JKOO SinoSword .com Custom Katana Order Process Review or...A Tale of Three Swords
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 เม.ย. 2024
- This is less of a review of one specific sword and more of a story of the custom ordering process, what was requested, what was received and if it hit the mark. This is the companion review to • JKOO SinoSword .com Cu...
as was referenced.
The goal was to create a setup that was a "train like you fight" setup. What the meant was I wanted a shinken and iaito that used the exact same koshirae that I would swap out based on what type of keiko I was doing. The unused blade would stay in a provided shirasaya. This project ended up becoming what I call "The Tale of Three Blades"
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www.sinosword.com/Custom-Japa...
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/ sinoswords
/ @kaneyang4129
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When one hears that the Japanese Lords of yesteryear would have different fittings for the same blade (one for daily use and for wear when at court or other fancy affairs), this experience makes one appreciate the skill and painstaking care that the involved craftsman went to to accomplish such precision.
Absolutely
Jkoo has good value for money, I've had some very nice blades done by them, fit n finish is not the best but good to very good results expected...great job putting this together with pros n cons.
I’d agree with you-the one “good” blade I like, I REALLY like. It makes me want to learn how to make my own saya and tsuka. Wouldn’t make sense to pay the premium to have a professional do it for a blade that really isn’t worth much, but if I could do it on my own…different story. I’d buy from them again…I think you have to go in with appropriate expectations which honestly watching reviews from you, Matthew and Karl, did exactly that. There were no massive let downs more like “ah this is what they warned me about”
I'm sure you did your research before choosing Jkoo. I have 9 customized Jkoo. I had reserved myself to the fact that Jkoo/Sinosword is one of the lower end sword production companies in the market. So i knew not to get too technical with difficult "extras" so to speak. The ALL have minor cosmetic issues but none with and safety or functional problems. Even had a katana that was 4" shoorter than my request. Which the promptly made and sent me the proper size katana free of charge. Im not sayn your nit pickn im saying i agree with you that you asked too much. That being said i thank and appreciate you for taking one for the team and giving us all such a detailed and honest assessment of your experience
Thanks Karl and I completely agree. I don’t think I expected them to nail it so I can’t say that I was super let down. It was more like “ah…that’s WHAT I expected”. The real kicker here is the “good” blade is absolutely gorgeous to me and honestly I don’t see a lot of Chinese swords that come close to looking like it so there is definitely some skill there! I think better communication and QC might go a long way for them. I looked at it as you don’t know unless you try! Now I know! If I could get the EXACT same smith that made my second sword, I’d reorder in a heartbeat.
I loved this commentary. Yes this is a great format, yes adding history in or separately in its own video is always a great idea.
JoeSteel1 does this very well in some of the videos I’ve seen of his in the past. “Let’s ask Shogo” does this well also. I think the vast majority of viewers like history thrown in.
You asked for our thoughts on the topic…
Anyway, Jkoo is great because they can do customizations like XXXL blades for mat cutting and for example creating designs like a Korean gumdo. I am truly a fan.
However, my own experiences with them and watching a bunch of reviews on their swords over the years is that they are generally sloppy on fit and finish. I love ‘em but they aren’t super thorough.
It looks like they gave you a replacement from what you said. They’ve given me that option and I opted for a full refund instead once. They stand behind their work. If they screw up they make it right. I think it’s just that they focus on volume and getting things out the door as quick as possible. Katana-Karl bought some $600 and up katana from them that had dull spots, saya wiggle etc. So even their higher end can get a little sloppy. I just try not to expect perfection from them. I had a couple customs made with them that came out okay. They came out interesting, different than expected but good cutters that I enjoy.
It’s hard because I’ve seen what they CAN do…at least in the quality of my replacement blade. If I could guarantee that same smith and that same polisher each time, there would be no question. I also am noticing something surprising about JKOO…from my limited range of samples of five companies (had Tozando and EBogu Iaito before I started recording reviews) my JKOO has undoubtedly the tightest Ito…unfortunately I picked cotton for looks and it seems to be much slicker than the synthetic silk or Japanese cotton. But that thing is wrapped like a rock.
@@StudioGDTmine too. On the couple katana I have from them, the Ito is super tight!
Ridiculously tight on the leather wrapped ito.
I also have a couple of their Chinese style swords. My problem sword was a Chinese Jian, and not a katana.
@AgouraSteve I assume you requested hishigami as well…good to know it wasn’t a fluke. They will win back some point for me if that’s a consistent-knowing that it, it might be worth it to splurge for actual silk.
@@StudioGDTNope. No hishigami. If you’re bored, these videos show the two katana and they are relatively short. Almost all of my videos are under two minutes long. The Samagawa is fully wrapped (no panel).
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Interesting concept, man. Had never considered this. If you're blindfolded and handed each sword in turn, is it easy to tell the difference from how one sword moves compared with the others? Did they get them close enough to make that a challenge?
The weight is DEFINITELY off as the iaito is much thinner and lighter, but the fit in the hand and the saya length being identical was nice. It’s all about external dimensions too-if you have an iaito that has different length Tsuka and saya, you could be building all sorts of muscle memory that becomes in conflict when you switch to shinken. I also opted for a HC iaito as opposed to zinc aluminum SPECIFICALLY so I would have to clean it properly-again establishing good habits. So I think the concept was there, but the execution failed.
@@StudioGDT True about the dimensions and thanks for explaining. This is still valuable info to folks, to let us know the upper limit of their consistency and fitment. Normally I'd say an iaito should be lighter, tho for the reasons you mentioned, it's clear why it's important in this case to have a match. Congrats on the replacement blade with that nice of a polish and character. Well presented as always.
@@KF1thank you for the continued interaction and support!
Thanks for sharing. Wish it had turned out better for you, but was about what I was expecting sadly. Lot of variation between those with the sori, length, and even kissaki size.
I think you could load one custom sword up with a fair amount of options and they could get it 80-90% right, but when you asked for what I asked for I think the fact they do t have full control over construction of every part of the sword becomes more apparent. The iaito cost was negligible. So I still have a training aid. I just have a better Tsuka on it that I’d rather have on my beautiful shinken blade. Womp womp womp.
interesting
Thank you for watching!
All these custom swords are just part outs. You have to be way up in the thousands to get genuine custom.
I think that all depends on what your definition of “is” is. We know through companies in price points such as JKOO or Ryan Sword you can request “full custom” swords. What that means is you can request a profile and design that is completely bonkers from standardized designs and they will make it-this has been proven by other reviewers. I will concede however that after the blade is produced that is where the true full custom stops since practically 90% of the koshirae at this price point is outsourced and mass produced and “fit” to the sword. So if by genuine custom you mean from head to toe made for the user, than I would agree you would be in the 3000 plus price range. If you do however want some specific lengths/geometries/features, you can get that at a sub 500 dollar price point (some are better than others) but would have to have low expectations for the fit/finish of the furniture. In the end there is something for everyone! Thank you for checking it out!