Post by Marc Kaden Ridgeway on Jan 26, 2012 21:55:23 GMT -5
Hung Shing TS O-Kissaki Katana Demo
Marc Kaden Ridgeway
26 Jan 2012
Atlanta , GA
Recently . Ricky Chen announced a Hung Shing custom katana group buy in project. People decided upon a design... a minimum number of commitments were filled and the project was underway. Last week, Ricky took delivery of the forerunner of these, the demo. I was asked to test it against bamboo and provide quality assurance and reccomendations.
Reviews require a lot of hard work, and while I don't usually provide testing/reviews upon request ( except with certain vedor/makers , or certain situations) I decided that this was in the best interest of SBGers . so here we go.
All outside photos were taken after bamboo cutting.
Specifications
Nagasa ---------------- 30 in
Okissaki ---------------- 3.5 in
Motohaba --------------- 1.2 in
Sakihaba ---------------- .88 in
Motokasane ------------- 7.5 mm
Sakikasane --------------- 5 mm
Weight -------------------- 2lbs 14 oz
POB ------------------------ 5.5 in from tsuba
Tsuka --------------------- 14 in w/ fittings
For reference and perspective here is some photos of the HSTS (middle) with 2 other O-kissaki katana , the Kensei Kiyomaro(top) , 29 in nagasa and the Hanwei Wind & Thunder(bottom) 29.5 in nagasa.
Aesthetics ; Fit & Finish
Sugata is shinogi zukuri with O-kissaki. The 30 in blade is deep of sori and tipped with a 3.5 in kissaki . The yokote is a physical ridge. The kissaki is fairly well done , especially when one considers the difficulty of creating a physical yokote on this long of a kissaki. The blade is 1.2 inches wide and 7.5mm thick at the base, tapering both distally and in profile to .88 inches wide and 5mm thick at the yokote. The blade has a mirror polish all over (making it rather difficult to photograph ) and is differentially hardened with an enhanced hamon that to me almost looks to be suguha ni kochoji midare . The blade is by far the heart of this sword , indeed the only thing I would change about it is to add a bit of fumbari . It is dangerously close to my ideal shinogi-zukuri blade.
After some investigation I determined the fittings are brass , with a copper-colored finish and gold plated accents. They carry a dragon in water motif .Although not to my taste , they are solid , and well made out of good material. The habaki is a brass? nugget style and the menuki are dragons.
The black laquered saya sports lustorus horn koiguchi and kurigata and is wrapped with samegawa that was lacquered , then had the nodes sanded down. Over this is tied an upgraded brown sageo .
The 14 in. tsuka is wrapped in brown silk ito over a black samegawa full wrap. The tsuka is the only thing that lets down the presentaion of this sword at all. It is solid , but blocky , and kind of amorphous and blobby. Part of this is the fault of the forge , and part the fault of the design. On a 14 inch tsuka , the tsuka-ho must be reinforced to prevent cracking over the expanse of handle. This prevents it from being able to show very much taper or shaping. Additionally the problem was enhanced by the full samegawa wrap. When I first took apart the sword , I noticed how supple the same was and thought it was a new style artificial samegawa I had never seen before. I later decided that it must be tanned stingray leather , rather than rawhide. This was supported by a friend in the business who asked his forge about the felt-like backing and supple feel. They stated that some skins don't shape to the handle by just wetting as is the traditional method, and these must be treated ... I believe that in this case treated leather was used which led to the "puffiness" of the tsuka.
Handling Characteristics
The HSTS is on the heavy side of average , but feels good to me , with the blance being 5.5 inches from the tsuba. The only thing that detracts from the handling is the puffy tsuka , and the fact that it is 14 inches long. The puffiness is a problem that shouldn't carry through to thew main project ... thats why you have prototypes after all... and the tsuka length is one of personal taste. If this were my katana , I would suriage the nakago to 9 inches and cut the tsuka down to 11 inches... then it'd be just right for me.
Cutting
One of the main reasons I have this sword is to test it against bamboo. After a cold snap and a week of rain, i had an opportunity to get some bamboo today during a brief 70 degree window in between deluges. Due to the mud , it was hard to get into the bottoms where the bamboo is , so I had to get what I could on the peripherie. The bamboo is very hard .
i wasn't trying to make good cuts , I wasn't trying to make fancy cuts... just trying to subject the blade to some average cutting on a hard target. The blade held fine and cuts well.
Conclusion
I'm going to skip the critical section and go straight to the conclusion. For one I'm tired , having already lost the review half completed, and also because this is a limited run , not a regular production model. Plus , as I am making reccomendations , my criticisms are my conclusions.
Basically , I think that the HSTS O-Kissaki demo is a sturdy and interesting sword. I really like the blade shape... it has a very nice hamon and my favorite style of O-Kisaaki.
My only criticism really is the tsuka... and this is somewhat easily remedied in one of two ways , or both:
1) leave off the full wrap
2) make sure the forge uses rawhide rather than tanned samegawa.
That done , the sword would be a nearly flawless (for its price ) unique and exciting interpretation of a style and sugata sub type rarely seen in the world of economy katana... hell even without the tsuka , the blade alone is worth the price of admission for those that are fans of this sugata.
Marc Kaden Ridgeway
26 Jan 2012
Atlanta , GA
Recently . Ricky Chen announced a Hung Shing custom katana group buy in project. People decided upon a design... a minimum number of commitments were filled and the project was underway. Last week, Ricky took delivery of the forerunner of these, the demo. I was asked to test it against bamboo and provide quality assurance and reccomendations.
Reviews require a lot of hard work, and while I don't usually provide testing/reviews upon request ( except with certain vedor/makers , or certain situations) I decided that this was in the best interest of SBGers . so here we go.
All outside photos were taken after bamboo cutting.
Specifications
Nagasa ---------------- 30 in
Okissaki ---------------- 3.5 in
Motohaba --------------- 1.2 in
Sakihaba ---------------- .88 in
Motokasane ------------- 7.5 mm
Sakikasane --------------- 5 mm
Weight -------------------- 2lbs 14 oz
POB ------------------------ 5.5 in from tsuba
Tsuka --------------------- 14 in w/ fittings
For reference and perspective here is some photos of the HSTS (middle) with 2 other O-kissaki katana , the Kensei Kiyomaro(top) , 29 in nagasa and the Hanwei Wind & Thunder(bottom) 29.5 in nagasa.
Aesthetics ; Fit & Finish
Sugata is shinogi zukuri with O-kissaki. The 30 in blade is deep of sori and tipped with a 3.5 in kissaki . The yokote is a physical ridge. The kissaki is fairly well done , especially when one considers the difficulty of creating a physical yokote on this long of a kissaki. The blade is 1.2 inches wide and 7.5mm thick at the base, tapering both distally and in profile to .88 inches wide and 5mm thick at the yokote. The blade has a mirror polish all over (making it rather difficult to photograph ) and is differentially hardened with an enhanced hamon that to me almost looks to be suguha ni kochoji midare . The blade is by far the heart of this sword , indeed the only thing I would change about it is to add a bit of fumbari . It is dangerously close to my ideal shinogi-zukuri blade.
After some investigation I determined the fittings are brass , with a copper-colored finish and gold plated accents. They carry a dragon in water motif .Although not to my taste , they are solid , and well made out of good material. The habaki is a brass? nugget style and the menuki are dragons.
The black laquered saya sports lustorus horn koiguchi and kurigata and is wrapped with samegawa that was lacquered , then had the nodes sanded down. Over this is tied an upgraded brown sageo .
The 14 in. tsuka is wrapped in brown silk ito over a black samegawa full wrap. The tsuka is the only thing that lets down the presentaion of this sword at all. It is solid , but blocky , and kind of amorphous and blobby. Part of this is the fault of the forge , and part the fault of the design. On a 14 inch tsuka , the tsuka-ho must be reinforced to prevent cracking over the expanse of handle. This prevents it from being able to show very much taper or shaping. Additionally the problem was enhanced by the full samegawa wrap. When I first took apart the sword , I noticed how supple the same was and thought it was a new style artificial samegawa I had never seen before. I later decided that it must be tanned stingray leather , rather than rawhide. This was supported by a friend in the business who asked his forge about the felt-like backing and supple feel. They stated that some skins don't shape to the handle by just wetting as is the traditional method, and these must be treated ... I believe that in this case treated leather was used which led to the "puffiness" of the tsuka.
Handling Characteristics
The HSTS is on the heavy side of average , but feels good to me , with the blance being 5.5 inches from the tsuba. The only thing that detracts from the handling is the puffy tsuka , and the fact that it is 14 inches long. The puffiness is a problem that shouldn't carry through to thew main project ... thats why you have prototypes after all... and the tsuka length is one of personal taste. If this were my katana , I would suriage the nakago to 9 inches and cut the tsuka down to 11 inches... then it'd be just right for me.
Cutting
One of the main reasons I have this sword is to test it against bamboo. After a cold snap and a week of rain, i had an opportunity to get some bamboo today during a brief 70 degree window in between deluges. Due to the mud , it was hard to get into the bottoms where the bamboo is , so I had to get what I could on the peripherie. The bamboo is very hard .
i wasn't trying to make good cuts , I wasn't trying to make fancy cuts... just trying to subject the blade to some average cutting on a hard target. The blade held fine and cuts well.
Conclusion
I'm going to skip the critical section and go straight to the conclusion. For one I'm tired , having already lost the review half completed, and also because this is a limited run , not a regular production model. Plus , as I am making reccomendations , my criticisms are my conclusions.
Basically , I think that the HSTS O-Kissaki demo is a sturdy and interesting sword. I really like the blade shape... it has a very nice hamon and my favorite style of O-Kisaaki.
My only criticism really is the tsuka... and this is somewhat easily remedied in one of two ways , or both:
1) leave off the full wrap
2) make sure the forge uses rawhide rather than tanned samegawa.
That done , the sword would be a nearly flawless (for its price ) unique and exciting interpretation of a style and sugata sub type rarely seen in the world of economy katana... hell even without the tsuka , the blade alone is worth the price of admission for those that are fans of this sugata.