prabshiro
March 5th, 2009, 11:14 AM
http://www.swordsofmight.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=608
first of all i apologise i have no pics at the mo , but will upload soon .
so after 3 years in the katana game, after all my ruymons, masahiros , pcs .. i finaly got a kawashima.
i was quite reluctant on the kawashima brand line, hearing some negative remarks on a another site. However , after few more deatails and help from some memebers on a uk forum i got the dragon folded and handforged.
Hand Forged and Folded HCS 1095 carbon steel blade
to to all that are intrested in this sword.
aesthtitcaly its beutiful to look at , spekeled saya like the tiger pc.
i have however am customizing mine.
the blade has a nice curve and cosmetics are great.
the tusba in imo is one of the best tsubas ive seen on a katana. very deatiled , we have a dragon and like a monk meditatin , and a warriorwith a spear.
the fittings however dont look that glossy or appealing comperd to summit like a paul chen mid to high range . the mekugi looks nice , but seems plastic[even tho many sed there werent plastic parts on the swrd] .
the koshira is well detailed and so is the fuchi .
the blade does not come with a bo-hi , and the kissaki tips up.
the sword overal comes in 39" which is a decent length, with me being over 6 foot.
the weight however i will come back to later.
first impression
ok i did not plan to cutt with this sword , i got for 100 pounds down from 150. in us dollars 200 .
it came with a stand , display box , certifcate of authenticity.
i looked at the blade which impressed me at especially cheap price .
very good blade.
cutting
as i said i was not gnna cutt with this sword , however i had many bottles and was working on the saya , so i thought what the hell.
i practice akido bokken , so i applied some of the movments , all in all i did normal cutting .
THE RESULTS were awesome. i didnt expect this sword to cutt so damn well.
first of all , i heard that the kawashima sword were good cutters, but then i saw a video where a dude used i think the snowfall kawahsima and cud not cutt the bottle with it , but COULD cutt tatami mats. however ive never used tatami mats for cutting alwasy bottles.
i used hard soda bottles and normal milk bottles , nothing over the top or tatami. so soz folks i can only give u detail on bottles.
it cut soo well thru milk bottles , that i knew i had to test it against something more hard, so soda bottles are more harder than milk and in the past have reflected off my cheaper kats. BUT .... they were left in half and qauters , my backyard was like a bottle graveyard. i tested over 14 bottles and the kawashima dragon cut thru all .
the blade after cutting
ok
scratches ... yes few but blade polished and remaintananced, looked fine .
chips....??
NOT ONE
ANY OTHER DAMAGES ??
NONE.
any problems during cutts. ?
i used few different cutting techinques.. but one thing that i think could of been better WAS THE WEIGHT. the sword is a bit heavy , compare it to summit like a PPK --the ppk feels like a feather.
the koshira [cap] loosend , a tiny bit but nothing problematic , this was not during cuttin by the way.
but the blade sliced thru most , without takina single damage to the blade ....
the entire package was niiice.
overall rating
4/5
why not 4.5 or 5/5 ?
maybe somebody else will have a different op.
but for me the fittings in gold , liek the mekugi lookin not all that aethitcaly glamorous[just my opinion]
and the koshira comin lil loose were the downside.
but this is only minor. the other reason was the blade weight, it cud of been just a bit more lighter for a 39 inch sword.
the tuska length and genuine ray skin are cool , there is nothing negative about the blade. more with the fittings. and weight .
and for the pirice its damn good. better than they ruyomons and masahiros i had. but its lower notch thant the ppk range of paul chens
bang for the buk ?
DEFO !!
i mean the deal is , you get a free stand , display box cert, and th sword is great ..
and the price is good .
closing words ..
if kawashima can make great swords like this for 200 dollars range, i wonder what they can doo with the higher range of there brand. cuz
this is great stuff.
ppl put down paul chen swords maaany years ago when the practical came out, mixed views.
but now hanwei are the big dogs in sword production.
soo i see a possible bright future for kawashima.
ps. my op, some other buyers may have different results with this katana.
but this is just mine.
thanks for reading.
first of all i apologise i have no pics at the mo , but will upload soon .
so after 3 years in the katana game, after all my ruymons, masahiros , pcs .. i finaly got a kawashima.
i was quite reluctant on the kawashima brand line, hearing some negative remarks on a another site. However , after few more deatails and help from some memebers on a uk forum i got the dragon folded and handforged.
Hand Forged and Folded HCS 1095 carbon steel blade
to to all that are intrested in this sword.
aesthtitcaly its beutiful to look at , spekeled saya like the tiger pc.
i have however am customizing mine.
the blade has a nice curve and cosmetics are great.
the tusba in imo is one of the best tsubas ive seen on a katana. very deatiled , we have a dragon and like a monk meditatin , and a warriorwith a spear.
the fittings however dont look that glossy or appealing comperd to summit like a paul chen mid to high range . the mekugi looks nice , but seems plastic[even tho many sed there werent plastic parts on the swrd] .
the koshira is well detailed and so is the fuchi .
the blade does not come with a bo-hi , and the kissaki tips up.
the sword overal comes in 39" which is a decent length, with me being over 6 foot.
the weight however i will come back to later.
first impression
ok i did not plan to cutt with this sword , i got for 100 pounds down from 150. in us dollars 200 .
it came with a stand , display box , certifcate of authenticity.
i looked at the blade which impressed me at especially cheap price .
very good blade.
cutting
as i said i was not gnna cutt with this sword , however i had many bottles and was working on the saya , so i thought what the hell.
i practice akido bokken , so i applied some of the movments , all in all i did normal cutting .
THE RESULTS were awesome. i didnt expect this sword to cutt so damn well.
first of all , i heard that the kawashima sword were good cutters, but then i saw a video where a dude used i think the snowfall kawahsima and cud not cutt the bottle with it , but COULD cutt tatami mats. however ive never used tatami mats for cutting alwasy bottles.
i used hard soda bottles and normal milk bottles , nothing over the top or tatami. so soz folks i can only give u detail on bottles.
it cut soo well thru milk bottles , that i knew i had to test it against something more hard, so soda bottles are more harder than milk and in the past have reflected off my cheaper kats. BUT .... they were left in half and qauters , my backyard was like a bottle graveyard. i tested over 14 bottles and the kawashima dragon cut thru all .
the blade after cutting
ok
scratches ... yes few but blade polished and remaintananced, looked fine .
chips....??
NOT ONE
ANY OTHER DAMAGES ??
NONE.
any problems during cutts. ?
i used few different cutting techinques.. but one thing that i think could of been better WAS THE WEIGHT. the sword is a bit heavy , compare it to summit like a PPK --the ppk feels like a feather.
the koshira [cap] loosend , a tiny bit but nothing problematic , this was not during cuttin by the way.
but the blade sliced thru most , without takina single damage to the blade ....
the entire package was niiice.
overall rating
4/5
why not 4.5 or 5/5 ?
maybe somebody else will have a different op.
but for me the fittings in gold , liek the mekugi lookin not all that aethitcaly glamorous[just my opinion]
and the koshira comin lil loose were the downside.
but this is only minor. the other reason was the blade weight, it cud of been just a bit more lighter for a 39 inch sword.
the tuska length and genuine ray skin are cool , there is nothing negative about the blade. more with the fittings. and weight .
and for the pirice its damn good. better than they ruyomons and masahiros i had. but its lower notch thant the ppk range of paul chens
bang for the buk ?
DEFO !!
i mean the deal is , you get a free stand , display box cert, and th sword is great ..
and the price is good .
closing words ..
if kawashima can make great swords like this for 200 dollars range, i wonder what they can doo with the higher range of there brand. cuz
this is great stuff.
ppl put down paul chen swords maaany years ago when the practical came out, mixed views.
but now hanwei are the big dogs in sword production.
soo i see a possible bright future for kawashima.
ps. my op, some other buyers may have different results with this katana.
but this is just mine.
thanks for reading.