swords I have been told but I really don't like the look, especially the almost chrome like polish on the fittings.
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Post by william m on Jun 2, 2011 22:15:54 GMT
Haha, sadly I don't do commissions anymore as im just too busy and have a huge backlog of old projects that may never be completed!
However if you feed me some delicious Karma I would be happy to talk you through it.
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Post by william m on Jun 2, 2011 22:10:37 GMT
Hi all, I fancy a viking sword so I have made a shortlist of swords that are available in the UK. Im not too keen on buying abroad due to extortionate fees from VAT + Custom charges + Delivery charge. Owch! Anyways these are the swords I am interested in but if there are others you think are better, please let me know! I don't do cutting as such, but I dry handle my swords plenty. I would prefer a sword that is as historically accurate as possible but that is a longshot at my budget of £150-300 H/T viking sword £142 This sword is currently the favourite but there are a few issues that put me off the sword however I am able to do some work on the sword that should improve it. Things i like: Great blade that handles nicely, I like the overall design and guard. Things i dont: Sloppy peining work that damages the pommel, uncomfortable grip, fibreglass scabbard, grip is too long? V/A Hedemark £310 I have had my eye on this for a while but is quite pricey. Things i like: Beautiful sword, good value for the leather work and grip. Things i dont: Overly heavy and unwieldy blade, Hexnut construction, big turnoff! Windlass Sticklestead sword £200 This sword seems to have been around for a while and is well liked. I have been reading reviews on sbg and other sites and the sword gets favourable reviews but I have noticed that a lot of reviews are quite often 4/5, which makes it difficult to make a decent comparison. Things i like: Nice handling sword, maybe too light? I like the shape of the guard. Things i dont: Worried about the excessive wippyness of the blade. Not too sure on the wierd suede or brass plated descoration. I wonder if I sand/scrub the guard the brass plating will go.
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Post by william m on Jun 2, 2011 20:13:51 GMT
No problems! I prefer ring rattan on my saya, but sometimes do a full wrap. I don't like it so much so only one sword got this treatment. Its pretty easy when you get into it, but can be time consuming. Here is a saya with a full wrap of rattan. Pic 2 i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/ ... ngs030.jpg And painted Pic 2 i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/ ... gs04b2.jpg
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Post by william m on Jun 2, 2011 17:59:10 GMT
Looks great for the price you paid! However the fittings are cetainly not Tachi, which makes this more of a katana.
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Post by william m on Jun 2, 2011 7:37:21 GMT
Hi, I cut rattan into strips and cut the rattan as below with normal wood glue. I usually use super glue for the critical join. I then use small files to smoothen the transitision. Please note that this is for when you are making rings. If you just want a wrap than its a whole lot easier. Turns out like this. And this. And then painted over.
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Post by william m on Jun 2, 2011 7:36:18 GMT
double post...
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Post by william m on May 31, 2011 13:08:07 GMT
Agreed with talon. They look ok in the low res pics but I would not buy any. Same goes for jgs swords, which are also awful. Try looking at theknightshop as they stock some decent stuff.
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Post by william m on May 30, 2011 19:35:23 GMT
Hmmm.. why have I not seen this? haha ok great now I know what I am doing next weekend! Thanks for the info on the expo.
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Tsuba
May 30, 2011 0:33:43 GMT
Post by william m on May 30, 2011 0:33:43 GMT
Thanks elrick.
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Post by william m on May 29, 2011 9:09:32 GMT
Ooo.. pretty! Thanks for the link. Why must decent katana be so cheap these days! Curses..... The hamon looks great though the sword is fairly big.. mmm... the possibilities although I have an Oni forge Ukigumo, which is massive sword.
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Post by william m on May 28, 2011 14:46:23 GMT
I deleted my post due to the wierd post below.... :?
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Post by william m on May 28, 2011 14:38:25 GMT
Hi all, My thought on this is that some sabres do have pommels, which are often incorperated into the guard. Sabres also have a fair bit of metal furtinature in the handle, be it an elaborate guard or a metal spine and ears. These all weigh and all add up. So having a seperate pommel is not necessairly needed if you are getting the weight you want from the metal fittngs on the handle. With regards to sabres having beefy tangs, this is not a universal rule. Here is a tang from a French 1855 pattern sabre. Here is the pommel. It has some weight!
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Tsuba
May 28, 2011 1:00:41 GMT
Post by william m on May 28, 2011 1:00:41 GMT
Hi, To get a decent fit I would advise doing what was traditionally done. Use a hammer and centre-punch to hit the near the tsubas mouth, when mounted on the blade. For example...
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Post by william m on May 28, 2011 0:53:51 GMT
Bleh, I don't like fully miror polished swords. They look like stainless steel or chrome plated swords!
As it is a Japanese sword, see if they can mirror polish the shinogi-ji and then Hand polish the Ha. It will look nice an traditional then! A lot of modern repro makers make the mistake of having all parts of the katana the same level of polish.
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Post by william m on May 28, 2011 0:50:29 GMT
Be careful with southernswords, they stock a LOT of tat. Also when comparing some of the swords I know, such as the tinker viking... they are a good bit more expensive than others. It may be worth asking if they will price-match a UK competitor but I don't see the point if they are non-communicative.
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Post by william m on May 27, 2011 7:36:41 GMT
Well it looks like a non-traditional blade, which is a shame but 9/10 of them are. As long as you are happy with it
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